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Dr. Ella Mae Piper, an African American woman born in Georgia in 1884, moved to Fort Myers in 1915 and immediately opened businesses including a beauty salon and a soda bottling company. Her entrepreneurial spirit formed the foundation of a life focused on philanthropy and community building — including the Dr. Piper Center for Social Services that has supported low-income seniors, frail elderly, at-risk youth, and special needs children since 1976.

Dr. Ella Mae Piper, an African American woman born in Georgia in 1884, moved to Fort Myers in 1915 and immediately opened businesses including a beauty salon and a soda bottling company. Her entrepreneurial spirit formed the foundation of a life focused on philanthropy and community building — including the Dr. Piper Center for Social Services that has supported low-income seniors, frail elderly, at-risk youth, and special needs children since 1976.

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.

When author and educator Carole Burns’ father Frank passed away earlier this year she found a small, simple notebook amongst his things that he’d carried with him during his time as a volunteer at the slough, where he’d led tours since 2001. She wrote an essay about finding that notebook and sent it our way, so we thought it would be a good reason to have a conversation about what the slough meant to her father, and what finding that notebook meant to her — and what the Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve has meant, and means, to so many of the people who’ve visited it over the past nearly half-century.

Messages have long circulated the internet, encouraging people to shop local at small businesses. They usually say something along the lines of “When you…

With less than a week to go before the midterm elections, President Donald Trump is planning a campaign stop in Estero tonight.People were already lined…

What motivated early Floridians to move into the swampy, mosquito-infested area of South Florida? How did the Seminoles and other Native American peoples…

Last week’s shooting at ZombiCon in downtown Fort Myers that killed one man and injured 5 other victims was the latest in a rash of shootings that have…

It’s been 27 years since the Americans With Disabilities Act was signed into law by President George H. W. Bush. The law has helped people with…

As millions of Americans lost their jobs and incomes due to the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention issued an unprecedented moratorium on evictions. That moratorium is set to expire on December 31 if lawmakers in Congress do not extend it. The National Low Income Housing Coalition estimates as many as 19 million people in 6.7 million households are at risk of being evicted if they don’t.