Weekly Newsletter

Friday, Oct. 10, 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:

‘HOSTILE TAKEOVER': CHARTER OPERATOR FILES TO OCCUPY 3 SARASOTA SCHOOLS

Mater Academy Inc., a Miami-based charter school operator, has submitted notices to occupy three Sarasota County public school campuses, marking a sharp local escalation of the state’s newly expanded “Schools of Hope” law, which allows charters to take over public school facilities.



The notices, submitted early Wednesday, target Brookside Middle, Emma E. Booker Elementary and Oak Park School, a K-12 campus that serves students with disabilities. They are among similar notices sent to school districts statewide this week, according to Sarasota County Schools officials.

“We have significant concerns about the impact these proposals would have on students, staff, and programs currently in place at these schools,” said Sarasota County Schools Superintendent Terry Connor in a statement to Suncoast Searchlight. “These are established district-operated campuses that serve important roles in their communities.”

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 that was amended on Sept. 24. 

“I want to rally all of Sarasota and say Tallahassee is out of line," said Tom Edwards, a school board member. "We need to get the entire school district fired up.” 

NEW FROM SUNCOAST SEARCHLIGHT:

AS DEPORTATIONS RISE, SUNCOAST THEATER GIVES VOICE TO IMMIGRANT FEARS AND HOPES

On Monday evening, Perla Avalos, 46, stood at a music stand in a small rehearsal room, practicing lines from a monologue of a local immigrant woman.

Reading through round tortoise shell glasses, Avalos took on the voice of a woman whose son had been charged with a DUI after a party and subsequently detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Since then, he’d been transferred to ICE facilities in Texas and Colorado. Despite him being a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipient, the woman feared her son would be deported to Mexico.

“En este momento no tenemos esperanzas de que salga,” Avalos recited. We currently have no hope for his release.

As Avalos spoke, her castmates in Voces de Inmigración 2 listened from a row of conference chairs and glanced at their own scripts. The show is a production of CreArte Latino Cultural Center that features true stories of immigrants living in the Suncoast. It will be performed in Spanish with English surtitles at CreArte Latino’s performance space on Northgate Boulevard in Sarasota next weekend.

Voces de Inmigración 2 follows a first iteration of the show last November but with all new stories and a different cast. 

After last year, many people asked Carolina Franco, CreArte Latino’s co-founder and producing artistic director, if the nonprofit would do the show again.

“Part one was so successful and so impactful, so powerful, that I'm still hearing about it a year later,” she said.

NEW FROM SUNCOAST SEARCHLIGHT:

AS MANATEE TARGETS ILLEGAL CASINOS, OTHER COUNTIES' CRACKDOWNS PAID OFF

Marion County was riddled with storefront gambling dens — until it passed a local ordinance in 2021 that gave deputies more power to shut them down. Within months, the slot-machine parlors vanished.

Sumter County saw similar results after adopting its own rules that same year. The 13 gambling businesses once scattered across the rural county are now gone, local officials said.

Now Manatee County is preparing to follow their lead. Commissioners voted this week to move forward with a proposal modeled on those counties’ ordinances, hoping to replicate their success in wiping out illegal “arcades” that have long operated with little consequence.

Responding to a recent investigation from Suncoast Searchlight and the Bradenton Herald, Manatee County Commissioner Tal Siddique pitched the regulations this month as a way to go beyond the limitations of broad state statutes that have failed to get a handle on the spread.

The investigation from the two newsrooms found that lax state laws and weak penalties leave little risk for illegal game rooms, which routinely dodge enforcement — closing on one block only to reopen on another. Authorities say the lengthy legal process makes matters worse; it can take undercover work, a judge’s warrant and weeks of evidence storage just to bring a case that often ends in a civil fine or misdemeanor.

NEW FROM BRADENTON HERALD & SUNCOAST SEARCHLIGHT:

MANATEE COUNTY MOVES FORWARD WITH NEW ARCADE REGULATIONS TO 'REDUCE CRIME'

Manatee County officials are pursuing new rules to tighten regulations on illegal slot gambling machines that have become a widespread problem in the Bradenton area. 

Commissioner Tal Siddique shared his proposal Tuesday at the Board of County Commissioners meeting, directing county staff to draft an ordinance based on Marion County’s similar rules. Siddique said the new policy is in response to a recent investigation by the Bradenton Herald and Suncoast Searchlight. 

“Other counties, including Marion, Sumter, Seminole and Osceola, have acted to regulate them,” Siddique wrote in the agenda memo. “To reduce crime, revitalize neighborhoods and attract business, Manatee County must adopt its own local regulations.”

Commissioners directed county staff to review Marion County’s ordinance related to illegal gambling devices, like slot machines that fill “adult arcades” continuing to pop up throughout Manatee County.

“The problem we’re trying to solve is, one, public safety, and the increasing proliferation of businesses that are operating…simulated gambling devices illegally,” Siddique said. 

The Searchlight Series Launch

We’re thrilled to kick off The Searchlight Series, in partnership with Gulf Coast Community Foundation, with a special conversation featuring Dean Baquet, former Executive Editor of The New York Times.

Dean will reflect on the role of local journalism in protecting democracy, the challenges facing newsrooms, and the opportunities ahead for nonprofit news organizations like Suncoast Searchlight.

Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025 | 10:30 a.m.– Noon

Garden Club of Sarasota

Free and open to the public | Space is limited

Register here to save your seat today! 

HERE'S WHAT ELSE WE RECOMMEND READING THIS WEEK

MOTE SEA OPENS WITH A WAVE OF EXCITEMENT

FROM EAST COUNTY OBSERVER

Visitors crouched low to the floor of the new Mote Science Education Aquarium on Oct. 6, angling for the perfect photo of its massive fish tanks and vibrant marine life. Laughter and one-word exclamations of awe filled the space during the members-only sneak preview ahead of the aquarium’s Oct. 8 public opening — the culmination of a process that began in November 2020. Designed by TVS Design and built by Willis Smith Construction and Whiting-Turner, the $132 million facility fulfills Mote Marine CEO Michael Crosby’s long-held vision. The aquarium is expected to draw about 700,000 visitors and more than 70,000 students annually.

READ THE STORY HERE

HERALD-TRIBUNE CELEBRATES 100 YEARS OF SERVICE IN SARASOTA

FROM SARASOTA HERALD-TRIBUNE

David B. Lindsay, the founding publisher of the newspaper that evolved into the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, first set eyes on the nascent city of Sarasota from a World War I era biplane he flew from a military flight training field near Arcadia in 1917. Then 18, Lindsay had been learning the newspaper business from his father, George D. Lindsay, the publisher and editor of the Chronicle and the Leader-Tribune in Marion, Indiana before the war. Later when he was 29, Lindsay and his younger brother Dick, 21, returned in 1925 to open the Sarasota Herald – an afternoon paper – in a shop at 539 S. Orange Avenue. That paper blossomed along with Sarasota County – which itself came to be in the summer of 1921 – and grew into the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, which now marks its 100th anniversary on Oct. 4.

READ THE STORY HERE

SARASOTA CONGRESSMAN SAYS HE WILL VOTE TO RELEASE EPSTEIN FILES AS TRUMP ATTACKS

FROM SARASOTA HERALD-TRIBUNE

Sarasota Congressman Greg Steube told the Herald-Tribune he would vote in favor of releasing the famed Epstein Files when the motion likely comes before the U.S. House of Representatives later this month. Matt Fisher, a spokesperson for the congressman, confirmed this to the Herald-Tribune in a text message. “Congressman Steube’s position on the Massie discharge petition remains unchanged. If there was a vote on the House floor to release the Epstein files, he would support it,” Fisher said. Steube told BlazeTV in July that he was in favor of more transparency regarding the Epstein documents. “The American people obviously want that.”

READ THE STORY HERE

NEW SUPERINTENDENT SHARES VISION FOR MANATEE SCHOOLS. IT INVOLVES REBUILDING TRUST

FROM BRADENTON HERALD

Now at the helm of Manatee County schools, Laurie Breslin is ready for a new chapter. Breslin’s vision is to boost student literacy, enhance career readiness and find ways to incorporate new technology. She wants to bolster support for teachers, parents and students while working to build trust and engage with the community. As the superintendent of the School District of Manatee County, Breslin will oversee the district’s 67 schools that serve 55,000 students and about 6,000 employees, making the district the largest employer in the county. Under the direction of the School Board of Manatee County, she handles policy implementation and strategic planning. “I want to make sure that our staff know that they work for a district that cares about them and is going to support them,” Breslin said. “And I want families to feel that when they are sending their child to school, that child is safe and secure.”

READ THE STORY HERE

TOURISM CONTINUES DOWNWARD TREND IN SARASOTA COUNTY

FROM SARASOTA OBSERVER

Although hotel average daily rates and occupancy posted gains in July compared to the same month in 2024, overall visitation and visitor spending softened, according to data released by Visit Sarasota County. The county’s official tourism bureau reported growth in tourists from markets including Europe, but declines from the United Kingdom and Canada continue to drag down totals.

READ THE STORY HERE

LAPADO'S VACCINE PLAN DRAWS CRITICISM FROM PREDECESSOR

FROM WSLR

Dr. Scott Rivkees served as Florida’s Surgeon General during the pandemic. The pediatrician now is an associate dean at Brown University in Rhode Island. Asked by WSLR for his reaction to an end of vaccine mandates for students, Rivkees couldn’t have been more clear: "This decision will have ramifications beyond pediatric populations. If there’s one thing we can agree on, it’s the fact that children should be as safe and as healthy as they can be, especially in a school setting."

READ/HEAR THE STORY HERE

FLORIDA ALLOWS OPEN CARRY OF GUNS, SO PUBLIX DOES TOO, WORKERS SAY

FROM SOUTH FLORIDA SUN-SENTINEL

Publix, one of Florida’s most popular grocery chains, is now allowing customers across the state to openly carry guns due to a recent court ruling, employees say. Florida began allowing open carry on Sept. 25 after an appeals court overturned the state’s ban on openly carrying firearms, deeming it unconstitutional. Under the law, businesses and other private property owners have the option of banning open carry. Publix, which has a large presence in Florida with more than 900 stores, has opted to allow it, according to many of those who work there. Call a local Publix and you’re likely to be told people can now carry guns into the store.

READ THE STORY HERE

CONSERVATIVE LEADERS TO FLOCK TO SARASOTA COUNTY FOR CHARLIE KIRK

FROM FLORIDA POLITICS

A memorial for slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk will attract conservative leaders to the Florida county where he owned a home. The Republican Party of Sarasota will host the memorial at Robarts Arena on Oct. 18. High-profile speakers include Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, Republican Party of Florida Chair Evan Power and Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski. U.S. Rep. Greg Steube, a Sarasota Republican, plans to address the crowd as well, as does state Sen. Jim Boyd, a Bradenton Republican in line to become Senate President. State Reps. James Buchanan and Fiona McFarland, both Sarasota County Republicans, will also speak, as will Republican National Committeewoman Kathleen King.

READ THE STORY HERE

CITYWIDE SPEED LIMIT OF 20 MPH PROPOSED IN SARASOTA

FROM SARASOTA OBSERVER

Armed with the Sarasota City Commission approval to develop a citywide traffic calming plan as part of the fiscal year 2025 adopted budget, the city’s transportation planning staff has brought forth a plan to lower speed limits throughout the city. A key component to the traffic calming plan is to set speed limits on local streets to 20 miles per hour. In some instances, that will mean raising speed limits from 15 mph to 20 in order to comply with Florida law, which restricts local jurisdictions from setting limits below that threshold.

READ THE STORY HERE

FLORIDA BILL PROPOSES RENAMING CAMPUS ROADS AFTER CHARLIE KIRK, SPARKING BACKLASH

FROM WUSF

A proposal filed in the Florida legislature Tuesday would rename a roadway on all 40 of the state's public university and college campuses after conservative political commentator Charlie Kirk. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Kevin Steele, R-Hudson, mandates the renaming of "a prominent or well-traveled roadway" on each campus. If passed, institutions that fail to comply within 90 days would risk losing state funding. At the University of Florida, the bill identifies Stadium Road as the proposed location to be renamed in Kirk's honor. Steele said the intent of the legislation is to commemorate Kirk's life and his impact on civic engagement among young conservatives.

READ THE STORY HERE

DID YOU MISS OUR PREVIOUS NEWSLETTER?

HERE'S WHAT WE SHARED:

Pam Ames takes on Arcadia’s toughest job: Saving Main Street

Pam Ames set out the donuts, stacked red clipboards in a neat pile and draped T-shirts across the tables, hoping at least half of the 100 volunteers she needed would appear that sunny Saturday in mid-September.

As executive director of the Arcadia Main Street Program, Ames had landed one of AARP’s coveted Community Challenge grants — $25,000 to help revive a downtown that has been fading for decades. But the grant was about more than money. To keep it, Ames had to prove she could rally her neighbors, show that Arcadia still had enough faith in itself.

That remains her hardest work.

Ultimately, about 30 volunteers showed up at the Main Street office downtown. Armed with the clipboards and Ames’ instructions, they fanned out for the “community walk audit” — marking cracked sidewalks, broken curbs and spots that could use benches — the next step for future improvements.

Though the turnout fell short of what she had hoped, Ames has learned to measure progress in steps. Next month, she’ll try again — more donuts, more clipboards, more T-shirts.

For the past two years, Ames, 57, has led Arcadia Main Street, a nonprofit tasked with marketing and revitalizing the 18-block historic district between Hickory and Magnolia streets.

As part of that job, she has taken on the challenge of improving a downtown straining from aging infrastructure, limited resources and the repeated blows of hurricanes that have drained businesses and tested residents’ resolve.

ICE detainers erode constitutional rights in Florida’s justice system, advocates warn

As the federal government mines local jails for undocumented people, immigrants increasingly face the reality that paying a bond does not guarantee their freedom.

Instead of walking free, many who post bail are held beyond their scheduled release and transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody for possible deportation — leaving families out hundreds of dollars, attorneys unable to reach their clients and local courts with unresolved cases. 

Attorneys and advocates have long raised questions about the legality of the controversial practice.

During U.S. President Donald Trump’s second term, ICE has increasingly relied on Florida jails to arrest undocumented immigrants, according to a Suncoast Searchlight investigation published earlier this month. That report detailed the case of a Manatee County resident who was turned over to ICE shortly after his wife paid his bonds on two misdemeanor charges stemming from an alleged traffic violation. His deportation left the local case unresolved, and the family remains in legal limbo.

What happened to him reflects a broader pattern. As ICE ramps up its use of local jails, attorneys describe both new obstacles in representing clients and a broader erosion of due process.

Charter expansions jeopardize Sarasota’s Wilkinson Elementary. Others could be next.

Sarasota County Schools announced preliminary plans last month to shutter Wilkinson Elementary and shift students to other public schools to stave off a charter operator from moving in to fill empty space.

If approved, the closure of Wilkinson — currently a C-rated school and the only one in the county that’s nationally STEM-certified — would be Sarasota County’s first public school closure in half a century.

The proposal has sparked widespread outcry from Wilkinson parents who packed emergency meetings, petitioned lawmakers to unwind aggressive state charter expansions and lobbied the School Board of Sarasota County to find an alternative.

School board members now say the plan is not final, hinting that Wilkinson may survive after all.

But Wilkinson is not the only Sarasota County school in jeopardy.

Despite countywide population growth, a Suncoast Searchlight review of state enrollment data found that more than 20 other Sarasota schools have steadily lost students for more than a decade, including some of the district’s most prestigious and top-ranked campuses, like Pine View School for the Gifted.

If the numbers don’t improve by January, any of them could become the next target forced to roommate with an unwanted charter school.

This comes in the wake of a new state law allowing charter schools to move into public campuses if the facilities have any unused space.

Manatee County to weigh crackdown on illegal adult arcades after media investigation

Manatee County soon will consider a plan to crack down on the illegal strip-mall casinos that have flourished in plain sight in defiance of a state ban — and to the frustration of local law enforcement.

Commissioner Tal Siddique, after meeting with sheriff’s office officials and the county attorney, said he will introduce a proposal at the Oct. 7 board of commissioners meeting to define the arcades more clearly under county law and create a licensing system to root out violators.

“It’s to differentiate the Dave and Busters of the world from Spin Fun Arcade,” Siddique said. “I think we all know the difference between the two. We need to make sure the law can differentiate — and specifically [weed] out the slot-style machines.”

The move comes on the heels of a joint investigation by Suncoast Searchlight and Bradenton Herald in July that revealed how these so-called “adult arcades” have evaded area law enforcement for years, closing down on one block just to reopen on another. Authorities say that’s because of the lengthy legal and financial hassle of dismantling these operations — and the minimal return, since arrests often result in just a misdemeanor.

Manatee County Sheriff Rick Wells has signaled agreement with stricter local rules, with an agency spokesperson saying the sheriff “supports the idea of increased regulation on the operation of these businesses.”

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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.

CONTACT US:

Suncoast Searchlight

PO Box 99 Sarasota, FL 34230

(941) 724-4450