Good morning, Fort Myers.

Farmer Mike’s Fall Festival returns to Bonita Springs starting Sept.

26 — offering family friendly pumpkin picking, corn mazes, hayrides and mini pumpkin giveaways. The festival runs through Oct. 31 with a haunted corn maze available on select October evenings.

The Fort Myers Beach Community Foundation will host an 8-location fundraising pub crawl on Saturday, Oct.

31 at Bayside Park at 5 p.m. with a $20 donation required plus a $5,000 sponsorship from Alex King.

Bishop Emilio E. Biosca will host a Mass of Remembrance on Monday, Sept.

28 at 9:00 a.m. at the Church of The Ascension on Estero Blvd — a site being rebuilt after Hurricane Ian — where clergy and parishioners will gather to pray for those affected.

Thrive Academy in Cape Coral was named a National Banner Unified Champion School by Special Olympics Florida for building an inclusive culture where students learn, lead and grow together.

The school will be honored at an upcoming event celebrating its community programs.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission confirmed a new group of Burmese pythons has spread into western Charlotte County north of Naples + Fort Myers, and the state is urging skilled snake removers to join its control programs to protect native species.

In the first week of September, SCCF counted 3,280 shorebirds from 30 species on Sanibel, Captiva, and other local sites as part of the Global Shorebird Counts leading up to World Shorebirds Day on Sept.

6. The survey included notable sightings of banded birds such as a royal tern & piping plover Pepper.

Fort Myers City Council approved a 5% yearly utility rate hike until 2031 to keep the fund stable (raising monthly bills from about $107 to $112) and the increase takes effect Oct.

1.

Florida health officials warn that warm freshwater can carry a rare brain eating amoeba that caused two cases this summer, prompting experts to advise swimmers to use nose clips and boiled or distilled tap water for nasal rinses.

The CDC notes that infections are extremely rare but nearly always fatal.

Doctors at NCH are using contrast-enhanced mammography (with iodine contrast injections) to detect cancers in women with dense breast tissue that may hide fast-growing tumors; the method benefits high-risk patients who cannot have advanced MRI.

Ten high school boys from southwest Florida competed in a poll covering Sept.

14-19; voting ended at 10 a.m. last Thursday and the winner will be announced on social media while receiving a T-shirt & tote bag provided by BSN Sports and local news partners.

Naples native Kaitlin Quevedo won her first WTA title in Sao Paolo on Monday and enters the top 100.

The tennis star, a former student at Community School of Naples, is set to represent Spain in the Billie Jean King Cup finals this week.