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YEARS AFTER ENGINEERS WARNED OF DETERIORATION, COUNTY STILL REASSESSING BRADENTON GARAGE
FROM THE BRADENTON TIMES
Nearly five years after engineers first warned that Manatee County’s downtown parking garage required major repairs and further investigation, county officials say they are still reassessing the structure’s future after a solicitation for redevelopment failed to produce a viable proposal. Meanwhile, engineering reports showed worsening deterioration, even as county officials shifted tens of millions of dollars originally allocated for the garage’s rebuild toward the purchase and renovation of a secondary, east campus administration building in Lakewood Ranch.
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NEW SARASOTA AIRPORT CHIEF SAYS NEW COLLEGE CAN BUILD BASEBALL FIELD DESPITE FAA CONCERNS
FROM WUSF
The new CEO of the Sarasota Bradenton International Airport is giving the green light for New College of Florida to build its baseball field partially on airport land, despite a 2025 letter from federal aviation authorities that said any new construction would require an updated lease and new airport master plan.
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BRADENTON DOUBLE MURDER WAS RESULT OF SHOCKING SYSTEMIC FAILURE
FROM SARASOTA HERALD-TRIBUNE
An examination of the Thomas Matejcek murder case by the Herald-Tribune shows that systemic failure within the legal, judicial and mental health systems also played a major role in murders so callous the state originally sought the death penalty. Court orders, along with state statutes and guidelines, were not followed. Hearings were not held, background checks not conducted and foretelling emails from family members fearing for their lives were ignored. In the end, the issue wasn't whether a man killed two people.
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SARASOTA PIANO MAN HONORED AFTER 33 YEARS AT SAME BAR
FROM ABC7
Rock Lee has been Marina Jack’s Deep Six Lounge and Bar’s piano man since May 1993. He performs six nights a week. “They said, what do you think about working with us for a year? And I thought, well, that sounds good to me,” Lee said. “And as we can see, it’s been a long year.” Lee is a self-taught piano player who performs without sheet music. He switches between genres to engage audiences. "So I can get everybody starting to sing. And once they do that, then everybody’s really in the mood to have a good time and all that. And it turns out to be a lot of fun,” Lee said. His 33 years of six-night-a-week performances total 10,200 days.
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GOP RESTRUCTURING OF HIGHER ED TOUCHES EVERYTHING, INCLUDING UF PRESIDENTIAL SEARCH
FROM FLORIDA TRIB
Throughout Gov. Ron DeSantis’ tenure, Florida’s Republican leaders have spent years, and many millions of taxpayer dollars, injecting conservative politics into the state’s top-ranked university system. There is almost no facet of campus life this sea change has left untouched, according to interviews with more than a dozen faculty, staff and education officials across the state, as well as a review of budgets, internal university communications and policy documents.
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WHY ARE THERE CROW EFFIGIES ON LIDO BEACH?
FROM SARASOTA MAGAZINE
It’s nesting and hatching season at North Lido beach, and bird lovers are flocking to the shore to watch endangered shorebirds like black skimmers and least terns that return each year from Latin America to mate and lay eggs. They aren’t the only watchers. Fish crows, which prey on the eggs and hatchlings, have returned as well. But this year, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) paired up with Sarasota County and the Florida Shorebird Alliance with a novel plan to protect those birds: crow effigies.
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‘QUALITY OVER QUANTITY’: THE SHIFTING FACE OF SUNCOAST TOURISM
FROM WSLR
Tourism in Florida has gone through what the industry calls the “Trump slump”—bigger-spending international visitors staying away from the United States. The Sarasota-Bradenton area is seeing the same decline—and a big rise in domestic visitors flown in on no-frills airlines. But local tourism boosters do not seem to appreciate the latter. Our reporter Rhatia Murphy has a close look at the changing face of tourism in this area.
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HOW DOLPHINS COMMUNICATE — NEW DISCOVERIES FROM A LONG-TERM STUDY IN SARASOTA
FROM THE CONVERSATION
Researchers know the age, sex and maternal relatedness of almost all of the approximately 170 dolphins in the Sarasota community. This depth of knowledge provides an unprecedented opportunity to study communication in a wild cetacean species.
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FEWER ARTS GROUPS GET STATE SUPPORT IN NEW BUDGET
FROM ARTSBEAT
The $114.5 billion state budget, which was approved by lawmakers and now awaits a signature from Gov. Ron DeSantis, provides just $20 million in programming support — less than half of the $51 million recommended by the Florida Council on Arts and Culture to fully fund grants for 563 non-profit organizations. Of that, $12.4 million will be divided among 121 arts and culture organizations that were included on a list of recommendations by Secretary of State Cord Byrd. That list includes just eight organizations in Sarasota County, compared with 11 last year.
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