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Greater Fort Myers on the rebound & ready for visitors

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:30:37 GMT

On the second floor of Sanibel Island’s famed Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum (www.shellmuseum.org), just a few feet above where Hurricane Ian swept through and ripped away their aquariums, gift shop and more this past September, there’s a photography show featuring scenes people took of the hurricane’s effects on the area.One shot of three White Pelicans rising up from the aftermath struck me. I told museum Director Sam Ankerson so and he said, “Yes. It just looks like hope, doesn’t it? We’re getting more and more submissions that move past the destruction and focus on the hope.”After touring the Greater Fort Myers beach region recently I left with, yes, shock over just how destructive that storm was and how much still needs to be done; but more so with the sense of a community acting with a  passion to rise again.Which made this Blizzard of 78 survivor who has strong, strong feelings about “lookie-loo” tourists visiting devastated spots to think anew. Because while Gre...

Ben Affleck goes to the source – Michael Jordan – to make ‘Air’

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:30:37 GMT

Ben Affleck likes to say “Air,” his new movie about Nike’s game-changing signing of Michael Jordan, is a family-style affair with old friends, including Matt Damon, in front of and behind the camera.But it’s Affleck, 50, who’s done the lion’s share of work. He produced, cast and directs this, his fifth film, and also wins laughs as Nike’s legendary and legendarily eccentric founder Phil Knight.“Air” has already won acclaim for its storytelling, humor and heart.  Damon, 52, carries the saga as Nike marketing agent Sonny Vaccaro who ferociously advocates — against intense Nike indifference — to signing rookie Michael Jordan.“This was a group of people that I knew and had a lot of respect for and worked with often and adore and admire,” Affleck said during a Zoom conference.  “This movie is a massive failure if it’s just my voice.”While “Air” did not buy rights to Jordan’s story, Affleck wanted the legend’s blessing. “I didn’t understand the movie until I went to talk to Mi...

Tituss Burgess joins fresh season of ‘Schmigadoon!’

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:30:37 GMT

Joining in the fun for the second season of “Schmigadoon!” Tituss Burgess is back with his Broadway roots after five seasons – and five Primetime Emmy nominations — for “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.”Still, it seems surprising Burgess, 44, wasn’t in the show’s first season.“I will say this,” he began in a Zoom interview, “how we decide to show up in the world, at whatever point we are in, really kind of dictates how the world shows up for you. So perhaps I was not ready to intercede.”Is his Narrator, who sings and seems slightly malevolent, a parody of the musical “Pippin” ’s Leading Player?“I was very familiar with ‘Pippin’ but,” he noted, “it is not a parody. It’s more of a homage. A wink and a smile. We’re borrowing from the shades of all the things that these musicals have offered because we’re telling our own unique story.”As to deciding who his wily Narrator would be, “I was able to borrow from my own darkness, from my own demons and really tap into the side of ...

Dear Abby: Couple unnerved by neighbor’s odd behavior

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:30:37 GMT

Dear Abby: My husband and I met our neighbor “Maggie” one day while she was walking her dog. She has since befriended me via additional meetings on the street and walks about once a week. She’s 68, has been looking unsuccessfully for a job for three years and has financial difficulties. I have given advice to her on job searches.I have noticed that she has taken pictures with me in them and pictures of the front of our house. I recently came home late, and she seemed to be lurking near the front of our house. She has asked about our alarm system and when we will be out of town. It is starting to freak me out. How do I unload this person and determine whether she is just troubled or dangerous? — Creeped Out in the EastDear Creeped Out: Start being less available for those walks. Vary your schedule so she won’t run into you as often. Use your alarm system religiously and install cameras in your home. In light of the crime situation in many communities, th...

Concert review: John Mayer spends an intimate evening at the X with 14,000 friends

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:30:37 GMT

Maybe John Mayer sensed that we all need a little quiet time right now. Perhaps that’s why the singer-songwriter turned bluesman turned Grateful Dead collaborator decided that his next tour of professional basketball and hockey arenas should consist of nothing but solo shows. Just him on a stage with a guitar and microphone with a dash of piano.And it would seem that intimacy is what was desired by the approximately 14,000 folks in attendance at St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center Saturday night. Mayer can be a rocker when he wants to, and he’s proven a scintillating guitar soloist over the past 20 years. But Saturday night was all about getting back in touch with the passionate and disarmingly forthright songsmith he was when first discovered around the turn of this century.Mayer was showered with adoration throughout the evening, which sometimes felt a bit odd when his songs were so emotionally vulnerable. But, at this point in a pandemic-scarred world, we won’t ...

Wild fail to clinch playoff berth, learn hard lesson in loss to Golden Knights

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:30:37 GMT

LAS VEGAS — With a chance to clinch a playoff berth on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, the Wild learned a hard lesson, which could end up being a blessing in disguise down the road.Not much has gone wrong for the Wild over the past month. They seemed virtually invincible at times during a 16-1-4 stretch that helped them skyrocket up the Western Conference standings.On this particular night, however, the Wild got a healthy dose of reality in a 4-1 loss to the Golden Knights.Though it’d be easy to place the blame solely on Marc-Andre Fleury because he allowed a couple of goals he’d likely want back, the Wild left him hung out to dry a few too many times with some sloppy play in their own zone.Those type of breakdowns can’t happen in the playoffs. In that sense, the Wild taking it on the chin now right now is better than in a couple of weeks.The motivation from the Wild was on display in the early stages of the game as they held the Golden Knights...

Rapids manage to hold defending MLS champions LAFC off the scoresheet but are unable to score in 0-0 tie

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:30:37 GMT

COMMERCE CITY — Holding the MLS champions scoreless? Another building block for the Colorado Rapids, even if it didn’t result in three points at home.Colorado (0-3-3, 3 points) managed to keep the defending champions LAFC off the scoreboard Saturday night at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park as the Rapids earned a second clean sheet of the season in a 0-0 tie.Colorado looked particularly dangerous on its set pieces throughout the match. The team finished with 10 corner kicks, as both Bryan Acosta and Connor Ronan were the takers for the injured Jack Price, but it didn’t result in any goals.Jonathan Lewis was dangerous on the left-hand side early on as he forced a pair of corners.From the opening whistle, the teams played openly and chances were there for the taking for both sides. LAFC (3-2-0, 11 points) had a pair of chances in the 21st minute as William Yarbrough denied Carlos Vela’s header and then sprinted and dove to get a paw to Denis Bouanga’s sho...

Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen lead Avalanche to crucial 5-2 win over Dallas Stars, reclaiming destiny in Central division

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:30:37 GMT

The only passengers Saturday night were the thousands of Avalanche fans buckled into Ball Arena seats for the ride Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen were taking them on.MacKinnon scored twice and Rantanen registered four points, including his 49th goal, to lead the Avs to a 5-2 win in their last regular-season meeting with the Stars.With 10:51 remaining after Dallas had seemingly closed the gap to 3-2, Avalanche coach Jared Bednar challenged for goalie interference in a high-stakes roll of the dice. Losing would mean a Dallas power play in a one-goal game. But Bednar won, and the lead stuck.The Avalanche (45-24-6) desperately needed a win to keep its division title hopes alive on the heels of a regulation loss to first-place Minnesota on Wednesday. Entering the night, the Avs trailed Dallas by two points and Minnesota by three. It could have been the night the division got almost out of reach, with the Wild facing Vegas. But MacKinnon and company delivered, never trailing in an im...

Stolen car suspect crashes into a Glendale shopping mall during pursuit

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:30:37 GMT

A man was arrested after crashing into The Americana at Brand shopping mall in Glendale during a pursuit on Saturday morning.Officers attempted to pull over the suspect who was driving a stolen vehicle near Doran and Adams Streets around 3 a.m., according to the Glendale Police Department.Instead of stopping, the suspect drove off, leading officers on a pursuit.The chase lasted around 10 minutes before the suspect crashed into a building at The Americana mall, authorities said. Images from the scene show the vehicle completely totaled after slamming into an elevator area inside a parking structure.Stolen car suspect crashes into The Americana at Brand mall in Glendale after a pursuit on April 1, 2023. (KeyNews.TV)Stolen car suspect crashes into The Americana at Brand mall in Glendale after a pursuit on April 1, 2023. (KeyNews.TV)Stolen car suspect crashes into The Americana at Brand mall in Glendale after a pursuit on April 1, 2023. (KeyNews.TV)Stolen car suspect crashes into The Am...

San Diego State and UConn, with Bay Area ties, set to play on college basketball’s biggest stage

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:30:37 GMT

The San Diego State men’s basketball team has a handful of players with connections to the Bay Area. UConn has its own local tie.Now those players, and the rest of the Aztecs and Huskies teams, will now be playing on college basketball’s biggest stage.San Diego State beat Florida Atlantic 72-71 in Houston on Saturday as Lamont Butler’s buzzer-beater put the Aztecs into the national championship game for the first time in school history.Monday, they’ll face a UConn team that has destroyed every opponent in its path over the last three weeks, including the Miami Hurricanes, who the Huskies walloped 72-59 in the other national semifinal.For UConn (30-8), guard Joey Calcaterra attended Marin Catholic High School and is from Novato. The Huskies will be vying for their fifth national title since 1999, but their first since coach Dan Hurley was hired five years ago to resurrect the storied program.The Huskies will be favored over a San Diego State team that lost to Saint Mary’s 68-61 in a ...