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Lee county added about 23,000 more residents in 2021. This pace of growth like that isn’t unique to Southwest Florida. Just take Charlotte County: data shows there will soon be 200,000 residents there, and yes, many more cars too. But it also means more jobs and more economic opportunity. What are the up-and-coming industries and job opportunities for you and your family?

Internationally renowned artists William Wegman and Jack Massing are collaborating for the first time to create newly commissioned works in a site-specific exhibition now at the Bob Rauschenberg Gallery at Florida Southwestern State College in Fort Myers. The exhibition is titled “William WEGMAN & Jack MASSING: TWO CLEVER BY HALF – A Call & Response Project.”

The Baker Museum at Artis-Naples in Collier County recently hired award-winning curator, art historian, museum leader, lecturer and writer Courtney McNeil as its new Museum Director and Chief Curator. McNeil joins us to explore her professional background, her passion for helping people connect art with different perspectives and new ideas, and her vision for the Baker Museum going forward.

Novelist Clare Beams, author of THE GARDEN, joins us. In 1948, women who have suffered multiple miscarriages gather at a private hospital to be treated by the husband-and-wife team of doctors there. Then things start to go wrong.

A recently published review in the journal Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries brings together more than 150 years of data collected by researchers from all over the world. A team of researchers reviewed more than 3,000 documents and extracted data from 834 studies to determine that 989 fish species have been shown to produce active sounds.All that data has now been compiled on a website called FishSounds.net. This new repository acts as a global inventory of fish sounds easily accessed and added to by contributors around the world, and members of the public who are curious or have an interest in fish species.

A recently published review in the journal Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries brings together more than 150 years of data collected by researchers from all over the world. A team of researchers reviewed more than 3,000 documents and extracted data from 834 studies to determine that 989 fish species have been shown to produce active sounds.All that data has now been compiled on a website called FishSounds.net. This new repository acts as a global inventory of fish sounds easily accessed and added to by contributors around the world, and members of the public who are curious or have an interest in fish species.

We learn about the work being done right now by The United Way of Lee, Hendry, Glades and Okeechobee. They’re partnering with the Collaboratory in downtown Fort Myers which is raising money through the SWFL Emergency Relief Fund. To get a sense of what they’re focusing on right now, and the work they’re doing managing the 2-1-1 Crisis Helpline, we talk Jeannine Joy, President and CEO of The United Way of Lee, Hendry, Glades, and Okeechobee.We also get a first-take on Hurricane Ian’s ecological impact. Ian brought historic storm surge levels in excess of 12 feet in some places. It’s the kind of storm surge emergency managers say they’ve always feared but that we’ve never really experienced in this part of Florida.

Hurricane Ian washed thousands of boats onto land all along the coast of Southwest Florida, and sank many as well. We talk with someone from the Boat Owners Association of The United States to find out who is responsible for removing or salvaging them.And when a disaster like Hurricane Ian unfolds The American Red Cross is there before, during, and after the storm. The non-profit humanitarian organization currently has more than 1,800 disaster workers and volunteers on the ground across the affected communities.

Anyone who spends money on anything — which is basically everyone — knows that we’re living in a time of high inflation. From groceries and gas, to home values and rent prices, and new and used car values, consumers in the U.S. are spending more on most essential items. To try to get a handle on what makes these post-pandemic shutdown economic times so unique, we talk with Matthew C. Klein, founder of The Overshoot, an online publication that focuses on the intersection of economics, finance, business, and public policy.

The Harry Chapin Food Bank in Fort Myers has been providing food for people in need across southwest Florida since 1983. Over the decades, it has faced trying times like during the great recession in 2008 and 2009; and during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. And now they’re facing another wave of challenges due to rising inflation and high fuel costs. We sit down with president & CEO, Richard LeBer, to get an update on how they’re handling these trying economic times and learn what people can do to help them in their mission.