ERIC STAATS

East Naples landowner Jose Baltazar says the penalty doesn’t fit the environmental crime and he’s taking on Florida to prove it.

Lionfish have a new nemesis in the waters off Collier County.

Rumblings of concern about running dump trucks through coastal neighborhoods to haul sand to Collier County’s beaches rather than dredging it from offshore got a bit louder Monday.

Clam Bay’s tidal creeks and bays meander for some three miles through a mangrove forest tucked away along the North Naples coastline.

The Naples City Council sunk plans Wednesday to build an island of wildlife habitat on Naples Bay after pushing the idea for years.

A sand storm is brewing across the Naples city line in Collier County as the county lays the groundwork for a major beach renourishment project this year.

Nick Lemke couldn’t believe his eyes when he dove into the waters of Gullivan Bay to check out the fruits of his aquaculture labors this year.

A search for an ATV riding spot in Collier County has hit a dead end. The Collier County citizens committee hunting for land for an off-roaders’ park plans to suggest to county commissioners todaythat they give up the search in ...

After the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the northern Gulf of Mexico in April 2010, Southwest Florida watched and waited to see whether winds and waves would bring the disaster to its shores.

Using reclaimed water to keep Naples lawns lush and gardens green could be coming with unintended — and eco-unfriendly — consequences.

The long-awaited environmental permit to reopen sand-clogged Clam Pass in North Naples could shake loose in the next two weeks, a consultant working on the job said.

Dead fish are washing ashore on Naples beaches this week as red tide continues to hang on offshore of Collier County, beach monitors reported Wednesday.

Manatees can be such carbon copies of one another that often the easiest way to tell them apart is by the pattern of boat propeller scars across their backs.

Heading into the final weekend of the state's Python Challenge, just 50 of the nonnative, nonvenomous constrictors had been wrestled out of the marshes and hammocks of the Everglades and Big Cypress swamp.

A push to raise Collier County's tourist tax might reach the end of the road next week just days after it passed its first milestone.

A one percentage point increase in Collier County's tourist tax got the backing of the Naples City Council by a one-vote margin Wednesday, but it's not a done deal.

Naples City Council reached a narrow consensus this morning to support raising the county tourist tax on hotel stays and short-term rentals to 5 percent from 4 percent.

A Collier County civic group is revving up a push this week to increase the county's tourist tax, an issue that has ignited controversy in the past about how the county pays for beach projects and markets itself to visitors.

Warren Geffre kneels in grass on the side of a trail and holds a disposable lighter to the end of a neatly tied bunch of sage until it starts to smolder. His teenage son watches.

Paperwork could be filed by week's end to get a fast-track environmental permit to dredge a closed North Naples inlet following a vote Tuesday by Collier County commissioners.

Smells and mangrove forests often go together — naturally. The chemical functions of a mangrove forest can produet a rotten egg smell, and the bodily functions of roosting pelicans can be odorous.

When the mangroves in Clam Bay began turning brown below the high-rise condominiums of Pelican Bay some 20 years ago, the neighborhood sounded an alarm that still echoes today.

Florida sounded the starting gun Saturday for hundreds of python hunters to venture into the Everglades for a first-of-its-kind quest to round up the non-native scourge to the South Florida environment.

Habitat for U.S. populations of loggerhead sea turtles needs better protections, and the Obama administration isn't getting the job done, conservation groups charged in a lawsuit filed Tuesday.

A citizen shovel brigade might have weeks of work ahead before a stymied dredging permit is issued to try to reopen Clam Pass in North Naples, a Collier County consultant said Wednesday.

Clam Pass is pinching itself off, blocking boating access for a North Naples neighborhood and lending new urgency to efforts to get permits to dredge the key waterway.

Fifth Avenue South clothing shop owner Dianne Gunterman had planned to spend Christmas afternoon poolside until she talked with the owner of Cafe Luna across the street.

Uncertainty about the U.S. government going over the so-called fiscal cliff could end up being just a bump in the road for Southwest Florida charities that rely heavily on philanthropy.

A financial disclosure form filed with the U.S. House the day after freshman Congressman Trey Radel was elected Nov. 6 paints an entirely different picture of Radel's assets than had been publicly known during the campaign.

Collier County commissioners voted unanimously Wednesday to shelve plans to build a new Interstate 75 interchange at Everglades Boulevard in rural eastern Collier County until at least 2021.

Florida is turning to cold hard cash to lure adventure seekers into the Everglades to bag a Burmese python, the state's slithering non-native enemy No. 1.

Catching a gag grouper off Southwest Florida is getting more common, charter boat captains say, but they want more time to bring more of the tasty fish to the dinner table.

Every employee at Naples-based biotechnology firm Kirax has a color photo of the company's rendering of a future high-rise headquarters taped to their office door.

Florida wildlife researchers are trying to get to the bottom of what killed clusters of catfish in waters around Marco Island last week.

Southwest Florida can breathe a collective sigh of relief: Hurricane season ends today. Of the 19 storms that swirled across the Atlantic or surged up from the Caribbean, only Tropical Storm Debby in June and Tropical Storm Isaac in August ...

Newt and Callista Gingrich's book-signing tour swung through Naples on Sunday and might one day again morph into another turn down the campaign trail.

A Collier County road project facing ongoing resistance from state and federal reviewers and environmental groups could lose its spot on the county's list of funded priorities.

Collier County is crawling with more companies running taxi, limousine and shuttle services, with the number of licensed operators at a five-year high, county figures show.

An endangered Florida panther lying dead on the side of the road after getting hit by a car or truck can be a grisly sight.

A lawyer argues in a new court brief that the city of Naples' bid to keep slow-speed zones on Naples Bay faces another hurdle.

Brian Cross didn't raise one dime, mail one campaign flier or plant one yard sign in his bid to become an East Naples fire commissioner, but he still won a seat on the East Naples Fire and Rescue District.

When customers walk up to the seafood counter at Randy's Fish Market, they are looking for more than just dinner. Often they are looking for answers.

A renewed push for habitat protections for Florida's sea turtles is putting the ancient creatures on a crash course with fishermen and beach restoration advocates.

Thousands of early voters waited in long lines Saturday across Southwest Florida for their last chance to go to the polls early before Election Day.

Collier County commissioners turned down an invitation Tuesday for a spot at the table with other Florida counties to guide how settlement money from the BP oil spill is spent in the Sunshine State.

The line of sailors was long when Ray Dearborn called his wife, Helen, from the only pay phone on a Norfolk, Va., pier to tell her he wouldn't be coming home that night in October 1962: The USS Hoist had ...

A red tide has worsened this week along Collier County beaches and could pack a punch into the weekend, pollution monitors reported Friday.

Suspended slow-speed zones on Naples Bay might have more than a court appeal to beat before they can go back into effect.

As BP and the Justice Department haggle over the size of the fine the oil giant will pay for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, the wheels already are turning in Southwest Florida to get a piece of it.

Satellite images show a 15-mile-wide swath of water with elevated levels of chlorophyll, a possible indication of a red tide bloom, centered offshore of Charlotte Harbor. It stretches from inshore Sarasota County to some 40 miles offshore of northern Collier ...