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Florida's congressional redistricting process is again facing legal scrutiny. After lawmakers passed a congressional district map, governor Ron DeSantis vetoed their selection and in the end the legislature wound up approving a map submitted by the governor’s office during a special session. Civil and voting rights groups say the governor’s map violates the Fair Districts Amendments and diminishes the voting power of minorities. To get the latest on this ongoing process we spoke with Ellen Freidin, a Miami-based attorney and leader of the Fair Districts Coalition.

We’re marking Holocaust Awareness Week by meeting a Naples woman who has spent more than four decades as an advocate for awareness and education. Both of Felicia Anchor’s parents were holocaust survivors, and she was born shortly after the war, one of 2,000 babies born from the end of the war until the displaced persons camp her parents were living in closed. She and her husband Kenneth are chairing the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s 2021 ‘What You Do Matters’ Southeast Virtual Event on February 11, which seeks to inspire people to remember the lessons of the Holocaust and to help combat modern-day antisemitism and hatred.

David Futch’s family has deep roots on Gasparilla Island — about as deep as they come. His family first came ashore in the 1880s to fish, and it was his great-grandfather Frank Futch who first figured out how to catch tarpon on a rod and reel and started the guide-fishing industry on the southwest Florida coast. In his new book, Historic Tales of Gasparilla Island, Futch shares stories about island life and its history that come from both his family’s tales, and historical records.

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.

We get a first-hand account of the storm’s impact on Estero Island, and the Town of Fort Myers Beach and its residents and business owners, from Bill Veach. He is a member of the FMB Town Council and a resident of Estero Island. He has lived there with his wife in an old beachfront cottage for thirteen years — it was one of many structures on the island completely washed away by Hurricane Ian. We talk with Mr. Veach about his storm experience, how the rebuilding process is going so far, and how this storm is invariably going to change the character of the island.

Audubon’s Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in Collier County has been an Audubon-protected site since the early 1900s and is considered a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance. Science-based land management practices protect the sanctuary’s 13,450 acres, including the world’s largest remaining, old-growth bald cypress forest. And it's home to a wide variety of plants and animals, including alligators, river otters, and many bird species including the threatened Wood Stork. It's also home to many plant species, including the incredibly rare "super" ghost orchid.We meet the sanctuary’s new director, Keith Laakkonen. Keith is a southwest Florida native with a background in watershed management, environmental policy, wildlife ecology, prescribed fire management, and more.

In his latest book, “Robert E. Lee and Me: A Southerner’s Reckoning with the Myth of the Lost Cause,” retired U.S. Army Brigadier General TySeidule writes about growing up in Virginia revering Confederate General Robert E. Lee. He says that from his southern childhood to the time he spent serving in the U.S. Army every part of his life reinforced the Lost Cause myth: that Lee was the greatest man who ever lived, and that the Confederates were underdogs who lost the Civil War with honor — a position he now deeply regrets and works to refute.

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.”

We speak with Desmond Meade, he was a driving force behind the passage of Amendment 4 to the Florida constitution passed by 65% of voters in 2018. Meade is President of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, Chair of Floridians for a Fair Democracy, and author of the book “Let My People Vote: My Battle to Restore the Civil Rights of Returning Citizens” which recounts his struggles with addiction and homelessness before turning his life toward public service and the Amendment 4 campaign.

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.