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NEW COLLEGE’S BASEBALL ‘FIELD OF DREAMS’ HUNG UP BY LACK OF FAA APPROVALS
FROM WUSF
A million-dollar donation from a local developer was meant to speed the construction of New College of Florida’s baseball stadium, but eight months later, the project has stalled because the Federal Aviation Administration said a long-term lease on the property must be revised first. The FAA order means that other New College plans to build up its east campus — which is adjacent to the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport — on land the airport owns, could be held up indefinitely. New College’s master plan for its campus was released this spring, and projects on airport land include “the introduction of baseball, basketball, soccer, lacrosse and softball,” with “dedicated spaces for each sport.” Two options are now on the table: negotiating a new lease between the airport and New College that meets FAA requirements, or finding a way to convince the FAA it is in the airport’s best interest to sell 34 acres of airport land to New College.
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MANATEE POSTPONES DEVELOPMENT VOTE, DELAYING SHOWDOWN WITH FLORIDA OFFICIALS
FROM BRADENTON HERALD
Worried commissioners could be removed from office, Manatee County Commission Chairman George Kruse postponed two votes that would have prompted a showdown with state officials. Kruse announced the schedule change at the end of Tuesday’s public meeting, stating the risk of commissioners being removed from office was too high to proceed with the potential restoration of wetlands protections. State leaders have suggested that voting to restore wetland buffers and reverse an ordinance allowing for development beyond the Future Development Area Boundary would be a violation of state laws. “As terrible as it is that there’s a dystopian scenario where people can just remove people from office for disagreements over vague, burdensome language, it’s still the fact,” Kruse said.
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CRIME DEPUTIES RAID ILLEGAL GAMBLING ARCADE IN BRADENTON, MANATEE SHERIFF SAYS
FROM BRADENTON HERALD
Detectives seized more than $160,000 in cash and dozens of slot machines during a Bradenton raid last week in what the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office described as an “ongoing investigation” into illegal gambling. Detectives served a search warrant at Good Times Arcade, 105 Cortez Road W., after receiving a tip and conducting two undercover visits that confirmed illegal gambling on electronic slot and gaming machines, the agency said in a news release. The Bradenton Herald and Suncoast Searchlight reported in July that storefront casinos like Good Times Arcade often operate in plain sight across the region, offering unregulated slot machines and cash payouts despite state laws banning such games outside of a handful of licensed casinos. The joint investigation identified nearly 20 unlicensed gambling businesses from Bradenton to Englewood and found that many have reopened after past raids, sometimes in the same location or under a new business name.
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SARASOTA COUNTY CONSIDERS HIRING LOBBYIST WITH DEEP TIES TO GOP POLITICS, DEVELOPER MONEY
FROM SARASOTA HERALD-TRIBUNE
Sarasota County commissioners will decide whether to replace its longtime Tallahassee lobbying firm with one that has deep ties to developer campaign money and Republican politics. When the board returns from its summer break on Aug. 26, commissioners will hear presentations from lobbyists hoping to be hired for the 2026 legislative session. (NOTE: Commissioners have since rescheduled the meeting to Sept. 9 after identifying an error in its original bid request; read that story here.) Among the contenders is Corcoran Partners, which is run by Michael Corcoran, a well-connected Republican operative and prolific mover of political money. As the chair of a political committee called Building a Better Florida, he has funneled over $2 million to almost exclusively conservative causes and candidates. He is also the brother of Richard Corcoran, a top ally of Gov. Ron DeSantis and the president of New College of Florida.
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TASK FORCE ADVISES SARASOTA TO KEEP VAN WEZEL RUNNING OPTIMALLY
FROM SARASOTA OBSERVER
After two years of work, the Purple Ribbon Committee recommended in its final report to Sarasota City Commissioners this week that the best use of the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall is to keep it operating as optimally as possible until — or if — the city moves forward with a new Sarasota Performing Arts Center. “The 2024 hurricanes were game-changing for the committee's work, and with the impact on the Van Wezel we came to realize that the Van Wezel’s location was so vulnerable to storms that the liability to the building, plus the findings of obsolescence and deferred maintenance of building, could lead to more disruptions of presentations, or with unrecoverable storm damage, no presentations,” said Charles Cosler, who chaired the committee following the resignation of Lee En Chung in December 2024.
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BEAN POINT 'NO SWIM ZONE' PROPOSED BY ANNA MARIA MAYOR AFTER RIP-TIDE INCIDENTS
FROM ANNA MARIA ISLAND SUN
In response to rip current-related water rescues in the waters off Bean Point on Aug. 9 and Aug. 12, Anna Maria Mayor Mark Short proposed creating a no swim zone at the northern tip of the island during the Aug. 14 city commission meeting. Earlier in the meeting, Short praised Manatee County Sheriff’s deputies for rescuing four swimmers caught in the rip currents while swimming at Bean Point. On Aug. 9, a 15-year-old boy and his 45-year-old father were rescued. The father, who appeared to be in cardiac arrest, was transferred by boat to the nearby Galati Yacht Sales marina and EMS then transported him to a local hospital where he died the following day. Later that afternoon, a 73-year-old man drowned near the Sandbar restaurant, south of Bean Point, but his death is not believed to be rip current-related. “It’s clearly a safety issue,” Short said when requesting future commission discussion at the commission’s next meeting on Thursday, Aug. 28.
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FROM MEXICO CITY, A YOUNG WOMAN WHO GREW UP IN NORTH PORT TALKS ABOUT HER FUTURE
FROM WSLR
WLSR reporter Ramon Lopez has closely followed the deportation odyssey of Lulu Martinez. In June, the young woman from North Port ended up in ICE detention in Texas, and now she is with her grandmother in Mexico City. This — for now — last installment in her story talks about her legal options if she decided to return to the United States, and her future in Mexico. Twenty-two-year-old Maria Martinez’s current unplanned journey all began with an illegal U-turn in North Port last May. WSLR News spoke to Maria, known as Lulu to friends and family, now in self-imposed exile just outside of Mexico City. She was detained by a North Port cop for the traffic infraction. She did not have a drivers license and was an undocumented immigrant, having come to Florida from Mexico with her family when she was only 12.
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STUDENTS, TEACHER, AND PARENTS RALLY AGAINST THE SARASOTA SCHOOL BOARD TO NOT CHANGE DISCRIMINATION POLICY
FROM ABC7
More than a dozen Sarasota community members, consisting of parents, teachers, and students, rallied against the Sarasota School Board on Tuesday. This comes after the school board voted 3 to 2 last month to revise the student code of conduct. The executive director and founder of the Social Equity through Education Alliance (SEE) said it shouldn’t even be a topic of discussion for board members. “We’re focusing on removing protections for queer and trans students when it’s unnecessary and required, and no one’s asking for it. It’s really strange,” said Zander Moricz. The revision being considered would rewrite policies, eliminating lists of protected groups in favor of more generic language.
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ENOS PRAISED, BY MOST, AS HE LEAVES SCHOOL BOARD
FROM VENICE GONDOLIER
At Tuesday’s Sarasota School Board meeting, members and residents thanked outgoing Chair Tim Enos, who is resigning to return as the district’s police chief, while Board Member Tom Edwards used the moment to air grievances about Enos’ past conduct toward him and to question the handling of his rehiring. Edwards said his trust in Enos was broken after Enos thanked people who hurled "vile slurs" at Edwards and others. “I was bullied. People in this room were bullied; Mr. Enos thanked those people,” Edwards said. Edwards also said he is sorry to lose the chair, but he has mixed feelings about the new role Enos is taking. He criticized the handling of Enos’ rehiring. Based in the release’s timing, he said, people in other departments, like HR and communications, may have known about the move before School Board members did.
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BELOW THE SURFACE: THE TRUTH ABOUT MANATEE SAFETY
FROM EAST COUNTY OBSERVER
A whole array of factors contribute to the deaths of manatees, both natural environmental factors as well as human-related ones. These include cold stress, boat collisions, fishing gear entanglement and habitat loss. From Jan. 1 to July 25, 69 of 484 reported manatee deaths in Florida were watercraft-related according to a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission report. In Manatee County, 19 Manatee deaths have been confirmed by Florida Fish and Wildlife, which released an alert this month to bring awareness to the problem of boaters hitting Manatees. An average of 99 manatees a year over the past five years are killed by watercraft in Florida.
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