Gulf Coast Life

The worst of hurricane season is yet to come. Our experts help you prepare.

The citrus industry in Florida has been under assault by a psyllid that has spread the greening disease through orange groves since the ’90s, decimating yields and killing businesses. Researchers are now looking at older varieties for resilience in the face of this disease.

We meet a Naples woman who has spent more than four decades as an advocate for Holocaust awareness and education. Both of Felicia Anchor’s parents were holocaust survivors, and she was born shortly after the war — one of 2,000 babies born from the end of the war until the displaced persons camp her parents were living in closed.

Last week, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced the preferred alternative for how Lake Okeechobee water releases will be managed in the future under what’s called the Lake Okeechobee Systems Operating Manual, or LOSOM. As currently designed the so-called “CC alternative” will reduce the amount that is discharged to the east down the St. Lucie River, and increase the amount of water that is sent to the west down the Caloosahatchee River. Flows south toward the Everglades would be increased.We go over the proposed release schedule, and what will happen next as the optimization process gets underway, with Tim Gysan, he is the LOSOM Project Manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

According to the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission there have been 24 fatal alligator attacks in the Sunshine State since 1973, and there are roughly seven unprovoked gator bites to humans per year in Florida, so they’re not all that common. But, when they do happen they do make the news. A bicyclist was attacked by a 9-foot gator at a park in Stuart last week, and a man searching for shark teeth in the Myakka River was bitten by a gator last month.We're joined by two wildlife experts to discuss alligators in Florida, especially during their mating season which we’re toward the end of right now.

The United States is in the midst of a COVID-19 surge and according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, its largely being driven by the Delta variant, which is responsible for about eight of every 10 new cases. More than one in five of these new cases have been diagnosed in Florida. We explore what local hospitals are experiencing and the role public policy in Florida may be playing in the current surge.

According to a December 2020 NPR/IPSOS national poll, less than half — 47% — of Americans surveyed say QAnon’s core claims are false, with 17% admitting to believing outright, and 37% saying they’re unsure.We explore this growing phenomenon, and ways to possibly overcome it, with Guy P. Harrison, he’s a journalist and author of eight books on science, skeptical, and philosophical issues. His article “How to Repair the American Mind: Solving America’s Cognitive Crisis” was published in a recent issue of Skeptical Inquirer Magazine. He’s also a self-described public advocate for science and reason.We’re also joined by Dr. Glenn Whitehouse, Associate Professor and Associate Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences at Florida Gulf Coast University.

Since the Herbert Hoover Dike was built around Lake Okeechobee more than 50 years ago water managers have worked to maintain safe water levels in the lake by sending water from the lake to the east and west coasts, and south toward the Everglades.Currently, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers conducts and regulates the releases using what’s called the Lake Okeechobee Operations Regulation Schedule, or LORS, which was put into place in 2008. Now, the Corps is planning on implementing a new set of regulations, called the Lake Okeechobee Systems Operating Manual, or LOSOM, and they announced their preferred option among a number that have been under consideration on Monday, July 19.We explore the ongoing decision-making process, and the CC alternative, with John Cassani, he is the Calusa Waterkeeper; and James Evans, Environmental Policy Director at the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation.

In order to track pollution and air quality in the Glades, a reporting team from The Palm Beach Post and ProPublica set up air sensors at people’s homes to monitor pollution on days when the state authorized cane burning and projected that the smoke would blow toward them. Health and air-quality experts say this kind of exposure does pose health risks both in the short term and over the course of the months during burn season. The interactive feature story was published on July 8.

P.L.O. Lumumba is an internationally recognized lawyer, human rights activist, pan-Africanist and public speaker who’s message focuses on African solutions to African problems. He's in the United States to visit African Embassies in Washington D.C. and other states, and the United Nations headquarters in New York City, but he began his trip with a stop at Florida Gulf Coast University arranged by the African Student Association, where he met with students and faculty, and gave a public presentation on “Education and Universal Empowerment.”We spoke with professor Lumumba about his life's work promoting pan-Africanism, the critical importance of education, and the role China is playing in Africa and how that could shape its future.