Gulf Coast Life

Dig into the history of the Cuban sandwich with the authors of the new book “The Cuban Sandwich: A History in Layers.”

Hurricane Ian impacted nearly 5-million acres of farm and grazing land, with about 700-thousand acres receiving Category 4 force winds. According to the University of Florida’s Institute of Food & Agricultural Sciences, or IFAS, early estimates put the economic impact just to agriculture in Florida at somewhere between 786 million and 1.56 billion dollars with citrus and vegetables most affected.

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.

Jeremey Hobson has worked in public radio for more than 20 years and was a host for NPR's Here & Now for more than seven years. Now, he is launching a new live, nationwide call-in show called The Middle with the goal of elevating the voices of Americans who live in between the coasts and bringing a wider variety of voices to the public radio airwaves. He and his team are in town preparing to do the show from the WGCU studio so we talk with him about how The Middle came to be and why he believes it’s important to bring a show like this to the public radio airwaves now.

In the days and weeks after a disaster like Hurricane Ian, it’s often up to local nonprofits and mental health professionals who are volunteering their time to step in and provide support for people who have been impacted. Now, for the first time ever, Florida’s State Emergency Response Team — or SERT — is supporting a program to assemble a group of mental health professionals including therapists, counselors, and massage therapists to work directly with residents and first responders who are still in the midst of recovery work.

Naples Botanical Garden is set to reopen next Tuesday, November 1. While the garden was impacted by Hurricane Ian and did receive some flooding, its 90-acres of undeveloped native habitat held much of the water, which mitigated flooding in the cultivated gardens that guests enjoy. Their plans for the rest of the 2022-23 season remain in place, so we talk with Britt Patterson-Weber, Vice President of Education & Interpretation to get a preview.

On the morning after Hurricane Ian swept through southwest Florida a team of more than 50 people working for, or with, the Housing Authority of the City of Fort Myers went door-to-door to conduct resident wellness checks and document damage at the more than 1,400 public and subsidized units and 2,400 housing voucher residences it administers. We check in with the Housing Authority's Executive Director, Marcia Davis, to hear about the work they’ve done and what’s left to be done.

Lee County are being asked whether to change the job of superintendent of The School District of Lee County from an appointed position to an elected position. It’s been an appointed position in Lee County since 1974. The referendum was placed on the ballot for voters in Lee County after Governor Ron DeSantis signed HB 497 into law at the end of the 2022 legislative session. It had been pushed by republican members of the Lee County legislative delegation and it passed despite never being read out of committee during the House session and had no accompanying Senate bill.

In his new book, “Fort Myers Historic Hurricanes” Tom Hall offers a history of severe storms that have impacted southwest Florida dating all the way back to 1841, but he also provides a dire warning about this area’s severe risk from hurricanes and storm surge in general. It opens with a hurricane in 1841 that swept across the region making landfall near Sanibel Island and bringing 14' of storm surge to the U.S. Army fort on Punta Rassa.

Sanibel Island took a direct hit when Hurricane Ian made landfall two weeks ago. It was about 10 days before any residents were able to make it back to the island, but efforts are now underway to begin the process of removing the contents of water-soaked homes that experienced up to 12-feet of storm surge in some areas. And, the process is also underway to begin filing insurance claims. We get a glimpse into the issues around insurance that barrier island residents like those on Sanibel are facing right now with Chris Heidrick, he is Agency Principal at Heidrick & Co. Insurance on Sanibel Island.