The opioid epidemic began making headlines years, if not decades, ago. But it’s on the rise still. The latest statistics puts the rate of fatal overdoses at one every 13 minutes in the United States, meaning, by the end of this segment, the widespread use of these drugs will have taken another life.

It’s been about a year since we last sat down to talk with Fort Myers Police Chief Derrick Diggs . He's he’s been on the job since August of 2016, having taken the helm of a police department with more than a hundred cold case homicides, a lack of trust from some parts of the community it was trying to protect, and internal issues that were later parsed out in a third party audit- which was made public upon its completion a year ago. We sit down with Chief Diggs to get an update on progress he's

The Florida Dental Association Foundation will host its fourth Florida Mission of Mercy event on March 9-10 at the Lee Civic Center in Fort Myers. During the event dentists will provide an estimated 2,000 people with relief from the pain and infection of untreated dental disease — all at no cost to the patients. Dental care will be delivered on a first-come, first-served basis from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. with no pre-registration necessary. Services provided will include cleanings, fillings,

As we head into the final week of Florida’s 2018 lawmaking session, our legislative roundtable series continues today with a series of conversations about hot-button issues, ranging from gun control to women’s reproductive rights to animal welfare.

Fashion takes center stage at the seventh annual “ Art Walks the Runway ” next week at the S idney & Berne Davis Art Center in Fort Myers. The event includes three days of music, dance performances, a contortionist, and of course, visually stunning runway shows featuring couture from both international and local designers. The event runs March 8-10 and will feature hot new designs from Vivre Couture , Marmar Halim , Diana Couture and Usama Ishtay . Local boutiques and designers will also be

We twist classical music with modern popular music for a trip to the upcoming Southwest Florida Symphony performance “ Brahms vs. Radiohead ” which will be this Saturday. This performance will combine all four movements of Brahms’s First Symphony (1887) with Radiohead’s album “OK Computer” (1997) complete with vocals. We'll talk with the composer of the symphonic mash-up, Steven Hackman, about what inspired him to combine music from different centuries, and we'll speak with Amy Ginsburg, the

Smart phones have become ubiquitous since the release of the first iPhone in 2007. They connect us to the world in ways we could hardly have dreamed of just a couple decades ago. But, they are still relatively new on the tech scene, and their potential effects on us, and our brains, are not fully understood. And today’s parents now face questions like, “is there such a thing as a ‘right time’ to give a child their own smart phone,” or just “how much screen time is appropriate” for young people?

Florida produces the majority of the nation's domestic winter strawberry crop, so we're marking National Strawberry Day with with Dr. Vance Whitaker , an associate professor of horticultural sciences at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences . Whitaker, who leads the UF/IFAS strawberry breeding program, will discuss the breeding program's long history, and the role strawberries play in the state’s agriculture industry.

We sit down with the Brian Colando, and Lisa Pavy Colando, the publisher and editor-in-chief of Revive , a new Naples-based magazine that covers the world of medical cannabis. The monthly publication features everything from long-form pieces on the history of cannabis and the laws that regulate it, to recipes and product reviews.

As we enter the eighth week of Florida’s annual legislative session, state and federal lawmakers are under pressure to address school shootings after the Valentine’s Day mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that killed 17 people. Survivors of the shooting traveled to Tallahassee last week to speak directly with state lawmakers and to participate in a rally demanding safe schools and an end to gun violence. Days later, Florida House and Senate leaders outlined a $400 to $500