Mike Walcher

The Collaboratory in downtown Fort Myers will begin hosting free workshops on artificial intelligence on August 14. It will be the first session for business owners, put on by the new Human Intelligence/Artificial Intelligence Hub at the Collaboratory.

Tearing down the old baseball stadium at City of Palms Park in Fort Myers has begun.Workers have demolished part of the building, allowing people to see into the place that had been the spring training home of the Boston Red Sox.

If you drive around Southwest Florida, you can't help but notice all the construction going on. It's a new restaurant here, home fix-up stores there and shopping plazas packed with national brands everywhere.

Santa is coming five months early to help a community center in need. The center in the Suncoast neighborhood in North Fort Myers will hold a Christmas in July event

An organization in Southwest Florida is launching an effort to make artificial intelligence more human. It's supposed to show business people and regular citizens how the new technology can be helpful.

Lee County is looking at a flat budget this coming year, based on preliminary property tax numbers. And, if voters approve major changes to the tax system in November, deep budget cuts may follow in future years.

It appears a beloved Southwest Florida restaurant will stay open with new owners. The Alva Country Diner on State Road 80 has been sold, and the current owner says the new owners want to keep it much the same as it's been for 30 years.

Collier County lost an estimated $13 billion in market property value in 2025 compared to the previous year. The roughly 5.78 percent loss stands as a sharp contrast to some years in the past decade. Lee and Charlotte Counties also lost market property value between 2024 and '25.

Farmland and woods are disappearing, but some rural-focused businesses are finding ways to survive, even as more housing and business developments move inland across Southwest Florida.

The new owners of Sweet Tomatoes are announcing the grand opening of the the Fort Myers area location on June 1. It is the second location nationwide to welcome back diners, six years after the chain closed.