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Sarasota | Opinion

Our presidential contenders
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • March 16, 2023
Our presidential contenders

Three Floridians want to be president. Timing and circumstances appear to be working against one. Another is up to his usual insults. The third has the courage, but does he have the will to bear it all?

  • Sarasota
  • Opinion
Attacks on SMH unfounded, reprehensible
  • By Tramm Hudson
  • March 13, 2023
Attacks on SMH unfounded, reprehensible

Out-of-town agitators are using deceitful, defamatory and violent verbal abuse to seed distrust in Sarasota Memorial. Our community should not tolerate such ugly bullying.

  • Sarasota
  • Opinion
Designating fentanyl as a WMD would increase overdoses
  • By Adrian Moore and Jacob James Rich
  • March 9, 2023
Designating fentanyl as a WMD would increase overdoses

Cracking down on drugs often has an unintended effect: The creation of more potent, and lethal, replacements.

  • Sarasota
  • Opinion
Letter to the Editor: Quay is circumventing city rules
  • By Guest
  • March 2, 2023
Letter to the Editor: Quay is circumventing city rules

A former city commissioner and Planning Board chair responds to the Quay project.

  • Sarasota
  • Opinion
For SMH, context matters
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • March 1, 2023
For SMH, context matters

All things considered, in the fog of the crisis, Sarasota Memorial Hospital’s handling of COVID was exemplary — except in one area.

  • Sarasota
  • Opinion
    By
  • Emily Walsh
  • February 22, 2023
Mind the mental health gap

Nearly two years after forming a mental health district, the Sarasota County Commission has yet to distribute $8 million in funding. Now Commissioner Mike Moran wants to restructure the process — and what services get funded.

  • Sarasota
  • Opinion
No longer inexpensive
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • February 15, 2023
No longer inexpensive

Housing costs (and government) have made Florida expensive. A great reason to fix policies.

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
The War of Education
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • February 9, 2023
The War of Education

The inevitable has been exposed: State-controlled, taxpayer-funded education doesn’t work. The power needs to shift from politicians to parents.

  • Sarasota
  • Opinion
Declare fentanyl a WMD
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • February 2, 2023
Declare fentanyl a WMD

President Joe Biden’s ineptness at stopping fentanyl from China and Mexico has fueled Florida’s fentanyl death toll — second highest in the U.S. Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody makes a case for decisive action.

  • Sarasota
  • Opinion
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • January 25, 2023
What is ‘effective’ notice?

Florida’s Republican lawmakers hate the daily newspapers and for 25 years have sought to end laws requiring public notices in newspapers. Their answer: Let government control public notice. Ha!

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • January 18, 2023
Do or die for New College

With his recent appointments to the New College board, Gov. DeSantis has put the school on notice that it can no longer do what it has been doing. There is a better strategy for the future.

  • Sarasota
  • Opinion
  • By Adrian Moore, Geoffrey Lawrence
  • January 11, 2023
Nikki Fried is right to sue for medical marijuana patients’ gun rights

Although federal law prohibits marijuana use, it doesn’t give it grounds to discriminate against marijuana users.

  • Sarasota
  • Opinion
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • January 5, 2023
Wake up. Have hope.

Our word for 2023 is "hope." We all must have hope — hope that our fellow Americans wake up to what is being done to them. History shows us the power of hope. It propels us to take action.

  • Sarasota
  • Opinion
    By
  • Emily Walsh
  • December 28, 2022
Vision 2023

As we move into the new year, Observer Media Group remains committed to its vision statement: Innovate and elevate.

  • Sarasota
  • Opinion
Right step for SMH board
    By
  • Matt Walsh
  • December 14, 2022
Right step for SMH board

Hearing the stories of families who lost loved ones during the pandemic was a gut-wrenching baptism for SMH’s new board members. But they responded the right way. Rather than look for blame, they chose to learn.

  • Sarasota
  • Opinion
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