Weekly Newsletter

Friday, Nov. 21, 2025

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We’re here to keep you informed on the local issues that matter most. Each week, we share our latest in-depth reporting, along with the most important stories from around the region, so you stay connected and up to date with what’s happening in your community.

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NEW FROM SUNCOAST SEARCHLIGHT & BRADENTON JOURNAL:

MANATEE COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE ACCUSED OF DOUBLE STANDARD AFTER SEPTEMBER SCUFFLE

As crowds looked on from a line waiting outside the Good Night John Boy nightclub in downtown St. Petersburg, bouncers of the bar had a man with a bloody face pinned to the concrete.

The man had tried to cut in front of others to get back into the 1970s-themed club, known for a large disco ball that hangs above the dancefloor. When confronted by a bouncer, the man head-butted him. 

This was no ordinary unruly patron that night in early September. It was 39-year-old Randall Crawford — a lieutenant with the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office — who was out partying with other command-level deputies from the agency.

St. Petersburg police did not know this when they arrived and handcuffed Crawford, shooing away his colleagues as they tried to intervene, according to body camera footage from the incident. Police said they had enough evidence to arrest Crawford for head-butting the doorman, even telling the bouncer, “I’m assuming — I know he’ll go to jail.”

But shortly after Crawford identified himself as a fellow law-enforcement officer, police turned off their body cameras, uncuffed Crawford and — after the bouncer declined to press charges — dropped the investigation. The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office’s internal affairs probe cleared Crawford of wrongdoing and imposed no discipline on him.

The incident and its aftermath provide a rare glimpse into how high-level members of law enforcement are treated during external and internal police probes and raise questions about whether they’re held to the same standards as everyone else, according to an investigation by Suncoast Searchlight and the Bradenton Herald.

NEW FROM SUNCOAST SEARCHLIGHT:

NEW YORK TIMES EDITOR VISITS SARASOTA TO DISCUSS STATE OF LOCAL JOURNALISM

The future of local journalism is uncertain, but not doomed, according to a former executive editor of The New York Times.

Dean Baquet, who led the Times from 2014 to 2022, visited Sarasota Thursday for a community conversation on the challenges and opportunities in local journalism, hosted by Suncoast Searchlight. Dozens attended the event, which was the first in the Searchlight Series that aims to deepen public understanding of the media industry and connect residents with the journalists who serve them.

“The good news is the nonprofit news industry, if you will, which didn’t even exist when I started … it will be, certainly, at least be a giant part of the future of journalism,” said Baquet, who now runs the Times’ Local Investigations Fellowship, a program that supports journalists at regional outlets in producing major investigations.

“In my fantasy, you get to the point where the local news organization becomes like the library or the museum,” he continued. “You want to have somebody who covers your community, and you contribute to it – and it’s not just five zillionaires or five giant philanthropies – that people actually subscribe, pay for it.”

Baquet’s remarks come at a time when news deserts – areas with limited local news coverage – are growing, and Americans’ trust in news has reached a new low.

In honor of the upcoming

THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY

Suncoast Searchlight will not publish a newsletter next week.

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HERE'S WHAT ELSE WE RECOMMEND READING THIS WEEK

BRIDGET’S BACK: SCHOOL BOARD ELECTS ZIEGLER TO CHAIR, MARINELLI TO VICE CHAIR

FROM VENICE GONDOLIER

Overcoming calls for her to step down for the past two years by fellow board members and the public, Bridget Ziegler was elected as Sarasota County School Board chair Nov. 18. Ziegler was the only board member to receive a nomination, by Karen Rose, for chair. Robyn Marinelli was elected vice chair after a 3-2 vote, with Liz Barker and Tom Edwards voting for Edwards. Barker, who raised her hand to submit Edwards as a contender, said keeping a rotation of leadership would "take the politics out of it."

READ THE STORY HERE

WHAT FLORIDA HOMEBUYERS SHOULD KNOW ABOUT TRUMP’S 50-YEAR MORTGAGE PLAN

FROM TAMPA BAY TIMES

This month, President Donald Trump voiced his support for a potential solution to skyrocketing home prices: a 50-year mortgage. The logic is simple — if you lengthen the life of the loan from 30 years to 50, then the monthly payment will drop, lowering the barrier to entry for prospective home buyers. But the longer it takes to pay down the interest, the higher the total costs will be at the end of the loan period. Plus, these loans would likely come with higher interest rates.

READ THE STORY HERE

WELLEN PARK: DISTRICT COURT OF APPEALS FAVORS NORTH PORT IN DEANNEXATION DISPUTE

FROM THE DAILY SUN

The 2nd District Court of Appeals is backing North Port in an ongoing dispute with some Wellen Park residents seeking deannexation from the city. City officials were pleased with the ruling while the petitioners ponder what they'll do next. The West Villagers for Responsible Government has been looking to separate Wellen Park from North Port for years. Prior to becoming Wellen Park, the land was Berry Ranch, then Taylor Ranch, later Thomas Ranch and for years when it was first being developed, it was known as West Villages. WV4RG wanted Wellen Park to be deannexed and return to being unincorporated Sarasota County. The group sued the city in 2020.

READ THE STORY HERE

ARE YOUR KIDS OUT LATE? MANATEE COUNTY OKS CURFEW FOR CHILDREN UNDER 16

FROM BRADENTON HERALD

On Tuesday, Manatee County commissioners enacted a juvenile curfew that limits when minors under 16 are allowed in public by themselves. Residents and commissioners in support of the curfew say it will help keep youth safe and curb crime, but a handful of community members who spoke in opposition of the curfew shared concerns about enforcement and efficacy. The curfew prohibits juveniles under 16 years old from being in public places, common areas and businesses from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. Sundays through Thursdays, and between 12:01 a.m. to 6 a.m. on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. 

READ THE STORY HERE

ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS FILE A LAWSUIT TO STOP THE SALE OF OIL AND GAS LEASES IN THE GULF

FROM WUSF

Several environmental groups have filed a lawsuit against the federal government's planned sale of 80 million acres of the Gulf for oil and gas drilling leases. They claim the sale would violate one of the nation's bedrock environmental laws, the National Environmental Policy Act. That law requires federal agencies to look at the possible environmental effects before any action can be taken. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit include Earthjustice, Friends of the Earth, Center for Biological Diversity, Natural Resources Defense Council and Sierra Club. They claim that failing to look at what could possibly happen from selling public waters could expose much of the Gulf to oil spills and harm the endangered Rice’s whale.

READ THE STORY HERE

NADINE SMITH STEPPING DOWN AT EQUALITY FLORIDA TO LEAD COLOR OF CHANGE

FROM FLORIDA POLITICS

Equality Florida CEO Nadine Smith will step down at year’s end to lead the national racial justice group Color Of Change. The Equality Florida Board has named Stratton Pollitzer, who co-founded the group with Smith, as its new CEO and Executive Director. In a video message, Smith said she was leaving Florida’s largest LGBTQ advocacy organization in a position of strength. “I’m brimming with confidence because the team we’ve built here is without question among the most talented and dedicated in the nation,” Smith said. She has worked at Equality Florida for 28 years, and said the new opportunity came as a surprise. Color Of Change announced that she would begin there on Jan. 12.

READ MORE HERE

DETERMINED SARASOTA MOM VALUES SUPPORT FROM SEASON OF SHARING

BY SARASOTA HERALD-TRIBUNE

Lynnette Coney was months away from tackling a goal that could change her family’s life. Hardly sleeping this summer, the 41-year-old Sarasota woman crammed every free moment for the upcoming nursing board exams in December – balancing her studies with raising three kids and caregiving for her sick dad. Once she’d become a licensed RN, Lynnette believed, she could garner a much higher salary. Maybe stop living paycheck to paycheck. Get back to socking away money for the future and her sons. In the past, Lynnette had done just that.

READ MORE HERE

REQUEST FOR CHARLIE KIRK MEMORIAL ROAD APPROVED

FROM SARASOTA OBSERVER

The Sarasota County Commission on Tuesday approved a request to the state legislature to designate a section of Fruitville Road as the Charlie Kirk Memorial Road. Only the Florida Department of Transportation has the power to make such a designation on a state-maintained road, so the County Commission’s action serves as notice it supports such a move. The name Fruitville Road would not change.

READ MORE HERE

FOR THESE FLORIDA COUNTIES, ELIMINATING PROPERTY TAXES WOULD MEAN A DISMEMBERMENT OF VITAL SERVICES

FROM FLORIDA TRIDENT

Local government officials across Florida are wary of plans by Gov. Ron DeSantis to slash or eliminate homestead property taxes, but counties like DeSoto are especially concerned. DeSoto is one of Florida’s 29 “fiscally constrained” counties with small populations, few industries and lots of agricultural or conservation land — and therefore small tax bases. That means those counties depend more heavily on taxes on homestead property, the primary residence of the owner.

READ MORE HERE

SHERIFF CALLS FOR BETTER ICE COMMUNICATION AFTER UNMARKED OPERATION

FROM ABC7

The Franklin County Sheriff said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement isn’t a true partner in the fight against illegal immigration in small communities across Florida. Sheriff A.J. Smith said ICE agents picked someone up as recently as Tuesday, and he had no clue until he got calls from concerned residents. Smith calls that a disaster waiting to happen. “They were unmarked cars, men with guns in the yard, we got the call. Of course, if a deputy rolls up on something like that, it could be catastrophic. That’s why the partnership is important. We have to know what they’re doing, they have to know what they’re doing,” Smith said.

READ MORE HERE

AUDIT OF FLORIDA'S VOUCHER PROGRAM FINDS OVERSPENDING, UNDERFUNDING PUBLIC SCHOOLS

WUSF

An independent audit of Florida's voucher system has been submitted to the legislature, and a review of its findings in a Senate committee found several budgetary pitfalls. The audit found a funding shortfall of $398 million for the voucher program during the 2024-2025 school year. It also found missed cross-check opportunities and ineffective survey processes, which led to funding inequities in some public schools. Several private schools also missed out on being paid for the educational services they provided students.

READ MORE HERE

DID YOU MISS OUR PREVIOUS NEWSLETTER?

HERE'S WHAT WE SHARED:

TWO CHARTERS VIE FOR SAME SARASOTA CAMPUSES UNDER ‘SCHOOLS OF HOPE’

On the very first day they could, two different charter school operators filed notices Tuesday to compete for unused space on the same Sarasota County public campuses by taking advantage of controversial changes to state law.

Mater Academy and Somerset Academy notified the school district they both intend to “co-locate” at Brookside Middle School and Emma E. Booker Elementary under Florida’s Schools of Hope legislation.

That’s despite district plans approved by the school board Friday aimed to boost enrollment at a dozen public schools at risk of a charter takeover. That plan, which passed unanimously, followed a series of community meetings at local schools packed with angry parents where the district presented options to make its campuses less attractive to incoming charters.

The district has 20 calendar days to submit objections to the proposals on grounds of “material impracticability,” according to a Florida Department of Education rule amended on Sept. 24. The first charter school to send a notice would receive the space. Both notices were filed Tuesday. It’s unclear which came first.

Mater Academy prematurely filed three notices in October in Sarasota County amid dozens sent out statewide, including notices for Brookside Middle, Emma E. Booker and Oak Park School. Now, both Mater and a new charter operator, Somerset Academy, seek to occupy Emma E. Booker and Brookside.



‘HOME RULE’ FIGHT OVER FLORIDA’S SB 180 EXPOSES GROWING RIFT INSIDE REPUBLICAN RANKS

During an October meeting of Sarasota MAGA Patriots — a rightwing coalition pursuing a range of issues, from anti-vaccine activism to emergency preparedness — attendees railed against a new state law curbing local oversight of development and the Republican lawmakers who backed it.

Their ire reflects tensions inside Florida’s dominant party, between Tallahassee’s power brokers and the populist base that helped put them there.

Passed this spring with near-unanimous support in both the Senate and the House, SB 180 limits counties and cities from imposing new limits on building — a measure framed as a way to help homeowners rebuild after major storms, but whose reach extends statewide and far beyond coastal areas still recovering from 2024 storms.

The backlash to SB180 highlights a growing divide within the GOP, between state leaders consolidating control in Tallahassee and grassroots conservatives demanding decisions stay local. It has also united a broad range of political groups — libertarians, MAGA activists, conservationists, blue-leaning municipalities and good-government groups who say the law favors developers over communities.

Already, chapters of the Republican Liberty Caucus — a national group with roots in the Tea Party movement — have condemned the bill as “a giveaway to developers at the expense of Florida’s families, farms and future.” They’ve found unexpected allies in organizations such as Audubon Florida, League of Women Voters of Florida and neighborhood coalitions like Sarasota’s Phillippi Creek Coalition, whose members warn that unchecked growth could worsen flooding.

TAMPA GENERAL TO ASSUME OPERATIONS OF DESOTO COUNTY’S LONE HOSPITAL

Big changes are coming to the only hospital in rural DeSoto County. 

The public Desoto Memorial Hospital board voted unanimously on Monday to lease the 49-bed facility, based in Arcadia, to Tampa General Hospital for an investment of at least $45 million and rent of $10 per year. The lease will be for a period of 49 years.

The decision capped a day-long meeting in which directors heard presentations on three options for the hospital’s future. In accepting the TGH system’s plan, the board rejected proposals from AdventHealth, one of the nation’s 10 largest health care systems, and NorthStar Hospitals, a health care management and investment company based in Massachusetts.

Board member Robert Heine, who made the motion to proceed with TGH’s proposal, said he preferred a lease to a sale of the hospital. “For that reason, I think that Tampa General can help this community the most,” he said.

Representatives from AdventHealth and NorthStar said during their presentations they were open to a long-term lease but the organizations originally proposed a purchase and a management services agreement, respectively.



The decision comes as the hospital faces challenges common to many rural facilities: rising labor and equipment costs; difficulty recruiting specialists; the loss of expertise as aging employees retire; and Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements that fall short of covering actual costs.

SARASOTA SCHOOLS DRAFTED A PLAN TO PREVENT ‘SCHOOLS OF HOPE’ TAKEOVERS. HERE’S WHAT’S IN IT.

Sarasota County Schools has drawn up a sweeping plan to shrink its empty classroom space — and, in the process, try to shield itself from a new state law that allows charter schools to move into underused public campuses.

The strategic plan, which Superintendent Terry Connor is set to present to the school board Tuesday, calls for selling the district’s headquarters at The Landings and relocating those offices into existing schools, razing or reconfiguring some campus buildings and expanding programs in schools with the most vacant seats, among a host of other strategies.

Among the schools affected are Alta Vista Elementary, Fruitville Elementary, McIntosh Middle and Venice Middle. District officials crafted the proposal as state education leaders toured 12 Sarasota schools in mid-October to review the district’s current usage and provide guidance on the viability of its plan to maximize it.

The resulting proposal achieves a reduction of 3,100 “student stations” — the state’s term for classroom seats — boosting utilization rates at several campuses and reducing the number of openings that could be claimed by charter schools under the controversial “Schools of Hope” law.

Suncoast Searchlight, with help from the Florida Center for Government Accountability, obtained the PowerPoint presentation Friday through a public records request. Connor asked that publication of the story be delayed until he could present the plan publicly first, citing its level of detail and his desire for residents to hear it directly from those who developed it. Suncoast Searchlight declined, noting that the proposal is a public record and that early access allows residents to review it in advance.

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Suncoast Searchlight is a 501c3 nonprofit news organization whose mission is to produce investigative and explanatory journalism that serves and empowers the residents of Florida’s Suncoast region (Sarasota, Manatee, and DeSoto counties). We shine a light on critical issues affecting our community. Through independent reporting and collaboration with diverse media partners, we foster transparency, accountability and an informed citizenry, ensuring that all voices are heard and that the public has access to the information they need to drive meaningful change.

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Suncoast Searchlight

PO Box 99 Sarasota, FL 34230

(941) 724-4450