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News

The School Board of Sarasota County at a July 2025 meeting.
    By
  • Ian Swaby
  • July 31, 2025
Sarasota School Board votes to change discrimination policy language

The changes to the student code of conduct remove specifically enumerated protections for categories that include race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression.

  • Sarasota
  • Schools
Incoming Longboat Key Chief of Police Russ Mager speaks during a ceremony in 2022 when he was Delray Beach's chief.
    By
  • Observer Staff
  • July 31, 2025
Longboat Key gets a new police chief on Aug. 4

Public is invited to morning swearing-in ceremony of Russ Mager.

  • Longboat Key
  • News
Traffic often backs up from the Cortez Bridge intersection onto Longboat Key during peak season.
    By
  • Dana Kampa
  • July 30, 2025
Longboat seeks input on traffic congestion

As summer begins to wind down, town officials are seeking public input on the best strategies to improve traffic congestion.

  • Longboat Key
  • News
Sara Geary, the head of schools at Lakewood Ranch Preparatory Academy, and Patty Scerbo, a mother to two students who attend the school, look forward to potential improvements that may be funded by their share of the half penny tax.
    By
  • Madison Bierl
  • July 30, 2025
Charter schools eager to make use of sales tax dollars

Starting in the 2025-26 school year, Manatee County charters will receive 50% of their proportionate share of anticipated revenue from the half-penny sales tax.

  • East County
  • Schools
A bulldozer moves trash at the Lena Road Landfill.
    By
  • Lesley Dwyer
  • July 30, 2025
Lena Road landfill's lifespan changed by slope strategies

Manatee County says reconfiguring the way waste is packed into cells will add two decades to the landfill.

  • East County
  • News
Sarasota Director of Finance Kelly Strickland talks fiscal year 2026 budget with the Sarasota City Commission as Budget Manager Tyler Harris looks on.
    By
  • Andrew Warfield
  • July 30, 2025
Hurricane recovery depletes city's general fund balance

Having spent some $20 million for hurricane recovery, with tens of millions more to go, Sarasota's fund balance safety net is now far below the city's policy and must be replenished.

  • Sarasota
  • News
Julie Busa (Janet Mixon's daughter), Janet Mixon, Commissioner Amanda Ballard and Dean Mixon are all smiles on July 29. Manatee County commissioners voted unanimously to purchase Mixon Fruit Farms.
    By
  • Lesley Dwyer
  • July 29, 2025
Manatee County purchases Mixon Fruit Farms for $13.5 million

Commissioners voted unanimously to purchase the citrus farm that operated in Manatee County for 84 years.

  • East County
  • News
Allegiant is one of the top airlines at Sarasota Bradenton International Airport.
    By
  • Observer Staff
  • July 29, 2025
Allegiant to begin service from SRQ to Toledo

Allegiant's new service between Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport and Toledo, Ohio is one of several new routes available from Southwest Florida airports.

  • Sarasota
  • News
Jeremy Whatmough poses with Virginia Sanders in this 2013 photo. Whatmough, a former town commissioner and mayor, died on July 21.
    By
  • Michael Harris
  • July 29, 2025
Former Longboat Key mayor and community statesman dies

Jeremy Whatmough was involved with Town Commission, Kiwanis and Longboat Key Garden Club.

  • Longboat Key
  • News
Pat Evans, an independent contractor, works on interior trim on a house in Spanish Main Yacht Club.
    By
  • Dana Kampa, Eric Garwood
  • July 29, 2025
Lawsuit adds to Spanish Main's recovery uncertainty

The repair bill totaling more than $13 million remains unpaid, the company says.

  • Longboat Key
  • News
Lakewood Ranch is regularly ranked the top-selling, multigenerational, master-planned community in the United States.
    By
  • Jay Heater
  • July 28, 2025
Lakewood Ranch maintains No. 1 standing among master-planned communities

Multigenerational buyers scooped up 1,185 news homes in the first half of 2025 in Lakewood Ranch.

  • East County
  • News
Gov. Ron DeSantis announces July 25 that Manatee County will be audited by the DOGE Task Force.
    By
  • Lesley Dwyer
  • July 28, 2025
Manatee County welcomes audit by Florida DOGE Task Force

Auditors will visit Manatee County in August to review its spending.

  • East County
  • News
The crosswalk paintings at the intersection of Cocoanut Avenue, Pineapple Avenue and Second Street is noncompliant with state policy.
    By
  • Andrew Warfield
  • July 28, 2025
FDOT orders Sarasota to remove crosswalk and sidewalk paintings

A memo issued by the Florida Department of Transportation requires local governments to comply with roadway and sidewalk marking standards or risk losing funding.

  • Sarasota
  • News
A rendering by DSDG Architects of the new three-story addition at Sarasota Yacht Club,
    By
  • Andrew Warfield
  • July 26, 2025
City approval allows Sarasota Yacht Club to set sail on expansion

Unanimous City Commission approval clears the way for the Sarasota Yacht Club to expand its existing clubhouse and build a companion structure.

  • Sarasota
  • News
A Sarasota County Sheriff's Office investigator leads Christopher A. Borchardtinto custody following his arrest July 25 on robbery charges.
    By
  • Eric Garwood
  • July 25, 2025
Sarasota man charged in two robberies of the same branch

USF Credit Union was robbed in June and July. The suspect lived a block away.

  • Sarasota
  • News
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Latest News

1
Golf pro Stephen Arnold succeeded in his goal of playing 100 holes of golf in a single day to benefit families involved with First 1,000 Days Suncoast.
  • February 4, 2026
Golfing feat makes a difference for area families
2
The Lakewood Ranch Garden Club Butterfly Symposium will take place at 9 a.m. on Feb. 7 at Lakewood Ranch Town Hall.
  • February 4, 2026
Butterfly symposium lands at Lakewood Ranch Town Hall
3
Chamber launches summertime internship program
  • February 4, 2026
Chamber launches summertime internship program
4
Braden River boys basketball has clinched its first 20-win season since 2011-12, and won eight games in a row to close out the regular season.
  • February 4, 2026
Braden River High boys basketball team turns the tides with teamwork
5
Danny Bernardy demonstrates research with a theatrical flair to Greg Ball in Florida Studio Theatre's "The Blue-Sky Boys."
  • February 4, 2026
Florida Studio Theatre shoots for the moon with 'The Blue-Sky Boys'

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