Weekly Newsletter

Friday, Oct. 31, 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:

'SCHOOLS OF HOPE' LAW EYES UNDERUSED PUBLIC SCHOOLS. BUT CHARTERS HAVE EMPTY SEATS, TOO

Florida’s new charter-school law promised to open more classrooms for kids. In Sarasota County, where enrollment has stalled and desks are supposedly sitting empty, it could just end up spreading school resources even thinner.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has hailed the new “Schools of Hope” measure as a way to help students “failed by the system,” giving charter operators access to public-school space they say is going to waste. 

But a Suncoast Searchlight analysis of district and census data shows Sarasota’s situation is far more complex: Local charter schools have nearly the same percentage of underused space as traditional campuses, and the district’s vacancy rates — measured through a metric known as utilization — are less about failure than Florida’s demographics.

Sarasota is hardly a struggling system. The district has maintained an A rating from the state for more than a decade, buoyed by an older, wealthier tax base and a relatively small school-age population. Yet those same demographics now leave Sarasota with more classroom space than children to fill them.

District data show Sarasota’s public schools operate at a median 82% utilization, nearly identical to the 84% rate at the county’s 14 charter schools. Some of the lowest-performing charters are barely a third full, the data show.

NEW FROM SUNCOAST SEARCHLIGHT:

AFTER NEAR-DEATH ATTACK, SARASOTA STYLIST HELPS OTHER DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SURVIVORS

The buzz of blow dryers and hum of small talk fill Rhonda Calahan’s Sarasota salon most days — until her phone rings. She doesn’t hesitate. She sets down her scissors, wipes her hands and answers, her tone soft but urgent. 

On the other end might be a woman whispering from a locked bathroom, a mother searching for a safe place to sleep or a survivor trying to decide if it’s finally time to leave.

“I am the hotline,” Calahan said. “My phone can ring anytime, day or night. I always answer.”

Calahan runs Queens of Domestic Violence and Awareness, a small nonprofit organization she launched to help survivors find safety, counseling and support. For Calahan, the mission is personal. Fifteen years ago, an ex-boyfriend nearly killed her after she tried to end their relationship. The scars — physical and emotional — still drive her to pick up the phone today.

Her work meets a pressing need in Sarasota and Manatee counties, where law enforcement recorded an average of nearly 2,600 domestic violence cases annually over the past decade. Experts say the real number is far higher, since many incidents are never reported to the police.

NEW FROM SUNCOAST SEARCHLIGHT:

THE TALLY: WHAT THE DATA REVEALS ABOUT ICE DETAINERS IN FLORIDA

The Tally is a new Suncoast Searchlight series that examines issues affecting communities across the Suncoast and Florida through data.

When Eddy Macario, a Bradenton father and house painter, was arrested for driving without a license last spring, he spent a month in Charlotte County jail before being sentenced and fined. But instead of walking free afterward, he was transferred to custody of Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE).

Macario was released from ICE detention in early October, but Oscar Romero Santos, another Bradenton father and a business owner, wasn’t as lucky. After his arrest for driving without a license in July, his wife paid a bond, expecting him to be released. Instead, he was detained by ICE and later deported to Honduras.

That’s similar to what happened to Maria Martinez, a recent college graduate in North Port this summer. Her family paid a bond for her release on a charge of driving without a license in May. The 22-year-old chose to self-deport after weeks in ICE detention.

They are among the thousands of immigrants who have been transferred from jails and prisons across Florida into ICE facilities since President Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20.

The tool behind this pipeline is called a detainer: a request by the federal agency to state and local law enforcement to hold individuals who are not U.S. citizens for up to 48 hours past their scheduled release for possible detention and deportation.

Here’s a look at how ICE is tapping jail and prison populations statewide as the agency pursues Trump’s mass deportation agenda ...

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This is our first-ever fundraising campaign, running through Dec. 31, and we’ll be sharing a few extra email updates along the way to show how your support fuels every story we tell.

👉 Donate here starting Nov. 1

HERE'S WHAT ELSE WE RECOMMEND READING THIS WEEK

SARASOTA WON'T CLOSE WILKINSON ELEMENTARY, BUT WILL EXPAND IT TO K-8

FROM WUSF

Sarasota will expand Wilkinson Elementary, one of its half-empty elementary schools, instead of closing it down, said school district superintendent Terry Connor on Monday. "I felt it was really important to tell you face to face that Wilkinson is going to be fine," Connor told dozens of parents who gathered at the elementary school for a 4:30 p.m. meeting. Rather than repurposing it into a magnet or closing it, "Wilkinson will remain a neighborhood school," he said. To grow its enrollment, the district will expand it to a K-8 in the next three years.

READ THE STORY HERE

SARASOTA COUNTY TO DREDGE PHILLIPPI CREEK AFTER HURRICANE DEBBY FLOODING

FROM SARASOTA HERALD-TRIBUNE

Sarasota County approved nearly $14.5 million for the first phase of dredging flood-prone sections of Phillippi Creek—11 “high spots” between Tuttle Avenue and Beneva Road—after Hurricane Debby’s 2024 flooding exposed heavy sediment buildup. The project will clear about 8,925 linear feet to a depth of roughly 4 feet and is expected to finish by April, funded through the county’s stormwater budget alongside broader federal recovery dollars that earmark $45 million for Phillippi Creek and $30 million for other waterways. Officials noted the creek hasn’t had comprehensive dredging since 2002; they’ll survey additional areas next, including potential work around the oxbows, and are seeking more state funding with support from the local delegation.

READ THE STORY HERE

'YOU BETRAYED US': MANATEE COUNTY RESIDENTS BEG FOR REPEAL OF FLORIDA PLANNING RESTRICTION LAW

FROM FLORIDA PHOENIX

At a meeting in Bradenton, Manatee County residents sharply criticized state lawmakers over Senate Bill 180, a new law they say strips local governments of their power to regulate development and restore wetland protections. Residents accused Sen. Jim Boyd — who will become Senate president in 2026 — and other legislators of betraying voter mandates to strengthen environmental safeguards, while county officials warned the law is halting critical growth management and flooding measures. Manatee County has joined more than two dozen local governments and the group 1000 Friends of Florida in suing to block SB 180, as lawmakers, including Boyd and bill sponsor Sen. Nick DiCeglie, now signal they may “tweak” the law when the Legislature reconvenes in January.

READ THE STORY HERE

NEARLY 3 MILLION FLORIDIANS SET TO LOSE THEIR FOOD ASSISTANCE SATURDAY

FROM FLORIDA PHOENIX

Nearly 3 million Floridians are set to lose access to federal food assistance starting Saturday as the government shutdown halts November SNAP payments, the Florida Department of Children and Families announced. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has refused to use its $6 billion contingency fund to keep the program running, saying it cannot finance benefits without an approved federal budget. Critics, including the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Florida Policy Institute, say the administration could legally release the funds and that withholding them will harm children, seniors, and small businesses across the state.

READ THE STORY HERE

'TAKE CARE OF MAYA' $208M VERDICT AGAINST ALL CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL IN FLORIDA REVERSED

FROM SARASOTA HERALD-TRIBUNE

Nearly two years after a Sarasota family won a $261 million verdict in a case that inspired the Netflix documentary "Take Care of Maya," a state appeals court has overturned the decision and cleared a path to a new trial. The Kowalski family sued Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in 2018 after mother Beata Kowalski died by suicide following child abuse allegations that led to 10-year-old Maya’s separation from her family. The Second District Court of Appeal reversed the verdict — including $208 million in damages — saying Sarasota Circuit Court Judge Hunter Carroll allowed overly emotional testimony that blurred legally protected actions with potential wrongdoing.

READ THE STORY HERE

SARASOTA LITTLE LEAGUE REPORTS DISAPPEARANCE OF $200,000

FROM SARASOTA OBSERVER

Investigators are looking into the disappearance of more than $200,000 from the treasury of Sarasota Little League, a financial loss the president of the league on Wednesday called both “shocking” and “devastating.” Meanwhile, donations to a GoFundMe-style page are beginning to flow in after league Board President Alexis Meininghaus notified league families of the developments on Wednesday afternoon via an email titled “Concerning news.” Meininghaus said it was too early in the investigation to assess what, if any, of the missing money would be returned to the league, which operates from Twin Lakes Park on Clark Road and serves boys and girls from ages 4 to 16.

READ THE STORY HERE

PINE VIEW GRAD CHANDLER BAKER'S STAR KEEPS RISING

FROM SARASOTA MAGAZINE

Former Sarasotan Chandler Baker’s name became part of a national conversation in 2019, when she published her murder mystery novel Whisper Network and actress Reese Witherspoon picked it for her popular book club. That was just the beginning. Amazon MGM optioned Baker’s next novel, The Husbands, and her Christmas-themed short story, Oh. What. Fun, has been adapted for Prime Video and will be released this September, starring none other than Michelle Pfeiffer. Most recently, Baker teamed up with Paramount+ to adapt her story Discretion for a new series starring Nicole Kidman and Elle Fanning.

READ THE STORY HERE

INTERIM CITY MANAGER REVEALS VAN WEZEL FLOOD RESILIENCY MEASURES

FROM WSLR

Sarasota Interim City Manager David Bullock has unveiled a $10 million resilience and mitigation plan to safeguard the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall from future flooding, extending its life by up to 15 years. The plan, funded through about $7.2 million in federal and state grants plus city matching funds, includes installing aluminum flood panels, adding offshore rock breakwaters to absorb wave energy and securing permits from the Army Corps of Engineers and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Prompted by last year’s hurricanes and long delays following engineering reports that estimated $17 million in needed repairs, the effort marks a shift from neglect to action.

READ THE STORY HERE

CORCORAN'S FORMER FIRM IS RACKING UP CONTRACTS WITH STATE UNIVERSITIES — INCLUDING HIS OWN

FROM FLORIDA TRIDENT

After becoming president of New College of Florida, Richard Corcoran’s former lobbying firm, Continental Strategy, began landing major contracts across the state university system — including with New College itself. Records show Corcoran continued receiving income from the firm into 2024 as it secured nearly $1 million in state and university lobbying deals. New College used foundation funds to hire Continental, sidestepping state lobbying limits. The arrangement highlights Florida’s revolving door between politics, higher education and lobbying, even as New College’s spending and Corcoran’s salary soared while its rankings fell.

READ THE STORY HERE


DESANTIS PREVIEWS FLORIDA DOGE FINDINGS IN USF VISIT

FROM THE ORACLE

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday previewed findings from the new Florida Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE), which reviewed the state’s public universities for waste and ideological influence. Speaking at USF, he said the agency is scrutinizing tenured faculty, curricula, grants and student conduct while cracking down on the use of H-1B visas at state schools, arguing that Florida should prioritize U.S. workers. DeSantis cited examples of foreign university employees and pledged to “pull the plug” on visa hires. He also highlighted performance reviews for tenured professors, praised USF’s medical school for focusing on “facts over DEI,” and said $33 million has been saved by cutting “woke” spending. DOGE’s formal report is due Nov. 6 before the Board of Governors.

READ THE STORY HERE

DID YOU MISS OUR PREVIOUS NEWSLETTER?

HERE'S WHAT WE SHARED:

INSIDE THE MANATEE CASINO CASE THAT NAMED 1-800-ASK-GARY FOUNDER AND WENT NOWHERE

When Manatee County Sheriff’s deputies raided the Spin Fun Arcade two years ago this month, they believed they were shutting down one of the county’s more blatant illegal gambling dens.

Perched along U.S. 41 in a busy Bradenton strip mall, the arcade’s darkened windows were wrapped with images of floating dollar bills, mounds of gold and the word “jackpot” in bold letters — advertising that left little mystery about what awaited inside.

Deputies hauled away nearly a hundred slot-style machines and seized tens of thousands of dollars in cash.

The man they alleged was behind it all wasn’t an obscure operator but Gary Kompothecras — the well-known Sarasota businessman behind the 1-800-ASK-GARY lawyer referral network, political donor to governors and state attorneys alike, and financier of the MTV reality show Siesta Key.

Deputies said Kompothecras owned the building, controlled the cash flow and profited from the arcade’s illegal operation, according to pages of investigative documents obtained by Suncoast Searchlight and Bradenton Herald. Yet within months of the bust, the same storefront was back open for business.

No one, including Kompothecras, was ever arrested or charged.

The Spin Fun case highlights the challenges local authorities face in enforcing Florida’s gambling laws. Even when investigators conduct raids and document what they believe to be illegal gaming activity, prosecutions may not follow, and businesses can resume operations, often in the same location as before.

SARASOTA SHERIFF CASHES IN ON ICE CRACKDOWN

As the federal government intensifies its immigration crackdown, the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office has emerged as one of the Suncoast’s most active partners with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

In recent months, Sheriff Kurt Hoffman’s deputies have patrolled the Everglades immigration jail known as “Alligator Alcatraz” and shuttled immigrants between detention facilities in Florida, earning more than $280,000 in state funding for the work. Meanwhile, the number of ICE detainers — which keep people up to 48 hours past their release date for possible detention and deportation — have quadrupled this past year inside the already crowded county jail.

Sarasota County’s ICE activity stands in sharp contrast to neighboring agencies. The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office has not sent deputies to Alligator Alcatraz or transported immigrants for ICE, according to a spokesperson. And while North Port sought state reimbursements, its request was only a third the size of Sarasota’s.

The county’s growing role comes as Florida positions itself as a testing ground for aggressive, state-backed immigration enforcement — with cash incentives for local agencies and expanded powers under a federal program called 287(g).

MOST SUNCOAST LAWMAKERS QUIET AS CHARTER SCHOOL EXPANSION FUELS LOCAL UPHEAVAL

The same Suncoast lawmakers who voted earlier this year to let charter schools move into underused public campuses have stayed quiet as a Miami-based charter operator’s early push to occupy local schools set off confusion and concern among parents and educators.

Mater Academy, one of Florida’s largest charter school networks, filed notices last week to co-locate inside five Sarasota and Manatee county schools — part of a broader wave of early filings across the state that districts say were submitted prematurely. According to officials, charter operators must wait until Nov. 11 to submit a notice.

The filings were made under Florida’s “Schools of Hope” law, which allows charter operators to move into existing public schools with unused space, regardless of academic performance. When that happens, districts must continue paying for utilities, busing, custodial services and even meals for the new charter students — all at no cost to the charter operator.

Suncoast Searchlight called, texted and emailed lawmakers and their aides for a week. But nearly all declined to answer questions about the measure or its local implications.

Those who did respond offered little clarity.

WHEN YOU GOTTA GO ... DON'T GO TO SARASOTA CITY HALL

Gotta go, gotta go, gotta go right now? 

If you’re inside Sarasota’s City Hall building, better hope you can hold it. 

For more than a year, the city’s first-floor bathrooms have been out of order — and for months now, every toilet in the historic building has been shut down as crews rip out and replace its crumbling plumbing. 

The $1.2 million fix has forced city employees, commissioners and visitors to make do with outdoor restroom trailers, a walk to the annex next door or a trek across the street, turning a basic human need into a daily inconvenience — and a smelly symbol of how long-overdue maintenance can hit people right where it hurts: the potties.

Last July, officials grew wary about City Hall’s aging pipes when plumbing stopped working properly, forcing the first floor bathrooms to close. When construction began on the bathrooms in August, officials worried about possible water line ruptures and closed the second floor bathrooms.

CHARTER FILING AT SARASOTA'S OAK PARK RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT SPECIAL-NEEDS SERVICES

When one of Florida’s largest charter school networks set its sights on Oak Park School — Sarasota County’s only K-12 campus dedicated to students with disabilities — it brought the state’s charter-school push into one of public education’s most sensitive spaces.

Miami-based Mater Academy filed notices this month to open new charter schools on several of Sarasota County Schools’ underused public campuses — including Oak Park, Emma E. Booker Elementary and Brookside Middle — under Florida’s newly expanded and controversial “Schools of Hope” law.

The filings do not mean Oak Park’s existing students would be displaced. But they raise a pressing question for families and educators alike about how a charter operating alongside a school that serves children with complex needs would handle its own obligations to such students. And whether charters are equipped, or even willing, to meet the same legal obligations as traditional public schools.

This is the question that cuts to the heart of equity in public education, said Jennifer Coco, interim executive director of the Center for Learner Equity. 

“Charter schools are public schools, and public schools have to educate kids with disabilities, they have to be prepared to meet the full array of needs for kids with disabilities,” she said. “Kids with disabilities have a highly individualized right to educational services that would provide them a free, appropriate public education — that's just non-negotiable — and all charters need to be prepared to do that.” 

SUNCOAST SEARCHLIGHT KICKS OFF SERIES WITH FORMER NEW YORK TIMES CHIEF DEAN BAQUET

Suncoast Searchlight is launching a new series of community engagement events aimed at deepening public understanding of the media industry and connecting residents with the journalists who serve them.

The series, called The Searchlight Series, is presented in collaboration with Gulf Coast Community Foundation.

The inaugural event will take place Nov. 13 at the Sarasota Garden Club with one of journalism’s most respected figures at the helm — Dean Baquet, former executive editor of The New York Times and now head of the Times’ Local Investigative Fellowship program. Doors will open at 10:30 a.m., and the program will begin promptly at 11. The event is free to attend, but seating is limited and registration is required.

Baquet will be interviewed by Emily Le Coz, executive editor-in-chief of Suncoast Searchlight, about the shifting media landscape, the rise of nonprofit newsrooms and how national efforts — including the Times’ fellowship program — are helping to rebuild local investigative reporting.

“It is important to the news industry — and to the country — that local newsrooms survive and thrive,” Baquet said. “Deep, local, independent investigative reporting about government and business is the most important journalism.”

GOVERNMENT TRANSPARENCY EXPERT DAVID CUILLIER ON ICE 'CLOAK OF SECRECY'

Masked federal agents descending on city streets. Elected officials denied access to detention centers. Scores arrested without a trace.

As President Donald Trump pursues his plan of deporting immigrants at a massive scale, the federal agency tasked with rolling out the policy — Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — is limiting access to information about its extensive operations in Florida and across the country.

“We have to sound the alarm and let everybody know that this is a threat to democracy,” said David Cuillier, a scholar whose work has focused on journalism and government transparency.

A member of the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Advisory Committee, Cuillier has worked as a newspaper journalist and currently serves as director of the University of Florida’s Joseph L. Brechner Freedom of Information Project. He described ICE’s efforts to shield its operations from public view as an alarming trend.

“Everybody needs to voice their concern about this,” Cuillier said. Suncoast Searchlight spoke with Cuillier about government secrecy in immigration enforcement — and why it should alarm noncitizens and citizens alike.

DESOTO MEMORIAL WEIGHS OFFERS FROM MAJOR HEALTH SYSTEMS AS CHALLENGES MOUNT

Facing a challenging and uncertain financial landscape for rural hospitals, the DeSoto Memorial Hospital board voted Thursday night to hear presentations on three competing proposals for the institution’s future.

The options include a 49-year lease to Tampa General Hospital for an investment of $45 million over five years and rent of $10 per year; a sale to AdventHealth, one of the nation’s largest health care systems, for about $52 million; or a management services agreement with NorthStar Hospitals Inc., a health care management and investment company based in Andover, Massachusetts, with an undisclosed capital commitment.

All three organizations would commit to keeping the 49-bed hospital in the community and retaining staff who meet professional criteria. Presentations from the organizations will occur in a public meeting on a date to be determined by hospital administrators.

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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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