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The Conservancy of Southwest Florida's von Arx Wildlife Hospital recently went a little ... batty. Recent storms contributed to many new patients at the wildlife hospital but especially bats with a colony of 156 pups being rescued. Since 2017, that's the most bats the hospital has had that were in need of examinations and re-nesting.

A 16-year-old from Cape Coral was arrested Tuesday after his father reported suspicious items found in his son’s bedroom after he had been reported as a runaway.The Cape Coral Police Department has arrested John David Ruiz in connection with a burglary involving stolen security equipment. The arrest occurred days after Ruiz was reported missing and while detectives were eating lunch at Publix and spotted Ruiz, whom they noticed had put his Crocs shoes into “sport mode” in futile preparation to flee.

The Florida Department of Health in Collier County advises caution due to the presence of red tide near Vanderbilt Beach found in water samples taken this week.Meanwhile, a similar caution has been lifted at Bowman's Beach in Lee County.

The Lee Board of County Commissioners Tuesday voted to award a $1.8 million contract for a a Regional Alternative Source Water Study in east Lee County and Lehigh Acres and a $174,334 proposal to develop a countywide wildfire protection plan.In other action, the Lee Board of County Commissioners also voted Tuesday to approve an agreement with Collaboratory to allow the county to address a series of objectives included in the $19.3 million Community Change Grant through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to tackle environmental challenges related to disaster preparedness.

The Atlanta Dream announced Monday the completion of their 2025 coaching staff, adding former FGCU head coach and player Chelsea Lyles and former FGCU assistant coach Camryn Brown as assistant coaches under former FGCU head coach and now Atlanta Head Coach Karl Smesko. Lyles and Brown join assistant coaches Brandi Poole and LaToya Sanders, who were added to the team in January.

Terrance Robert Dolan departed Naples Municipal Airport March 29 intending to fly to the Anoka County/Blaine Airport in Blaine, Minnesota, in late March. On approach he contacted the Blaine airport, reported he was inbound and repeated the airport's clearance information. According to the preliminary report just filed by the National Transportation Safety Board, that was the last transmission from Dolan. Four minutes after that last transmission the Blaine tower tried to contact Dolan and issue him a low altitude alert and again at 3 minutes, both times with no response, the NTSB report said.

Several conservation-related organizations gathered in the Everglades Sunday morning to protest a state-proposed plan to place an immigration detention facility at the former Everglades Jetport inside Big Cypress National Preserve.The proposal, made recently by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier and dubbed by him as the Alligator Alcatraz, would convert the abandoned jetport into a detention center for immigrants with criminal records.

A Fort Myers woman suffered bites to her arm and leg Sunday after wildlife officials said she had an encounter with an alligator while walking along a submerged area in the CREW Bird Rookery Swamp Trails in Collier County.The gator was later trapped and removed from the area.

A negotiated settlement in an NCAA infractions case has been made with Florida Gulf Coast University.The negotiated resolution, announced Friday, stems from an infractions case from July 2023 to May 2024 within the university's men's tennis program. The penalties levied by the NCAA against FGCU in the case include a $25,000 fine; the men's tennis program was prohibited from recruitment efforts January 6-21, 2025; the issuance of a 2-year probation; and vacation of selected team contests.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement will break ground Thursday on a new Fort Myers Regional Operations Center to be built on a site in South Lee County.A noon media briefing will announce construction of the new FMROC nearly three years after Hurricane Ian caused structural damage to the current FMROC building at Page Field.