United States
Communications Specialist, WGCU Public Media, the PBS/NPR affiliate in Southwest Florida.
Adjunct professor in Journalism at Florida Gulf Coast University. Spring 2023: News Editing
Former Editor of Expressions magazine for WGCU Public Media (until magazine sunset).
Freelance writer specializing in travel and personality profiles; public relations professional.
Journalist with weekly and daily newspaper experience including at the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Times-Picayune of New Orleans, and most recently The News-Press in Fort Myers, Fla.
Mental health and addiction recovery advocate, speaker and writer.
The age-old expression "bury the hatchet" has always meant to end a quarrel or make peace with an enemy. Bury the hatchet (or small axe) has now taken on new meaning as axe-throwing venues open in Southwest Florida. Its beginnings as a recreational activity had a humorous start.
Most people are taughtto look at an issue from all sides. It's clear that in her career choices, Jennifer Hecker took that to heart. Now executive director of the Charlotte Harbor National Estuary Program, Hecker has been involved in the environmental field from all angles.
Lucia Sherman didn't know Harley-Davidson from Hot Wheels when she answered an ad for a job as executive assistant to Scott Fischer seven years ago. But she knew he was CEO of Scott Fischer Enterprises and that's why she showed up shaken, despite being dressed in a "red power suit."
Andre Fuad Degas, a noted playwright and director who has worked with PBS, HBO and CBS News, had known his Bonita Springs neighbors - Navy Veteran Robert Vandegrift and his wife, Anita - for a decade before the pandemic struck. The disease changed social circles everywhere, including the community of Spanish Wells.
Yuletide's the rule in this little Michigan town
A fairly quiet homegrown crowd of about 125 gathered in a tent replacing the damaged Fort Myers Beach town hall Friday evening as representatives from city government and fire department, FEMA, SBA and others fielded questions about Hurricane Ian recovery efforts.
Not long ago, Bernabella Gonzalez, her husband and their children were living in a dilapidated 8-foot-wide trailer with holes in the floor and ceiling. After a tree fell on the building in which her sister-in-law's family lived, the already overcrowded population in the tiny trailer swelled. Ten people slept side by side.
Getting residents who want to leave off the island and getting people still on the island access to food and water are the priorities early Tuesday afternoon at Fort Myers Beach.
They come from different schools and different neighborhoods, and for the most part, have different friends. But the industrial-strength glue that binds a team of local high school students is a love of robotics. They are the team called Java the Hutts: Dhruva Sharma, Cayden Keene and Kyle Keene of Fort Myers High School, Robbie Stewart and Quin Konicek of [...]
Is 70 the new 50? Certainly not, concludes septuagenarian Michael V. Martin, in his second year as Florida Gulf Coast University president. And that's a good thing.
Travel enticement based on Randy Wayne White's novel, "Mangrove Lightning"
Marketing flyer for Summer Meetup for Progressive Women
A visit to a sanctuary for chimpanzees and orangutans
Sponge diving caused a Greek migration to U.S. shores
A search for youth in the country's oldest city
Fossilized choppers prove hard to find
Marketing flyer for Toast to Tenacity celebration of women's suffrage
Local content related to national PBS offerings
One of Mark Loren's numerous donations to local charity events has been "A Day with the Jeweler" in the workroom of his Fort Myers gallery. Winning bidders later enter a cathedral of quirk that must surprise them, not to mention the jewelry art lions whose accolades have made him an industry celebrity.
To cancer patients, "metastasis" is a very bad word. To cancer businesses, metastasis is essential to survival. Mounting costs of practice and uneven insurance reimbursement rates mean that small cancer practices have had to grow and spread with the aggressiveness of the errant cells they treat-or, conversely, risk obliteration.
First Seminole Church of Immokalee is Not for Native Americans Only
As medicine and its demands on professionals change, Florida SouthWestern State College is positioning itself as a leader in health careers.
"Street Chicks" reach out with mentoring, TV program, books and more to keep kids safe.
Cottage industry: Millennials stage music on Florida porch
Feature story and first-person column
Vegetables and fruits are showing up in some surprising colors.
War games in the woods are Christian outreach to teens
Young filmmakers win top prize at inaugural Bonita Springs festival
Future Bonita Springs high school looking for a site As the Lee County School District mulls over the selection of a site for a new high school in South Lee County to relieve overcrowding and plan for enrollment growth, a few things are fairly certain: * It will be in Bonita Springs, not Estero.
Essays