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When developer Syd Kitson purchased the 91,000-acre Babcock Ranch in northeast Lee & southeast Charlotte counties in 2005 he said he was going to create a sustainable community and preserve most of the land. While many people were skeptical at the time, Kitson has gone on to build pretty much exactly what he said he would. About 67,000-acres became the Babcock Ranch Preserve, and more than half of the rest of the land has been preserved amidst the growing number of smart homes with high speed internet built to Florida Green Building Coalition standards. Mr. Kitson joined us on this show quite a few times during the early days of its development, long before groundbreaking and the first homes were built. We look back on the picture he painted back then, and how well it aligns with what's there today.

The holiday season brings people together, from parties for work, to family gatherings. And while it’s all done to bring joy and happiness to everyone…

People are being encouraged to stay at home as much as possible as the Covid-19 outbreak continues to spread, and restaurants have been ordered to close…

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.

Anyone who lives in southwest Florida is definitely aware of the rapid rise in housing costs — especially rentals — in recent years. It’s estimated that 40% of households in Collier County struggle with housing costs, and availability of affordable housing for essential workers and seniors in Collier is reaching crisis levels. More than 40,000 workers commute daily from outside Collier County because they can’t afford to live near their jobs.

Anyone who lives in southwest Florida is definitely aware of the rapid rise in housing costs — especially rentals — in recent years. It’s estimated that 40% of households in Collier County struggle with housing costs, and availability of affordable housing for essential workers and seniors in Collier is reaching crisis levels. More than 40,000 workers commute daily from outside Collier County because they can’t afford to live near their jobs.

Concerns that a summer slide could become a Covid freefall has parents and educators worried for how students spend the next couple of months. According to a study of more than five million students by the Collaborative for Student Growth, that same summer slide already occurred during this past school year thanks to school closures due to outbreaks of Covid, distance learning and less time in a traditional learning environment.

The proposed “Safe Waterways Act” by Calusa Waterkeeper would require the Florida Department of Health (FDOH) to issue health advisories and post and maintain warning notices at “public bathing places” where the water has been found to contain fecal bacteria.

One of the more universal pastimes of Southwest Florida is dining out and for years people have been guided by the News-Press restaurant critic, Jean Le Boeuf. Of course, the food critic behind the nom de plume has not always been the same person. Recently, the last of the Jean Le Boeufs revealed that she — not he — is actually food writer Annabelle Tometich. We sat down with her to talk about the decision to reveal herself as the local restaurant critic and get the gastronomic low-down on the food scene in Southwest Florida, and the pressures of wielding a mighty pen and fork.

Did you know that scientists are working on ways to CO2 into solid rock in order to sequester it? Or that the same things that make water so critical to our world is also what makes it so potentially dangerous to us? Those are just two of the interesting concepts revealed in the new NOVA and PBS series Out of Our Elements that explores the magic of molecules and how much of the modern world is built on the interesting ways they interact. We’re joined by the two people who make it.