WGCU News

At a final hearing Sept. 9, the School Board of Lee County approved the system’s 2025-26 budget totaling $2,919,795,073, a decrease of $114,667,599 from the previous year's $3,034,462,672 budget, along with the district's comprehensive 10-year capital plan.

Students from Lee and Collier public schools made the list of National Merit Semifinalists this year.

Animal rights groups are encouraging supporters to apply for bear hunting permits to limit the number of bears killed in December.Starting Friday, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission will begin accepting applications for 187 permits that will be issued for a December hunting period. The permits will be awarded through a lottery-style process and would entitle people to each kill one bear.

A Cape Coral resident and registered sexual offender is facing charge after police allege he lured a number of local realtors to vacant homes under false pretenses.Cape Coral police say they arrested 58-year-old Tracey Ramirez for failing to comply with state-mandated registration requirements.

The summer months in Florida play host to a constant battle against pesky mosquitoes. To combat these blood suckers, pesticides are sprayed into marshes and coastal areas.

After a Congressional committee released Jeffrey Epstein’s “birthday book” that included a cryptic and lewd homemade card allegedly sent to the notorious child sex trafficker by President Donald Trump, the White House jumped on social media to deny its authenticity.Strongly supporting those claims was Florida Congressman Byron Donalds, a close Trump ally and 2024 campaign surrogate, who claimed in an interview with CBS News on the Capitol steps that the signature was bogus.Unfortunately for Donalds, the “signature doesn’t match” talking point was discredited in lightning speed.

Shah Hadjebi, Marti Koehler, Mariapia Malerba, and Wilson McCray are painting a mural on paper at BIG ARTS now through October 24. It’s a mammoth project - as tall as a person and as long as a football field with both end zones included. It’s also the first time the four artists have worked with each other, says Malerba.

Charlie Kirk, who rose from a teenage conservative campus activist to a top podcaster, culture warrior and ally of President Donald Trump, has been shot and killed. The shooting Wednesday occurred during one of his trademark appearances at a college in Utah. His death was announced by Trump in a post on his social media platform. The 31-year-old was a prominent conservative activist who embodied the pugnacious and populist approach to politics under Trump’s Republican Party. In 2012, Kirk launched Turning Point USA to reach out to young conservatives. That organization and its affiliates helped turn out voters to get Trump elected in 2024, focusing on those who felt shut out of politics and rarely cast a ballot.

The Town of Fort Myers Beach celebrated another segment of recovery efforts from the destruction of 2022's Hurricane Ian on Wednesday with a grand opening and ribbon cutting for the new town hall.Fort Myers Beach Mayor Dan Allers described the opening as special.