LEE COUNTY

Nearly 14 years after a Lee County girl was catastrophically injured when she was hit by a truck, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday said Florida’s Medicaid program can recoup a chunk of the money it paid for her initial care.

Nearly 14 years after a Lee County girl was catastrophically injured when she was hit by a truck, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday said Florida’s Medicaid program can recoup a chunk of the money it paid for her initial care.

Officials have identified a man believed to have been killed by an alligator while searching for frisbees at a lake in the Tampa Bay area.

A possible alligator attack was responsible for the death of a 47-year-old man in the Tampa Bay area Tuesday, according to police.

Three endangered Florida panthers have died after being struck by vehicles over the past week.

De’mari Jackson’s loved ones are remembering him as a hero.

A Florida man is accused of using his cellphone to take photos and videos of young girls while they were changing clothes in store dressing rooms.

Lee County Sheriff's deputies rescued an injured baby deer in Fort Myers.

The news is spreading on Twitter. People are simply in disbelief. “My heart breaks for my brother,” said one tweet. It was just one of many from people who know Lazaro Arribas. Another tweet expressed the love for a man who is known as the “ultimate University of Miami fan.”

The Iowa Supreme Court on Friday rejected a Black man's argument that he was denied his right to an impartial jury because of a flawed process that excluded Black people and resulted in only white jurors. It is the second time the state’s high court heard an appeal from Kenneth Lee Lilly, who was convicted for helping a relative rob a southeast Iowa bank in 2016. Lilly alleged that his right to an impartial jury under both the U.S. and Iowa constitutions was violated because neither his jury nor the group from which his jury was selected contained any Black people.

Cape Coral police officers arrested a man at a Waffle House on Wednesday after they received calls about a disturbance.

An EF2 tornado with estimated wind speeds of 118 mph touched down in Fort Myers.

Severe weather ahead of a cold front caused damage and prompted tornado warnings in parts of Lee and Collier counties Sunday morning.

A South Florida man is facing battery charges for allegedly biting the top off a hospital security guard’s finger, after deputies say he became combative with hospital staff.

Authorities are asking the public for help finding a 2-month-old baby boy who vanished about a week ago from North Fort Myers.

A roundup of news from across the nation.

Two middle school students have been charged with plotting a Columbine-style attack in Lee County, Fla. Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno said a 14-year-old and 13-year-old from Harns Marsh Middle School are currently in custody after they were arrested and charged on Thursday with conspiracy to commit a mass shooting. The boys were later identified as Philip Byrd and Conner Pruett. “These ...

Residents of a Fort Myers neighborhood have found a new approach, when it comes to complaining about persistent potholes in their area.

A school board meeting in one Florida community turned physical this week, with protestors for and against a mask mandate pushing, shoving, and fighting one another.

‘There will be no virtual instruction during the closure’ of this Kentucky school district.

The driver was not wearing a seat belt and was ejected from the pickup truck when it hit a ditch, according to South Carolina Highway Patrol.

A teenage boy has gone missing in Fort Myers, Florida.

There are signs of Democratic fatigue in Iowa, a state viewed for decades as a true political battleground.

Democrats lost last year's election for Iowa's 2nd Congressional District by the narrowest margin in a House race in almost 40 years. After the six-vote heartbreaker, some expected Democrat Rita Hart to immediately declare a rematch in the southeast district long held by her party. “I kind of think we're past the point of no return,” said Rich Taylor, a former Democratic state senator who lost last year after eight years representing economically struggling Lee County, which hugs the Mississippi River in the state's southeast corner.

A 34-year old man accused of raping two children in Washington state in January was arrested this week on a boat on which he was living in Lee County, Florida.

An 1,100-pound manatee has been returned to the wild after a Florida zoo helped it recover from eating toxic red algae. Lee County sheriff’s officers helped return the manatee, nicknamed Darling, to the water on May 12, and released video of the event. The manatee was rescued by the sheriff’s office marine unit on Feb. 13 after it became trapped in mangroves and needed treatment for its red tide illness. Once Darling was healthy enough to go back to the wild, sheriff’s deputies partnered with officers from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, biologists and volunteers to release it. The video shows the manatee swimming away as rescuers cheered.

U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers said he will seek money to check ways to protect Beattyville.

Six Boykin spaniels lead a search for ornate box turtles May 6, 2021, at the Nachusa Grasslands in Lee County. A team of researchers and veterinary students from the University of Illinois Wildlife Epidemiology Laboratory located and performed health assessments in the field on the threatened turtles.

An endangered Florida panther has died after being struck by a vehicle.

FORT MYERS, Fla. – An endangered Florida panther has died after being struck by a vehicle. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says it’s the fourth panther death attributed to fatal collisions, out of six total deaths this year. Wildlife officials say the remains of the 7-year-old female panther were found Saturday in Lee County on a rural road near Wild Turkey Strand Preserve. Florida panthers once roamed the entire Southeast, but now their habitat mostly is confined to a small region of Florida along the Gulf of Mexico. Up to 230 Florida panthers remain in the wild.

FORT MYERS, Fla. – An endangered Florida panther has died after being struck by a vehicle. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says it’s the third panther death attributed to fatal collisions, out of four total deaths this year. Wildlife officials say the remains of the 2-year-old male panther were found Thursday in Lee County on a rural road near Wild Turkey Strand Preserve. Florida panthers once roamed the entire Southeast, but now their habitat mostly is confined to a small region of Florida along the Gulf of Mexico. Up to 230 Florida panthers remain in the wild.

Here are Florida's key coronavirus data as reported by the state, including new cases, death, hospitalizations and the progress of vaccine distribution.

ESTERO, Fla. – A heroic rescue was captured on video after an Estero retiree volunteered to have cameras put in his backyard. What the Florida Wildlife Federation and the fStop Foundation didn’t expect to capture from the video project, called Sharing the Landscape, was Richard Wilbanks prying his 3-month-old puppy from the jaws of an alligator. Wilbanks, 74, said he was out walking the Cavalier King Charles spaniel by the pond near the back of his house. The owner jumped into action and into the water to grab the puppy. The idea of the video project involves residents who live in areas that border wild habitat in Lee County.

The Florida Department of Health announced late Friday that two residents have died in the coronavirus outbreak. One person was a new presumptive positive case in Lee County, the department said. The other person was a previously announced presumptive positive case from Santa Rosa County. A person is marked as a "presumptive positive" case when a state lab receives a positive test result without confirmation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. According to the state's health department, there have been 11 positive new coronavirus cases in the state as of Friday 9:57 p.m.

The Health Department also announced Friday night that two Floridians with COVID-19 have died: A previously announced patient in Santa Rosa County who had taken an international trip and a person in their 70s from Lee County who tested positive for the virus following an international trip.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The first two Florida COVID-19 patients to die were from Santa Rosa and Lee counties, the Florida Department of Health announced on Friday night. State public health officials reported the Lee County patient who died was a presumptive positive case. Officials also announced the first two presumptive positive COVID-19 cases in South Florida are in Broward County. As of Saturday morning, there are 278 people “currently being monitored” for COVID-19 symptoms in Florida, according to the Florida Department of Health. Florida public health officials are also reporting 12 positive cases: Six are Florida residents, 5 are Florida cases repatriated and one is a non-Florida resident.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Florida Department of Health announced on Friday night there are two presumptive positive cases of the coronavirus in Broward County and two COVID-19 patients who died in Lee and Santa Rosa counties. The two Broward County patients are in isolation, authorities said. Broward County authorities ask residents not to 'overreact' to COVID-19 fearsOn Friday afternoon, Broward County authorities met at the area’s emergency center to ask the public not to panic or overreact as officials are prepared for the threat. Florida public health officials are also reporting 12 positive cases: Six are Florida residents, 5 are Florida cases repatriated and one is a non-Florida resident. For more information about the cases, the Florida Department of Health’s COVID-19 call center is available 24-hours a day at 1-866-779-6121.

The man who had been held at gunpoint saw deputies searching for the robbers with flashlights in the backyard and ran to the broken window to tell them where the men were. Then, according to the News-Press, the man heard a blast from a gun. One of the suspects had been shot.

Family and attorneys of local boy say he was wrongfully arrested. A Lee County Sheriff's Office report says just after 11PM on July 26th, they responded to a call from a Bluebird Taxi driver. His family and attorneys exclusively providing FOX 4 with screenshots of the home surveillance video. We reached out to the Lee County Sheriff's Office. Levaris' attorneys say they're seeking civil action against Bluebird Taxi and the Lee County Sheriff's Office.