Tropical Storm Franklin continues its slow, erratic path in the Atlantic. Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Gert is history. The next named storm would be “Harvey.” The 2005 alphabetical list of storm names ends, as always, with the letter "W" - for Wilma this year. It skips “Q” altogether. That's enough names for 23 systems. But what if by some freak of nature – a 24th tropical storm were to form? National Hurricane Center Spokesman Frank LaPoor says that's not likely - but there is a contingency plan in place if the unlikely were to occur.

“Well, we would use the Greek alphabet. But you've got to have some faith in climatology. The long historic record going back to back to 1851. The most storms in any one season were 21 in 1933. I do not expect that we will have numbers approaching that, but if we did we would use the Greek alphabet.”

If a 24th storm were to form then, it would be named "Alpha". Tropical systems get a name when sustained winds reach 39 miles an hour - giving them Tropical Storm status.

Florida Republican Congressmen Cliff Stearns and Michael Bilirakis made one last effort to stop a federal inventory of oil resources off of the state’s gulf coast. Both lawmakers are trying to protect Florida’s $50 billion tourist industry. From our Capitol Hill Bureau, Terry Gildea has the story. (AUDIO)

Crews start major improvements to the I-75 / Alico interchange this week. The $32 million project will add and extend ramps from Alico Road to north and southbound I-75, and add a new off ramp southbound. Florida Department of Transportation spokeswoman Debbie Tower says drivers should not experience too many delays because of the project.

“Drivers need to very much drive heads-up and be aware of the work around them, but we don’t anticipate any lane closures except at night.”

Tower says the project should be complete by the end of 2006. It coincides with the widening of Alico Road from Dusty Road to Three Oaks Parkway. That project, which began more than a year ago, should be complete by the end of September.

A noted professor in southwest Florida is calling into question last April’s sighting of an Ivory-billed woodpecker in Arkansas. Ryan Warner reports. (AUDIO)

A new program developed at the University of Miami hopes to use market forces to learn where hurricanes will make landfall. Mike Kiniry reports. (AUDIO)

Plans for Ave Maria University’s 24-million dollar, 100-foot-tall oratory were unveiled Thursday in Naples. The soaring church will someday be the centerpiece of the Roman Catholic University, and surrounding town. Domino’s Pizza founder, and university chancellor – Tom Monaghan - is personally paying for most of the oratory’s construction. He says they’d originally decided on a much larger structure – but rising costs and engineering challenges forced them to scale back…

“The original estimates on this were about half of what they ended up being – and every time we got another estimate it got higher. Because it was so big and so unusual I think it kind of mystified a lot of the contractors, and when the price got so high we just had to reduce the size. I figure we’re just going to have to have more masses and build more chapels on campus earlier than we thought and in the town.”

Monaghan says although the church is smaller than originally planned – the general design is the same. It will seat about 11-hundred people…it was originally to have seated more than 3-thousand. He says he feels it’s VERY important that the oratory is the dominant feature on campus, and surrounding town. The university - which is operating out of a temporary campus in Naples – hopes to break ground on the oratory, and campus sometime next year…with the goal of moving completely in 2007. The new university will be located about 5 miles south of Immokalee in Collier County.

The one-year anniversary of Hurricane Charley is approaching. Last August 13th – a Friday in fact – Charley swept across Charlotte Harbor and made landfall in downtown Punta Gorda with 145 mile an hour winds. The damage was massive. Historic structures crumbled – municipal buildings were severely damaged. Piles of debris dominated the cityscape for months. Valerie Alker has this look at Punta Gorda one year after Charley. (AUDIO)

The state is cutting off future enrollees for scholarships childcare workers use to get the credentials they need to teach. This comes as the state’s new voluntary pre kindergarten program is set to begin next month. Teachers who are already enrolled in the federally funded TEACH scholarship program may continue, but the state cut off the applications June 30. Under the new pre k program the state requires a minimum of one teacher in every classroom to have at least a Child Development Associate or CDA. Since 1999, 18,000 teachers have used the TEACH program to earn that CDA, or higher degrees in early childhood education. But Gladys Wilson, with the state’s agency for workforce innovation – which runs Florida’s pre k program – says it wants to study the current program before letting it continue.

“We knew we couldn’t afford to increase the amount so what we wanted to do was just to take a breather, look at who was in the program, how many are getting what they need and how long before we got more people involved in the program. We have no intention of ceasing helping people with scholarships. We just wanted to evaluate it and make sure we were getting the best bang for our buck with the way we were presently providing scholarships.”

The TEACH program either gives workers a bonus when they earn their certification or requires employers to give them a raise. The teacher must also commit to stay with their employer for at least a year, cutting down on turnover. Without the TEACH scholarships some childcare workers may not be able to get formal training. Alternatives will vary by district. Wilson speculates the agency could work directly with community colleges or vocational schools.

The Babcock Ranch has sold to a real estate developer. Ryan Warner reports. (AUDIO)

This month, WGCU-TV’s Untold Stories series travels to LaBelle in Hendry County. LaBelle is a small, rural town located 30 miles east of Fort Myers, on the oak lined shores of the Caloosahatchee River. Hendry County Commissioner William T. Maddox Junior is a LaBelle native. He recently shared some memories of his father, William Senior, who had a long career in area politics and law enforcement. To learn more about LaBelle and its people, tune in tonight to Untold Stories of Southwest Florida on WGCU-TV at 8:30. (AUDIO)