The United States was founded with three branches of government which were designed to act as checks on each others’ authority, and the role of the head of the Executive Branch — the President — was intended to be that of a head of state who would be a unifying force that stayed above the partisan fray. But the role of the president has changed greatly since George Washington left office, and has evolved to become more of a party head who makes bold promises in order to gain and maintain support for their policy agenda. Our guest says this evolution has not strengthened the United States and in many ways has led to the deeply partisan divide we’re living through right now.

Model UNs are academically rigorous simulations that teach students diplomacy, international relations, and how the United Nations works. At Model UN conferences student delegates study a United Nations member country, research topics of global interest, and work to get resolutions passed on that country’s behalf. Our guest today is a past-participant who is now in her first year of medical school at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Daniela Barata Herrera was born in Cuba, and lived in Chile as a young child before her family came to the United States. She first discovered Model UN at Cape Coral High School where she graduated in 2017. She’s in town to give the Keynote address at this year’s competition so we brought her into the studio to talk.

We get a peek into a local family-owned business that’s now in its third generation. Sunshine Ace Hardware was founded in Naples by Don Wynn in the late 1950s. His grandson, Michael Wynn has been the company's President since 2005. He's also co-founder of the Resnick-Wynn Family Business Conference, which takes place on Thursday, Feb. 29 at Florida Gulf Coast University from 9am to 2pm. It will focus on how family businesses can successfully navigate the challenges they face in our modern economy, and transition from generation to generation if that’s their goal.

Hurricane Ian left an indelible mark on southwest Florida, especially our barrier islands, when it made landfall on Sept. 28, 2022 as a powerful category 4 storm with 150+-mile an hour winds and storm surge levels we hadn’t seen in this part of Florida for decades. Our guest has lived on Sanibel Island for nearly 40 years, and he writes about this area’s flora and fauna so has a keen sense of the natural world around us, particularly on the barrier islands. Charles Sobczak has published ten books, including “The Living Gulf Coast: A Nature Guide to Southwest Florida” and “Living Sanibel: A Nature Guide to Sanibel & Captiva Islands” — and he gives lectures on topics like “The Changing Face of Nature” and “The Great Florida Invasion – From Pepper to Pythons” and his newest one, which reflects on Hurricane Ian, is called “Surviving the Storms: Hurricanes, Humans & Wildlife.”

When OpenAI launched ChatGPT on Nov. 30, 2022 and made it accessible to the public for free, a new season of AI began around the world. But, what it all means for individuals, our communities, our countries, and the world remains to be seen. There will undoubtedly be benefits in many fields, but there is also great concern that such power could bring problems that we may not even be able to imagine yet, including job and industry disruptions. We get some context from Dr. Chrissann Ruehle, She is an Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning Researcher, and Strategist, and she is a Management Instructor in Florida Gulf Coast University’s Lutgert College of Business, and she is Provost Faculty Fellow for AI at FGCU.

The Philadelphia A’s were the first Major League Baseball team to spring train in Fort Myers, beginning in 1925. Over the decades were followed by teams from Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Kansas City. The Minnesota Twins arrived in 1991, and the Boston Red Sox moved their spring training operations here two years later in 1993. We dig into the City of Palm’s rich baseball history with two men who just love digging into rich baseball history. They’ll be two of the presenters at the upcoming fundraiser for the Southwest Florida Historical Society called “What it was, was baseball. An evening of Fort Myers history as told through the prism of diamonds…baseball diamonds.”

Last year was the hottest year in recorded history, both in terms of air temperatures and ocean temperatures. And it was the eighth record-breaking year in a row. And while climate scientists have been telling us for decades that as temperatures increase we’re going to see disruptions in our weather patterns — someday in 'the future' — it’s starting to feel like that future is already upon us. We’re previewing the 2024 Southwest Florida Climate Summit, hosted by the Coastal & Heartland National Estuary Partnership, which gathers experts to present the latest climate science pertaining to our region, and methods for building resiliency in our communities. It’s Wed. and Thurs., Feb. 28 and 29 at the Charlotte Harbor Event & Conference Center in Punta Gorda. The summit is free and open to anyone but pre-registration is required.

We sit down with Barbara Peterson, from the Florida Center for Government Accountability to talk about the crucial role of investigative journalism in keeping government accountable, and how exactly to do your own public records request here in Florida.

Gospel’s story begins with The Great Migration, when millions of African Americans from the rural Southern United States moved to urban areas in the North, Midwest, and West beginning in the early 20th century. But as this new style arrived on the scene, it wasn’t immediately accepted, because until this new fusion of music and message came along, most preachers and church leaders believed you didn’t SING gospel — you PREACHED it. We learn a bit about Gospel’s story from Stacey L. Holman, Series Producer and Director of the new 4-part series on PBS called Gospel.

A day-long event, created by and for LGBTQ youth, is coming up Saturday. Students in grades 6 through 12, from anywhere, are invited to attend. The event will include a concert, food, and activities, and is entirely free.