Fort Myers Beach, Florida

A new drug discount card is available to all Collier County residents, courtesy of the county’s Housing and Human Services Department.
The Collier County Prescription Discount Card program does not replace private insurance but does provide discounts on drugs insurance does not cover. The card is available to anyone in the community.

The Guadalupe Center of Immokalee’s Holiday Gift Shop are in need of donations. Many children in Immokalee could face the holidays without gifts or a holiday meal. With the economy the way it is, director of client services Tricia Yeggy said, they are concerned that even the 1,100 children signed up for its gift shop will not receive much, let alone the children turned away.

Mayor’s Jewelers in the Bell Tower Shops was robbed and Lee County sheriff’s deputies are now searching for three suspects they say were involved in the robbery.

It once again resembled election season outside Marco Island City Hall this week as citizen Joe Granda handed out buttons saying “Give Steve a chance” and “I support Steve Thompson.” Granda said the buttons were made by “concerned citizens” over the weekend when Marco Islanders heard rumors of an attempted “coup” to oust City Manager Steve Thompson upon his six-month performance review by City Council.
Thompson’s first day as City Manager was May 19.

It was a big year for news in 2008, even if much of it wasn’t good.
The local housing market continued its downward spiral and foreclosures continued to climb.
Elections brought a new sheriff to Collier County and visits from vice presidential candidates Sarah Palin and Joe Biden.

The Naples Children and Education Foundation has awarded a 5,000 grant to the Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida to expand its child advocacy program in Collier County.

Florida Gulf Coast University expects to graduate 738 students during fall commencement exercises at 10 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 20 at Alico Arena.

Habitat for Humanity is extending its already helpful services by giving Habitat homeowners new jobs.

Lee County sheriff’s deputies say Mary Wendorf, 64, had a guardian angel watching over her when she hit a guardrail on Summerlin Road just north of Pine Ridge.

Count the Cape Coral utility expansion project as the latest looking for a bailout.

Fort Myers police officers found an Alzheimer’s patient who had gone missing inside the Edison Mall.

The American Football Coaches Association has selected Riverdale-grad and Alabama junior defensive lineman Terrence Cody as an All-American.

Fort Myers Police have arrested a student after making a false bomb threat.

Punta Gorda police arrested an office manager of an insurance company after she confessed to embezzling more than 0,000 from her employer since August 2007, police reports show.