Top Stories - Sarasota: February

Sarasota entrepreneur Jesse Biter has been in the local headlines recently championing the causes of extending the Legacy Trail into the city and promoting a livelier downtown, but he hit the national spotlight Monday for a different kind of headline.

"The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno featured Biter and his wife, Katie (née Annis), on his "Headlines" segment Monday night to "relive the glory of their wedding announcement" with a comical look at the combination of their last names before marriage.

"One of the things we've had the most fun with in Headlines is wedding announcements," Leno said. "Sometimes a combination of two people getting married creates a rather interesting phrase."

Following such couples as Miller-Bruski and Jaeger-Meister, Leno called the Biters (Annis-Biter) a couple who "just touched your heart" before they posed in front a wedding arch.

"It was an honor to meet Jay Leno and be part of his last week as the Tonight Show's host," Biter wrote in a Feb. 4 email. "We also enjoyed swapping funny stories with the other couples that were willing to make fun of themselves on national TV."

Leno did not mention Sarasota, but he will be in town to take the stage at Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall Friday, Feb. 7. Leno will accept the key to the city during his visit, according to a Jan. 22 email from Van Wezel Executive Director Mary Bensel to Sarasota City Commissioner Suzanne Atwell.