Weekly Newsletter

Friday, Dec. 5, 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:

SARASOTA COUNTY FACES LAWSUIT OVER CONTROVERSIAL SIESTA KEY LAND SWAP

Sarasota County last month signed off on the final step of a land swap meant to end a years-long court battle over a stretch of sand on Siesta Key — only to find itself facing another lawsuit.

A year ago, county commissioners agreed to trade a piece of Siesta Key real estate to businessman Michael Holderness in exchange for four sandy lots he owns next to Beach Access 3. The settlement was intended to resolve Holderness’ latest lawsuit accusing the county of turning his private land into a public beach. 

For the deal to go through, Holderness required the county to grant him permission to build a 5,000-square-foot house on the property he was set to receive in the swap — about a quarter acre near his beachfront lots. Commissioners granted that approval on Nov. 5, clearing what was expected to be the final hurdle. 

But, the deal proved controversial. 

The land the county is giving up — purchased in 2017 for $1.4 million through a park acquisition program — is now valued at nearly $2.8 million by the county property appraiser. The land it gets in return, by comparison, is valued at less than $100,000. And the variance marked a major reversal. The county had denied similar requests four times over the past three decades.

Now a Siesta Key resident, Lourdes Ramirez, intends to sue the county to unwind the entire agreement. She argued it has no legal authority to dispose of parkland bought with dedicated tax dollars and that it ignored its own development codes to push the deal through. 

NEW FROM SUNCOAST SEARCHLIGHT:

FLORIDA ELECTION SKEPTICS LOSE POWER IN TALLAHASSEE, BUT THEIR MESSAGE STILL SPREADS

The mood was grim on Defend Florida’s mid-November Zoom call.

Members of the Sarasota-founded election conspiracy theory group traded frustrations over Florida Republicans who no longer seemed interested in their proposals to tighten Florida’s voting rules.

“We’re getting heavy resistance,” said Deborah Monks, a volunteer member, during the call.

It was a far cry from their rise in the years after the 2020 election, when Defend Florida had cultivated relationships with Gov. Ron DeSantis' office, meeting regularly with his staff while they crafted Florida’s controversial Office of Election Crimes and Security. But its influence in Tallahassee has faded: Republican lawmakers have pushed the group aside, calling its brand tarnished. 

“I guess that's the definition of losing political clout,” committee chair Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Crestview, told Suncoast Searchlight after the meeting. “In politics, winners win and losers lose.”

But while its clout in Tallahassee has faded, the group itself has not. 

Defend Florida and the loose network of influencers and content creators surrounding it have sought to grow their influence at the grassroots. They have transformed from a state-focused pressure group into a national effort coordinating with activists questioning election security across the U.S. Their leadership has routinely hosted calls drawing tens of thousands of listeners and featuring high-profile election deniers like MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell and recently pardoned Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio.

The message political operators like these spread — that elections are corrupt — still threatens public trust, election officials warn.

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HERE'S WHAT ELSE WE RECOMMEND READING THIS WEEK

THE TALLEVAST SERIES

FROM WSLR

A three-part report on Tallevast, the historically African-American community in South Manatee County that for decades has suffered the fallout from industrial soil and groundwater. and the grassroots group demanding accountability from Lockheed Martin.

• Tallevast, Part 1: A history of living on contaminated land
• Tallevast, Part 2: Groundwater contamination keeps spreading
• Tallevast, Part 3: Defense contractor ignores contamination cleanup pleas, activists allege

THOUSANDS MORE HOMES IN EAST MANATEE? COUNTY WEIGHS IN ON DEVELOPER'S PLAN

FROM BRADENTON HERALD

County leaders rejected an appeal to build thousands of new homes in East Manatee, well beyond the county’s "Future Area Development Boundary," which is intended to prevent urban sprawl. The request to build came from companies tied to developer Pat Neal of Neal Communities and landowner John Hales. A development plan described a community called Pomelo Bluff with around 3,600 homes on 1,204 acres of farm land. The property is within the Lake Manatee Reservoir Watershed Protection Overlay, an area with special rules for development meant to protect the county’s main source of drinking water. It also abuts Edward W. Chance Reserve, a state nature preserve established to protect local water quality.

READ THE STORY HERE

EVERYTHING FOR ELLA: SEASON OF SHARING HELPS VENICE DAD IN NEW LIFE

BY SARASOTA HERALD-TRIBUNE

Chuck Maldonado was getting ready to leave home for his shift at an upscale steakhouse in Venice this summer when he heard a knock at the door. Standing there when he opened it was a Sarasota County sheriff’s deputy holding a final eviction notice – and telling him that he had to be out by the next morning. Chuck was stunned. A local nonprofit he’d contacted for help had assured him it would handle his back rent after he’d fallen behind during a change in jobs. “I have to be at work in one hour,” Chuck said. But the deal was done. Chuck’s mind raced – awash in panic. At least Ella, his 4-year-old daughter, was already at her Nokomis preschool and not home to witness this.

READ THE STORY HERE

ICE SENT 600 KIDS TO DETENTION IN FEDERAL SHELTERS. IT'S A NEW RECORD.

BY PROPUBLICA (VIA WUSF)

It was Friday, June 6, and the rent was due. As soon as she finished an errand, Imelda Carreto planned on joining her family as they gathered scrap metal to earn a little extra cash. Her fiancé, Julio Matias, and 15-year-old nephew, Carlos, had set out early, hitching a trailer to the back of their beat-up gray truck. Shortly after 8 a.m., Carreto’s phone rang. It was Carlos, telling her an officer with the Florida Highway Patrol had pulled over the truck on Interstate 4 near Tampa. The stated reason: cracks in their windshield. But Carreto was worried. She knew Florida police were collaborating with federal immigration authorities. Her fiancé was undocumented. She says she rushed to the scene and made it there just before the immigration officers. As she feared, Matias had been detained. But to her surprise, so had Carlos. He was just a kid.

READ THE STORY HERE

LOBBYISTS FOR A MINING COMPANY WROTE A BILL TO BLOCK LAWSUITS OVER RADIATION ON FORMER MINES

BY SEEKING RENTS

One of the world’s largest mining firms wrote a bill in the Florida Legislature that would help the company dodge lawsuits related to radiation on former mines — and make it easier to develop some of its vast land holdings across the southern interior of the state. Records show that lobbyists for the Mosaic Co. gave state lawmakers the original draft of the legislation, which would effectively immunize the company against certain kinds of legal claims under a tough environmental law.

READ THE STORY HERE

DOES HORSE POOP POLLUTE BRADENTON'S PALMA SOLA BAY? WHAT NEW STUDY RESULTS SHOW

FROM BRADENTON HERALD

New genetic test results by local environmental groups show that horses are one of the contributing factors to Palma Sola Bay’s water quality issues. But the results, which also identify birds as a source of bacteria, leave more questions to be answered as Bradenton officials weigh whether to regulate horse rides. The Sarasota Bay Estuary Program, in collaboration with Suncoast Waterkeeper, conducted the research over the past two months to get a better understanding of what could be contributing to continuously elevated levels of fecal bacteria in Palma Sola Bay.

READ THE STORY HERE

HOW A BROTHER'S MURDER IN THE KEYS TESTED THE LIMITS OF THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

FROM WLRN PUBLIC MEDIA (VIA WUSF)

On a May morning in 2020, as the country sank deeper into the gloom of the Covid pandemic, Daniel Weisberger murdered his little brother as he slept in the bedroom they shared. Using a knife favored by hunters, the former Boy Scout cut his younger brother's neck nearly in half. A medical examiner later testified that Pascal Weisberger's death would not have been immediate, as almost half his blood drained from the 14-year-old's body. Daniel, 17, then turned his rage on his father, a fisheries biologist. After sneaking into the room down the hall of the Upper Keys townhouse, Daniel also stabbed him in the neck. Nearly five years later, the brothers' family gathered in a Key West courtroom to plead for mercy for Daniel.

READ THE STORY HERE

HISTORIC PRESERVATION GROUP IDENTIFIES SIX STRUCTURES TO SAVE FOR 2025

FROM SARASOTA OBSERVER

The Sarasota Alliance for Historic Preservation announced its 2025 “Six to Save'' at one of the properties on the list, Luke Wood Park in Sarasota. Now in its sixth year, this initiative highlights the need to save historic resources from demolition in Sarasota County. This year’s list includes five properties within the Sarasota city limit, two of them not houses or buildings at all: Luke Wood Park and its inoperable Mable Ringling Fountain near the intersection of U.S. Highway 41 and U.S. 301, and the Blackburn Point Swing Bridge in Osprey.

READ THE STORY HERE

UPDATE ON THE DREDGING OF PHILLIPPI CREEK

BY ABC7

Sarasota County Stormwater staff and contractors have begun preparing staging and management areas for the Phillippi Creek dredging project, according to a Dec. 1 project update. Dredging is expected to begin this month and take about six months to complete. The West Coast Inland Navigation District (WCIND) also is preparing to dredge from the mouth of the creek to a point 2,000 feet upstream of U.S. 41.

READ/WATCH THE STORY HERE

SHERIFF DEFENDS SARASOTA COUNTY'S RELATIONSHIP WITH ICE

BY VENICE GONDOLIER

Sarasota County Sheriff Kurt Hoffman took to his office’s social media to share “the facts straight from the source” on his agency’s partnership with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. A video was released after SCSO cut off communication with news outlets on the topic of immigration. Hoffman said he’s proud of his office’s work with ICE and his deputies working Alligator Alcatraz in South Florida, saying it does not affect services provided to Sarasota County residents. He also said he heard from other deputies that nobody is being mistreated at Alligator Alcatraz.

READ THE STORY HERE

DID YOU MISS OUR PREVIOUS NEWSLETTER?

HERE'S WHAT WE SHARED:

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.

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.



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.

Speaking at the Sarasota Garden Club, Baquet answered questions submitted in advance from attendees and from Suncoast Searchlight Executive Editor-in-Chief Emily Le Coz. He discussed the impact of upheaval in the news industry, the rise of digital and nonprofit journalism and how journalists can respond to better serve communities.

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.

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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