Eileen Kelley

By the several hundreds on Sunday, people gathered outside the gates of an abandoned airport tarmac in a remote area off U.S. 41 protesting that Florida is proposing to be the next site of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center. The state is calling it the Alligator Alcatraz.

At issue is a directive from The Board of Governors to “conduct a keyword search on course descriptions and course syllabi for the following keywords: Israel, Israeli, Palestine, Palestinian, Middle East, Zionism, Zionist, Judaism, Jewish, or Jews.” The directive had made many university professors and others uncomfortable.

Environmentalists say planned communities — Kingston in eastern Lee and Bellmar in eastern Collier and both the size of small cities — could hurtle the Florida panther from the Endangered Species List to extinction.

At stake is tens of million of dollars in flood insurance discounts that policy holders have enjoyed for years.

A three-day festival will be held on the island of Palm Beach starting March 8 to highlight the achievements of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. The farmworker-driven program ensures workers know their rights, farmers adhere to them and retailers do their part as well.

Southwest Florida continues to expand east, conservationists fear the end is officially near for the Florida panther. The public has one more week to weigh in on a plan that essentially creates a city with critical panther habitat.

The cost of homeowners insurance in Florida has increased 100% over the last few years

For more than a decade the Coalition of Immokalee Workers have been trying to entice giant retailers to join the Fair Food Program. Wendy's, Publix and Kroger have been hold-outs

Sanibel Island residents are returning by road for the first time since Hurricane Ian washed out the causeway that connects it to Florida's mainland.

During Hurricane Ian, a family took their dog, Baby, outside to go to the bathroom. Baby bolted and now a neighborhood is on the lookout for her — giving a community a distraction after the storm.

Three days after Hurricane Ian ripped through the communities on Pine Island, the coast guard organized a water-borne operation to help evacuate residents because the bridge that used to connect the island to the mainland is buckled and broken. Many residents want to stay.

The extent of Hurricane Ian's damage isn't fully known yet and officials say it could take days if not longer to get a full sense. But the devastation in Florida is apparent when seen from above.