Andrea Melendez

Something that many people look at as "just" a hobby actually fulfills an important emergency niche during times when regular communications fail or aren't sufficient.Amateur radio operators — "Hams" in the vernacular — are often called upon to use their equipment during difficult times.Showing those skills recently were members of the Fort Myers Amateur Radio Club Inc. who participated in a national amateur radio Field Day exercise.

Hydroponics program rebuilt after Ian is more fruitful for Charlotte County Jail and inmates who tend to the farm.

A metal pole which once carried U.S. and Marine Corps flags over a military site in Lebanon will return to its proper vertical stance — but this time it will stand tall for veterans and the public to see in a special area at the William R. Gaines Jr. Veterans Memorial Park in Charlotte County.The pole was brought to the Gaines park on Wednesday but the route it took to get to the Charlotte County location was a long and tragic one.

The death of a sperm whale off the Venice coast this morning, while difficult even for marine experts who deal with such things, could be a learning experience for them."Every time you see a whale in distress, like we did yesterday, it's, it's always really hard. It's really hard. And so all we can do is utilize the opportunity to learn as much about them as we can," Laura Engleby, chief of NOAA's Marine Mammal branch, said Monday morning standing on the beach near the whale's carcass. "And then that helps us understand some of the things that we can do to ultimately recover and help them. And so, in that way, that's how we have to think about it. "

Immokalee farmworkers and others championing causes to end the abuses farmworkers have suffered in the fields carried their message of resistance and hope across the state to Palm Beach this weekend.The first-ever Farmworker Freedom Festival began Friday and continues through Sunday celebrating farmworker culture as well as the gains of the Coalition of Immokalee Farmworkers Fair Food program.

Florida Power & Light Company volunteers will participate in FPL’s annual Power to Care Week. Marking the week-long initiative’s sixteenth year, hundreds of volunteers will come together as part of its commitment to power strong communities by making Florida an even better place to live, work and raise a family.

This annual Point-in-Time survey is meant to give social service groups a better understanding of those experiencing homelessness.

The water at Manatee Park in Lee County is normally filled with manatees looking for a less frigid refuge in the warm water just down from the Florida Power and Light Power Plant across the street during the cooler months of Southwest Florida's year.

The 35th Annual Fort Myers Beach Chamber of Commerce Christmas Boat Parade took to the waters to kick off the holiday season after having to cancel last year due to Hurricane Ian.

On Wednesday, a group of “elves” from Florida Power and Light Company teamed up with the Florida National Guard to help make the holidays for a U.S. Army veteran in Port Charlotte and her five-year-old son a little brighter.