Top News | fortmyers.floridaweekly.com | Fort Myers Newspaper | News, Business, Real Estate and Arts in Fort Myers FL

Login
Florida Weekly Home
Get Email Edition
For local news delivered via email enter address here:
Profile

April 22, 2009

News

ART: on the chopping block
Many classes and 84 arts teachers may get the ax in Lee County

CATHY LOGAN, AN ART TEACHER AT CAPE Elementary school, said her classes teach children "a level of abstraction and open-mindedness that they'll be able to use for the rest of their lives." And it's something they come to school looking forward to. Full Story

Children's Home Society gives 'at-risk' families a leg up
April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month

Two-year old Adam smiled, his curly brown hair bouncing as he laughed. He alternated between toy planes and markers, playing on the living room floor. Before Adam's mother became pregnant at 37, she lived "in a different world. Full Story

Participants to raise awareness about childhood hunger

Going without anything to eat for 78 hours sounds challenging, doesn't it? Yet that is exactly what thousands of children in Lee County are faced with each weekend. In January, Community Cooperative Ministries, Inc. Full Story

NBC2 assembles 'Dream Team' for 2009 Hurricane Season

NBC2 has created the most experienced ....forecasting team ever assembled in the state of Florida. Chief Meteorologist Robert Van Winkle is certified by the National Weather Association and has been forecasting weather for more than 30 years. He has guided Southwest Florida through storms like Hurricanes Charley and Wilma. Full Story

Peanut butter collectibles rank high with collectors
KOVELS: ANTIQUES & COLLECTING

Peanut butter, everyone's favorite food, has had bad press lately, but peanut butter collectibles rank high with collectors. Peanut butter was eaten by the ancient Incas centuries ago. Peanuts later were grown in Africa, then Spain and then the American colonies. It was a commercial crop by the 1800s. Full Story

Celebrate Earth Day

Southwest Florida residents looking for things to do on Earth Day will have a number of options. The Sierra Club Calusa Group and the Happehatcheee Center will host their 8th annual Earth Day Festival from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 25, at Koreshan State Park, which will feature free kayak rides all day on the Estero River. Full Story

Edison State College has new job training program

Edison State College has introduced "Rapid Recovery," a new education initiative designed to help people adversely affected by the economy quickly retrain for in-demand jobs. "As the economic conditions began to decline thousands in the community turned to Edison State to enhance their education and to retrain for jobs," said Dr. Full Story

Somerset at the Plantation earns award

The Fort Myers Beautification Advisory Board recently presented Somerset at the Plantation, located on Treeline Avenue, with the city's Beautification Award. The award is presented to individuals or businesses that go to great lengths to make their landscape aesthetically pleasing. Full Story

Robb & Stucky to host popular filmmakers

Robb & Stucky Interiors will welcome husband and wife wildlife photographers Doug Allan and Sue Flood for an exciting presentation and exhibition at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, April 28. They will share stories from working on projects including "Planet Earth," "Blue Planet," and the soon-to-be-released Disney nature film "Earth. Full Story

Rain Barrel workshop

The Lee County Extension Master Gardeners will conduct a rain barrel workshop from 9-11 a.m. on Saturday, April 25 at Rutenberg Park, 6490 South Pointe Blvd., Fort Myers. The cost is $35 per 55-gallon recycled barrel. Call Pam at 533-7523 to register. Full Story

Fort Myers celebrates Arbor Day by planting trees

Seabreeze Palms donated four rare palm trees — Flamethrower Palm, Chambeyronia macrocarpa, a mountainous rainforest palm from New Caledonia; Footstool Palm, Livistona rotondifolia, a tropical rainforest palm from Malaysia; Maya Palm, Gaussia maya, a rainforest palm from Central America; and White Foxtail Palm, Dypsis madagascariensis, Full Story

Local farm to be featured on PBS

Troyer Brothers, Inc., a potato farm operation based in Lee County, will be featured on a new television program to air nationally on PBS stations around the country this fall. A production crew from "Food Sense" visited the farm recently to videotape harvesting operations and interview key personnel. Full Story

Be aware of new scam

"This is Craig from the church." That is how the caller starts out his conversation. He has been described as a very polite young man who says he is calling from "the church" and that they are in the middle of updating their database and need to know if you are available to meet to sign a document that allows "the church" to update your information. Full Story

Holocaust memorial upcoming

The Jewish Federation of Lee & Charlotte Counties will hold its Annual Community Memorial Sunday, April 26, at 3:30 p.m., at Temple Beth Shalom, 702 S.E. 24th Ave., Cape Coral. The keynote speaker will be Suzanne Vromen, author of "Hidden Children of the Holocaust, Belgian Nuns and Their Daring Rescue of the Young Jews from the Nazis. Full Story

Argyle's Cure fundraiser set for Sunday on Sanibel

Few people know their pets like Ella Nayor knew her Argyle. The playful, yet stoic Scottish terrier "was equal parts vinegar and sugar — mostly sugar, but he would never let anyone know that," she said of her pooch of 13 years. Full Story