The US Army Corps of Engineers is working to build support for a revised plan to remake part of the historic Tamiami Trail. The new proposal for the roadway would allow more water to flow through to Everglades National Park. But it would come at a higher price. Jacqueline Fernandez has more.

You can’t drive far in Florida without encountering road construction. As Tom Flanigan reports, construction zones can be deadly for the people who work in them…

In the 1940’s and 50’s McCollum Hall in Ft. Myers was a concert venue and night club – hosting some of the biggest names in the music industry. These days the yellow brick building on Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. sits abandoned – but not for much longer. WGCU’s Valerie Alker prepared this reports.

The State Building Commission is recommending that some buildings constructed in coastal areas be stronger than current code requires. WGCU’s John Davis has more.

The fight over a patch of wetlands in Collier County swayed in favor of developers Thursday. WGCU’s Luis Hernandez has more.

An informational meeting about a coal burning power plant planned for Glades County will be held tonight in Ortona. Florida Power and Light recently got the go-ahead from Glades County to move forward with permitting of a coal burning plant to power 650-thousand homes. County officials say it’s an economic boom, bringing tax revenue and jobs. But Ellen Petersen, with the Sierra Club of Southwest Florida, doesn’t see it that way.

“We should be helping them with ecotourism and the wonderful aspects of the lake and the wonderful things that can be done in glades with Fisheating creek and cypress knee museum which would be spectacular tourist draws but this coal fired thing is an abomination.”

Petersen wants the national chapter of the Sierra Club to try to quash the plant. She says it threatens endangered birds like swallowtail kites. And she disagrees with FPL’s claim that new technology will minimize harmful emissions. F-P-L Area Manager for Southwest Florida, Grover Whidden, says the utility has done its homework – and the plant will do no harm.

“We have done initial environmental assessment of the site itself and have not found any endangered species. the site consists principally of the sugar cane fields – it’s presently cultivated in sugar cane fields – but even for any endangered species outside the immediate plant area it should not be a problem because this plant is not going to create any pollution.”

If the permitting process goes forward groundbreaking could be in two years – with the plant generating electricity by 2012. The informational meeting is at the Ortona Community Center at 7 P-M.

School starts Monday for Ave Maria University Students. Right now classes are taught at a temporary campus in Naples. But next year students will be on their own campus, now being built near Immokalee. Construction managers say Ave Maria University – and the town of Ave Maria - are well on course to welcome students and residents next fall. Blake Gable is with Barron Collier Corporation, which donated land for the Catholic University and is building the town.

“Our plans are for the town center to begin to open in June and July with a couple of retailers and uses, moving forward to complete the town center toward the end of the fall, early winter. Obviously when the students come out we have to have some stuff open.

Gable says some homes should be built by April or May. The metal frame of the hundred-foot high church that will anchor the campus is well underway. The wastewater and water treatment facility will be complete in about a month. Buildings are rising up – in various stages of completion. Ave Maria University is largely funded by Tom Monahan – founder of the Dominos Pizza Chain, and a devout Catholic.

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