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It's Parkinson’s Awareness Month, so we’re talking with two people working to help those with the neurodegenerative disease here in Southwest Florida. Dr. Ramon Gil is a neurologist at the Parkinson’s Treatment Center Of Southwest Florida, and Mary Spremulli is a medical speech-language pathologist and owner of Voice Aerobics Speech Language Therapy in Punta Gorda. We also meet one of her clients, Mike Davidson, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s five years ago.

As the internet has become the go-to place for most people to find news and information there has been a rise in organized efforts to create fake news and misinformation on a large scale — these are what are referred to as Troll Farms. They're like sweatshops for news articles — oftentimes meant to misinform — that have come to be known as 'pink slime' websites. They are essentially websites that are created to look like legitimate, often local, news sources but are really an effort to trick people who visit them into thinking the news they present is coming from actual journalists, when in reality they are overt attempts to misinform and often to sow division. Our guest went through the process of having one of these AI Content Farms built to see how the process works, and wrote about the experience for the Wall Street Journal.

While it might seem obvious that a devastating hurricane would have an immediate negative impact on the mental well-being of those impacted, there is a growing understanding among mental health professionals that underlying concerns over possible future natural disasters is also weighing on many people’s minds. And there is growing evidence that the growing size and scope of natural disasters is being driven by climate change. We talk with Dr. Lise Van Susteren, she is a forensic psychiatrist who is an expert on the physical and psychological impacts of climate change.

Throughout the month of July WGCU is celebrating the 30th anniversary with the “Move to Include” initiative, a nationwide public media effort that seeks to inspire and motivate people to embrace different abilities and include all people in all aspects of life.

Sales of non-chocolate candy are growing faster than those of chocolate. With cocoa in shortage, manufacturers are changing pack sizes, adding fillers and dipping candy in "white creme."

While the small lakes or ponds found in many communities here in Florida allow more people to live on or near a waterbody, their real purpose is to help manage water flows and help maintain water quality. Many of these small lakes are actually man-made stormwater management ponds. We learn what it takes to ensure stormwater management ponds are well-maintained — and what outreach efforts exist to teach people who live around them best practices for doing just that.

Drunken brawls, coercion, and lace curtains. Believe it or not, how regular people vote was not something the founding fathers thought much about, or planned for. Americans went from casting votes at drunken parties in the town square to private booths behind a drawn curtain.

Heading back to work is tough when you can't meet people face-to-face. And it's even harder when childcare and school is still in a holding pattern. Today we're looking at two programs trying to help solve these problems.

In order to track pollution and air quality in the Glades, a reporting team from The Palm Beach Post and ProPublica set up air sensors at people’s homes to monitor pollution on days when the state authorized cane burning and projected that the smoke would blow toward them. Health and air-quality experts say this kind of exposure does pose health risks both in the short term and over the course of the months during burn season. The interactive feature story was published on July 8.

As the coronavirus outbreak continues researchers and doctors continue working to find new ways to treat Covid-19. Since the end of April Lee Health has been testing the use of convalescent plasma. It’s taken from the blood of people who have recovered from Covid-19 and then infused into people who are sick to hopefully reduce the severity of the disease.