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The financial instability many people face as a result of the pandemic has put more people at risk of losing their housing. A national eviction moratorium established by the CDC is set to expire on December 31 and local governments have until then to use federal CARES Act relief funds designated to help people with past due rent and utilities. We talk with Janet Bartos, Executive Director of the Lee County Homeless Coalition, and the City of Fort Myers’ new mayor Kevin Anderson, about efforts being made to help people experiencing homelessness and those at risk.

A group of FGCU students is working on a project focused on addressing the loneliness epidemic amongst our senior citizen and Gen Z populations, while promoting more kindness and compassion through storytelling. The ROCK of Ages initiative seeks to address social isolation amongst older people, and diminished in-person social skills amongst younger people, by pairing students with older people to share stories, on camera, to build bridges between generations and create transformative experiences that hopefully create ripple effects of social change.

Technological advances have brought much good to the world. But as ways to communicate have diversified and led to anyone being able to get their message out to the entire world, it seems undeniable that society has taken a turn toward hyper-polarization and partisanship – and the number of people – especially young people who are experiencing mental health issues has increased and the trendline is heading in the wrong direction. Our guests are part of a cross-partisan political reform group comprised a wide range of people, from elected officials and national security experts to mental health professionals and technologists who are trying to encourage change and find ways to address the negative effects of our online world.

Hurricane Milton made landfall on Wednesday night around 8:30 p.m. as a Category 3 storm with maximum sustained winds of 120 miles per hour near Siesta Key in Sarasota County. Milton spawned scores of tornadoes left more than 3 million utility customers without power. The AP reports at least five people died due to Milton's impacts. While there has been significant flooding along the coast — and hundreds of thousands of people remain without power — Milton did not turn out to be as damaging as projections showed as it approached the peninsula. We debrief the storm with a meteorologist with the Florida Public Radio Emergency Network. We also check in with someone from Sarasota County, where Milton made landfall. And we check in with FPL and LCEC to see how their power systems fared and how many people are still without power.

On one day every January, a Point-in-Time — or PIT — Count is conducted in counties to document the number of people who are experiencing homelessness on a single night. The PIT Count in Collier County this past January found a 230% increase in the number of people over the age of 60 who were homeless as compared to the previous year. So, we check in with the CEO of St. Matthew’s House in Naples, to get a sense of what they’re facing.

This weekend in downtown Fort Myers a group of 25 people from diverse backgrounds, life experiences, and races will come together for a daylong, intimate conversation about structural racism and implicit bias. The goal is to get people to be open and honest, and self reflective, when it comes to their own thoughts and actions in life.

We’re exploring life for people who are visually impaired during the coronavirus outbreak and the social distancing guidelines that have come with it.

The fear of deportation is growing for hundreds of thousands of immigrants across the country after a recent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, which allows the Trump administration to revoke their Temporary Protected Status (TPS). The Trump administration also continues efforts to make good on its pledge to deport 3,000 people per day. Florida leads the country in the number of local law enforcement agencies partnering with ICE to deport undocumented people. And recently, the Trump administration has enacted sweeping travel bans and restrictions on citizens from some countries in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean. To help us understand these new immigration policies and the impact here in our state, we talk with Fort Myers Immigration Attorney Ricardo Skerrett.

Here in Southwest Florida about 30% of the population is 60 and older. That translates to about 1.3 million people, and this population and percentage is growing. Demographic trends show an expected 38% increase in adults over 60 by 2040 and a 62% increase in adults over 70 by that same year. While southwest Florida has been a destination for older people when they retire for decades, this area’s aging population is chronically underserved. We learn about the work being done to address the need at Florida Gulf Coast University’s still relatively new Shady Rest Institute on Positive Aging.

Here in Southwest Florida about 30% of the population is 60 and older. That translates to about 1.3 million people, and this population and percentage is growing. Demographic trends show an expected 38% increase in adults over 60 by 2040 and a 62% increase in adults over 70 by that same year. While southwest Florida has been a destination for older people when they retire for decades, this area’s aging population is chronically underserved. We learn about the work being done to address the need at Florida Gulf Coast University’s still relatively new Shady Rest Institute on Positive Aging.