- December 28, 2025
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Ah, the internet.
To nearly quote a well-meaning but dopey TV dad, “the cause of, and solution to, most of our problems.’’
OK, Homer Simpson was talking about beer at the time.
But you get it.
The internet. It's our 21st century town square, where news is shared, opinions weighed, and “gold” watches sold for $20 by an AI man wearing a digital fez ("for you, my friend, a special price").
We at YourObserver.com added to the world wide web's heft with around 3,200 news stories, features, editorials, columns etc. in 2025 — all of them genuine, all of them locally produced and none of them #fakenews, if you overlook April 1. Maybe two-thirds of them were showcased on social media, where some of them touched off the kind of rigorous debate heretofore only seen in 1970s pro-wrestling interviews. They (the stories, not the wrestlers) brought joy, some sadness and a lot of about you, your neighbors and your neighborhood.
Here, then, is a selection of stories that struck a sharp chord, either by virtue of their content, the reactions they generated or a combination of both.
You want to talk about basic-level stuff that affect people's lives? Try changing how a county collects trash. Well, Manatee County did just that, landing on once-a-week pickup of wheeled, 96-gallon containers by a single driver in an automated truck.
The move was to be more efficient, cut down on trucks plying neighborhoods each week and to fall in line with many other communities shifting to similar operations.
We wrote three stories about this, and each time, rowdy digital discussions blasted into orbit with people praising the financial stewardship and other notions of government efficiency.
But probably 10 times more people complained about the trash containers’ maneuverability, their avoirdupois and the (seemingly) Honda Civic-like garage space they would demand. They also complained about a service reduction without a fee reduction, how fast a container would fill up with once-a-week pickup and the rapidly festering effects of Florida summer sun on last week’s disposed-of liver leftovers.
Because the container won't fit in the garage, remember.
In all, the topic was our busiest of the year.
Oh, and one person actually recommended blasting the trash into orbit as an alternative.
Over the course of about a month, sidewalk art and rainbow-adorned crosswalks disappeared from city streets in Sarasota.
Interim City Manager Dave Bullock on Sept. 2 told the Sarasota City Commission it was mission accomplished, keeping the city in compliance with a state rule that suddenly prohibited such works based on safety concerns.
In a city known for its artful expression, the news hit hard and triggered a digital firestorm of opinion.
The Avenue of Art, created by the Sarasota Chalk Festival during COVID-19 to serve as an art venue, became The Avenue nearly overnight.
Whimsically colorful crosswalks on Main Street and elsewhere became standard municipal piano keys again.
In the city’s defense, the Florida Department of Transportation gave all cities and counties across the state a deadline of Sept. 4 to remove all such artwork or risk losing state funding. In Sarasota, that budget contribution would total about $67 million the city said it was in no position to lose.
The devastation of the 2024 hurricanes can’t be overstated, but the reopening of Midnight Pass on Siesta Key and Sarasota County’s decision to do whatever possible to keep it open was a positive outcome that also can’t be overstated.
In 1983, unnatural forces, specifically a bulldozer, shut off the connection between the Gulf’s open waters and Little Sarasota Bay for decades.
So people cheered when in 2024 we reported the pass, tenuously, was open again, more or less where it had been previously.
Some of our most consistently popular stories with readers revolved around follow-up reporting — the lifeblood of community journalism.
Most recently, county leaders in November approved funding for another year of monitoring the pass’ key dimensions and tidal flow as an early-warning network for signs it’s beginning to close again. We also reported on what the plan was if that were to happen.
The pass's newfound ability to flush water back-and-forth thrills environmental scientists because it improves quality. Boaters love it for lots of reasons, none perhaps more important than the shortcut it affords for Gulf access.
In a remarkably connected sampling of social-media commentary, nary a person sought the closure of Midnight Pass. Literally everyone supported it.
When talk in Lakewood Ranch turned to a second high school within its boundaries, parents listened. And spoke up.
Planned for the corner of Rangeland Parkway and Post Boulevard, the so-called High School AAA (no, it won’t carry that name to honor of the ubiquitous automobile association known for TripTiks) will one day house 2,000 students. The plan is to build in two phases, with two academic buildings, sports facilities and arts spaces.
The estimated cost is $200 million, and the opening date is penciled in for August 2027.
The same architect and builder that was used for Parrish Community High School will plan and build High School AAA. Schenkel Shultz Architecture is the architect and Gilbane Building Company is the builder.
So far, so good, right?
Well…
Debating the final site plan sign-off, normally a formality, current commissioners haggled over traffic concerns. All three commissioners who opposed the site plan pointed to an area that is growing too fast for the roads to handle. And as it turned out, that debate probably had no effect, because commissioners learned the vote was largely ceremonial.
“We cannot continue to just approve things blindly without a plan because our job is to develop infrastructure around these projects,” Commissioner Jason Bearden. "When those kids have a head-on collision because we're not having this discussion, then that's on you."
Ultimately, county and school district staff will collaborate to look ahead at how the surrounding intersections will be affected and will share the costs of improvements.
Not every story that overwhelmingly connected with digital readers connected to a bigger issue. The exception to the rule came in the form of a story headlined “once-powerful Sarasota developer reshapes, reprioritizes his life.’’
Perhaps it’s best to step aside and let the story itself do the talking:
“Henry Rodriguez was once one of the most prominent, and powerful, developers and political rainmakers in Sarasota, living a fast-paced and high-end life. He attended black-tie dinners regularly, fielded calls from two Florida governors — occasionally with a Big Mac in one hand fresh off the McDonald's drive-thru — and lived with his family in a glorious, 5,500-square-foot, two-story gulf-front mansion on Casey Key.
“Rodriguez now seeks to wield his experience in a different way, and on a larger, global scale. He’s become something of an Instagram influencer, having refocused and reprioritized his life. His focus, he says, is on living life with four pillars — spiritual, physical, mental and financial — and putting passion and purpose before profit. He also has remapped his personal geography: He now spends one-third of the year in Mexico, one-third in Spain and one-third in Sarasota.
Not everything made as big a splash as our top stories of 2025, but a few stories made an impact on readers in their own right.
Reporting by Madison Bierl, S.T. Cardinal, Lesley Dwyer, Eric Garwood, Mark Gordon, Ian Swaby and Andrew Warfield of the Observer staff.
