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Despite record high stock markets, the Harry Chapin Food Bank of SWFL and its partners are busier than ever because of factors like high food, housing, and health insurance costs — along with cuts to federal programs that help people in need including $186 billion in cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in the so-called Big Beautiful Bill. The Harry Chapin Food Bank distributed 38.7 million pounds of food last year. And to keep up with the growing need, they have begun construction of a new 110-thousand-square-foot distribution center and warehouse being built in Fort Myers that will be their new Hunger Action Center. We sit down with the food bank's president and CEO to get a sense of what they’re experiencing right now, and what the new facility will mean for their operations. We also meet the director of one of their partner agencies.

We’re going to go back in time to Thursday, September 29 — the day after Ian’s landfall — to listen to some of the voices we heard on Gulf Coast Life. We did the show live at 2:00 p.m. and then again at 7:00 p.m. Power and internet was still out for many, if not most people in our listening area, and cell service was spotty at best. So, we brought on members of our team to hear what they had seen and experienced to try to provide as much first-hand information as possible about what the region and its residents were going through.

When businesses shut down and people began to isolate themselves due to the coronavirus back in March, a local musician found a way to keep his peers’ connected and their creativity flowing by creating weekly songwriting challenges. We’ll hear from some of the participants and the songs they made during “Songwriter Quarantine.”

While many large tracts of land in Southwest Florida have been forever lost to development over the past century or so, quite a bit of it has been preserved thanks to the dedicated efforts of countless people and organizations — and the local, state, and federal elected officials who environmental advocates could convince that wetlands were valuable for their own sake. For example, more than 70% of land in Collier County has been preserved as public land. Think Fakahatchee Strand State Park, Picayune Strand State Forest, Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, Big Cypress National Preserve, Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, and the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge, just to name a few. We explore some of this fascinating history with the co-authors of the new book, “Enjoyment of the Same: A History of Public Lands in Southwest Florida.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is embarking on a new study during the 2021 algal bloom season — roughly now through September — to assess the health effects of exposure to cyanotoxins, in part to help health officials better inform the public. The “Cyanotoxins in Air Study” (CAST) will look at exposures to cyanotoxins produced by blue green algae among people who live or work near Lake Okeechobee, the Caloosahatchee River, Cape Coral’s Canals, and the St. Lucie River on the east coast.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry spoke to the U.N. in Geneva to mark Syrian peace talks

How can the modern study of global change benefit from ancient knowledge?

Incorporating human nature into economics.

As insurers leave ACA marketplaces, few options remain for some consumers

With Political Polarization at All-Time High, Americans Say 'Listen to Me'