This is southwest Florida in focus.

Coming up.

Primary season is right around the corner, followed by the November election cycle.

We take a look at what you need to know to make sure you're registered before heading out to the polls.

New information on the New World screw worm.

The infestation has now been confirmed in two states.

We will have the latest for you and Leigh health taps its new leader.

We look at the credentials he brings to the organization and hear from the outgoing CEO, doctor Larry Antonucci.

Hello, I'm Jennifer Crawford.

Thank you for joining us.

Election season is upon us.

And with ever changing laws.

Now is the time to make sure that you know what is needed to register to vote.

Two important election dates to mark on your calendar.

The Florida primaries will be held on Tuesday, August 18th, and the general election nationwide takes place on Tuesday, November 3rd.

The formal qualifying period for candidates seeking public office in Florida during this year's midterm elections, open Monday and will close at noon on Friday.

In years past, the qualifying period has typically been in April, which gives candidates more time to campaign all across the country.

Midterm election primary season is already in full swing.

We are now joined by WGCU host and reporter John Davis for a closer look at the process here in the Sunshine State, and some really important deadlines that voters need to be aware of as far as understanding when they are able to qualify.

John Wind is the qualifying period start.

So the qualifying period for candidates actually started at noon on Monday, and it will end at noon on Friday.

As you mentioned, this usually happens back in April, but it got pushed back to June this year because we had that unusual mid-decade congressional redistricting process.

So, you know, obviously, it would have been impossible for prospective congressional candidates to have all their eyes dotted and t's crossed with their qualifying paperwork if they didn't even know what the boundaries of the district they were running in were going to be.

So that's what pushed all of that back.

Needless to say, this is going to be an extremely busy week for staff at the State Division of Elections office in Tallahassee.

Because all of Florida's 28 congressional seats are up for election this year, as are all 120 state House district seats, 21 of the Florida State Senate seats, and the statewide cabinet positions like chief financial officer, agriculture Commissioner, state attorney general.

Those are also all up for grabs.

Now, most candidates will they'll send in their qualifying paperwork by mail or there they'll e-file.

But it's not uncommon for candidates to themselves or even have a trusted staffer drive six, seven, eight hours to Tallahassee to file this paperwork in person.

Because if there is any discrepancy or any issue with their filing paperwork, and that has not been addressed by noon on Friday, then they're not going to be able to run.

It's very important that they follow this process perfectly.

Now, as we look toward the August primary and the November general election, what are some of the key dates that voters need to be aware of to make sure that they are registered to vote properly and to make sure that their status, if they need to update their status as far as their registration information, that that's done.

What are the important dates?

Yeah, they're important because their hard and fast deadlines for sure.

Florida law requires voter registration books to close 29 days before an election, and it requires vote by mail request to come in at least 12 days before election.

Election.

So for the August 18th primary, that means if you need to make a new voter registration or you want to change your party affiliation, you need to do that with your county election supervisor's office.

By July 20th.

And August 6th would be the last day to request a vote by mail ballot for the November 3rd general election.

If you wanted to register to vote or change your status, you need to do that by Monday, October 5th.

And then Thursday, October 22nd would be the last day to request to vote by mail ballot.

Well, Florida used to allow vote by mail ballots to last two election cycles, but that has changed.

What do we need to know now as far as those deadlines?

So yeah, in 2021, governor DeSantis signed a wide ranging election law that requires all standing vote by mail request at that time to be canceled after the 2022 elections.

And since then, state election law has required vote by mail request to be renewed every general election cycle, and such requests are valid through the end of the calendar year of the next regularly scheduled general election.

I know that's a lot.

What that basically means is voters don't need to make a vote by mail request every year if they want to vote that way.

But if you made one, like if you made 1 in 2025, you're fine for this year.

If you made if you voted by mail in 2024 and haven't made a request since then, then your vote by mail status, it's been expired and you need to make a new one if that's how you intend to vote in the midterms this year.

This was interesting because this was largely seen as an effort by Republicans to erase Democrats mail in voting edge from the 2020 election.

Democrats have tended to take advantage of voting by mail more often than Republicans, even though Republicans have an edge over Democrats in actual numbers of registrations.

Supporters say, you know, that's not the case.

It's not Partizan, since it applies to everybody, regardless of registration status.

I mean, but the law was actually drafted with the help of the Republican Party of Florida's top attorney at the time, and it was just part of a wave of changes Republicans were making in the aftermath of the 2020 election, when President Trump was making all kinds of, you know, false claims about voter fraud in the race that he lost to former President Biden.

Back in April, governor DeSantis signed also a new bill that requires Florida voters to show proof of citizenship in order to vote.

Will that impact the midterms?

Voters in the midterms?

Yeah, this is the Florida save that was kind of modeled off of the the federal Save act.

And this was actually sponsored by a state representative from our area, Jenna Persons Mullica, who was recently tapped by governor DeSantis to serve out the rest of former Lee County election Supervisor Tommy Doyle's term.

So but generally, no, in terms of how this is going to impact voters, the Save act is not going to have in effect, it's not really going to take effect until 2027.

And what it's going to do is it may think, may make things difficult for some voters because you're going to be required to provide proof of citizenship like a birth certificate, a passport or similar documentation.

It also was going to eliminate some forms of ID that in the past had been allowed for voting.

But going forward in 2027 won't be.

That law is facing a number of federal suits that are still pending, but that those lawsuits are likely to be worked out one way or another before the majority of the law takes effect in 2027.

There are some aspects of the law that, according to the state Senate's interpretation of it, will take effect July 1st of this year.

One would create like a five year statute of limitation for prosecution of felony violations of Florida election code.

But again, these are things that are not going to impact the voting process for your average voter.

All right.

Anything else you want to share today?

I would I just want to note that what's going to be on your ballot this year, depending on where you live, you might be voting on constitutional officers in your county.

These are things like sheriff, clerk of court, property appraiser.

And we run these elections as partizan elections.

People run as an independent or as a Republican or as a Democrat.

But there's really nothing innately partizan about the responsibilities that comes with those jobs.

So I would just urge voters to do your homework, be informed, go to their campaign websites and read what their platforms are.

Take advantage of online voter guides from nonparty nonpartisan organizations like the League of Women Voters that are freely accessible to you out there.

And, you know, don't just vote straight D down the ticket or straight R down the ticket, really know who you're voting for and what they're what they're proposing to do and do what before you get to the ballots.

That and DVDs, because that always ends up seeming to happen where people like, who should I vote for as they're getting ready to vote?

And it's like, well, you got to do your research first.

Absolutely.

All right.

Thank you so much, John.

Thanks, Jennifer.

You can follow along with election coverage and find out how to make sure that you are registered to vote by visiting WGCU.org We have an update on the story we brought you yesterday regarding the parasitic New World screw worm.

The USDA officially said that the first five cases were in the state of Texas, but that has changed.

The USDA now says one of those cases that involved a pet dog treated in Texas, that dog actually lives in New Mexico with its owners.

This means that two states are now reporting the disease.

Since the first reports, the flesh eating parasite has been found in cattle one dog and one goat.

Well, it's emergence in Texas has not been seen in decades.

There was an isolated outbreak in 2016, in the Florida Keys.

Doctor Sally Donato from the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine, explains how the Texas outbreak is different from what happened in the Florida Keys.

The outbreak in Florida a few years ago was a little bit different.

That was thought to be caused by the transport of a single infected animal into the key area and infected the deer, which were an endangered species.

And so this was essentially a screw worm infected animal catching a ride onto US soil.

Luckily, the keys are geographically quite isolated, as they are islands, of course, and so it made it easier to contain the infection and then disperse the sterile flies.

The situation right now is different and much worse.

This actually represents true endemic population infection level infection throughout Mexico and actually crossing over our borders, not in the form of a single accidental transport of an infected animal.

You can watch my full interview with doctor Sally Donata, and stay up to date with the latest on this outbreak by visiting WGC Coming up, we now know the numbers coming in off of the annual Python removal by the Conservancy of Southwest Florida.

It turns out this season was a record breaker, removing thousands of pounds of Burmese pythons.

An Associated Press investigation reveals that dozens of children who were separated under the first Trump administration have been separated, and this is after a judge's ordered to reunite those families.

One story in particular is about a family from Guatemala who returned to Florida last week under a federal judges order.

We picked the story up from Miami International Airport.

From your Seema Lopez and her family.

The arrival at the Miami airport is the latest chapter in a years long ordeal where she has twice faced separation from her kids.

For nearly a year ever Lopez, her 11 year old son Edison and her 14 year old daughter lived here in the remote mountains of Guatemala, where they were born.

It was a far cry from their lives in the US.

The preview seven years.

The kids grew up and attended schools in South Florida, and Alva Lopez worked in landscaping in neighborhoods surrounding President Donald Trump's Mar a Lago compound.

Dinero was hasta un Orlando de mansion on no casitas, but Alva Lopez crossed the border illegally in 2018 under Trump.

Sierra tolerance policy.

Her family was one of the thousands separated at the US-Mexico border during his first term.

Ederson was three years old when he was taken from his mother and spent four and a half months at a government shelter.

On the con personas.

El Saba, Yolo v abandoned, primer lugar eso pensar yolo bando nado pero no acy porque me.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a class action lawsuit, and a federal judge ordered the more than 5500 children, including Edison, to be reunited with her parents.

With me, costo siempre primer lugar cuando mellow diario.

Ya know, ya know me.

Connoisseur a IL yo la habra saba viva siempre para para atras.

In a 22m settlement signed by the Biden administration, families who were originally separated could apply to stay in the US while seeking pathways to permanency.

That's how Alva Lopez built her life in Florida, including therapy for her son, who struggle after his earlier separation.

But as the Trump administration ramped up sweeps far from the border in 2025, Ivan Lopez was caught in a dragn An Associated Press investigation found that the government has reciprocated dozens of children from their families, despite a landmark legal settlement meant to keep them together.

Some of their parents have wound up in immigration detention facilities for months, or have been sent back to their countries of origin.

Es un Dolores.

UN de nuevo Q yo nunca immagini volver a record low O volver a pesar.

The Department of Homeland Security told the AP they comply with all court orders, and said non-governmental organizations and activist judges have sought to thwart immigration operations.

Once Alva Lopez found herself back in Guatemala, she sent for her children.

They struggled to adjust to during your life.

Now see me.

Not.

Aqui esta.

I asked.

Pero yo la tengo la culpa amigo porque viva trabajar.

Following the judge's order, the family was finally allowed to return to the US in late May.

Alva Lopez worries about the lasting impact on her children given what they have experienced.

She doesn't know what will happen next, but for now, her kids are back where they feel most at home.

Muchas palabras, felicidad dentro de me me me estoy.

Alva told the Associated Press that since her flight landed, she has been taken for questioning by immigration officials.

She says she has not told her children that part of the story, saying that they would then worry that the same thing would happen again.

When it comes to the annual Python removal, the goal is to remove this invasive species.

Now, the Conservancy of Southwest Florida says it has a new record in the books when it comes to those snakes.

The conservancy says it not only removed almost 180 pythons, but it also has a huge amount on the scales.

Imagine more than 8,000 pounds.

That's more than four tons of Burmese pythons recorded from last November to April of this year.

That means the average snake that's a part of this count weighed in at more than 45 pounds.

Fishing is a part of our culture here in Florida.

So when a federal judge in Washington, D.C., blocked a plan to loosen rules for fishing red snapper, it stopped an elongated recreational season on the fish, which pits recreational fishermen against commercial businesses.

The AP reports that governor DeSantis was among a group who wanted to manage the regulations.

Now we're hearing from anglers who are worried about their futures.

Recreational fishermen had been counting down the days.

We originally set this up about three and a half, three, three and a half months ago was to go red snapper fishing on opening day.

In recent years, the red snapper fishing season off the Atlantic coast had been limited to 1 to 2 days.

But all that was supposed to change this year.

Today we delivered the huge win for our great fishermen and anglers here in Florida.

For years, our great fishermen have been punished with very short federal fishing seasons despite record high fish populations.

The administration's decision would have extended the season anywhere from 40 to 60 days, depending on the state.

It's part of a larger push under President Trump to deregulate fisheries.

The only way to keep snapper caught outside the recreational season is to have a special permit for research purposes.

Otherwise, any snapper caught must be released.

When he made the announcement.

He was expanding that.

Open that window.

We were all excited because we see what we catch every day, and they are by far the most abundant fish that we all catch.

But on the eve of opening day, a lawsuit brought by commercial fishermen whose season begins in July halted the recreational season in.

Conservationists worried the snapper stock isn't healthy enough to sustain that dramatic of an increase will be less likely to have a very viable fishery by the time we're allowed in.

If if you allow 45 vessels targeting on top of all the recreational anglers in our area, we're wondering what's going to be left.

There has been no science shown by the agency that suggests that this would not cause overfishing.

It's tricky because this is a rebuilding fish stock right now, so people out in the water are seeing more of the fishery than they have seen in a long time.

And so that gives them the sense that, like, everything is great and we should get to go fishing now.

But a lot of the fish are very young.

And if we deplete them down by increasing fishing pressure to hastily, then we'll damage the long term health of the stock.

There it goes, back to the bottom.

I am a fisherman, and I can tell you what I see spending almost every day on the water, and that is that red snapper, for as long as we've been doing it, have not been overfished, have not undergone overfishing.

This is a judge in Washington, D.C., probably doesn't know the first thing about fishing.

And they're doing this.

It's not a good decision.

NOAA declined to comment on the snapper dispute, citing ongoing litigation.

However, it said that it is working with fisheries managers across the country to better prioritize existing resources and streamline operations.

Other legal challenges are expected as the administration looks to ease federal oversight on dozens of other fish species.

The federal government is one piece of the puzzle of of managing these fisheries.

It is a broadly public participatory system where all of the states and stakeholders are on an even ground.

This is another reason why we're so worried about the direction that these exempted fishing permits have taken us, because they skipped all of that public process.

We recognize the need for sustainability.

We don't want to catch all the fish.

Then we'll be out of business.

We want those conservation efforts, but we also want to be able to sustainably access our public resources.

Coming up after the break, we learn about the new leader slated to take over the CEO position at Lee health.

And we look at the timeline for the retirement of Doctor Larry Antonucci.

It was felt from Cuba all the way to Central Florida.

The US Geological Survey measured an earthquake of 6.1 magnitude on the Richter scale.

The quake happened Monday afternoon just west of Havana, Cuba.

Several buildings were evacuated in Miami-Dade County, and people as far north as Orlando reported shaking buildings.

Despite the widespread shaky feeling.

No damage has been reported.

It is never too late to take control of your overall health.

According to the National Institutes of Health.

Most people will be dealing with an active, chronic issue starting in their 40s.

But as WGCUs Teddy Burn learned minor steps could lead to major life benefits.

There are many myths when it comes to aging, such as the belief that once you hit a certain age, it's too late to start exercising.

But as Doctor Ronen Factoria with Cleveland Clinic explains, that's not true.

That is a big myth where if you get older, you're actually going to be less mobile.

You shouldn't be exercising, you need to be worried about your safety.

And those are all good considerations.

But the key thing if you get older is that you have to actually keep on moving.

There's no time in which exercise and physical activity is not beneficial for you.

Doctor factories says regular exercise can help with weight management, heart health, strength, and even boost your mood.

So which kind of exercise is best?

He says you don't have to do anything to rigorous.

Some options include walking, biking, swimming or taking a dance class.

He also suggests strength training if possible.

You could use lightweights a couple of times a week.

Another common myth Doctor Factories says he's heard is that osteoporosis only affects women.

However, everyone is at risk for it.

For women, getting screened for osteoporosis is a common part of their usual medical care.

But men, it may be actually overlooked.

If a man has lost an inch of height or more over their lifetime.

You probably want to take a look to see whether or not your bones are healthy as they should be, because that height loss tells you that your bones, maybe in your spine, have degenerated over time.

They're not as firm as they used to be.

Doctor factories says one other myth is the assumption that everyone suffers from memory loss when they get older.

He says the Alzheimer's and dementia can't always be prevented.

There are things you can do to help lower your risk, like eating healthy, staying active, learning new skills, and maintaining social connections.

For WGU news, I'm Teddy Byrne.

When Doctor Larry Antonucci announced he would lead Lee health through the end of his contract at the end of September this year, the health system said it would conduct a nationwide search for its next CEO.

Doctor Antonucci, who is also chair of the board of trustees of FGC, knew was present when the health system named his successor, and that person is Ben Spence, who is currently the chief operating officer of Lee health.

Lee Health says Spence has been a part of the organization since 1995, filling a number of roles including coup, and he now prepares for his latest position as president and CEO.

Lead in this direction, and I had the encouragement and support of so many.

That helped build my confidence that this was the right move.

And with the board's vote, it confirmed this was God's will for my life and what I want to do with the rest of my career.

It's all about the mission.

To me, it wasn't about the role.

It's more about the goal of wanting to make a difference.

And I believe in this organization.

I believe in the culture that we've created, and I want to protect that culture.

I want to make sure that the culture that Larry's worked so hard to create and Jim before him, that we're going to continue to be an organization that cares deeply and connects with its community in a meaningful way.

And I think I can do that.

Doctor Antonucci will serve as the CEO until September 30th, at which point Spence will take over at the beginning of October.

On the next southwest Florida in focus.

Follow along as we chronicle a family's journey that includes triplets as they leave their home country to settle in southwest Florida.

Thank you so much for joining us.

Make sure you head to the.

That's where you'll find all of our stories.

We look forward to seeing you again tomorrow right here on Southwest Florida in focus.