Even the cost of basic home phone service is beyond the reach of some. As Tom Flanigan Reports, the Florida agency that regulates phone service is spreading the word about some programs that can help….

The Lee County Library system has added MP3 files so that i-Pod users can download books and other audio materials. WGCU’s Luis Hernandez reports.

Starting in 2009 people with enough money will be able to take a trip that up until now was solely for astronauts and scientists. WGCU’s Luis Hernandez
reports on a Southwest Florida travel agent now selling tickets to space, and
one soon-to-be college graduate who hopes to someday start his own “cruise line to the moon”.

More and more people are switching their standard home phone service to a new technology called ‘Voice Over Internet Protocol’ – or VOIP. This is basically using your high speed Internet connection to make phone calls. It’s offered by companies like Vonage and cable providers like Comcast. But there’s a catch…if the system isn’t set up correctly, it might not be able to call 911. Matt Rechkemmer (wreck-UH-murr) is the 911 program manager for Lee County Public Safety. He told WGCU’s Mike Kiniry that they’re asking Lee County residents who’ve switched to VOIP to call the county’s 911 office to arrange a test call. He says the problem is they have no way of knowing how many people this might be affecting…

Major mobile phone providers shut down their analog networks today – which means most cell phones more than about 5 years old won’t work anymore. While less than 1-percent of cell phones in use are still analog, the shut could mean the end of some people’s lifelines. WGCU’s Mike Kiniry explains.

Lakes Regional Park is going high tech. Park officials have announced the first wireless internet service in the Lee County park system. The service will be available around the south parking lot near the beach area. Senior program specialists with the parks, Tracy Arkin says her bosses thought wireless service might be a good idea to have.

“Our Director and deputy director thought that that would be a great idea that we could give to our patrons and participants in our parks if we kind of started implementing a wi-fi system.”

Arkin adds that her office is now getting the word out through banners, flyers and the parks brochures. She also says if this system is a success there is a good chance other parks in the county could also have wireless internet service in the future.

Parents who want to learn more about keeping their kids safe ONLINE are invited to a Cyber-Safety workshop tonight in south Fort Myers.

An FBI Special Agent will outline what parents are up against – and give examples of scary or inappropriate things kids might find on the Internet.

Prevention Specialist for Safe & Drug Free Schools – Jan Klein – says one of the biggest challenges? Many kids simply know more about computers than their parents!

“their kids can run circles around them in terms of what they can do on the computer. So a lot of those parents think nothing about…you know, why shouldn’t there be a computer in my kid’s room? It’s almost now like computers and computer games are the baby sitters like TV’s used to be when these parents were young.”

Klein says the workshop is for parents only…because of the adult nature of some of the examples they’ll be presenting.

She says it will also deal with possible online threats like MySpace-dot-com…and blogs. And give examples of some safe places for kids to go online.

The workshop is from 6:30 to 8:30 at South Fort Myers High School in Fort Myers.

(337-8606 for info – Jan Klein)

This month Southwest Florida International Airport celebrates the one-year anniversary of its new terminal. The bright and airy facility has received widespread praise from travelers. Lee County Port Authority executive director Bob Ball says he’s heard few complaints about the new terminal…except for one: the new cell-phone lot doesn’t have any facilities. People use the free parking area so they don’t have to pay money or enter the terminal to greet passengers.

“We have spent $438 million to build a facility which has lots of restrooms, a lot of amenities and we welcome those people to go into short-term parking and utilize the facilities there. The cell phone lot can be operated very efficiently and it maybe inefficient for those people that simply may be lazy and don’t want to get out of their car.”

Ball spoke on W-G-C-U’s Gulf Coast Live and said they also have no plans to add a special room for smokers at Southwest Florida International. He did say they plan to install mailboxes so travelers can send postcards or last-minute bills before boarding.