Kate Spinner

• County: Corps' plan full of muck Published 07/11/2006 at 12:10 a.m.

  A federal plan meant to reduce pollution in the Caloosahatchee River could end up doing more harm than good. Officials with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers pledged last year to come up with an ecofriendly template for doling out ...

• O2 deprived: Sea life in distress Published 07/10/2006 at 12:10 a.m.

  If gobs of dead algae and piles of dead fish persist in area waterways this summer, parts of the estuaries and even parts of the Gulf of Mexico could become lifeless, some South Florida scientists say.

• Scientists worry decaying seaweed , early red tide will suck life from Gulf, estuaries Published 07/10/2006 at 12:09 a.m.

  If gobs of dead algae and piles of dead fish persist in area waterways this summer, parts of the estuaries and even parts of the Gulf of Mexico could become lifeless, some South Florida scientists say.

• Source of brown water off Pine Island Sound baffles scientists Published 07/07/2006 at 12:25 a.m.

  A patch of water that resembles chocolate milk is lingering in Pine Island Sound and boggling scientists. “We don’t know exactly what’s going on,” said Jennifer Nelson, environmental consultant for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. “It seems like it’s ...

• Wildlife service oftentimes does oversight in the dark Published 07/06/2006 at 12:27 a.m.

  Located beside Manatee World at the warm confluence of the Caloosahatchee and Orange rivers, rows of twisted and gap-toothed docks slink into the waterway. Home to more abandoned vessels than working boats, Hansen Marine is a shadow of a marina.

• Red tide returns to choke area waters Published 07/01/2006 at 12:02 a.m.

  When Eric Davis, a captain with Extreme Fishing Charters, launched from Lovers Key State Park on Friday morning, he saw mullet, catfish and a lot of bait fish washed up dead on the boat ramp. As he cruised out of ...

• County calls up water expert Published 06/30/2006 at 12:21 a.m.

  For 18 years Kurt Harclerode has been the voice of the South Florida Water Management District. Next week, he’ll switch sides. Harclerode, 47, starts working July 6 for Lee County’s natural resources department as a water quality specialist.

• Algae makes foul return to Southwest Florida coast Published 06/28/2006 at 12:18 a.m.

  Red and green, microscopic and massive, algae of all sorts have returned to Southwest Florida. Globs of a toxic algae are fouling miles of northern Sanibel Island’s shore and traces of red tide are growing in the Gulf of Mexico ...

• Sentence for downing eagle nest: fine, probation Published 06/27/2006 at 12:01 a.m.

  A Fort Myers development supervisor who admitted to destroying an eagle nest was sentenced Monday to a year of probation, a $2,000 fine and 50 hours of community service at a wildlife rehabilitation center. William Martin Murphy, 62, who pleaded ...

• Sugar rush in 'Glades Published 06/26/2006 at 12:02 a.m.

  The northern Everglades could become this region's next energy hub. But the dormant power source isn't beneath the muck soil; it's growing on top. Where sawgrass marshes daunted explorers a century ago, sugar cane now dominates about 450,000 acres south ...

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