Michael Braun

In alignment with its mission of saving lives, the Sarasota County Fire Department (SCFD) has partnered with SunCoast Blood Centers to implement a groundbreaking prehospital whole blood transfusion program. This initiative aims to provide life-saving blood transfusions to patients suffering from severe bleeding or traumatic injuries before they arrive at the hospital.

The normal rumble and hiss of big yellow school buses has fallen silent in Glades County for a good and environmentally sound reason — a new fleet of zero-emission, electric vehicles has been pressed into service.On Thursday, the Glades County School District celebrated the arrival of 13 new electric school buses, which replaced over half of the district's aging diesel fleet. The state-of-the-art buses offer students a cleaner, healthier transportation option and, for the first time, provide air-conditioned rides to the majority of district students.

The death of both eaglets at the North Fort Myers nest along Bayshore Drive is being linked to H5N1 avian flu, an investigation by the Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife has found.The eaglets, designated E24 and E25, started having seizures over the past few days. E24 died in the nest and E25 fell from the nest. Both remains were recovered by CROW.The avian flu diagnosis was announced at a press conference called by CROW officials Thursday morning to discuss the deaths.

A lawsuit against five people who allegedly violated the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Fort Myers in 2022 will be dropped, lawyers representing the anti-abortion protestors confirmed Friday.Three of the five are among 23 convicted anti-abortion proponents who were pardoned by President Donald Trump Thursday.The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, or FACE ACT, prohibits using force, threats of force or physical obstruction against any person because they are seeking or providing reproductive health services.On Friday, President Trump issued an order for the Department of Justice limiting enforcement of the FACE Act. The order means those FACE Act prosecutions still on the legal docket — such as the Fort Myers case — will be dismissed.

Saldrone's award is part of a federal and state initiative to support infrastructure, habitat mapping, restoration projects, resource management, emergency response, and coastal resiliency and hazard studies. At 2,170 kilometers long, Florida’s coastline is second only to Alaska among U.S. states. Many parts of the Florida coast remain not surveyed, with existing nautical charts relying on outdated and low-resolution data.

Florida Power & Light and Lee County Electric Cooperative are preparing for widespread outages as Milton comes closer to the west coast.FPL Spokesperson Mike Mazur (Mazer) says that the company is equipped for the large number of outages with a workforce of around 17,000 on standby.

In a lot of places, when adversity hits, they slap a label ending with the descriptive “Strong" on the response. For Pine Island residents, that response means more than just a label, it's a motivation for neighbors lending a hand to neighbors.One organization that takes that spirit to heart — the Greater Pine Island Alliance — has been in full help mode for over a week with volunteers assisting residents picking up the pieces after Hurricane Helene blew past Southwest Florida.

While most people are running from the dangers created by the massive Hurricane Helene, there are those who steer themselves into harm's way.While they aren't actually putting human lives in danger, the folks at Saildrone are putting their assets on the line by sailing equipment into the teeth of raging storms for their 2024 Hurricane Mission.

A disturbance in the Caribbean has been designated as Invest 97 by the National Hurricane Center Sunday evening with increasing probabilities of it forming into a stronger tropical system in the coming days and week.

Submarines are not known to ply the shallow waters of the Caloosahatchee, preferring to run silent at greater depths. But former crewmen of one such vessel recently found the riverside haunt of the man their sub was named for was a perfect place to drop anchor — sans the boomer though.Those former crewmen of the USS Thomas A. Edison — named for Thomas A. Edison naturally —recently got a glimpse at the inventor's life in Fort Myers when they attended a reunion at the Edison and Ford Winter Estates.