Two women charged with stealing jewelry, car from mother
A woman released from the hospital after an apparent overdose has been charged with stealing her mother’s jewelry and car, pawning the jewelry and signing a check of her mother’s to give to a locksmith.
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Siblings say man fired gun in house, threatened them then took off on a bicycle
A Fort Myers transient was arrested Thursday and charged with firing a gun in a house and threatening two people – one of whom he wanted to date. He fled the scene on a bicycle.
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Dangerous intersections: U.S. 41 is accident central throughout south Lee
The Daily News reviewed crash reports from 2006 through 2008 for 22 intersections south of Daniels Parkway, determining which had the most accidents and the highest crash rates compared with traffic volume. Of about 1,400 crashes in the three-year period of the Daily News analysis, about half were rear-end collisions. Another 450 weren’t classified. Fewer than 300 were either side-swipes or angled collisions and 33 were head-on crashes.
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Bad economy? Collier commission candidates raise nearly $300,000
The five Republicans running for the two open seats on the Collier County Commission have raised a combined total of more than $297,000 for their war chests, according to a Daily News records search of each candidate’s financial records from Jan. 1, 2009, through July 27. The financial records include filing information from the most recent campaign treasurer report, due July 23. The most recent reports cover contributions and expenditures from April 1 through July 16.
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Collier School Board candidates get money from teachers, Realtors, lawyers
Their coffers might not be getting any bigger, but Collier County School Board candidates have brought in a significant amount of money for the 2010 election. Dave Carpenter, the qualifying officer for the Collier County Supervisor of Elections Office, said that while commission races are bringing in more money, School Board candidates “are trying to run on the same kind of money they did 20 years ago.”
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VIDEO: Man dead after shooting at deputy in Lehigh Acres
A man is dead after exchanging fire with a deputy who went to the home to serve a warrant.
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Lee soccer coach had two-year relationship with juvenile, reports say
A Lee County soccer coach arrested Monday on a sexual battery charge had a two year relationship with one juvenile and sent suggestive text messages to another--one of his players-- according to a pair of Lee County Sheriff's Office reports.
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POLL: Dreaming the dream: Immigrant higher-ed students hope to obtain legal status
When Argentina native Erika Grispino tells people she’s an “American,” she has to add an asterisk at the end of her sentence because of her immigration status. “It feels like I don’t belong here and I don’t belong (in Argentina) anymore. I feel insecurity,” the 21-year-old said. But if the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act, a bipartisan Senate bill known as the “DREAM Act,” passes in Congress this year, Grispino, of Naples, would be eligible to apply to change her status from temporary to permanent.
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Teen re-arrested, charge with conspiracy to solicit murder
A teenager jailed for armed robbery now faces additional charges for asking a person to kill witnesses.
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Rabid bat identified in Estero
Lee County health authorities warn residents to take caution after a rabid bat was identified in Estero.
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Dangerous intersections: How we did our analysis in Collier, south Lee
In an attempt to determine which intersections are most crash-prone, and where head-on and T-bone crashes were most likely, the Daily News began gathering crash data for more than 40 of the county’s biggest intersections from the Collier County Transportation Services Division.
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Dangerous intersections: Where you are most likely to crash in Collier County
Since last summer, the Daily News has been analyzing crash statistics and traffic volume at more than 40 of the biggest intersections in Collier County using data from 2006 through 2008, the most recent available. The goal was to determine which intersections had the highest total number of crashes, which had the highest crash rates in relation to the number of vehicles passing through, and what kind of crash is most likely at each intersection — head-on, right angle, rear-end or side-swipe.
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Dangerous intersections: A closer look at five of Collier County's worst
With an average of nearly 90,000 vehicles per day, the intersection of Airport-Pulling and Pine Ridge roads is the most heavily traveled of the intersections in the analysis. Not surprising, it also had the most crashes during that three-year span — 274. In the Daily News analysis, five of the six intersections with the highest crash totals from 2006 through 2008 were among the top 10 busiest intersections in the county. They tended to be intersections along Pine Ridge, Airport-Pulling and Livingston roads.
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POLLS: Illegal immigrants in Collier, Lee jails generate federal money for counties
When it comes to getting federal money to pay for illegal immigrants’ stay in local jails, Southwest Florida has been getting a share for years. Both Collier and Lee counties have been longtime participants in the state Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP), a U.S. Justice Department-run initiative that since 1994 has paid municipalities for identifying and reporting convicted illegal immigrants jailed in their communities.
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Do the math: It’s tax rate, budget day Thursday for Collier, Lee school boards
The numbers might be slightly different from last year, but the bottom line is Collier and Lee county taxpayers won’t see their school taxes going up this year. Both the Collier and Lee school boards will host tentative budget hearings on Thursday evening. The hearings will allow the school boards to set the tentative tax rate for the budgets, as well as approve preliminary budgets for the district in anticipation of September’s final budget adoptions.
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VIDEO: Racy texts lead to soccer coach's arrest
A Lee County Sheriff's report goes into detail about some of the racy text messages deputies say a Lee County soccer coach sent to a female player who is a minor. That former coach is now in custody on charges of lewd and lascivious battery.
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VIDEO: Police won't give tipster reward so adult store does
The tipster who helped deputies catch an accused killer got his reward, but not from Crime Stoppers. He wasn't eligible for the Crime Stoppers reward because he called the wrong number. But now he's got his $1,000.
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VIDEO: Boat crash leads to human smuggling investigation
After an early morning boat chase to elude local and federal law enforcement, a suspected illegal alien smuggler jumped ship and crashed a boat into a fishing pier near Sanibel this morning, said a spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office.
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VIDEO/PHOTOS: San Carlos Park fire destroys several office trailers
Firefighters are working to put out a structure fire off Alico Road in San Carlos Park.
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VIDEO: Lee County soccer coach charged with having sex with minor
A former Lee County soccer coach is being held without bond on charges he had sexual relations with a minor he coached.
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