WSLR News

Manatee County politics never cease to entertain. The same day the new chair of the county commission let his priorities be known, news broke about a lawsuit.

Then: Developer Pat Neal's plans for a controversial commercial development in Venice changed election outcomes in the still-quaint but fast-growing city. Yesterday, Neal's project got a step closer to groundbreaking. But he still expects pushback.

Next: The City of Sarasota spent quite some time and money to have a new logo designed. On Monday, they picked their choice. It's probably not what you think.

Then: Roundabouts have turned many Sarasotans from foes into friends after they have been able to experience them first-hand. So what's taking new ones so long to be built?

Finally: Reporter Ishmael Katz talked to one of the main organizers of the Martin Luther King Day celebrations in Sarasota, which will be upon us on and around Jan. 20.

A private workforce housing project near downtown that has been years in planning took another step towards groundbreaking. That's a rarity in posh Sarasota.

Then: Ditto for a suburban mega-project. A big chunk of the Lakewood Ranch Southeast expansion is moving close to a vote by the Sarasota County Commission - with little scrutiny for potential flooding and traffic, and disregard for a pending lawsuit.

Next: Sarasota County is ready to dredge, should nature try to close Midnight Pass again. But that may not be necessary, as WMNF reports.

Then: The SEE Alliance keeps making waves in Sarasota. The youth-led organization recently let local state legislators know about its priorities.

Finally: When and how should the United States engage in warfare? A military analyst scheduled to speak in Sarasota next week is trying to slow the bandwagon.

How does a warming climate change the balance of water? Noah Vinsky talked to the retiring director of the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program, who has been quite vocal on this topic recently. 

Next: Humans aside, dolphins are the top predator in around Sarasota Bay. And when Flipper is doing OK, all is well. So how well IS Flipper? We asked an expert to find out.

Then: The hurricanes this season have produced big challenges and shown deficiencies of local stormwater management systems. Ramon Lopez interviewed an engineer with a big-picture view.

Finally: John Lambie grew up spearfishing in crystal clear Sarasota Bay. He is concerned about where things are going, and he's proposing changing the ways we approach problems.

The Colson Hotel - a landmark in what was once the heart of African American life in Sarasota - has been saved from the wrecking ball. Ramon Lopez has some specifics about the deal. 

Then: You may have biked on the Legacy Trail. But do you know about the big-picture trail plans for this region? Cathy Antunes, on her The Detail show on WSLR, interviewed the man who spearheads those plans, and we have a summary.

Next: A new anti-terror law winding its way through U.S. Congress has non-profit news organizations in this area worried. Noah Vinsky tells us why.

Two developers presented their plans to build luxury condo towers in downtown Sarasota. Each of them wants to build taller than local zoning allows - with different arguments. 

Then: College degrees aren't worth the investment anymore - right? Wrong, says a new study. Dayana Melendez reports.

Next: Young voters have been elusive at the polls, and the League of Women Voters want to change that. We'll tell you how.

Finally: The Teamsters have taken on the world's biggest retailer. Days before Christmas, picketers have targeted Amazon distribution centers in the Tampa Bay area. We went to Ruskin to see how that's going.

Developers are gobbling up rural communities in Sarasota County. One grassroots group in Venice is trying a new approach to save rural lifestyles.

Then: The Sarasota County Fire Department wants to take over the last remaining volunteer fire department in the area. They were in for a surprise, as Ramon Lopez witnessed. 

Next: The Teamsters have taken on the world's biggest retailer. Days before Christmas, union workers and community supporters will be picketing Amazon distribution centers, including five in the Tampa Bay area.

Finally: The Tampa Bay Rays' stadium deal seems to be back on track. Before the Pinellas County Commissioners voted 5-2 to pay their share of the baseball stadium, Meghan Bowman with partner station WMNF talked to some key players.

The Mike Moran era is over, and the Sarasota County Commission has a new chair. Who did the five commissioners pick? We have the details.

Then: Once a year, the Sarasota County Commissioners sit down to pick their top long-term strategic priorities for the coming years. We put the spotlight on what they did NOT talk about.

Next: When a luxury developer proposed the tallest tower yet for downtown Sarasota, it went down in a hail of criticism, both by planners and the public. Now it's back, and Florence Fahringer reports about Round 2.

Finally: Drug addiction makes pregnancies very hazardous. An event on Friday in Sarasota focuses on how to get better health outcomes.

A former odd-man-out is now chairing the Manatee County Commission, after an election that brought big change. And at the first meeting of the newly constituted board, a sitting commissioner went to great lengths signaling that he got the message of the anti-developer groundswell of these elections.

Then: Manatee County is moving along at good speed when it comes to workforce housing. A high-profile project in Bradenton took a big step towards becoming reality.

Next: The big win for Trump wasn't as big as it seems. And it's another episode of the whipsaw politics we've seen for many decades now. A political analyst spoke in Sarasota, and Ramon Lopez listened.

Then: Mexico is one of the main targets of the wrath of the second Trump administration. A speaker will put the spotlight on U.S.-Mexico relations at an event tomorrow in Sarasota.

Finally: It's not easy to have conversations across the aisle. We talked to someone who is trying hard.

Can homeowners' associations discriminate based on income? One HOA at Lakewood Ranch does, and Dayana Melendez reports about it.

Then: The Florida state government is squeezing public-sector unions, and cafeteria workers, groundskeepers and school bus drivers feel most of the pain. Noah Vinsky has that report.  

Next: Florida Studio Theatre has ambitious plans to expand its campus in downtown Sarasota, as Ramon Lopez learned.

The week before Thanksgiving, amid what still looks like a boom for window and door makers, local manufacturer PGT Innovations laid off 225 workers in Tampa, and then another 150 in Venice. The layoffs came after PGT was taken over by Miter Brands, a Pennsylvania-based company. Johannes Werner talked to one Venice worker who says he and his wife lost their jobs the same day.

The newly constituted Sarasota City Commission went through a test on Monday. That test came about when Commissioner Jen Ahearn-Koch made a motion to take back a vote the outgoing commission made a month earlier. At issue was a downtown street the city handed over to a developer, before even seeing the developer's site plan. Ahearn-Koch wanted more discussion on how the developer's yet-to-be-known project would benefit the public.

On Tuesday, a state panel unanimously approved a $1.2 billion dollar storm recovery package for Florida Power & Light. This allows FP&L, come January, to hike the average monthly electricity bill by 12 dollars. This is pretty much routine, and it will keep the corporation in the black and its investors happy. But one public advocate spoke against approval at the Public Service Commission meeting in Tallahassee. Johannes Werner spoke to Jordan Luebkemann, an attorney representing Florida Rising and Earthjustice.

As the national affairs correspondent for the Nation magazine, John Nichols views national politics through a progressive lens. He will put the election in perspective during a presentation and discussion at the Fogartyville Community Center this Saturday, 7 pm. WSLR's Peace and Justice Report host Tom Walker interviewed Nichols this morning.