Southwest Florida In Focus
Southwest Florida In Focus | Episode 141| Jun 20th, 2025
6/19/2025 | 25m 35sVideo has Closed Captions
Join Sandra Viktorova and the WGCU News team for the latest episode of Southwest Florida In Focus.
Join host Sandra Viktorova and the award winning WGCU News team for the latest episode of Southwest Florida In Focus.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
Southwest Florida In Focus is a local public television program presented by WGCU-PBS
Southwest Florida In Focus
Southwest Florida In Focus | Episode 141| Jun 20th, 2025
6/19/2025 | 25m 35sVideo has Closed Captions
Join host Sandra Viktorova and the award winning WGCU News team for the latest episode of Southwest Florida In Focus.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
How to Watch Southwest Florida In Focus
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipYou're watching Southwest Florida in focus, coming up, protesting the policies of President Donald Trump.
Massive rallies pop up across the region as the Supreme Court opens the door for the Trump administration to deport thousands of migrants living in the Sunshine State.
More millennials are tuning into Beethoven and Bach.
But is this youth movement in classical music having an impact on local orchestras and Florida continues its quest to becoming the leader in space exploration by homegrown?
The next generation of aerospace experts?
Hello, I'm Teddy Byrne.
Massive numbers took part in the nationwide No Kings Day protest.
Millions of people in over 2100 locations across the United States came out to demonstrate against what they perceived as authoritarian tendencies within the Trump administration.
In Southwest Florida, law enforcement estimated over 10,000 people gathered at rally points throughout Sarasota, Lee, and Collier counties.
While most oppose the Trump policies, there were supporters of the 45th and 47th president on hand.
Regardless of politics, both sides did agree to the right to peaceful protests.
USA.
USA.
I just want to stand for something.
Democracy.
Democracy.
More true.
Life.
I am out here to protest the tyranny that's going on.
Plus cuts to the V.A..
They're getting rid of 80,000 people.
It's hard enough getting an appointment with the VA now.
It's only going to make it worse.
I'm pro democracy.
I have never seen anything like this in my lifetime.
And I just want to get by.
We have a king in the white House.
He thinks he's a dictator.
We're going to stop him.
We're all here to stop him.
I want to restore balance in our government between the judiciary, the executive and legislative branches.
We are fighting for freedom.
Everybody has freedom on stolen land.
This is not our land to judge.
God gave us this land for all of our people to live here.
It's all here.
They're blocking our business now.
And they're walking around with signs that say protect the rule of law.
At the same time, you know, they want people to enter the country illegally.
I mean, how I feel about it is I just feel like that this is just a, a lack of education, you know, and a lack of understanding.
From the people.
My perspective is I am an old white woman where three rounds get branded, and I worry daily that they will be targeted because of their last name and because of this scare.
I support Donald Trump and I support the direction that the country is going in for sure.
And honestly, to hopefully have some conversations with some people that might disagree with me, I've done that before where I conversations with people who disagree with me, and they've been civil.
Well, Trump.
No.
Trump.
The situation at hand is very scary.
I have a son with a disability, and there's just so much wrong in this administration that I don't know how my little voice can help.
So I thought, at least if I come here and shake my flag here, maybe it could be helpful.
Okay.
Okay, so now that that people will not back down.
At the center for many of the nationwide gatherings was the topic of immigration, with heavy criticism for the president, deployment of the National Guard and Marines to quell protests in Los Angeles.
The protests were in response to increased enforcement on immigration laws, as well as President Trump's effort to drive up deportations.
This on the heels of the Supreme Court decision to allow the administration to revoke the temporary legal status of hundreds of thousands of migrants, with a focus on those from Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba and Haiti, a decision that could impact thousands of migrants living in Florida.
To help us better understand these changes to Temporary Protected Status designations, we are joined by immigration attorney Ricardo Skerrit.
Mr. Skerrit, thank you so much for joining us.
Thank you for inviting me.
It's always a pleasure to inform the community of things that may be happening around us.
Well, so now we know that the Supreme Court is allowing the Trump administration to get rid of these TPS designation for certain nations.
What are the ramifications that this decision will have on your potentially your clients?
What's happening is that now the Trump administration will be able to continue deporting the 2 million people that were allowed to come in under the humanitarian parole program of the past administration.
Okay.
And now so this impacts several nations, including Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua, but really Venezuela, where 350,000 migrants are now at risk of deportation.
Now, Florida does have a strong Venezuelan population.
So how do you see this removal impacting the state as a whole?
Not only that, but Florida has the largest population of TPS holders as a whole.
There's more than 350,000 people in Florida who enjoy TPS from different nationalities.
So what's happening is that Trump is not renewing any of the TPS designations, and the one for Haiti is expiring very soon.
And at the same time, the travel ban applies to Haiti.
So Venezuela, Haiti and Cuba and Cuba have a lot of challenges because nationals from those countries will basically not be allowed to come into the U.S., and they will be deported of their recent arrivals.
So what does this mean, then, for the migrants that came in here, especially in 2023, when the Biden administration had extended these services for people to give them that 18 month designation, I believe, to get their affairs in order so they can try to make legal entry into the states.
How does that impact those people, though, that came here for a home and less than two years later, are already looking to be forced out.
Those people, if they were granted parole, which they were, because, I mean, Trump I mean, Biden granted 2 million people who 2 million humanitarian payrolls.
Those people since they were paroled, the only avenue that many of them would have to be able to get their green card here in the US would be if they have a relative who is a US citizen or a permanent resident, that competition them, or most of them would have to request asylum.
And it it would be mostly a late asylum for most of them.
And 87% of asylum cases do not get anywhere.
So is that the only option for people now that have had their status removed is to go for asylum?
Or are there other avenues they can take to try to get back any sort of chance at a life in America?
They only have if they have a valid claim to asylum.
That's the only avenue that they have.
And if they have a relative who can petition them, a U.S. citizen or a permanent resident, but either place in removal proceedings via the consular process, the family petition, for example, does not does not stop removal proceedings.
So they're in a jam.
And then now to Florida has been adamant at becoming setting the bar a lot of times for some of these policies.
They have encouraged law enforcement to act up with the 287 program, letting local law enforcement get involved with Ice.
How do you see Florida kind of setting the stage again for allowing maybe mass deportations coming in through the state?
This is just starting, and it's going to continue.
I mean, the latest poll says that 56% of Americans are in favor of mass deportations.
While that stays well, that number stays.
The administration is going to keep on the mass deportations that they are with the support of Republican governors like DeSantis.
Mr. Skerritt, thank you so much for joining us, and have a great day.
Thank you.
After the break, volunteer shortages hit Southwest Florida's nonprofits during the summer months, the changes being made to combat the growing need for services.
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, 50% of all lifetime mental illnesses develop by the age of 14.
This comes as more American youths are being diagnosed with anxiety, depression and overall behavioral issues.
Kerry Barbour attended a conference in Fort Myers that aimed to help break down barriers for teens seeking help.
I don't have any rhythm, but you know that.
You know, the heart beat is something that we all got.
A community event called normal is overrated.
Held at Florida Southwestern State College was a chance to get acquainted with local mental health resources and hear from inspirational speakers.
The goal of the free conference was to address teen mental health and help break down barriers around its treatment.
Normal Is Overrated is sponsored by Kids Minds Matter, an organization that addresses the mental health epidemic affecting Southwest Florida's children and families.
Fiona Hastings was one of the student speakers.
She shared her personal story about her struggles with mental health.
I was 13 years old, diagnosed with depression and anxiety.
I'm also 13 years old, and I told my mom for the first time that I wanted to die.
I started therapy and medication to help manage my depression and anxiety.
But as the years went on, my health started to decline.
More and more.
Eventually, Fiona went for help to the Pace Center for girls, which provides mental health resources for free.
At pace, she was able to work with a counselor, make sure she was on the proper medications, and learn helpful life skills.
Now she is a senior in the Pace program and thriving.
Walk out of here with the mindset that yes, there will be difficult days, maybe even weeks, but I have the ability to grow and change.
I have that power.
I am not defined by my struggles, but my background.
Into Andrea Keegan, a student at Florida Southwestern State College, was another speaker.
She talked about sexual abuse in her past and the trauma and anxiety brought on.
She, too, revealed that she had been suicidal.
I was already planning how I was going to orchestrate everything.
I guess my dad just has like The Sixth Sense and he called me.
He said, hey, is everything okay?
And just by my 10th voice, he just knew something was wrong.
Andrea is very close to her family and said that their support, together with her faith, pulled her through her mental health crisis.
Whenever I first told them, I think that was the first stage of healing.
And then after giving my life fully to crisis, when I fully did heal.
Both students said that sharing their stories has helped with their growth because they feel they are helping others who may be struggling with the same issues.
So when if I look at it, obviously it's not the easiest thing to talk about, but if someone to ask me if I'm okay from it, I'd say yeah, I am.
That doesn't define me.
The conference was chock full of resources and information about how to treat mental health in children and adolescents.
Your struggles are chapters, not the whole story.
You have the power to write your pages filled with hope, strength, and growth.
Keep moving forward.
Keep believing in yourself, and remember you are never alone.
If you are in crisis, please call, text or chat with the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988 or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting.
Talk to 741741.
In Fort Myers, I'm Cary Barbor with help from Andrea melendez.
Classical music is in the midst of a youth movement.
A study from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra indicated that people under the age of 35 are more likely to listen to classical music than their parents.
But while accessibility has helped gain the genre more traction on platforms like Spotify or TikTok, is this surge in Mozart and Beethoven translating to the symphony halls?
For more on this classical music renaissance, we are joined by CEO and music director of the Gulf Coast Symphony.
Doctor Andrew Kurtz.
Doctor Kurtz, thank you so much for joining us.
My pleasure to be here.
So this really interested me that more and more of the Millennials and Gen Zers are now using social media to get more in tune and listening to classical music.
And I was just curious if you are noticing this trend, trickle down to like the Southwest Florida audience for people that are showing up at shows.
I think where the greatest impact is the candlelight series, which we bring in to the Music and Arts Community Center.
We see a much more youthful audience there.
We're not seeing the transition to younger audiences yet in our classical concerts.
But of course, when we do programing, that's more culturally sensitive, like movie music, Star Wars, Harry Potter than we do get a much more younger audience than we would than our traditional pop shows when we're doing, say, our upcoming tribute to Tony Bennett.
Those are going to appeal to an older audience.
So do you think that it's just the idea of going to the symphony or a bigger theater, maybe, maybe a turn off for youths?
Or is it just more of the familiarity of going to a smaller venue at this point?
That's an interesting question.
That probably we should think about more.
I know that we really strive to create experiential types situations at the Music and Arts Community Center.
When we opened the Mac, as we call it, we were specifically interested in diversity, and diversifying what we were programing, diversify what we were doing because it was a smaller space and the costs were lower.
We could experiment and take more risks as to what we were trying to do.
And so, we have found different types of programs will bring in different audiences from our community.
One of the things we liked about the candlelight, performances was it was bringing in, you know, two full houses.
We seat three under there as opposed to 1850 for the Barbara man.
For popular music, basically.
But it was a string quartet that's playing.
So they're still experiencing something that is of a classical nature.
People, when they go out, younger people especially, are looking for something that's more of an experience than just going to listen to a concert.
One of the things I was able to do last year was go to the tribute to Jerome Kern, who is a 21st century, early 21st century composer, maybe not well-known.
You might know the songs, but not the man.
So then when you're trying to highlight and bring new experiences to maybe people of all ages, how important is it to channel back to maybe those lesser known composers who could still have had an impact on the classical music and orchestra style?
You know, for years to come?
That's a really good question.
And it makes me think that we're probably not doing as good enough job as we could in using our new platforms to educate and to bring people to the symphony.
I think it's a transition for, the arts community in general to figure out how we can, bring what we do to a larger group of people.
If you haven't grown up going to the symphony as I did, then you're trying to figure out, I mean, we still get calls to our offices.
What do I have to wear?
Like, do I have to dress up?
And there was, you know, for us, we we consider ourselves like a family organization.
I mean, as long as you're dressed, I honestly don't care what you wear to one of our concerts.
I think more people dress a little because they are going out.
It's maybe a date or it's a family night.
But if you want to come in shorts and a T shirt to hear our concert, you're experiencing the music.
It's not about you being seen or.
And I think there was a generation where that was much more important.
But I think that's the hesitations which keep people listening to music in their homes rather than experiencing it in the concert hall.
That, and then I think, price, we want money not to be the issue that keeps younger people who we understand are paying for school and probably working two jobs and studying to still be able to come and experience what we're doing.
And part of that is us communicating better to them what the opportunities are and how they can experience, what we are doing.
Well, Doctor Kurtz, thank you so much for joining us, and good luck on the upcoming season.
Thank you so much for having me care.
The summer months can be tough on food pantries, which see a rise in customers due to increases in household expenses and children being home from school, losing access to free or reduced cost meals as part of their summer of service.
Jill Holmes is addressing the growing need by throwing a fantastic competition.
Two teams race the clock to design and construct a model home, using canned goods in place of brick and mortar.
After a winner was selected, the cans used were then donated to Saint Matthew's House, and an additional $10,000 was given to the Harry Champ and Food Bank.
While the event brought some fun, it also addressed a growing concern over the lack of assistance that comes with the dog days of summer.
When the tourists go home.
When our volunteers are snowbirds, go home.
The volunteer population dips, and that means it's even more critical for us to raise awareness for hunger relief.
On the supply side, it's harder for us to get food, and it's definitely harder for us to get volunteers.
We have a lot of snowbird friends who come and help us during the wintertime, but in the summer, we're really challenged to find enough volunteers to get the food out and find enough food to meet the very high level of need that we see in the summer.
With 1 in 8 Southwest Floridians dealing with food insecurities, the need for food banks rises in the summer months.
As Emma Rodriguez learned the lack of available volunteers means nonprofits like Saint Matthew's House are changing their program to address the growing need.
Saint Matthew's House is a nonprofit dedicated to fighting hunger, homelessness and addiction as a part of their mission.
They distribute food to Southwest Florida families in need.
Last year, they made a dramatic change in their food pantry model.
What started out as a small room has grown into what is called a choice market model, which resembles a grocery store.
Liz McCoy Ferrero with Saint Matthew's House says it's important for low income recipients to have a choice in what they eat.
If a person is, you know, a diabetic and maybe they would like to have brown rice, to be able to choose that brown rice versus a white rice.
The expansion also means more people can be served.
The previous food pantry was open only two days a week and served around 30 people each day.
The Community Choice Pantry now serves up to 400 customers daily.
Freezers and refrigerators also expand the availability of perishable foods like produce and another rare staple meat.
They always have a good variety of stuff.
And then the meat, which we all know how expensive meat is nowadays, it just probably at least 50, $60 a week that I can get in groceries from here.
According to Saint Matthew Sales, each pantry trip averages out to about $120 worth of shoes per person.
This totals around $471,000 worth of food given out monthly.
Beyond the financial impact, there's an emotional impact stemming from community support.
Volunteer and customer Delma Garza sees it from both sides here.
Helps me a lot.
Sometimes you cry, but you know, because it help a lot of people and we all say thank you.
Grab you, they hug you because we're so happy and grateful for everything they do for us.
While proud of the Community Choice pantry McCoy, Ferrera says the progress only serves as a reminder of the growing need in Southwest Florida.
It's a problem when you know wages are stagnant, so we have a lot of working families that are coming to us and, they're working.
But, you know, with inflation, a lot of times that that dollar doesn't stretch in the grocery store.
For Southwest Florida InFocus I'm Emma Rodriguez.
Coming up, as Florida looks to become a leader in the future of space travel, could the next generation of aerospace engineers be right in our own backyard?
Earning 50 to $60,000 annually as a teenager.
That's just one of the possibilities for students enrolled in the growing aerospace program in Charlotte County to help deliver on that prospect.
The school district is building an airplane hangar at Charlotte High and a second hangar at the district's adult program at Punta Gorda Airport.
WGCUs Sandra Victorova looks at what these projects could mean for students and the growth of new businesses in the area.
Nina.
Doris loves practicing her pilot skills on a flight simulator at school.
It might not seem like a big deal until you understand how much she's always hated planes.
I used to see a plane like, oh, please don't crash.
The idea of being in a cockpit and flying was absolutely terrifying to me.
And my mom says, you.
You got to make yourself a little uncomfortable.
The high school senior took her mom's advice, signing up for the aviation Assembly course, part of Charlotte High's aerospace program.
And now I realized, wow, this is, like, amazing.
I actually was talking to my mom like, mom, I could be an air traffic controller.
And she goes, well, that's a really stressful job.
Like, I know, but they pay so much money.
Nina credits the program with opening her up to new career options.
Students here learn about the manufacturing and repair of a plane's framework.
Start using our Osco probe now and how aircraft are powered.
The district wants to make their aviation program a national leader, and that's why it's building an estimated $5 million hangar on school property.
Ryan grants rides with Charlie County Public Schools, so it allows us to recreate real world scenarios that the students will be engaging and preparing them for, for the workforce.
If somebody comes out and sees a beautiful airplane and it's in a nice hangar and you see the engine, you know, partially dismantled, and you start to see the magic when it comes to building and maintaining an engine.
But then they say, hey, I can get paid.
You know, pretty well for this job.
I think it turns on a lot of lights for kids in there, especially their parents, because a lot of parents say, oh no, we would need you to go off and get that for your degree and whatever you're going to do.
And they have the courage to say, hey, Mom and Dad, look at this job and look how cool it is.
Mike Miller, vice president for SpaceX Florida, says this free training will also lead students to jobs in fields related to aviation and space, like robotics and cybersecurity.
He says the region benefits, too, by attracting new companies.
So the Orion spacecraft, which sits on top of Artemis, which is ultimately going to try to get back to the moon here in the next couple of years.
But it has over a thousand suppliers bringing parts and mechanisms to that individual capsule.
600 of those suppliers are not in the state of Florida.
So what we'd love to see happen is, you know, even if they're building something over on the Space Coast, having it come from Punta Gorda is a lot easier than bringing it in from Chicago or from from California.
The same day the school district celebrated the hangars groundbreaking, it also signed an agreement with SpaceX Florida to become a Space Academy day.
That means the school commits to connecting students with high demand, credentials and skills needed to work in the aerospace industry.
We are putting things on orbit for all different manners, for agriculture, for telecommunications, for self-defense, for exploration, all the way to the outer bounds of the universe.
All of those things are happening from the Space Coast, because now we have something happening all the time and kids can say, wow, look at it's right in my backyard.
Nina isn't exactly sure how she'll pursue aviation.
She's just grateful her school gave her the chance to discover it.
And if it's flying a plane, then that'd be awesome.
And being able to grow in the sense that I was scared to do something.
And now I'm looking forward to the possibility of being able to do it, is something that I'm like, wow.
For WGCU news, I'm Sandra Victorova in Charlotte County.
The district expects the hangar at the high school to be completed in 2026.
A second hangar at the airport, costing about $8 million, should be completed later this year, limiting the amount of trips to the emergency room with increased in-home care.
Coming up next week, we take a dive into Lee county's community medicine program.
Join us for that story and more next week.
And don't forget to like and subscribe to our WGCU news YouTube channel, where you'll find all of our stories and extended interviews.
We'll have a great weekend.
We'll see you here next week.
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Southwest Florida In Focus is a local public television program presented by WGCU-PBS