KELLY FARRELL

When it comes to bikes, being off the chain is not a good situation, as the Naples-based bicycle company handling a large recall is finding out.

City of Naples officials and the Naples police union reached a tentative agreement Thursday to offer 2 percent raises next year to all but top wage earners and a chance for officers to earn benefits under the state’s Deferred Retirement ...

It was a close call for "Gatorman Mike" as City Council nearly voted Wednesday morning against his plan to sell photographs of tourists hugging alligators in Tin City.

Council voted to increase the tax rate from the current $1.89 per $1,000 of taxable property value to about $1.96 per $1,000 of taxable property value — or 1.9592 mils — for Fiscal 2012. The vote comes with a simultaneous ...

Vincent Castellano, 54, approached the Marco Island City Council in April requesting at least one crossing signal that has a ringing bell or other audible signal, along with the existing lit sign, to help him safely cross the street on ...

Settling on a final tax rate appears to be a taxing proposition for the Marco Island City Council, as several options remain on the table for Monday’s final budget hearing. Despite some difficulty in agreeing on the best approach, council ...

Marco Island is on track to increase its tax rate — however, that may change come Wednesday night as City Council reviews the budget. Council Vice Chairman Larry Magel recommended a nearly 10 percent increase when the council in August ...

A Marco Island convention center that was proposed to the city planning board more than a year ago remains a topic of interest and conversation, with some involved saying the sun hasn’t set on the idea. City leaders and Marco ...

Property owners along the street were pleased about the idea that has been in the works for years until they walked outside to see as much as half of the front lawn gone.

Negotiations continued between the Naples firefighters' union and the city without much headway on Wednesday.

The city’s proposal would increase working hours for a disproportionate 3 percent increase in pay, decrease pension benefits and increase health insurance costs by as much as three times what some employees pay now.

The City Council discussed last week whether to use financial reserves or take out a loan to come up with the rest of the money to pay for the estimated $8.8 million replacement of the bridge on Collier Boulevard. Borrowing ...

The suspect in Saturday’s armed robbery of a GNC store didn’t look like he took vitamins, says the man he threatened with a gun.

Naples officials and business leaders lauded hotel owner Phil McCabe for redeveloping his property on Fifth Avenue South at a time when many people are letting talks of a gloomy economy scare them from making investments.

About 100 people packed into the Marco Island community room to let City Council know Monday night whether they preferred to have residents or vacant property owners bear more of the burden of anticipated utility cost increases.

“We’re losing them at 1,000 (deaths) a day,” Bolin said. “The reality — boom — it’s hitting us. When things get bad, we all get reflective. Where the country is today, we need to draw upon their strength.”

City Council initially approved the vacant lots assessments on July 18. If given final approval Monday, they will appear on the 2012 property tax bills sent out by Collier County officials in November. The water assessments and sewer assessments, which ...

Kjell Pettersen, one of the men most instrumental in establishing and growing the city of Marco Island died Wednesday morning.

Mike Sturgill's request for a conditional use permit to offer tourists gator hugs and $5 photographs with alligators at a shop in Tin City was approved Wednesday morning by the Naples Planning Advisory Board, in a 5-1 vote, with board ...

There is nothing in city code that says "Gatorman" Mike Sturgill can’t offer alligator hugs. In fact, Naples City Planner Adam Benigni said there is nothing in the city code of ordinances that addresses animal exhibits at all.

Marco Island's hunt for a new chief of police didn't take long as former Collier County Sheriff Don Hunter officially took the reigns of the department on Monday morning. Hunter was the only man that City Manager Jim Riviere said ...

A man fell to his death Saturday night while trimming trees in North Naples.

Thom Carr is neither jumping for joy nor sighing with fears of an impending boredom following his retirement Friday as Marco Island police chief. The former military man has his mind on the Florida retirement classics — golf and boating.

Rev. Stan Strycharz remains on paid administrative leave from St. Leo Catholic Church after Dewane of the Diocese of Venice released results of an audit in a letter to parishioners handed out at mass over the weekend.

“Our client (Strycharz) denies the accusations, and we intend to file a significant civil lawsuit against the Bishop in the near future,” Edward K. Cheffy, an attorney representing Strycharz, wrote in an email to the Daily News.

The year-long internal investigation into the suspected misdeeds of the popular priest at St. Leo Catholic Church in Bonita Springs is coming to a close. Southwest Florida Bishop Frank J. Dewane placed Rev. Stan Strycharz on administrative leave in late ...

City Manager James Riviere and City Attorney Burt Saunders responded that the records either did not exist or were in draft form and could not be provided as such.

Rony Joel was a frequent target of public criticism during the six years he worked for the city of Marco Island. He left with what many described as a golden parachute. Joel was hired this summer for a job with ...

Former Collier County Sheriff Don Hunter has been named police chief on Marco Island.

The private school has a short window of time to construct the $1.5 million, 12,500 square foot high school before classes begin on Aug. 23.

The charter boat captain who struck a swimmer at Vanderbilt Beach in February is facing charges of reckless and careless operation of his boat, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials reported Tuesday.

The early start up at Parkside Elementary School is part of a pilot program seeking to prevent much of what Principal Jan Messer calls the “summer slide,” or failure to retain much of what the students learned the previous school ...

Investigation Discovery is featuring the Naples slaying of Margaret Hitchcock Benson and Scott Benson on its new series “Behind Mansion Walls.” The national TV show is to serve up Monday night, just days after the 26th anniversary of the notorious ...

A man covered head to toe in clothing ran off with cash from two Collier County pharmacies Sunday morning, sheriff's officials say.

“I had been thinking about it and originally thought about going another year, but been looking at it closer lately,” Carr said. “I’m in my 38th year of law enforcement and enough is enough.”

Sometime in those first days of employment at East Lee County High School, German, 36, began making inappropriate sexual comments to Hamilton, according to the lawsuit filed against German, the district and then-school security specialist, Rufus Thomas.

People seem to love to hate Yung Funk, a 14-year-old North Naples Middle School student whose rap songs are drawing attention on YouTube. “One thing is for sure, I hate those dirty haters,” declares Yung Funk, whose real name is ...

The Lee County School Board approved a $1.56 million agreement with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday night that will have sheriff’s deputies replacing Fort Myers and Cape Coral police officers at city schools.

The Judge S.S. Jolley Bridge has a twin. It’s not quite identical and wasn’t “born,” or constructed, on the same date, but next to the old Jolley Bridge is now another Jolley Bridge. Drivers will be able to use Marco ...

A celebration dubbed Celebrate the Little Things held for about 100 Collier County graduates united by their Haitian heritage and their faith was attended by people who had already accomplished great things—with modesty.

Lee County deputies arrested William Cleary, 60, of Fort Myers, on a first degree felony charge for grand theft over $100,000 shortly before noon. Cleary is accused of embezzling more than $350,000 from Garulay‘s Ambassador Auto Sales on Davis Boulevard ...

When it comes to alcohol and high school graduation, state and local officials are making it clear that it’s best to just keep a lid on it. Some parents host graduation parties where alcohol is provided, thinking they can better ...

More than three months after an armed robbery at Thalheimer’s Jewelers in Naples turned into a shootout, investigators are saying they believe the heist was the work of a South American crime ring.

Students at Naples High School on Monday morning got behind the wheel of a regular car rigged with a high-tech simulator to see how their driving is affected while they receive and send text messages.

Mack’s One Percent Spending Reduction Act of 2011, released May 11, calls for cutting federal spending by one penny out of every federal dollar spent.

The 2011 Ave Maria School of Law graduating class is the last of its kind—the 90 students are the last who began at a campus in the bustling college town of Ann Arbor, Mich., and then completed their degrees in ...

A teenage boy nearly drowned behind Doc’s Beach House Restaurant at Bonita Beach this afternoon. It was about 1 p.m. when people at the beach were screaming that a boy was floating in the water.

Hundreds of firefighters used about any means possible in a two-week battle against nature within the 729,000-acre Big Cypress National Preserve.

Goodland Park Boat Ramp opened last year with a few hitches — primarily a boat launch that caused boats and trailers to get snagged on the concrete ramp during low tide. Soon, it should be free-sailing for boaters because Collier ...

A three-vehicle crash in Golden Gate Estates on Thursday morning had officials initially saying it appeared to possibly involve fatal force. However, all three drivers survived with serious or critical injuries as of Sunday, officials reported.