Gulf Coast Life

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.

We learn about the work being done right now by The United Way of Lee, Hendry, Glades and Okeechobee. They’re partnering with the Collaboratory in downtown Fort Myers which is raising money through the SWFL Emergency Relief Fund. To get a sense of what they’re focusing on right now, and the work they’re doing managing the 2-1-1 Crisis Helpline, we talk Jeannine Joy, President and CEO of The United Way of Lee, Hendry, Glades, and Okeechobee.We also get a first-take on Hurricane Ian’s ecological impact. Ian brought historic storm surge levels in excess of 12 feet in some places. It’s the kind of storm surge emergency managers say they’ve always feared but that we’ve never really experienced in this part of Florida.

As people who were hardest hit continue to do what they can to get through these times mental health professionals are urging people to do what they can to connect with others and be mindful of their own mental well-being.

We check in with someone from the Town of Fort Myers Beach to get a sense of what they’re facing. We get the latest on restoration work being done by LCEC. We get some information about how loans through the federal Small Business Administration work. We talk with someone from Lee Health to see how its facilities fared during the storm and what services are back up and running. And we touch base with Dr. Christopher Bernier, superintendent of the School District of Lee County.

We talk with someone from FEMA to get an update on their work in this area and what kinds of assistance people can receive from them and how to apply. We also check in with someone from UF/IFAS to get a first-look at how Ian impacted agriculture in the state. And we talk with Florida Gulf Coast University President, Dr. Mike Martin, to see how campus operations have been impacted and what the plan is for the rest of the fall semester.

Get an update on Southwest Florida power restoration efforts and hear from two attorneys about post-Ian insurance issues, including information for those who live in condo associations.

When Mexico’s president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, was elected with a wide majority in 2018 he promised to take a different approach to the war on drugs, including demilitarizing the anti-drug mission, and legalizing some drugs, like marijuana. He also said he would offer scholarships and increase educational opportunities to youth to keep them out of organized crime. While he has done some of these things to some degree, organized crime and corruption have increased in Mexico since his election. And, despite that, he remains quite popular with a roughly 60% approval rating with two years left in his one six-year term.

Ranked Choice Voting allows voters the option to rank candidates in a race in order of their preference, rather than simply selecting one candidate in the kind of system most of us are familiar with which is known as plurality voting. If a candidate receives more than half of the first choices in the first round, that candidate wins outright, just like in any other election. But, if there is no majority winner after counting the first choices, the race is decided by an instant runoff.

Ahead of National Public Lands Day we explore the importance of public lands and the need for more comprehensive environmental and climate change education for students and the general public as well as research on the impacts of climate anxiety in a conversation with Jennifer Jones, Ph.D., Director of the Center for Environment and Society at the Water School at Florida Gulf Coast University and Heather-Skaza Acosta, Ph.D., interim Director of the Whitaker Center for STEM education at FGCU.

We hear from a 97-year-old Sanibel resident, Robert Hilliard, who was in Germany in the months after it surrendered to Allied forces. While there, he witnessed first-hand the way Jews and other displaced persons were being mistreated, and made it his mission to bring this story to the U.S. public and his efforts got the attention of President Truman himself.