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Opinion

The FDOT Operations Center on State Road 64 near Lakewood Ranch will operate as an early voting site.
    By
  • Jay Heater
  • June 24, 2020
Lots of wonders for those living in Lakewood Ranch

Things to wonder about if you live in Lakewood Ranch

  • East County
  • Opinion
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • June 17, 2020
Good plan for schools

Gov. DeSantis and Commissioner Richard Corcoran’s school reopening plan is a model. It delegates to the local level.

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • June 10, 2020
Village parking: It’s not free for anyone

There are no easy choices.

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
(Photo courtesy of Scott Gerber Main) Street property owners and businesses in downtown Sarasota prepared for the worst last week.
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • June 10, 2020
Reflections …

That we avoided violence shows that demonstrators saw its irrationality and our officials were proactive, not reactive.

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
Pat Neal says low interest rates and new virtual strategies will lead to a strong sales year for Neal Communities.
    By
  • Jay Heater
  • June 10, 2020
Homes sales in Lakewood Ranch and region could insulate area from recession

Lakewood Ranch's Neal Communities posts strong May despite nation's economic slump.

  • East County
  • Opinion
    By
  • Adrian Moore
  • June 3, 2020
Better information needed to manage COVID-19 risks

Improved testing data would help help people resume activities while continuing to take appropriate action to manage risks.

  • Sarasota
  • Opinion
  • By Phill Younger
  • June 2, 2020
My View: It's time for a new bridge

While Manatee is adding new bridges, Sarasota focuses on roundabouts. We need a bridge connecting 10th Street to Ken Thompson Parkway.

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • May 28, 2020
The city has big plans

The city’s new transportation plan joins the list of long-range plans for water-sewer upgrades, parks and the Bay. From where will this $660 million come?

  • Sarasota
  • Opinion
Maj. Aaron Traver flies a Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker.
    By
  • Jay Heater
  • May 27, 2020
Lakewood Ranch resident OK working in obscurity as an Air Force major

Major Aaron Traver comes home to Lakewood Ranch after his 11th deployment.

  • East County
  • Opinion
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • May 27, 2020
Barrier islands be alert

Sarasota’s new transportation plan includes projects that will affect the residents of the keys. Now is the time to assure the islands are heard.

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • May 21, 2020
COVID-19 creates cause to change

The Lido Beach reopening debate serves an allegory for what has ailed the city: its form of government.

  • Sarasota
  • Opinion
File rendering
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • May 21, 2020
Downtown: Time to go big and go bold

Before he died, the late Sarasota entrepreneur Gil Waters created a rendering of one of his long-sought visions: turning Main Street from Palm Avenue to Orange Avenue into a pedestrian plaza.

  • Sarasota
  • Opinion
Fencing around the Longboat Key Public Tennis Center is showing the harsh effects of age and the humid air.
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • May 20, 2020
It's time to open Longboat

The lockdowns have done their job. We all know what to do and not to do. Reopen the parks all the way.

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
    By
  • Adrian Moore
  • May 13, 2020
Will it be a V, U or ✓?

The optimistic and pessimistic economists both have legitimate arguments on whether the recovery will be quick or protracted. One factor influencing the recovery will be government spending policies.

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
A modern-day, distance-learning fourth grade student — headphones, no shirt, pajama pants and pizza. “His dream come true,” his mother says.
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • May 6, 2020
Another unknown cost

Closing schools is having unseen costs on parents and children. Florida is squandering the need to experiment.

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
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Eat, drink and be merry like you're in a 'Home Alone' movie
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Santa (Steven Trudell of St. Petersburg) gets the runners fired up just before the start of the 2025 Jingle 5K Dec. 12 in Lakewood Ranch.
  • December 13, 2025
More than 500 runners go the distance in Lakewood Ranch's Jingle 5K
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