Sanibel/Captiva President John Lai says there are now 26 restaurants open on Sanibel and the island could use a little help getting local residents over to Sanibel to spend some money and bring those restaurants back to life. The Lee County Board of Commissioners agreed.

Local Real Estate agent Jorge Barrera has put together a list of properties sold, under contract and currently for sale on Fort Myers Beach since September 28, 2022. The information comes from the Southwest Florida Multi Listing Services.

Dan Myers and his family own four residential properties and one commercial lot on Fort Myers Beach. Myers has pitched a plan to the Fort Myers Beach Town Council for a "merchant plaza" at his commercial location across from Town Hall at 2500 Estero Boulevard.

According to Turtle Time as of this week, there are still 69 turtle nests on Fort Myers Beach (same as last week) and there have been 202 False crawls (same as last week) crawls. 32 nests have now hatched (up from 24 last week) on Fort Myers Beach.

The Fort Myers Beach Chamber of Commerce August membership lunch is being held at Mango Rita's (16440 South Tamiami Trail) on August 10th at 11:30. The lunch is sponsored by FMB Strong.

NBCUniversal Local’s nationwide pet adoption and donation campaign, Clear The Shelters, will return for its ninth consecutive year from Aug. 1 to 31. Lee County Domestic Animal Services, NBC, and Telemundo are partnering to promote pet adoption.

While the kids on the beach wait for their school to be repaired and reopened, they are gearing up for another school year. This past Saturday at The Liki Tiki beach kids picked up backpacks and supplies which were donated by the community.

Wildlife walks at the Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife on Sanibel are the best opportunity for visitors to get an in-depth look at the inner workings of the hospital and the treatment process.

Preorders of Winter Break at the Beach are now being taken. Author Abigail Griebelbauer says her new children's book is based in Fort Myers. 10% of the proceeds from the book are being donated to the Fort Myers Beach Community Foundation.

Fort Myers Beach property owners on the gulf side of the island have until Monday to sign an easement giving the town temporary permission to place sand on their property to help with the town's big beach renourishment project.

Despite losing approximately $6 million from its budget due to lowered property values from Hurricane Ian, the Fort Myers Beach Fire District Board voted to keep the 2023-2024 millage rate at $2.9851 per $1,000 of assessed property value.

It's going to be a tough year for every taxing district on Fort Myers Beach. However, so far, three out of those four taxing districts also realize how tough it is on residents trying to rebuild their homes and will not be raising taxes.