Michelle Alvarez

This year’s election is seeing a lot of first-time candidates. One of those is Florida Gulf Coast University student Rachel Brown, the Democratic candidate in the Florida State Senate District 27 race.WGCU’s Michelle Alvarez introduces us to the Southwest Florida native.

More than two dozen students gathered at Florida Gulf Coast University on Thursday to rally against police brutality and social inequality.

State health officials reported 2,628 new COVID-19 cases, Thursday, bringing Florida's total to 709,144 cases. The Florida Department of Health also reported 131 new coronavirus-related deaths, Oct. 1, increasing the statewide death toll to 14,619 fatalities.Of the 5,333,017 COVID-19 tests that have been reported in Florida so far, the overall positivity rate stands at 13.3% and the latest single-day positivity rate dropped to 4.62%.

Flu season is right around the corner and health officials say it is more important than ever to receive the flu vaccine this year due to COVID-19. In Collier County, the Department of Health will be hosting two community flu clinics this month.

A contest launched to select an artist to grace the walls of Dunbar’s historic McCollum Hall has yielded two winners.

State health officials reported 1,736 new COVID-19 cases, Monday, bringing Florida's total to 665,730 cases. The Florida Department of Health also reported 34 new coronavirus-related deaths, Sept. 14, increasing the statewide death toll to 12,800 fatalities.Of the 4,948,075 COVID-19 tests that have been performed in Florida so far, the overall positivity rate has fallen slightly to 13.45%, but the single-day positivity rate for Monday stands at 3.8%.

The Florida Department of Health in Collier County will offer mobile COVID-19 testing to its residents within the next month.