Free Republic

In late 2016, federal agents showed up at the Fort Myers, Florida, homes of brothers Brian and Edward Krassenstein, seizing computers and financial records, and hauling off with “at least 20 to 30 bundles of stuff.” At the time, the story was just a notable blip on local media’s crime blotter. But in the two years since, the Krassensteins have become more than a pair of local businessmen. They’re now prominent members of the online anti-Trump “resistance.” According to the feds, they also, until recently, ran websites that propped up fraudulent online financial scams. Law-enforcement officials last year seized nearly...

Bill Clinton “rape” protesters were pushed and shoved during two Florida rallies on Tuesday. Clinton was speaking in Fort Myers, Florida Tuesday afternoon when a man wearing a “Hillary for Prison” t-shirt began shouting “rapist” as Clinton was talking. As Clinton stopped talking, the camera panned to show the protester being shoved by a Hillary supporter. He could be seen struggling to maintain his footing. Clinton urged the crowd to cheer for him. “Give this guy a hand. They have had a terrible week and he’s just gotta do this,” he said. The protester was grabbed on the arm by...

Monday, September 19, 2016: Live streaming coverage of the Donald J. Trump for President rally in Fort Myers, FL at Germain Arena. Live coverage begins at 3:00 PM ET. Population 65,724 (2065 people per square mile) Watch the LIVE stream and FULL replay of the event below: Fort Myers, FL at Germain Arena

Two people are dead and at least 13 others injured during a shooting at a Fort Myers, Florida, nightclub, according to Captain Jim Mulligan with the Fort Myers Police. Developing story - more to come

Fort Myers Police Chief Douglas Baker has been fired for the wrongful detainment in February of former University of South Florida football player Nate Allen, who now plays with the NFL’s Oakland Raiders. Fort Myers city manager (a Black man)sent a letter to the mayor Friday notifying him of Baker’s termination after Allen’s controversial arrest in February.

FORT MYERS, Fla. - An attorney is suing the city of Fort Myers for what happened in front of an abortion clinic. Were protesters breaking the law by loitering? This case focuses on what happened at the Fort Myers Women's Health Center on Broadway Avenue in Fort Myers. Plaintiffs Judith Manahan and JoAnn O'Connell, who regularly handed out anti-abortion pamphlets, were cited by a police officer for loitering and now they're suing the city. "He told them that the ordinance that he was going to cite them under was the same ordinance that the city generally uses against prostitutes," said...

Former Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska will be in Southwest Florida on Thursday for a fundraising event with Florida Senate Majority Leader Lizbeth Benacquisto, R-Fort Myers, who is running in the Republican primary to replace former U.S. Rep. Trey Radel, R-Fla., in Congress. “Excited to announce that Sarah Palin is coming to Southwest Florida this week to join me on the campaign trail,” Benacquisto announced on Monday. But tea party leaders in the district backing Curt Clawson in the primary are urging Palin to reconsider her endorsement. Jack Tymann of the Naples Tea Party, Kathy Jones of the Lee County...

A Fort Myers man was arrested for allegedly misusing the 911 system to get police to repair his broken cell phone, according to Fort Myers Police reports. Police responded Sunday evening to a home on William Street in reference to numerous 911 calls coming from a cell phone at that address. According to reports, the man was calling 911 because the phone was disconnected and he wanted police to have his cell phone turned on. The 911 operators told the man an officer was on his way, but he refused to hang up to free up the line for emergency...

Republican Congressman Connie Mack now runs dead even with incumbent Democratic Senator Bill Nelson in Florida’s 2012 U.S. Senate race. But Nelson outdistances two other potential GOP challengers, former Senator George LeMieux and businessman Mike McCalister. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Florida Voters finds Mack and Nelson earning 41% support each. Five percent (5%) like some other candidate in the race, and 12% remain undecided at this early stage. (To see survey question wording, click here.) In Rasmussen Reports’ first survey of the Florida Senate race last November, Mack, a congressman from the Fort Myers/Naples area, posted...

(English-language translation) Miami - The mayor of the western coastal city of Fort Myers, Florida fired city Administrator Scott Janke once it became known that the latter married a porn actress last year, The Miami Herald reported today. Mayor Larry Kiker convened a hasty meeting with council members at City Hall on Tuesday evening once it became known that Janke had married a porn actress in October. The Council voted 5-0 in favor of firing the city administrator. The newspaper indicated that the Adult Industry News website recently reported that Janke's wife, Anabela Mota Janke, used the screen name Jazella...

Nearly one-third of the Fort Myers, Florida police department was assigned to "body removal patrol" - that is, clearing away those who had fainted. Fully one-half of all EMT personnel in Lee, Collier and Charlotte counties were called in to resuscitate those for whom it was too much. From Southwest Regional Airport, all the way to the Harborside Events Center where HE spoke last evening, all along the route - and for three miles in each direction off his motorcade path - businesses were ordered closed, residents were ordered to leave, pets rounded up and kept out of sight, and...

Hundreds queue for tickets to Obama event in Fla. FORT MYERS -- Several dozen people set up camping chairs and blankets outside the downtown convention center in Fort Myers, two days ahead of President Barack Obama's town hall meeting Tuesday. First in line: Roy Hendrix, a formerly homeless man who showed up at 9:30 a.m. Sunday to secure his free ticket -- one of 1,500 being given away. ''I get to see the president of the United States, in my town,'' said Hendrix, 51. ``That's better than any rock concert or the World Series.'' Jodi Sasloe of Fort Myers sat...

Three years ago, the Rev. James Bing of Friendship Baptist Church asked residents in the Dunbar community an important question: “Where is the outrage?’’ Bing, pastor for 33 years in Dunbar, was fed up with drug-related, black-on-black killings and wondered why other folks didn’t feel the same way. It took me a while, but I found the outrage — even though it is one mad-as-hell man who lives in Cape Coral. “I sleep in Cape Coral,’’ says Eddie Felton, 55, outside his apartment, so there is no misconception. “I work in Dunbar.’’ Felton grew up east of the tracks, graduated...

FORT MYERS: Leaders with the city of Fort Myers and Lee County are trying to determine how much "The Great March" cost taxpayers. The city of Fort Myers attorney sent a letter to organizers on Friday stating they would be responsible for all costs involved in the event. The organizers say they shouldn't have to pay because they have a right to protest. On Friday, the Fort Myers city attorney sent a letter to Luis Ibarra, Director of the United Latin Immigrants of Florida as well as the Mexican Consulate in Miami. The letter stated, "The city is unaware if...

NORTH FORT MYERS, Fla -- An 82-year-old Lee County man said he tried to get an alligator out of his garage with a broom. John Turney says he also used the blue straw broom to kept the 4-foot reptile from biting him. The gator later went under Turney's car that was parked in the driveway and Turney sprayed it with a garden hose. The alligator finally didn't leave until three other people prodded it, forcing the reptile to go back to a lake. It had apparently spent the night in Turney's garage in North Fort Myers. Just a few days...

ALLIGATOR ALLEY DEATHS Feb. 27, 2005 `But they are with God now' Relatives in Fort Myers are grieving for four people who were found dead in a Broward County canal more than a week after family members reported them missing. BY EVAN S. BENN AND KEVIN DEUTSCH For 10 agonizing days, Gerline Sainval waited for police to call her Fort Myers home with good news about her aunt, uncle, cousin and a friend who had disappeared on their way to Lee County from Miami International Airport on Feb. 15. Instead, the call she received Friday night was devastating: Police found...

Schools in Six States Watched Closely After Baghdad Find (Drudge Report)

****FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE**** Dateline: Monday, October 20, 2003 Contact: John Grasmeier: 239-304-7535 digimake@earthlink.net Les Humble headlines SOUNDOFF’s first live Internet chat NAPLES, Florida Les Humble will be the special guest for a first-of-it’s kind local, live, real-time Internet chat. Les is willing to take questions and discuss issues including Lee Public School TV situation. The chat will take place Tuesday, October 21 at 6:30 PM. To get to the chat room go to http://www.floridasoundoff.com and hit the “CHAT ROOM” link on the left navigation bar. You do not have to be a member of the SOUNDOFF forum to participate, although...

Southwest Florida residents who used to air their grievances against local government on the radio airwaves have moved their forum to the Internet. Local talk radio used to be the forum of choice, but former listeners and some civic activists say Web sites provide a more democratic forum to express their frustrations and exchange ideas. Two Web sites launched this summer with the intent to provide local residents that forum with even greater anonymity than radio. SpeakOutSWFLA.com launched three weeks ago. (The Web address was incorrect in a story in Saturday’s paper.) FloridaSOUNDOFF.com launched in June. The online forums have...

It's not the old town square, and it's not a town hall meeting. But maybe, just maybe, it's the modern equivalent. SW Florida Sound Off is a new Web site, www.cataction.com/forum, that its supporters say is meant to offer a forum for the open exchange of ideas and information and for political debate. The site has seen 230 postings since it was launched a few weeks ago, and has 45 registered members. The site was created by the Community Action Team, a loosely knit collection of civic activists that formed in the wake of government efforts to acquire land in...