AISLING SWIFT

Three years after a bank took over Third Street Plaza in downtown Naples, most of the storefronts remain empty — and those that signed leases know their time is limited. That’s because the new property owners are considering razing the ...

Collier and Lee counties have sued BP, Transocean and Halliburton Energy Services to recoup economic losses caused by the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

James A. Schutt has been a thorn in the side of Fiddler’s Creek Foundation for more than six years, ever since the 81-year-old resident and others created a homeowners’ blog to discuss their community north of Marco Island.

Jurors have found Homer Helter and a vendor at his Naples-area military mall not guilty Friday on all counts in a gun-dealing and conspiracy case.

A Florida appeals court has upheld a $3 million verdict a Lee Circuit Court jury awarded an Immokalee Middle School teacher whose 35-year teaching career ended when he was seriously injured in a 2008 crash.

The case: Homer Helter, 68, and a vendor, James Kassel, 61, are on trial in federal court in Fort Myers on charges of conspiring to and engaging in the dealing of firearms at a Naples-area store, Homer Helter’s Antique Mall. ...

FORT MYERS — Opening statements and testimony began today in the trial of Homer Helter in federal court.

Homer Helter’s Antique & Military Mall is known as the place to buy flags, military medals, antique guns, uniforms, photos and other military relics.

When a young manatee washed up on a Marco Island beach this week, it was the latest victim of the devastating effects of red tide hitting Southwest Florida waters.

Mesac Damas — charged with killing his wife and five children in 2009 — should go to trial in early 2014.

A saturation of golf courses in Naples may be a dream for golfers in the nation’s top golf spot, but it often can turn into a nightmare for members who quit and demand membership refunds.

Naples’ self-proclaimed title of “Golf Capital of the World” was solidified this week, when it was ranked No. 1 nationally for its abundance of golf holes.

Finding a lost iPhone, iPad, iPod, Droid or other device may seem like finders keepers, losers weepers. It's not. It's a felony. Most of those suspects whose cases went through the court system were sentenced to house arrest and probation ...

Most smartphones have built-in find-my-phone features or allow you to add them through other companies’ apps. They range from free to 99 cents or a few dollars monthly.

The widow of a mentally ill Ohio man who died after he was repeatedly pepper sprayed in the Lee County Jail has settled her wrongful death lawsuit against Sheriff Mike Scott, the jail's medical provider and several deputies and nurses.

A 23-year-old Fort Myers woman "Tased" twice last year by a Lee County deputy trainee has filed a civil rights lawsuit against Sheriff Mike Scott and the trainee, who was reprimanded for improperly using "non-deadly force."

A Bonita Springs man is suing the Collier County sheriff and a deputy, alleging his civil rights were violated when he was arrested after questioning why his 5-year-old son couldn't bring a lime green toy gun into the county fair.

City Mattress is suing a former company president, alleging his new Nirvana Sleep store stole the trademarked PranaSleep mattress idea and distinctive seven-point lotus flower symbol.

An east coast law firm lost a round Monday in its battle to have a Collier County judge disqualified from hearing its traffic cases.

Patty Gondek wanted to lose some weight and get healthier, so she joined Slender Life Health Center of Naples three years ago.

Kane, a trained service dog, can sit and stay at his owner's Marco Island condominium community.

It looked like a hole in one for a Marco Island miniature golf course that received unanimous City Council approval a year ago.

A Florida appeals court Wednesday denied a second attempt by the Seminole Tribe of Florida to quash a 2011 Hendry County ordinance that would enable FPL to build a massive power plant on 3,127 acres of panther habitat near its ...

Within two years after red-light camera tickets in 73 Florida communities began amassing fines, nearly $15 million went to trauma centers statewide and to a Miami-based program to try to help those who are paralyzed.

The Golden Gate Estates man who owns Booboo, a 125-pound grizzly bear on the loose last week, said Saturday it was handler error that enabled the cub to flee — and he will pay for the three-day search.

A state appeal court has ruled the omission of a defendant's name in one count of a two-count murder indictment couldn't have misled him because he was the only one charged in the 2-year-old's abuse and killing.

Lusk, who held the post from April 1984 to April 1987, died Dec. 28 in a Pinellas Park hospice after a fight with prostate cancer. He was 66. “He was well liked for his pragmatic style, strong intellect and sense ...

A federal judge Monday sentenced a North Naples real estate flipper convicted of tax and wire fraud to nine years in federal prison for a $3.3 million fraud on more than a dozen people from Pennsylvania and Southwest Florida.

After two days of arguments and testimony, a federal judge on Monday is expected to decide the fate of a North Naples real estate flipper convicted of wire and tax fraud involving $3.3 million in Southwest Florida real estate deals.

A North Naples real estate flipper convicted of wire and tax fraud faces anywhere from house arrest and probation to 27¼ years in a federal prison when he's sentenced today.

About a half-hour after his parent’s ginger ale New Year’s toast, Levi Charles Marais arrived at NCH Birth Place in North Naples, making him Collier County’s first baby of 2013.

A Lee County woman told jurors this month that scalding hot water spewed from a defective McDonald's cup lid and burned her breasts, permanently scarring her. It took jurors less than an hour to find McDonald's wasn't negligent and decide ...

More than two dozen senior citizens from Naples Estates mobile home park filled a Collier County courtroom last week, hoping for a Christmas gift: An end to their 14-year legal battle.

Marie and Ronald Rotunda were eating lunch at Olde Cypress golf club in North Naples one day in January 2006 — at the time a lawsuit says he was in an office more than 1,200 miles away, signing a lease-back ...

A suspended Marco Island doctor jailed last month will spend Christmas in the county jail for violating probation and a restraining order after his estranged wife walked into his home twice.

If Congress doesn't halt the impending fiscal cliff, Florida could lose up to 140,000 jobs, with the defense sector and its 82 Naples defense contractors among those hit.

Authorities are investigating the shooting of a 10-pound dog last week in a Goodland mobile home park. Hotkee, a white Shih Tzu-Chihuahua mix, underwent surgery at Big Cypress Animal Clinic after the 12:45 p.m. Wednesday shooting and survived. However, officers ...

With texting now more prevalent, junk mail has gone from the mailbox and emails to cell phones. There are 321.7 million cell phone users nationwide and 184.3 billion texts are sent monthly, according to CTIA-The Wireless Association.

Under FCC rules, texts and commercial email messages may be sent to your mobile phone if you previously agreed to receive them.

A suspended Marco Island doctor jailed for three weeks will remain behind bars after a prosecutor objected to releasing him on bond Wednesday.

When the owners of a Bonita Springs meal delivery service returned from vacation, they discovered that a trusted employee had entered their computer system, tapped into the customer list and set up a competing company in Naples.

A Marco Island doctor charged with violating probation after his estranged wife came to his house twice has been behind bars for two weeks and this week had his license suspended by the state.

A Naples man who still faces criminal fraudulent house-flipping charges in Ohio was fined $500,000 this week for housing code violations involving 15 dilapidated properties in Cleveland.

Now, The Ticket Clinic is continuing its fight against another incumbent Collier County judge who held his seat, Judge Mike Carr, asking a circuit judge to preclude Carr from hearing cases handled by Ticket Clinic lawyers.Early this year, Carr had ...

It's been two months since a North Naples businessman accused of money laundering avoided a possible return to federal prison in an alleged money-laundering scheme.

How do you protect your investment? Here are some steps to take before you put your money down.

With many stores and malls opening tonight — some Coastland stores open at midnight and the rest at 6 a.m. Friday — shoppers can get a head start whittling off the pounds by joining the crowds of early shoppers.

For years, Richard "Blinkie" Karnes of Goodland taunted his neighbors, cursed at them, antagonized children, sprayed chemicals on a senior citizen, ran over a handyman and threatened to kill neighbors with a gun or by tossing them in the canal, ...

Twenty-one-year-old Eva Chavez was tired and on painkillers after delivering her baby girl during a cesarean section less than 24 hours earlier.

It's been seven years since Collier County has seen a large methamphetamine bust that sent two Immokalee brothers to prison, one for 15 years.