Gulf Coast Live

Sales of alcohol in the United States spiked sharply back in mid March. According to Nielsen , sales of alcoholic beverages rose 55% in the week ending March 21st, and there was a 243% increase in online orders. While data shows that overall alcohol sales have settled back down, and that the alcohol industry is beginning to suffer , we’re exploring how stresses caused by living under social distancing guidelines during a global pandemic might be causing some people to drink too much. And how the

Collier County beaches, particularly in and around Naples, were inundated with crowds on Saturday, leading The City of Naples to close its sandy shores at midnight on Saturday. While this was a city decision, the county will face some tough questions as some other counties are keeping their beaches closed at least until June.

The U.S. Food & Drug Administration has issued Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for an Antigen Test for the coronavirus, produced by Quidel Corporation . We talk with Dr. Sharon Isern , Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Florida Gulf Coast University and a molecular virologist to learn what makes this test different, and how it basically works.

We listen back to our pre-coronavirus pandemic session featuring music performed live in studio by guitarist Max Hatt and vocalist Edda Glass . You can hear that episode in its entirety here . Their original music truly defies genre classification, but has been described as cinematic folk, including jazz, and Bossa Nova. They garnered a Grand Prize win at the 2014 NewSong Competition at Lincoln Center in New York. They’ve performed all over the country and have appeared on both NPR and PBS.

Restaurants can now open in Florida, but only at 25% capacity in their dining rooms and with social distancing at outdoor tables. But is that number of customers an economically viable option for restaurants?

As news circulates about COVID-19 and the new coronavirus that causes it the need for well-informed media literacy might be more important now than ever before, with everything from truly fake news to simply overhyped headlines flooding our online feeds.

Another week of experiencing life with the new coronavirus has passed, and the rate of new cases in Florida has declined by about 15% versus the week before, and area hospitals are not currently being overwhelmed by new cases. Hospitals are resuming elective and urgent surgeries today.

We take a reprieve from coverage of the coronavirus pandemic to catch up with the mother and daughter team behind the podcast “ Cool Dead Women .” The podcast was created in 2018 by author, professor, editor and historian Erika Waters , Ph.D. and her daughter, Brooklyn-based filmmaker, musician and music journalist Blair Waters .

The Southwest Florida Amphibian Monitoring Network, or Frog Watch , was established in the year 2000 in order to collect long-term data on frog communities of the region. Volunteers, which include researchers, students, and members of the public walk specific routes at night during the summer listening for the sounds of frog calls, and collecting that data.

New research published in the journal Historical Archaeology confirms Mound Key in Estero Bay was the location of a Spanish fort historians have long-suspected once existed in Southwest Florida. Fort San Antón de Carlos was built in 1566 in the capital of the Calusa, who were the most powerful Native American tribe in the region.