The Lee Library System has spent the last 60 years combining the resources of libraries across the county to provide information and technology free of charge to anyone who steps through the doors. With more than 273,000 free cardholders and over 1.5 million visitors this year alone, Lee County libraries offer various programs and resources, from early literacy programs and homework resources to downloadable books and streamable movies.

The Lee County School Board met recently to discuss updates to a document that's stirring up conversation: the district's Civil Rights and Equity Guide.

A spate of inquiries to law enforcement has prompted one local agency to reach out to the community it protects to calm unwarranted concerns.A spokesman for the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office issued an alert Wednesday morning about the topic."I am receiving a lot of inquiries about possible threats to our schools this morning. I thought it would be best to reach out to all of you at once to quell any rumors," Chris Hall, public relations officer at the Sheriff's Office, said.

Could the "hate has No Home Here" banner be banned from a classroom? What about personalized email signatures?

The South County Regional Library is getting more than a makeover, it’s getting an $11 million facelift.The library, just north of Corkscrew Road on Three Oaks Parkway, is closing at 5 p.m. September 7 for the facelift. The work is expected to take as long as a year.It’s the first major renovation since the library was converted from a bank data processing center in 1996.

Four students from Fort Myers High School took second place in the group performance category at the National History Day competition in College Park, Maryland this summer.

At issue is a directive from The Board of Governors to “conduct a keyword search on course descriptions and course syllabi for the following keywords: Israel, Israeli, Palestine, Palestinian, Middle East, Zionism, Zionist, Judaism, Jewish, or Jews.”The directive had made many university professors and others uncomfortable.

University of Florida’s president, Ben Sasse, unexpectedly announced his resignation late Thursday after just 17 months at the helm of the state’s flagship university, citing his wife’s health issues and a need to spend more time with his family.In a short statement emailed across campus, Sasse — the former Republican U.S. senator for Nebraska — said he would leave his job on July 31, less than two weeks away. The surprise announcement comes during a period of a fraught relationship between Sasse and the longtime chairman of UF’s board of trustees, developer Mori Hosseini, chairman of Daytona Beach-based ICI Homes Inc.

Experiments on FGCUs Kimberly’s Reef range from looking for red tide, gauging the temperature and chemical composition of the water, measuring aspects of the currents in the Gulf of Mexico, and even counting the many fish attracted to the artificial structures. Some of this research is often done by boat. For many scientists, though, the best way to study the reef is below the surface.

NASA’s DEVELOP Program has brought a new research project to Southwest Florida bringing together a group of four students from FGCU, UCF, and Oregon State University to work with the Seminole Tribe of Florida to analyze water samples taken from tribal land.DEVELOP aims to give students hands-on experience in the field of earth science, and help partners of the program solve environmental problems.