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Legislation is moving through the Florida legislature during the 2023 session that would enact an exemption to Florida's robust public records laws to hide details of travel by the governor and his immediate family, and numerous other government officials including the Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court. It would also exempt visitor logs to the Governor’s mansion, and would apply retroactively, meaning details of past travel and visits also would be shielded. Critics say it’s the most aggressive assault on our public records protections ever.

Florida Gulf Coast University’s new president, Dr. Aysegul Timur, officially took the reins from Dr. Mike Martin on July 1. Dr. Timur is the university’s fifth president, and first female president since in its 26 years. And she is the school’s first immigrant president. She was born in Turkey and received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business administration at University of Istanbul before heading to the U.S. in the late 90s to pursue her PhD, which she received from University of South Florida in 2006. She joins us for our first sit-down with as president.

We meet Fran Mainella, the new Director of the Alliance for Florida's National Parks. The 20-year-old nonprofit works to promote the Everglades, Dry Tortugas and Biscayne National Parks, as well as Big Cypress National Preserve. Its website says their goal is “to instill in all people an appreciation of Florida's public lands and natural resources for what they are – the key to the sustainability and prosperity of the state - by enriching the park experience and connecting diverse communities to the nature that abounds in their backyards.”

"Oh, no — please, not again" — is a sentiment it’s fair to think that many residents of Southwest Florida have been thinking and feeling as Hurricane Idalia made its way north through the Gulf of Mexico and toward the Florida peninsula. While not on the exact same track as Hurricane Ian last September, and doesn't appear to be on a path that will severely impact Southwest Florida, Idalia is coming from the same general direction and revives memories of Hurricane Ian in September of 2022.

Since OpenAI released ChatGPT in November of 2022 there has been a surge in public awareness about, and use of, Artificial Intelligence. And this represents both a leap forward in technological capability, and the possibility for massive disruption in many fields including education. We learn about efforts at Florida Gulf Coast University to stay on top of this new learning curve we’re all facing on some level.

We learn about a UF/IFAS Extension and Florida Sea Grant citizen science program called Eyes on Seagrass that has been collecting information about seagrasses in upper Charlotte Harbor and Lemon Bay since 2019 — and is planning to expand into Lee County next year. Citizen Science is the collection and analysis of data relating to the natural world by everyday people who aren’t necessarily scientists themselves, typically as part of a collaborative project with professional scientists. In other words — giving scientists more hands to collect the information they need to better understand whatever it is they are studying.

Join us for a conversation about the importance of gopher tortoises to our ecosystems. These large, long-lived reptiles can be found in all of Florida’s 67 counties. They play a crucial role in ecosystems because of the deep burrows they dig and live in. More than 350 other species — known as commensals — take advantage of those burrows for shelter. Their main threats are cars while trying to cross roads, and development that occurs on the land where they live.

Pine Island was cut off from the mainland during Ian when the bridge that passes through Matlacha was washed away. In the true spirit of Pine Island, residents immediately got to work helping each other, and coordinating resources and volunteers. But, it quickly became clear that the collective recovery effort was going to need to be formalized to support long-term recovery efforts. And so the Greater Pine Island Alliance was formed in December of 2022, and they have not stopped in their mission to return every survivor to their home.

Kirsten Hines started out as a wildlife biologist, but pretty early on found herself drawn to telling stories with images and words about the natural world, rather than collecting data about it. Her photographs and writings have since appeared in numerous exhibitions and publications, including eight books — the latest of which is “Wild Florida: An Animal Odyssey.” It’s like a conversational field guide that explores ecological concepts like the “why” behind Florida’s animal diversity, and its blending of critters from the tropics with those from North America.

There’s a brand new exhibition on display on the campus of Florida Gulf Coast University called “They Were Children: Rescue as Resistance.” It brings the story of the Oeuvre de Secours Aux Enfants’ (OSE) — amazing group of everyday people who worked at great risk to themselves to rescue Jewish children in Nazi-occupied France during World War Two.