Critical Times

Citizen reporter Dan Coughlin interviewed Betsy Young, a Demcrat who is running against incumbent Ed Brodsky for State Attorney of the 12th Judicial District. Young is a Sarasota attorney and former prosecutor.

According to the Palm Beach Post, Young believes the current State Attorney’s Office is applying justice inconsistently. Young, along with Republican Lisa Chittaro, who is also in the race, pointed to the case of Sheena Morris, whose death Brodsky said was a suicide, the case of Ryan Flanzer, a wealthy Sarasota man who got a no-jail plea deal after shooting up a downtown apartment door, and Daniel Santiago, who faced 15 years in prison for a suicide attempt.

Citizen reporter Dan Coughlin interviewed Erik Arroyo, who is running for the District 3 seat on the Sarasota City Commission. Arroyo grew up in Sarasota and is a business and estate planning attorney. His campaign website lists spending, traffic, and homelessness as high-priority issues.

In early 2019, Arroyo entered the Republican primary for the District 72 seat in the Florida House of Representatives, currently held by Rep. Margaret Good. He dropped out of the race in May 2019.

Citizen reporter Dan Coughlin interviewed Martin Hyde, who is running for the District 2 seat on the Sarasota City Commission. After an altercation with young Hispanic tennis players at Sarasota's Bath & Racquet Club last December, in which Hyde was filmed telling the players to cut the grass, he announced he would be dropping out of the race. However, since then, Hyde has announced he will stay in the race.

Citizen reporter Dan Coughlin interviewed Alice White, a longtime environmental advocate from North Port, who is running for the District 5 seat on the Sarasota County Commission. Two Republicans are also running for the seat, former North Port Mayor Christopher Hanks and financial adviser Ron Cutsinger.

Citizen reporter Dan Coughlin interviewed Vicki Nighswander, a candidate for the Sarasota Hospital Board. Nighswander will face Steven Kleinglass in the Democratic primary election on August 18th, 2020.

In this interview, listen to Assistant Director at the Florida Studio Theatre Meg Gilbert talk about the Suffragist Project's journey. The Suffragist Project is coming to a close after a year of programming led by FST as the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment approaches on August 20th, 2020.

Citizen reporter Dan Coughlin interviewed Jerry Wells, a candidate for Sarasota City Commission District 2. Currently, five candidates are running to beat out incumbent Liz Alpert for the District 2 seat. Hear why Wells entered the race and why he thinks he'll do the best job.

Last week, five candidate finalists for superintendent of Sarasota County Schools answered a series of questions from the community. In a normal world, there would be a casual meet and greet held where members of the community could ask the finalists questions. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, this was not a possibility. However, the community submitted over 75 pieces of input that were then summarized into a few questions that each superintendent answered in a virtual forum that was streamed live. Several themes ran throughout the questioning, including rebuilding trust in the district, and the superintendent's approach to diversity, early learning, and zoning. Andrea Messina, Executive Director of the Florida School Boards Association, facilitated the questions. The School Board is scheduled to choose the next superintendent on Tuesday, July 14th, at 3pm.

I interviewed Travis Ray, owner and founder of the Dapper Bowtique, an online bowtie and accessory brand. We spoke about the dream that inspired his business, the impact ancestry can have on one's craft, and his commitment to his community.

Dan Coughlin, our citizen reporter, interviewed two candidates running for Sarasota School Board for District 3. Dan spoke with Eric Robinson, who is running for reelection, and Tom Edwards.