Jennifer Crawford

Almost three years after Hurricane Ian devastated Southwest Florida, Lee County’s Punta Rassa Boat Ramp at the foot of the Sanibel Causeway —is finally open to the public.Residents, community and state leaders, gathered to celebrate with a ribbon cutting ceremony.

Seagate Development Group and Easterly Government Properties partner with FDLE to construct a 36 million dollar crime-fighting facility in Lee County. The 64,000 square foot facility is expected to be open in the fall of 2026.

Environmentalists warn that each day Alligator Alcatraz remains up and running is one more day of irreparable damage to the Everglades, and area that is North America’s only subtropical wilderness and home to thousands of native plants and animal species and dozens of which are endangered or threatened.

The FBI reports a staggering increase in reports of crimes linked to cryptocurrency fraud across the country resulting in $9.3 billion in losses in 2024.The federal report also shows the number of crimes linked to Crypto ATMs has skyrocketed — up 99 percent in 2024 compared with the previous year.Florida — across the state and right here in Southwest Florida — is not immune.

A seemingly non-stop stream of dump trucks and semi rigs entering the grounds of what's now been dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz" roared past hundreds of sign-waving and chanting protestors Saturday as they lined U.S. 41 east and west of the site in the Big Cypress National Preserve.The second significant protest in as many weeks was pulled together by people such as Betty Osceola, a Miccosukee leader and environmental educator who lives near the facility. There are 15 remaining traditional Miccosukee and Seminole tribal villages in Big Cypress, as well as ceremonial and burial grounds throughout the area.Protest organizers fear that letting the camp spring into life will help developers open the environmentally sensitive area to homes, stores and more.

In hundreds of pools across the U.S. and throughout the world on Thursday, a valuable lesson took place — children learned how to swim.Called The World’s Largest Swimming Lesson 2025, the global public relations event was supported by aquatic facilities, water parks, pools, swim schools, and YMCAs, among other venues.

They came by the thousands in Southwest Florida, by the tens of thousands across the state and by the millions across the U.S. — for a variety of reasons both political and philosophical but bonded by fear and hope.Saturday was both a protest and a rally called No Kings Day, a reference to claims that President Donald Trump wanted to be a monarch over what has been a republic.