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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.

The Alliance for the Arts in Fort Myers is hosting a retrospective exhibition of works by artist Joan Sonnenberg. At the age of 92, Sonnenberg continues creating her large-scale vibrant pieces blending abstraction and realism. We listen back to our earlier conversation with Sonnenberg as the exhibition runs through July 29.

This week’s installment from News-Press Storyteller Amy Bennett Williams introduces us to the seemingly unlikely Southwest Florida artist James McDonald,…

FGCU President Emeritus Dr. Wilson Bradshaw talks about how much has changed around issues of social justice and anti-racism over the past year and a half, including the new "Stop Woke Act" -- or HB 7 -- that governor Ron DeSantis signed into law on July 1, 2022.

The Florida Wildlife Corridor Act was signed into law just over a year ago. Learn more about this ongoing effort to protect Florida’s lands and wildlife.

Delegations from nearly 200 countries came together earlier this month in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt for the United Nations 27th Climate Change Conference, referred to as COP27. The goal was to bring countries together to try to take action towards achieving the world's collective climate goals as agreed to under the Paris Agreement in 2015. The consensus among many attendees was that COP27 was a disappointment. We get a first-hand take on what happened over those two weeks in Egypt with three local activists who are part of a team that produced daily video updates summarizing what was unfolding at the conference.

A new report from Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families finds that the rate of uninsured children nationally dropped from 5.7% to 5.4% between 2019 and 2021 and that the rate of uninsured kids in Florida fell from 7.6% to 7.3%. Health policy experts warn, these gains could be short-lived because when federal protections in the Families First Act expire, states will be reevaluating Medicaid eligibility requirements and that could happen as soon as April 2023. We take a closer look in a conversation with the lead author of the report, Georgetown University Center for Children and Families co-founder and Executive Director Joan Alker.

Bob Kealing's new book “Good Day Sunshine: How the Beatles Rocked Florida” explores the Beatles time in Florida in 1964, including two performances on The Ed Sullivan Show from a hotel in Miami just weeks after their New York debut.