Emma Rodriguez

If passed, proposed Florida constitutional amendment three would significantly reduce Floridians' property tax burdens by increasing what's known as the homestead exemption, or the amount of property value exempt from being taxed.

Bank of America warns customers of scams involving phone calls. Scammers will often ask for payment using a third-party service, like cryptocurrency or Cash App, or will demand targets withdraw large sums of money.

Lee County Clerk & Comptroller Kevin Karnes is hosting Passport Saturday, an event for citizens to apply for passports ahead of the holiday travel season. It will take place on Aug. 1 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Clerk's Official Records department, 2115 Second St., Fort Myers, on the building's second floor.

Florida's voucher program for swim lessons has been in effect since 2024. A law passed July 1st expanded the program, and pushed kids with autism ages 1 to 7 to the front of the line.

The New World Screwworm has been in the news lately because it turned up in southern Texas in early June. These parasites are endemic to central and south America these days, but they were once present in the southern United States but were eradicated in the mid 1960s. The parasite is actually a fly whose larvae burrow into and feed on the living flesh of warm-blooded animals, cattle primarily in the Texas cases but also sheep. Unchecked, screwworm outbreaks can be economically devastating for cattle and other livestock farmers. Because a screwworm outbreak is potentially a big deal for the entire United States, including here in Florida, we talk with an expert from University of Florida.

Lee County nonprofit KindLee has launched a 10,000 Acts of Kindness Challenge, in which residents document their good deeds, big and small. The organization was selected to lead the challenge at the inaugural k20 Kindness Without Borders Summit last month.

Narratives of public education in the early United States generally describe the building of a public system designed to allow people to gain knowledge and access to advancement in their lives. But, what’s often left out is the role race has always played at the root of education in America. The new book, “America Grammar: Race, Education, and the Building of a Nation” makes the case that the exploitation of Black and Indigenous people played an essential role in building American education systems all the way back to this country’s founding. We talk with its author to dig into this aspect of American history.

U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 91, Fort Myers Beach is hosting a “Boat America” Responsible Boating Course. It’s designed to prevent accidents and decrease the risk of death for local boaters, with summer boating season beginning.

Collier County contains innovation, growth and plenty of wealth. A lot of the community’s innerworkings go unseen by most residents, but there is a podcast looking to change that. We sit down with Amanda Pearson, founder and host of Community Matters, to learn how the podcast came to be and explore the show’s growing impact.