Gulf Coast Life

Dr. Karen Tang is the author of the new book It's Not Hysteria: Everything You Need to Know About Your Reproductive Health (But Were Never Told). It's a comprehensive guide to treatment options and common conditions, many of which are under-discussed and misunderstood.

Stephen Cavitt's bio begins by saying he's always chasing the next great story. He's been an instructor at Florida Gulf Coast University since 2018, teaching English, Creative Writing, and Interdisciplinary courses as well as advising the university's Creative Writing Club and is a Faculty Mentor with the WiSER Research Assistant Program. His sci-fi novella, The Distance Between Stars, came out in April, 2025 and was also released as a podcast audiobook. It's the first entry in what he calls the Und Wars series. It tells a story of survival after Earth is devastated by Aliens called the Und. It's told through short monologues by everyday people who escaped and are headed into space to try to start over.

Naples resident Tony Hall served in Congress for 23 years and was U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture. He testified before a House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Feb. 10 about child labor and exploitation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where about 70% of the mineral cobalt comes from. It's a crucial ingredient of the rechargeable batteries in our devices and vehicles. He gives us an update on the Blood Battery Campaign that he chairs.

In 2016 the nonpartisan global policy think tank RAND Corporation published a piece called "The Russian "Firehose of Falsehood" Propaganda Model: Why It Might Work and Options to Counter It" that outlined ways Russia was flooding the internet and social media with false claims, and why this technique — which featured a lack of consistency or relationship to truth — was effective in both creating confusion and getting people to tune out because there was just too much information swirling around. We talk with one of the researchers behind the 2016 perspective to learn how it came about, how they did their research, and what it means through the lens of today, far beyond Russian propaganda.

Dr. Stephen Knott has spent his career learning about, teaching about, and writing about Presidents of the United States of America. He is a Professor of American History & Government at Ashland University in Ohio, and Emeritus Professor of National Security Affairs at the U.S. Naval War College. He is the author of eleven books dealing with the American Presidency, the early republic, and American foreign policy. His latest, which is due out in May, is “Conspirator in Chief: The Long Tradition of Conspiracy Theories in the American Presidency” which details through extensive research and citations the ways, according to his telling, eight United States Commanders in Chief used conspiracy theories to advance their causes. They were examples, Dr. Knott would say, of the kinds of demagogues the country's founders were concerned could someday take on the role.

Lee Health's self-management resource program meets once a week for six weeks and provides people with tools to manage their chronic pain.

Found on the northern end of Marco Island in 1896 during an expedition led by a renowned archeologist named Frank Hamilton Cushing, the Key Marco Cat is considered a true gem — a once in a lifetime, or more, find — discovered during the early days of the science of archeology. Just six inches tall and carved out of some sort of hardwood, the Cat, and the many other objects that were discovered alongside it, represent the most comprehensive and spectacular collection of pre-Columbian Native American material culture ever discovered in Florida.

Craig Pittman is a native Floridian who has written about Florida and Floridians and them any, shall we say, unique characteristics they both have. He covered environmental issues for the Tampa Bay Times for more than two decades and he now writes a weekly column for the nonprofit newsroom Florida Phoenix, and he co-hosts the “Welcome to Florida” podcast. Pittman is author of  “Oh, Florida! How America's Weirdest State Influences the Rest of the Country,” and 2020's “Cat Tale: The Wild, Weird Battle to Save the Florida Panther.” He'll be in town on Wednesday to give a talk about Florida panthers at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Greater Naples so we get a preview.

Dr. Raymond DePaulo began as a student at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1968 and went on to become an M.D. in 1972 and then did his residencies there. He founded the Affective Disorder Clinic in 1977 and these days he's co-director of the Johns Hopkins Mood Disorders Center. He was on the Florida Gulf Coast University campus to give a talk for the university's Provost's Seminar Series so stopped by the studio for a conversation about his work and career and the changes he's seen over the past 58 years. He also spoke with the Naples Discussion Group while he was in town.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a rare, progressive, and fatal neuromuscular disease for which there is currently no known cure. It typically manifests in mid-to-late adulthood and progresses rapidly with a median survival time of two to five years, though it can sometimes progress faster. It's currently diagnosed through a long process that can often take well over a year. We learn about a new technique developed at the nonprofit Brain Chemistry Labs in Jackson, Wyoming that can diagnose ALS with a simple blood test with 97% accuracy.

We hear from the Florida Health Professionals for Scientific Integrity. It is a group of healthcare workers who are concerned about trends in public health in Florida, particularly the end of vaccine mandates in schools.

The Center for Inquiry was founded in 1976 by the likes of Carl Sagan and Isaac Asimov to investigate what they called ‘extraordinary claims' being made about things like paranormal activity and UFO abductions — things that fall into the category of pseudoscience. We talk with the center's Director of Education, Bertha Vazquez, about the work she does and the role of science in our lives, and the crucial need for a skeptical mind in the face of information overload.

Long form journalism and deep dive investigative reporting on local issues have historically been the domain of local newspapers. But as newsrooms have shrunk, gaps have been created — and a new model for local journalism has emerged in response: nonprofit newsrooms, mostly comprised of reporters who once worked for newspapers and other forms of commercial media. We meet the Executive Editor-in Chief of Suncoast Searchlight which focuses on Sarasota, Manatee, and DeSoto Counties to get a sense of their origin story and mission — and reflect on the state of local news that's led to the rise of these online, nonprofit news organizations.

Ahead of the Feb. 3, 2026, Naples City Council election, the League of Women Voters of Collier Council organized a candidate forum for all eight candidates seeking three open seats on the council. We'll hear a condensed broadcast of the forum moderated by Naples Daily News Executive Editor Wendy Fullerton Powell and WGCU's John Davis.

New David Lawrence Centers program, Pathways to Healing, helps people undergoing behavioral health treatments with transition after hospitalization.

As Jan. 13th marks the start of Florida's 2026 legislative session, we're exploring bills and issues likely to take center stage over the course of the 60-day session in a conversation with Florida Gulf Coast University Political Science professors Roger Green, Ph.D., Sandra Pavelka, Ph.D, and University of Central Florida Political Science professor Aubrey Jewett, Ph.D.

Despite record high stock markets, the Harry Chapin Food Bank of SWFL and its partners are busier than ever because of factors like high food, housing, and health insurance costs — along with cuts to federal programs that help people in need including $186 billion in cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in the so-called Big Beautiful Bill. The Harry Chapin Food Bank distributed 38.7 million pounds of food last year. And to keep up with the growing need, they have begun construction of a new 110-thousand-square-foot distribution center and warehouse being built in Fort Myers that will be their new Hunger Action Center. We sit down with the food bank's president and CEO to get a sense of what they're experiencing right now, and what the new facility will mean for their operations. We also meet the director of one of their partner agencies.

It's well-known by now that invasive Burmese pythons have become established in the Florida Everglades. And you may have heard of the state's annual Python Challenge, when hunters compete to remove as many Burmese pythons from the Everglades as possible with prizes going to whoever is most successful. But you may not be aware of the South Florida Water Management District's Python Elimination Program, which has been around since 2017. Earlier in January, the head of the district's Python Program kicked off the Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife's 2026 speaker series with a talk all about the program and the impact these large snakes have. We get a preview.

Narratives of public education in the early United States generally describe the building of a public system designed to allow people to gain knowledge and access to advancement in their lives. But, what's often left out is the role race has always played at the root of education in America. The new book, “America Grammar: Race, Education, and the Building of a Nation” makes the case that the exploitation of Black and Indigenous people played an essential role in building American education systems all the way back to this country's founding. We talk with its author to dig into this aspect of American history.

The name Ed Carlson is synonymous with the Audubon Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary and he could rightfully be described as a legendary figure in the Southwest Florida environmental community. He passed away on Dec. 9 at the age of 75. Carlson's stewardship of the sanctuary began when he stumbled into an internship right as he was graduating from high school in Miami in the late 1960s. He studied zoology and ornithology in college at University of South Florida with an eye on working with the land and water and wildlife. When Audubon received a grant to study wetlands from the National Science Foundation - right as he graduated from USF - it led him back to the sanctuary and he never left. We remember him through a conversation recorded in 2019.

WGCU's Documentary unit produced a film earlier this year called Rising: Surviving the Surge. It's a gripping exploration of Hurricane Ian's impact and what followed as survivors worked to rise from the wreckage. It includes dramatic storm footage, powerful stories of resilience, and insights from scientists, first responders, and community leaders. On Nov. 13 we screened the film at Florida Gulf Coast University's Water School and brought together a panel of experts from the university who had different areas of expertise to get their take on the film and have a conversation about what Ian showed us, and whether we could learn any lessons and even put them into action going forward to make Southwest Florida more resilient in the face of major hurricanes.

The Audubon Society's Christmas Bird Count began on Christmas Day in the year 1900. During the annual count, birdwatchers walk around designated circular areas and count the type, and number of birds they see and hear over the course of the day. The information they collect is used to track bird populations in North and South America, and how they have changed over time. The Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary's Christmas Bird Count covers the sanctuary and its surroundings. This year it's happening this coming Saturday, Dec. 20 and we talk with the Sanctuary's director to learn more.

We talk with a psychologist as well as a Bonita Springs student about how adolescents with diverse learning styles can thrive.

According to local health professionals, older adults are increasingly vulnerable to addiction and co-occurring mental health issues — especially in recent years. Substance abuse — most commonly alcohol but also prescription drugs like opioids — doesn't necessarily indicate a mental health condition, but they can often be connected. To get a sense of what lies behind the increase and what treatment options are out there, and what families and caregivers should watch for and how they can support loved ones in seeking help, we talk with someone from the Hazelden Betty Ford Clinic in Naples.

Florida Gulf Coast University's 2025-26 Provost's Seminar Series kicked off last Friday with renowned infectious disease expert, Dr. Michael Osterholm. He is considered to be one of the nation's foremost experts in infectious diseases – and has dedicated his career to advancing global efforts to prepare and respond to emerging infectious disease threats. We normally interview speakers for the Provost's Seminar Series in-studio while they're on campus to talk, but we're kicking off this year with a special on-location recording of a conversation with Dr. Osterholm, and Dr. Steve Mason, he's a cardiologist and a member of the Naples Discussion Group's Executive Committee.

Canadian philosopher Marshall McLuhan is most recognized for the expression "the medium is the message" which means the technology or medium we use to transmit information changes our behavior — and society — more than the information it carries. Tim Love spent more than four decades in the world of global advertising. He was Vice-Chairman of the global advertising and marketing services company, Omnicom Group. Since retiring, Love has turned his attention toward the way our online world operates today — and how behavior data collected on us users is being used to not only drive our behavior but is negatively impacting mental health and has led to polarization. We discuss his new book "The Medium is the Mirror: The Reformation of Truth."

This year marks the 60th anniversary of a landmark document called Nostra Aetate (translates as In Our Time) which was the result of Jewish and Catholic collaboration during the Second Vatican Council that ran from 1962 to 1965. It fundamentally changed the official Roman Catholic position on Judaism and spoke out openly against antisemitism. Now, 60 years later, the Catholic-Jewish Dialogue of Collier County along with the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Naples and Ave Maria University are presenting a two-day symposium bringing together a panel of distinguished theologians and professors from across North America to discuss the landmark document that changed 20 centuries of Catholic-Jewish relations – and it's importance in our time.

The American College of Sports Medicinehas issues a worldwide fitness trend forecast report each year. On this episode, we discuss what is popular now.

In the late 1990s an ethnobotanist named Dr. Paul Cox spent time in two villages on the Pacific island of Guam where a huge percentage of residents were dying of a neurodegenerative disorder that's similar to Alzheimer's Disease or ALS. He found links between the villagers' diet, which included large fruit bats called flying foxes, and cyanobacteria toxins that were accumulating in the seeds of cycad trees, which the foxes would eat. This led to villagers having huge amounts of the toxins in their bodies. He joins us to talk about the work he did on Guam, and where the research is at today.

The League of Women Voters began as a national, nonpartisan nonprofit political organization that was founded in 1920, just a few months before the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guaranteed women the right to vote. The Collier County chapter is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. One of their main information sources is Vote411.org. It's a one-stop shop for information about who and what will be on ballots for each election. We learn about their new educational effort is a series of videos called Civics Unplugged which cover basic government functions like the three branches, the houses of Congress, Constitutional Amendments, and more.

Jason Vuic is an author and historian who lives in Fort Worth Texas but grew up in Punta Gorda so many of his books delve into Florida history and culture. His brand new book tells two seemingly unconnected yet strangely overlapping stories that unfolded in the small, rural town of Arcadia in DeSoto County beginning in the 1960s that come together in the 1980s. "A Town Without Pity: Aids, race and resistance in Florida's Deep South" explores the wrongful conviction and long incarceration of a migrant farmworker named James Richardson, and the town's response to three young boys who were infected with the HIV virus via blood transfusions in the mid 80s.

Investigative reporter Katherine Stewart first turned her attention to the Religious Right in the United States in 2007 after her child's school hosted what's called a Good News Club. She was surprised to learn of religious program in public schools, and is an investigative reporter whose work has appeared in The New York Times and other major publications, so she started researching and that led to her first book on the subject, “The Good News Club.” She recently stopped by the studio to chat about her third book on this subject, published in February, called “Money, Lies, and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy.”

On November 2, 1925, Sarasota Memorial Hospital opened as a 32-bed community hospital. Now one of Florida's largest public health systems, it has grown with the area to serve residents' needs. We spoke with President and CEO David Verinder about the system's growth.

The Education Foundation of Collier County's Champions for Learning program was started in 1990 with a mission to serve as a catalyst for educational success by investing in Collier's students and educators. They have programs for students designed to prepare them for their future learning and career goals, both college or occupation-based learning and skill building. Of the roughly 350 students they worked with in their mentorship program, 100% graduated high school last year, 33 of which took dual enrollment courses and 62 received industry certifications. Almost three-quarters of their students are slated to be the first in their family to go to college or receive any other kind of post-secondary education. We talk with their new President and CEO, and an alumna of the program to better understand what they do and the impact their programs can have.

A recent op-ed in the Wall Street Journal opens with the story of a man who believed his 83-year-old mother was plotting to assassinate him. His conversational partner and sounding board — in that case ChatGPT — told him he wasn't crazy and his instincts were sharp, and that vigilance was fully justified. Not long after the man killed his mother before taking his own life. This is an example of what's been dubbed ‘AI Psychosis' — that's when people are if not encouraged to cause harm to themselves or others, at least are not discouraged to do so by chatbots like ChatGPT or Gemini, or others. We talk with its author, who is co-founder of a nonprofit that's creating tools and demos to help people understand AI systems on a visceral level.

A new paper published in the Journal Nature Communications Biology investigates the link between exposure to Harmful Algal Bloom neurotoxins and the development of Alzheimer's disease signatures in the brain transcriptome of stranded common bottlenose dolphins found in Florida's Indian River Lagoon. They essentially correlated changes in the dolphin brains' DNA to chronic and acute exposure to blue green algae blooms. Dolphins serve as a "sentinel species" for Alzheimer's Diseased because they live so long and can naturally develop Alzheimer's-like neuropathological changes with age.

WMFE in Orlando — now called Central Florida Public Media — slowed its coverage of space after the Shuttle Program ended in 2011, but at the end of 2014 they covered the first, uncrewed flight of NASA's Orion spacecraft — which is part of the Artemis lunar mission — and WMFE's Brendan Byrne covered it. That story pretty much launched his career covering space, including hosting a podcast called Are We There Yet? which we now air on Saturday evenings at 7:30 on WGCU-FM. So, we thought it would be a good time to get to know him and the show.

St. Matthew's House in Naples is a faith-based nonprofit that is dedicated to addressing hunger, homelessness, and addiction. Their recent project Faces Beyond Homelessness brings the complex story of homelessness to the community and helps people understand the complex dynamics of homelessness and the people experiencing it. It features 10 chalk drawings by artist Wendy Wagner and is on display now at her gallery in Naples. The portraits capture emotional moments as 10 St. Matthew's House residents shared the stories of their journey from homelessness to hope for the future.

GLSEN is a national nonprofit that works to end discrimination, harassment, and bullying based on sexual orientation and gender identity and promote LGBT inclusion and awareness in K-12 schools. It has more than 40 local chapters across the United States, including one in Collier County. This Saturday, they are presenting the 2025 Youth Pride Conference in Naples from 10am to 4pm at the Naples United Church of Christ. We talk to two GLSEN Collier alumni who are part of Saturday's conference.

The idea for an AI Institute at Florida Gulf Coast University dates back to before OpenAI released ChatGPT in the fall of 2022. Founded in Aug. 2023, the FGCU Dendritic Institute is a hub for all things AI and data science, from research to education to community outreach. FGCU recently announced a multi-year initiative focusing on responsible, ethical and practical use of AI to enhance teaching, learning, researching and collaborating, so we sit down with the Dendritic Institute's founding director Dr. Leandro de Castro to get the Institute's origin story and what lies ahead.

According to local health professionals, older adults are increasingly vulnerable to addiction and co-occurring mental health issues — especially in recent years. Substance abuse — most commonly alcohol but also prescription drugs like opioids — doesn't necessarily indicate a mental health condition, but they can often be connected. To get a sense of what lies behind the increase and what treatment options are out there, and what families and caregivers should watch for and how they can support loved ones in seeking help, we talk with someone from the Hazelden Betty Ford Clinic in Naples.

When the Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010 it guaranteed coverage for people going through addiction treatment for the first time. This was a huge benefit for many people, but it also created conditions that led to some treatment providers taking advantage of people in recovery — and part of that corrupt system is what's referred to as The Florida Shuffle. Put simply, the Florida Shuffle is when proprietors of what are called ‘sober homes' effectively "broker patients" in order to keep them in a cycle of addiction and recovery. Well-run sober homes are meant to be a place where people who have been through supervised detox and inpatient treatment and then outpatient care can use as a bridge between treatment and returning to their lives.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month so we're doing our part to increase awareness about breast cancer and the importance of screening, both self and diagnostic, and learning about how treatments and screenings have evolved since 1985 when Breast Cancer Awareness Month was initiated. According to the National Breast Cancer Foundation 1 in 8 women in the United States will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. We get a snapshot of the state of screening and treatment, and risk factors to consider — and we learn about Partners for Breast Cancer Care, a nonprofit that funds breast screening, diagnostic testing, and treatment for uninsured patients in Lee, Collier, Charlotte, Hendry and Glades counties.

As internet use became common, communities formed in different ways. Early examples would include internet forums, or message boards. In the early 2000s a message board called 4chan was created that was anonymous by design. And posts made to it, and replies, were inherently temporary. While 4chan had message boards for all sorts of topics its anonymity combined with posts that would eventually disappear led to the emergence of an online culture that would seem strange and even extreme to many people who didn't spend time there. Our guest grew up immersed in this online culture, and is now a researcher of it, so we thought he'd be a good person to help us understand this world a bit better as it seems to increasingly enter into mainstream culture, from media to public discourse, and the polarization it contains.

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution remains the gold standard globally when it comes to protecting speech. But our guest says free speech protections cannot be guaranteed without strong support from those who it protects — including supporting others' right to express ideas you might strongly disagree with. Jacob Mchangama has spent his career tracking free speech trends globally and understanding how it has ebbed and flowed over the course of recorded history. He is director of the Future of Free Speech think tank at Vanderbilt University, a Senior Fellow at The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression in Philadelphia, and the author of “Free Speech: A History from Socrates to Social Media.”

Beginning this Sunday, Oct. 5 at 5am WGCU will begin airing a weekly interview show called “What's Health Got to Do With It?” that explores the intersection of healthcare and daily life with a focus on guiding listeners on their journeys through the increasingly convoluted medical bureaucracy. We meet its host, Dr. Joe Sirven. He's a practicing neurologist, and professor of neurology and Chairman Emeritus of the Department of Neurology at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona. He's also a well-published author on epilepsy, a former editor-in-chief of epilepsy.com, and he currently serves as the editor-in-chief of Brain & Life en Español.

We meet an Venice high school student who turned her attention to feral cats at the local level — and kittens in particular — and the need to both reduce their reproduction rate and to help as many homeless kittens become socialized so they can hopefully be adopted. Venice High School Junior, Maddie Canty, has been a Girl Scout for 12 years. Earlier this year she earned the Girl Scout Gold Award with her project called A Hope for Kittens. The Gold Award is the top award a Girl Scout Can earn. Her project focused on reducing kitten euthanasia by combining public education, direct care, and local policy change.

When President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January, he declared a commitment to tightening immigration policies and enhancing border security. The administration has followed through on its promise to ramp up deportations, and recent military strikes on boats departing Venezuela are demonstrations of its willingness to act upon its goal of targeting what they claim are drug smugglers from ‘cartels or other organizations.' The administration has also designated six Mexican cartels as terrorist organizations so the question remains whether it will take similar military action in Mexico. So, what effect have these kinds of policies had on our relationship with Mexico and other countries in Latin America, and how people in those countries perceive the United States?

Thunderstorm Aversion or storm anxiety is when dogs experience significant fear or anxiety during storms. Loud noises are the most obvious trigger, but dogs can react to other storm-related cues like lightning flashes, the sounds of wind or rain hitting the home, changes in barometric pressure, and even static electricity in the air. We learn about Thunderstorm Aversion and ways veterinarians try to help dogs and their owners. And we learn about a three-year, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of a new treatment that's hoping to become a medical solution.

The word compassion can be somewhat amorphous depending on the context it's used in. Our guests would say it definitely takes action to be a truly compassionate person, and they're all supporting an effort to develop a compassionate attitude in the community. This Saturday, Sept. 20, they are hosting their third “Shaping a Compassionate Fort Myers” event since they held the first one two months ago. We talk about out how their first two events went, and have a conversation about compassion and why it's important, especially during the times we're in.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has floated the idea of Florida following Texas and California in drawing new Congressional districts mid-decade, breaking with norms. But what do the 2010 Fair Districts Amendments to Florida's constitution have to say about mid-decade redistricting being done for openly partisan reasons? We talk with the leader of the Fair Districts Coalition when it helped to create and advocated for the passage of the Fair Districts Amendments to find out.