The Islandside Property Owners Coalition gained a court victory Friday with Circuit Court Judge Charles Roberts’ ruling that the IPOC organization has the legal right and authority to ask a judge to overturn the town’s development order

“The beach is in trouble once again,” said north end resident Gene Jaleski. The sand at the newly renourished North Shore Road beach access is already eroding after its completion in May 2011, and an escarpment, or drop off, has formed at the beach access area

The Halloween holiday is prone to pranks, accidents and injuries, and the excitement of children at this time of year sometimes makes them forget to be careful. Sarasota County Fire Marshal Richard Fulwider offers the following tips for keeping children safe at Halloween: • Help the child pick out or make a costume that will [...]

Storefronts will be decorated, scary characters will be wandering and children can trick-or-treat along the circle as shops offer treats and goodies for the third annual St. Armands Fright Night from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., Monday, Oct. 31. The Sarasota High School Drama Program will perform “Thriller” around 8:30 p.m. The St. Armands Circle [...]

AMI chef Tristan Forgus has recently launched “Cooking Tips from Anna Maria Island,” a grassroots, DIY video-blog that offers practical ‘Cafe 101’ tips to achieve Gulf Coast culinary excellence. Forgus’ down-to-earth approach, considerable cooking experience and enthusiasm make for a hefty helping of island charm. Topics include: • Choosing today’s fresh catch • Shrimp Bisque: how do [...]

Longboat Key Police Chief Al Hogle and former Town Manager Bruce St. Denis have applied for the open Sarasota County administrator position vacated by Jim Ley. The deadline to apply for this position was Oct. 21 to apply, and there were 45 applicants at last report. Hogle has served as Longboat Key police chief since [...]

Despite the cutting comments of my Sunday morning phone critic, I simply cannot ignore the Occupy Wall Street gaggle. In a somber world of European bailouts, American debt and Al Gore predictions of rising temperatures, the Wall Street group is simply too much fun

Whatever the motivation for the injudicious haste that saw the Town Commission discard one manager and appoint another in a one-week period, it doesn’t now appear so important after seeing the chaos that it has induced

Recent events here in town make it more evident that the people need to have something to say about just who runs things around town government. I have made several pleas for participation from a wider group. Specifically, we need some citizens to step up and run for the Town Commission

Certain town politicians are now espousing the rationale that we must retain the Planning, Zoning and Building Department director because she is too professional to lose. They are employing this rationale as their justification to excuse the director’s behavior that had been allowed to go on under the former town manager. I am sorry that this story is not pretty