WSLR News

Lourdes Ramirez won. Sarasota County lost. This is an established fact now, and WSLR reporter Ramon Lopez tries to understand the implications of the community activist's win in the courts and its effect on big development plans not only on Siesta Key. Then: A big chunk of land in Manatee County is getting close to coming under state protection. Chris Young from partner station WMNF has the details. Then: Many Florida towns are struggling to get a handle on suburban sprawl. Lake Wales, at the center of the peninsula, has a big plan, and Josh Holton with partner station WMNF gives us a glimpse. Next: Charter captains are up in arms over Sarasota County plans to enforce a no-commerce rule around public boat ramps. Ramon Lopez got that story. Next: Sarasota County will establish an airport shuttle service in a matter of weeks. But a local transit advocate questions the rationale - and the county's entire approach to transit. Our news team has the details.  Then: Josh Holton with partner station WMNF reports about a grassroots initiative in East Tampa that provides access to healthcare to an underserved community. Next: If you like to pedal, this news will be exciting: the Legacy Trail could soon become a part of a regional network of bike trails. Jim De La of the Community News Collaborative has the story. Then: Sarah Owens of the Community News Collaborative talks trees with the City of Sarasota's arborist. FInally: In the United States, about 27 million people - or 8% of the population - have asthma. Today is Lung Health Day, as Colleen Cole from partner station WMNF points out.

It's official and permanent now: The tiny New College of Florida has the probably highest-paid president of any public university in this hemisphere, if you divide dollars by number of students. Emy McGuire got the details. NEXT: That same college was the subject of a complaint before the Human Rights Council of the United Nations in Geneva this week. We talked to the recent New College graduate who took her grievances global.  THEN: It's an off-year in elections - with the exception of the City of Venice, where candidates are vying for two seats on the city council. Ramon Lopez reports. NEXT: This is the 32nd year of Pride Fest in Sarasota, and times aren't easy. But, as Sarah Malickson reports, it looks like the festivities tomorrow will be bigger and better than ever. FINALLY: A lot of spaces have closed down for LGBTQ people in Sarasota, and there are not a lot of spaces for young people to begin with. A 20-year old rabble rouser is changing that, and our news team caught up with him at an office opening in downtown yesterday.

A bombshell exploded for Sarasota Schools last week, when the new superintendent announced lower-than-expected student numbers and a hiring freeze, in the wake of Florida school privatization efforts. The issue was not on the agenda at a school board meeting yesterday, but it came up anyway. Ramon Lopez reports. NEXT: New College of Florida's lawyers sent a cease-and-desist letter to an organization called AltNewCollege. That organization rebranded itself - but continues its mission of being - well - an alternative to the new New College, as Dania Hefley reports. THEN: Does a small city need a registry for lobbyists? One Sarasota City commissioner believes so. NEXT: Florida has among the lowest health insurance enrollments in the United States. But many of those who do enjoy health benefits are not happy with their insurer, Chris Young of partner station WMNF reports. THEN: Among the collateral damage of a controversial development project in downtown Sarasota is a historical home that was going to be finished by the wrecking ball. But it may get a second lease of life, as WSLR's Ramon Lopez reports. FINALLY: Hundreds of thousands of bicyclists are using the Legacy Trail. Now, plans are afoot to connect it to a Florida-wide grid. Jim De La of the Community News Collaborative has that story. 

Sarasota County's annual citizen survey is mostly a happy affair, reflecting general satisfaction with the services the county provides. But towards the end of the survey there is a question whose responses reflect the financial anxieties four out of five households in the county are facing. Sarah Malickson will tell us more about that. Then: Yes, there are auto workers in Florida, and they are on strike. A regional AFL-CIO chapter is calling on Manasota supporters to join the picket line in Orlando tomorrow. Next: Half of Floridians losing Medicaid coverage are 20 years or younger, and the process has been rough. A state Senate committee met Wednesday to discuss Florida’s turbulent Medicaid redetermination process. Chris Young with partner station WMNF reports. Then: Sarasota County threatened an innovative entrepreneur with a $500-a-day fine if he didn't remove his produce-growing device from the Bay off Siesta Key. The entrepreneur pushed back, and got his day in court. WSLR's Ramon Lopez tells us what the judge decided. Then: Manatee County is offering New College a 16-acre piece of bayfront land, and the college is now figuring out whether to build a dorm and classrooms near the water - which, a campus plan suggests, is a bad idea. Emy McGuire reports. Then: City of Sarasota police are working on strengthening relationships in a majority Black neighborhood. Sarah Owens with the Community News Collaborative reports. Next: Hamas’s deadly attack on Israel and Israel’s bombing of the Gaza Strip have left thousands dead or wounded, and hundreds missing. One Sarasota woman is searching for her stepson, who is among the missing Israelis. WMNF's Chris Young reports. Finally: A state plan to merge judicial districts in Florida is controversial, for a variety of reasons. Among others: it may affect plans of a state attorney recently fired by Governor Ron DeSantis to run again. Chris Young with partner station WMNF has the details. Last but not least: Ryan Stanley brings us the Activist Calendar.

After two months of hemming, hawing, and delaying, the Manatee County commissioners did it: WSLR reporter Dania Hefley was there yesterday when the seven voted unanimously to give a piece of county-owned land to a non-profit, to build an affordable-housing complex for veterans. Then: Pat Neal asked, the City of Venice complied at a meeting yesterday. WSLR News reporter Ramon Lopez is following a conflict in Venice that pits the big developer against homeowners in neighborhoods Neal's company had built. Then: We continue to follow Sarasota County commissioner Mike Moran's efforts to overhaul the way the county funds non-profits that provide key social services to thousands of families. Yesterday, after an outcry over abandoning childcare, he agreed to make changes to his changes. Then: A developer wants to build a subdivision right next to the Celery Fields nature preserve, and resistance is forming. The Community News Collaborative's Jim De La reports about yet another conflict over construction in east Sarasota County. Next: The war in Israel and Gaza makes local ripples. Chris Young with partner station WMNF has that story. Finally: Given our senior citizen-heavy demographics, this may come as a surprise: The City of Sarasota is pondering a second skate park, as Ramon Lopez reports.

It's Fall Fund Drive, and we're broadcasting live from our studios in downtown Sarasota. First: A few months ago, a local builders' group suggested Manatee County should end local wetland protections, arguing that state wetland buffer regulations are good enough. The Manatee County commission obliged and, in a matter of weeks, rushed the builders' suggestion through the process. Two weeks ago, a local environmental organization reacted by calling on its supporters to flood Manatee County with scientific evidence at a land-use meeting on Oct. 5, when the commissioners were expected to cast their final vote on the measure. Suncoast Waterkeeper wanted it to be on the record that cutting wetland buffers in half was a bad idea. Our news team was at the meeting yesterday. Then: WSLR reporter Ramon Lopez was at the closing event of a charrette yesterday. It ended a three-day process in which Benderson Development hunkered down with neighbors, to hash out a big project in downtown Sarasota. Big projects usually trigger big pushback. But this one was unusually harmonious. 

Yesterday, the board of trustees of New College voted to make a career politician president of the small campus. This is the first time in decades a non-academic will head the small public university, and Richard Corcoran will also be the by far highest-paid New College president. Emy McGuire reports about what happened before, during and after the vote at New College. The mushrooming of short-term rentals in Sarasota has been a challenge on multiple levels. The City of Sarasota has kept tight reins on vacation rentals on the islands, and now it is expanding regulations to the mainland, and that means change for hundreds of owners of AirBnb, Vrbo and similar rentals. Ramon Lopez has that story. The Selby library in downtown Sarasota - that's the white building with the eye-shaped windows and the marshmallow columns - is celebrating its 25th anniversary. But this library's history goes back way beyond the 1990s. Here's Ramon Lopez's report.

Two petitions to amend the Florida constitution are mobilizing thousands of people and have gathered hundreds of thousands of signatures. But all that may not be enough, as Sarah Malickson reports. Then: A developer wants the Obsidian luxury condo tower to become the tallest yet in downtown Sarasota. Their quest has hit a snag, though, as planners denied one of three change requests, and referred another one to the planning board, and with that possibly the city commission. But the height of the Obsidian may not even be discussed. Our news team reports. Next: The finances of New College are a moving target, due to the total makeover of the small campus. At a meeting Wednesday, the interim president gave a few insights, and Emy McGuire reports about it. Then: The same interim president is NOT named in a federal grand jury investigation. But that's the extent of the good news for Richard Corcoran in an affair dating back to his time as Florida education commissioner that is beginning play out now. Finally: How can you address climate change, high electricity bills, and the challenges facing former prisoners returning to their families? A small community near Tampa shows how, and Josh Holton with partner station WMNF reports.

Led by Commissioner Mike Moran, the all-Republican Sarasota County Commission yesterday voted to cut subsidies for childcare. During the discussion, Moran called uninsured Hurricane Ian victims in North Port "undeserving" of federal aid, and justified his overhaul of county funding for social service non-profits as an effort to end "Sarasota Socialism". Ramon Lopez has the details. Then: After a pledge of allegiance led by a World War 2 veteran, and diversion tactics by the only U.S. marine on the dais to delay the project, Manatee County commissioners are inching closer to a decisive battle over an affordable-housing plan for veterans in west Bradenton. Dania Hefley covers the latest affordable housing maneuvers in Manatee County. Next: Tomorrow, a Tampa judge will rule on a motion to dismiss by the Uhuru Three, in a case prosecutors brought against them after an FBI investigation. Josh Holton with partners station WMNF reports. Then: On Friday, U.S. agencies announced that they will nominate Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Partner station WMNF explains what this historic designation would mean for the huge Southeast Georgia swamp. Next: Researchers from Mote Marine Laboratory are watching for speeders on Sarasota Bay. They won't be handing out tickets, but as Jim de La of the Community News Collaborative explains, they're working to save sea turtles. Then: The University of South Florida's research in dementia is getting a boost. Partner station WMNF has more on that. Then: It’s taken years for developers and one Sarasota County town to figure out the best way for visitors to park their cars, once the St. Regis resort is finished. But the Community News Collaborative’s Eric Garwood tells us a solution has likely been found. Finally: On his last Surreal News show on WSLR, host Steve Norris interviewed investigative journalist and documentary film maker Greg Palast about his latest film project "Long Knife". The film delves into the money making origins of Koch Brothers, the fossil-energy concern that is funding much of the conservative makeover of the United States.  

One Sarasota County commissioner has been on a crusade to remake the system how the county funnels taxpayer dollars to behavioral health and social service non-profits. Last week, the commission approved the first budget under the new system. It will prompt a couple hundred working families here scrambling for daycare services. We have the details. Then: The Suncoast Waterkeeper is a small organization with a big impact, particularly in Manatee County. The clean-water rabble rousers are now rallying supporters for an action coming up next week. WSLR citizen reporter Dean Gallo has that one. Then: New College Interim President Richard Corcoran wants his million-dollar job to become permanent. WSLR reporter Dania Hefley listened to his job interview yesterday. Next: Nighttime noise is a big deal for condo dwellers in downtown Sarasota; but music is also feeds businesses and makes the district vibrant. Yesterday, the City of Sarasota planning board pondered changes to the definition of night clubs, restaurants and bars. WSLR reporter Sarah Malickson followed their discussions and the input from citizens.