A group of Sarasota County residents and solar power advocates gathered today at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota to announce another new solar co-op . There are now more than 20 such co-ops here in the sunshine state. We’re joined by Julia Herbst, she’s a coordinator with the St. Pete Co-op, to learn more about the benefits of belonging to a solar co-op. We’re also joined by Ron Susi, who is a participant in another solar co-op that was launched earlier this year in Sarasota County.

Southwest Florida is a boaters’ paradise, with miles of canals leading to rivers and the gulf. People often move here almost entirely because of our access to the water. But, Florida leads the nation overall when it comes to boating accidents and fatalities, and southwest Florida is certainly no exception. This week is the 60th annual National Safe Boating Week . It’s when officials try to spread the word about what boaters should be doing, and paying attention to, while out on the water. We’re

They’re not yet old enough to vote, but they want to hold the state accountable for how its treated environmental issues.

By now you’ve probably heard of the giant patch of plastics floating in the Pacific Ocean, and things like micro-beads from cosmetics turning up in waterways, and the animals that inhabit them - you may even have seen reports about a plastic bag turning up in the deepest part of the ocean , the Mariana Trench. While its durability is one of things that makes plastic so useful, it’s also what’s turning out to make it so dangerous - it can take centuries for some plastic materials to degrade, and

Now that steamy summer is upon us, the kids are out of school and business has slowed down for most, people are looking to get out of dodge. Summer travel season unofficially kicks off this weekend with Memorial Day road trips. According to AAA , more than 41.5 million Americans will travel this holiday weekend, nearly five percent more than last year.

Every year the Lee County Homeless Coalition conducts what’s called a Point In Time, or TIP, census to count individuals and families who are homeless. The information they collect is given to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and helps determine what services are required to meet the needs of the county’s homeless population. This year’s count, which was conducted on January 20th, found a 68% increase in total homeless individuals, a 136% increase in total homeless households

One of Southwest Florida’s most-visited historic sites has a new leader at the helm. Mike Flanders took over as CEO of the Edison and Ford Winter Estates back in February, but he lived in two worlds for a while as he wound down his time as a member of the Fort Myers City Council . He officially gave up his seat on the council yesterday, so we thought we’d bring him and and get to know him, and see what he has planned for the estates.

We get a bit of an audio lesson from Gulf Coast Live’s director, Richard Chin Quee, who is also the interim director of programming and promotion at WGCU. Has the YANNY/LAUREL conundrum crossed your ears yet? It’s the latest version of the blue dress/gold dress phenomenon that went viral a few years back. Richard loves all things audio, and all things random and geeky, so we had him do a few experiments with some of our staff members and debrief us on what he uncovered.

The 2018 Hurricane Season officially begins on June 1st. While early forecasts predict another busy season, only time will tell. With Southwest Florida’s Hurricane Irma experience still pretty fresh in everyone’s minds, it might be a bit easier this year to get people to think seriously about preparing -- at least that’s the hope. We’re joined by meteorologist Jeff Huffman from the Florida Public Radio Emergency Network to talk about how public radio stations around the state are gearing up, and

Hurricane Irma caused major damage all across southwest Florida last year, and while many people have wrapped up their repairs, and the insurance claims that covered them, some people are still struggling to find closure. Plus, because of the massive damage caused by the storm, insurance companies are facing an increase in lawsuits against them. We’re joined by Chip Merlin , h e’s founder and president of Merlin Law Group , and he focuses on commercial & residential property insurance claim