Southwest Florida boasts some of the wealthiest communities in the nation, but there are growing numbers of kids in need of free or reduced-price lunches.

When 14-year-old Rose Frederic stepped off the plane from Haiti in February and arrived in Naples to visit her father, she didn't know she needed a new liver. When her father drove her to the clinic at HealthCare Network of Southwest Florida, she didn't know she would be rushed by ambulance — alone, because her dad couldn't take off work — to Holz Children's Hospital at Jackson Memorial in Miami and stay for 17 days.

Volunteers gathered at Audubon's Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary on Thursday as part of the 20th annual North American Butterfly Association (NABA) Summer Count, and Hurricane Irma's toll on the fragile creatures was evident.

The North Naples Walmart on Juliet Boulevard awarded a community grant to Lighthouse of Collier to provide Google Home devices and training for clients with visual impairments. This will enable people who are blind or visually impaired to do their shopping by voice command, then have their orders delivered to their front doors.

They lived through the Great Depression and World War II. They witnessed women getting the right to vote and the civil rights movement. Centenarians — 100 years or older — are rare, but six women living at Lely Palms Retirement Community just celebrated that achievement of longevity.

Jazmine Belleza, 8, walked into Snyderman's Shoes of Naples on Tuesday wearing sparkly shoes size 2 that she had worn for 10 months — and walked out with two pairs of brand-new shoes size 4½. She is one of 250 kids from Immokalee's Guadalupe Center who will receive new shoes as part of the center’s 26th annual back-to-school shoes and supplies drive.

Straws, specifically plastic straws, are the latest on an increasing list of single-use plastic products some U.S. cities are banning, such as Seattle. And some Southwest Florida cities are starting to do the same.

Many Canadians who live or visit Florida fear a trade war due to the increasingly strained relations with the U.S., with some deciding to boycott U.S. goods and vacations.

Florice Hodges was a young mother who struggled to provide for her son — so she understands Collier County parents who can't afford to buy new shoes for their kids. In Collier County public schools, more than 60 percent of students — 26,500-plus kids — are considered "economically needy."