Gulf Coast Humane Society rescued 64 dogs Tuesday afternoon from a hoarding case in Clewiston. It was part of a multi-agency initiative that took approximately 250 animals. Animal control officers say the dogs were all in good shape but the woman admitted she couldn’t take care of them all anymore.

The dogs, which include a variety of purebreds, will be available for adoption or foster care within the next few days.

The agency is putting out an urgent plea for volunteers and fosters.

The owner will not face any charges because she willingly gave up the dogs.

A federally-protected loggerhead sea turtle that recovered from a serious illegal spearfishing wound was released Wednesday morning by Turtle Hospital officials in the Florida Keys.

About two months ago, a father and son were fishing off the Lower Keys when they saw the turtle struggling to come up for air with a 4-foot metal spear sticking out of its head. Director of the Marathon-based Turtle Hospital Richie Moretti said she was lucky in many ways, “She was lucky that she found people that would rescue her and we went ahead and took the spear all the way out.”

“It couldn’t have gone through in a better spot. It missed the back of her eye and the front of her throat and so it’s taken us now about six weeks. She’s finally up to eating. And when you see a turtle that works so hard to live – remember these are all dinosaurs – and that makes you feel really good when you have a turtle that’s one leg out of the world and you can bring ‘em back,” said Moretti.

An investigation is ongoing to find who speared the turtle. The Keys community has raised more than16,000 dollars in reward money. The release marked the 25th anniversary of one of the few, if not only, state-licensed veterinary hospitals in the world dedicated solely to the treatment of sea turtles.

Olympic gold medalist and record-breaking track and field star, Bob Beamon, is the new chief executive officer for the Art of the Olympians Museum and Gallery in Fort Myers.

Beamon is best known for his world record in the long jump at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico, which remained unchallenged for 23 years. He has since been elected into the USA Track & Field and U.S. Olympic hall of fames. Beamon made Olympic history jumping 29 feet 2 1/2 inches, beating the previous record by nearly 2 feet and becoming the first man to jump more than 28 feet in the long jump. In a BBC interview at WGCU he said he felt like he was flying, “I don’t even want to come down. As a matter of fact I’m still up there right now as we speak. I just feel so wonderful about the accomplishments but I take my accomplishments very seriously in promoting the great vision that one needs to have in order to have an accomplishment of that magnitude.”

In 1999, he co-authored a book about his life titled “The Man Who Could Fly.”  Beamon previously served as director of athletic development at Florida Atlantic University and most recently was associate athletic director at Chicago State University. 

The official state alligator hunting season begins Monday at 5:00pm.

Nearly seven thousand permits have gone out to people who want to try their luck at hunting the reptile.  More than one-point-three million alligators live in Florida.  The Coordinator for the Alligator Management Program for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission in Tallahassee, Harry Dutton, said the commission extended the hunt by four hours each day of the hunt.

“This is what was ultimately provided to the commission as a compromise to what was asked for by the hunting community which was to hunt alligators anytime during the established season to other constituencies that like to look at the resource and enjoy it and also enjoy the waterways that hunting occurs on to find a balance between all these different recreational uses.”

Dutton said alligators are thriving in Florida with more than one point three million of them currently in the state. Each permit issued allows each person to take two alligators. 

Sarasota County Sheriff Tom Knight says a two-week effort to crack down on metal thefts and burglaries resulted in the arrest of 62 people, the recovery of 2 vehicles, 2 trailers and 21 hundred pounds of metals.

Such crimes are a huge problem in Sarasota County.

"Operation Meltdown" focused on two patterns: the theft of metals from air conditioners, light poles, and home siding that are taken to recyclers in exchange for cash; and daytime burglaries where suspects break into homes to steal jewelry and items to be sold to either pawn shops or gold buyers.

Knight blamed criminal's drug addictions rather than the economy. He intends to ask Sarasota County to pass an updated Second Hand Dealer ordinance to deter the situation. 

Mote Marine Laboratory and the National Marine Fisheries Service ar relying on an underwater robot in Collier County as it looks for environmental conditions that might relate to a recent fish kill there.

The robot, nicknamed “Nemo,” is an autonomous underwater vehicle that can detect multiple species of algae and levels of dissolved oxygen.

Launched last Thursday, it will patrol for about a week along a pre-programmed course six to 20 miles offshore. It will continuously sample the water and send data to Mote scientists at the lab every two hours via satellite transmitter.

The Department of Justice announced the arrest of a Fort Myers man for his alleged connection to a cyber attack on an FBI-affiliated Web site.

21- year-old Scott Arciszewski is a student at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. He’s a graduate of Edison State College and North Fort Myers High School.

The FBI said hackers targeted the InfraGard Tampa Chapter site.

InfraGard and the FBI exchange information to protect national and private-sector assets.

The FBI has arrested more than a dozen other people nationwide for their connection to the hacking group “Anonymous”. Arciszewski’s arrest is connected to those arrests.

Lamar Advertising has donated space on a digital billboard on US 41 just south of Alico Road in Lee County asking drivers to slow down and watch for Florida panthers as they drive through southwest Florida.

The message is meant to tell motorists vehicle collisions are among the leading causes of panther deaths.

As of July 12, seven Florida panthers have died on southwest Florida roads this year.

Several hundred divers and snorkelers are expected to submerge for the 27th annual Lower Keys Underwater Music Festival on Looe Key Reef in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary on Saturday.

The ocean- and water-themed selections ranging from the Beatles' "Yellow Submarine" to humpback whale songs and "water music" created by local musicians are piped underwater via Lubell Laboratory speakers suspended beneath boats positioned above the reef. Organizers say the sound quality is clear, with an ethereal effect caused by the sound waves' transmission through water.  READ MORE

Lee County Schools have a new superintendent as Dr. Joseph Burke was sworn in Friday morning.

Serving as Monroe County’s superintendent prior to accepting the job in Lee, Burke has also worked for the Miami-Dade County public school system and for the public school system in Springfield, Mass. READ MORE