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Your Observer

Stephen Norman, senior event manager at the St. Regis Longboat Key Resort, interviews job fair candidates.
    By
  • Dana Kampa
  • January 28, 2025
St. Regis job fair adds employees front to back

St. Regis Longboat Key Resort recently sought recruits within the community at an in-house job fair

  • Longboat Key
  • Neighbors
A March 2022 development concept plan for the planned Lakewood Ranch Southeast property. (Image via Sarasota County)
    By
  • Jim DeLa
  • January 28, 2025
Sarasota County approves plan for major Lakewood Ranch expansion

Schroeder-Manatee Ranch plans to develop 5,000 homes on 4,100 acres near Old Miakka as Lakewood Ranch Southeast.

  • East County
  • News
Sarasota High senior Aaron Clark (left) and junior Oliver Boyle work on defensive rotations during practice.
    By
  • Dylan Campbell
  • January 28, 2025
Sarasota teams get ready to tip-off in district tournaments

How will Sarasota's teams fare in the boys and girls district tournaments next week?

  • Sarasota
  • Sports
Musician Billy Lindsey, performing as Elvis Presley, gives lei necklaces to all the ladies in the audience, including Sharyn Ford.
    By
  • Dana Kampa
  • January 28, 2025
Elvis kicks off Longboat Harbor social calendar

Longboat Harbour Condominiums has a full slate of social events planned for 2025, and the events kicked off Jan. 25 with a performance by musician Billy Lindsey.

  • Longboat Key
  • Neighbors
The Sarasota County criminal justice campus area map shows city- and county-owned parcels.
    By
  • Andrew Warfield
  • January 28, 2025
Sarasota county jail expansion could cost upward of $700 million

Already well in excess of operational capacity, county commissioners learn an expansion of the county jail will likely cost a least a half billion dollars.

  • Sarasota
  • News
A funding source is one of the challenges in developing a canal maintenance program.
    By
  • Carter Weinhofer
  • January 28, 2025
Commissioners choose not to impose canal maintenance tax in 2025

Still lacking an agreed-upon taxing method and not wanting to impose an additional tax after hurricanes, the commission decided to push the program down the road.

  • Longboat Key
  • News
Former Riverview High baseball coach and athletic director Larry Altier had a massive impact on the baseball community of Sarasota. His life will be celebrated with a Naval service on Feb. 7 at 2:30 p.m. at Sarasota National Cemetery.
    By
  • Dylan Campbell
  • January 28, 2025
Sarasota area legend left his mark on the field

Longtime Riverview High baseball coach and athletic director Larry Altier leaves behind a legacy that will live on long beyond his passing.

  • Sarasota
  • Sports
Men behaving badly on Main Street
    By
  • Observer Staff
  • January 28, 2025
Men behaving badly on Main Street

Officers investigate assaults on a bathroom, tables at a women's march and a restaurant's planters occur over a four-day period. This and other Sarasota Police Department reports in this week's Cops Corner.

  • Sarasota
  • Cops Corner
Jessica Polk, Jake Hartvigsen, Colleen Thayer and Beth Walters of Nami prepare to accept the check from Sara Winer.
    By
  • Ian Swaby
  • January 28, 2025
Impact100 awards $876,000 in grants to local nonprofits

The women's giving circle offered grants of $109,500 each to eight local nonprofits.

  • Sarasota
  • Neighbors
Brista Commons on Longboat Key is expected to finish construction in fall 2025.
    By
  • Carter Weinhofer
  • January 28, 2025
Brista Commons likely to finish construction this fall

The 14,000 square feet of commercial space will take about a year to complete construction, which started in November 2024.

  • Longboat Key
  • News
Loggerhead hatchlings emerge from the sand in August 2016.
    By
  • Carter Weinhofer
  • January 28, 2025
Concern about sea turtle disorientation increases with lack of dunes

Without the dunes acting as a natural barrier, Mote Marine Laboratory and Longboat Key Turtle Watch wonder what the impact will be this upcoming nesting season.

  • Longboat Key
  • News
Breast cancer survivor Nadia McConville of Washington state (back), steers the Water Warriors boat. McConville made the switch from paddling to steering after undergoing shoulder and hip replacement surgeries as a result of her cancer.
    By
  • Dylan Campbell
  • January 28, 2025
Nathan Benderson Park hosts unique dragon boat festival

Hundreds of cancer survivors gathered at Nathan Benderson Park for Unleash the Dragons.

  • East County
  • Sports
Kid Dutch and company lead a raucously fun night of music.
    By
  • Dana Kampa
  • January 28, 2025
All that Jazz: NOLA comes to Longboat Key

Kid Dutch and fellow jazz artists brought the smooth sounds of the classic New Orleans music scene to Longboat Key.

  • Longboat Key
  • Neighbors
Cloud, a Myakka 16-year-old mare who went missing last week, was known as a snuggler when giving rides in the bay for Florida Beach Horses.
    By
  • Lesley Dwyer
  • January 28, 2025
Search continues for Myakka City horse

Cloud is a 16-year-old grey mare that's been missing since Jan. 10.

  • East County
  • News
The Center of Anna Maria Island Executive Director Chris Culhane, Manatee County Commissioner Mike Rahn and Anna Maria Oyster Bar owner John Horne helped get the rock band to play a benefit concert in Manatee County.
    By
  • Eric Snider
  • January 28, 2025
Local groups pull together to pull off big-time benefit concert

Rock concerts, especially ones produced on short notice, can be rife with challenges and obstacles. This one, to raise money for local hospitality workers battered by storms, came together nicely.

  • Longboat Key
  • Neighbors
Resident reports dog on the loose, results in meeting the neighbor
    By
  • Carter Weinhofer
  • January 28, 2025
Resident reports dog on the loose, results in meeting the neighbor

A woman was worried about a big dog on the loose, and the police call ended in her meeting a new neighbor who owned the dog. This and other Longboat Key Police reports in this week's Cops Corner.

  • Longboat Key
  • Cops Corner
This Concession home sold for $3,400,000. It has three bedrooms, three-and-two-half baths, a pool and 4,351 square feet of living area.
    By
  • Adam Hughes
  • January 28, 2025
Top residential real estate sales for Jan. 13-17 in Lakewood Ranch

A Concession home on Newlane Place tops the week's sales at $3.4 million.

  • East County
  • Real Estate
Lydia Zorzi, who recently authored her first book of poetry, chats with visitor Debra Garret at the Art on the Gulf showcase on Jan. 22.
    By
  • Dana Kampa
  • January 27, 2025
Up-and-coming artists featured at showcase

This week's "Art on the Gulf" showcase highlighted the works of six local artists, ranging from jewelry design to poetry to painting.

  • Longboat Key
  • Neighbors
Gallery Director Colin Thomsen and Regan Dunnick
    By
  • Ian Swaby
  • January 27, 2025
Palm Avenue Fine Art unveils artwork formerly displayed in Sarasota airport

The gallery's exhibit "Echoes of Sarasota: A Historical Preservation" features the work of Frank Hopper and Regan Dunnick.

  • Sarasota
  • Neighbors
Charlie Mopps' promotion to Public Works Director was announced by Town Manager Howard Tipton on Jan. 17.
    By
  • Carter Weinhofer
  • January 27, 2025
Charlie Mopps promoted to Longboat Key Public Works Director

Mopps was previously the Project Manager and Assistant Public Works Director, then served as interim director for the past three months.

  • Longboat Key
  • News
Artist Michael George chats with visitors at the St. Armands Circle Art Festival.
    By
  • Dana Kampa
  • January 27, 2025
St. Armands Circle Art Festival returns in full force

According to organizers, the long-running St. Armands Circle Art Festival is back in full swing since the hurricanes hit Longboat Key at the end of last year.

  • Longboat Key
  • Neighbors
The new Seaside Market is open in Concourse B at Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport.
    By
  • Andrew Warfield
  • January 27, 2025
Big changes on tap for SRQ Concourse B

The new Concourse A at Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport offers enhanced options for passenger comfort, but big upgrades are underway for the original gate areas.

  • Sarasota
  • News
Manufactured homes in East County and their carports were no match for Hurricane Milton.
    By
  • Observer Staff
  • January 27, 2025
County seeks input for Resilient SRQ II

Sarasota County residents can provide input to storm recovery effort funding via survey or one of four public meetings.

  • Sarasota
  • News
A cold and rainy day didn't deter participants of a ceremeonial groundbreaking of the Celery Fields Quad Parcels re-wilding project.
    By
  • Observer Staff
  • January 27, 2025
Re-wilding of Celery Fields project gets underway

A groundbreaking ceremony marks the beginning of Phase 1 of bringing nature back to the Quad Parcels of the county's Celery Fields site.

  • Sarasota
  • News
Celebrants cut the ribbon for the official opening of Café on St. Armands.
    By
  • Dana Kampa
  • January 27, 2025
Revamped St. Armands restaurant blends new, classic styles

Owners of the newly opened Café on St. Armands blended the familiar feeling of the 100-year-old building with an updated aesthetic, hoping to help revamp St. Armands Circle.

  • Longboat Key
  • Neighbors
Lifeline Productions adds Atomica Arts co-founders to its management team
    By
  • Observer Staff
  • January 27, 2025
Lifeline Productions adds Atomica Arts co-founders to its management team

Will Luera and Maria Schaedler-Luera join arts nonprofit founded by Joel Ehrenpreis.

  • Arts + Culture
Judy Thomas has spent her career in the world of ice skating, on and off the ice.
    By
  • Emily Leinfuss
  • January 27, 2025
Hall-of-famer Judy Thomas reflects on a career spent on the ice

The celebrated ice skater and show recruiter looks back on five decades of career spins, flips and jumps. "It’s not designer brands or Olympic medals that define you," she says. "It’s your experiences, relationships and work ethic."

  • Siesta Key
  • Neighbors
Navigator Sierra Inabnett balances the carriage in a turn as driver Amy Cross, a 2024 national champion in Single Pony, works through a water hazard during the Combined Driving at TerraNova event Saturday in Myakka City.
    By
  • Jay Heater
  • January 26, 2025
TerraNova hosts its first Combined Driving event in Myakka City

World champion driver Misdee Wrigley Miller of Lakewood Ranch was among the competitors.

  • East County
  • Neighbors
Ringling College of Art and Design film students Ella Satterfield, Beau Agrawal and Almendra Kovac worked on the documentaries.
    By
  • Eric Snider
  • January 26, 2025
Documentaries chronicling Longboat environment set to make waves

Buzz is percolating over a unique program that paired local college film students with a Rotary Club to document some Longboat Key-centric ecology success stories.

  • Longboat Key
  • News
Students work their muscles with weights and with laughing at Jazzercise.
    By
  • Lesley Dwyer
  • January 26, 2025
Jazzercise studio opens in Lakewood Ranch

Former "gym rat' brings her passion to the Lakewood Ranch enterprise.

  • East County
  • Business
Kristen Kruger and Shannon Hunt carry a vibroacoustic bed out of the space.
    By
  • Ian Swaby
  • January 26, 2025
Conscious Cause looks ahead amid closure of wellness lounge

The nonprofit looks to a supportive community as it seeks a new space for its wellness lounge and cacao cafe.

  • Sarasota
  • Neighbors
City proclamation honors the life of employee Clifford Smith
    By
  • Andrew Warfield
  • January 25, 2025
City proclamation honors the life of employee Clifford Smith

Clifford Smith, who joined the city of Sarasota as historic preservation planner in 2007, died late last year.

  • Sarasota
  • News
A rendering of the new dining room at the Bird Key Yacht Club.
    By
  • Louis Llovio
  • January 25, 2025
Bird Key Yacht Club forges ahead on rebuild

The Bird Key Yacht Club is setting a resiliency example by rebuilding its historic clubhouse to be better prepared for stronger hurricanes and more flooding.

  • Sarasota
  • News
Bradenton man gets 13 years for 2020 fatal crash
    By
  • Observer Staff
  • January 24, 2025
Bradenton man gets 13 years for 2020 fatal crash

The car was traveling 126 mph moments before the crash, prosecutors said.

  • East County
  • News
Louise Patton Schultz (1945-2025)
    In Memoriam |
  • January 24, 2025
Louise Patton Schultz

Louise Patton Schultz, 79, of Siesta Key, FL, passed away on January 14, 2025.

  • Siesta Key
  • Tributes & Obituaries
Cirque St. Armands, a circus-themed project, will be unveiled in March.
    By
  • Elizabeth King
  • January 24, 2025
Two new luxury developments take root on Lido Key

Two over-the-top projects — one a circus-fancy hotel, another a condo complex with uber-luxury hotel-like amenities and service — are primed to give Benjamin Franklin Drive on Lido Key a new look.

  • Sarasota
  • News
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Latest News

1
Letters to Santa carry Christmas wishes and love
  • December 21, 2025
Letters to Santa carry Christmas wishes and love
2
Sue Wertman has rung the bell outside the Publix on Longboat Key on behalf of the Kiwanis Club of Longboat Key since 2013.
  • December 21, 2025
Longest-serving Longboat bellringer attributes motivation to family
3
Sarasota Memorial Hospital's Kolschowsky Research and Education Institute.
  • December 21, 2025
SMH participates in global bladder cancer treatment clinical trial
4
Santa greets visitors from the window of 9605 Governor's Club Place in The River Club.
  • December 20, 2025
Christmas decorating isn't just for kids
5
The Family Church caroling crew from left to right is Melody Johnson, Laurie Houston, Nancy Pilato, Pastor Phil Derstine and Terrial Robinson.
  • December 20, 2025
East Manatee church members will go through bars to spread Christmas joy

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