Suncoast Searchlight

Suncoast Searchlight reviewed water-restriction complaints and enforcement records across Sarasota County during Southwest Florida's most severe drought in nearly a decade and found municipalities are taking sharply different approaches to enforcement.

Local officials thought a dispute over who would pay to collect a voter-approved school tax had been settled when Sarasota County commissioners agreed in a surprise vote this week to resume covering the millions of dollars withheld by Tax Collector Mike Moran. Turns out, the fight isn’t over.

Just days after the Sarasota County School Board sued Tax Collector Mike Moran over millions of dollars withheld from a voter-approved school tax, county commissioners Tuesday voted to reverse course and resume covering the cost of collecting the tax.

New signs posted at Publix stores now state: “Publix kindly asks that only law enforcement openly carry firearms in our stores.” The message appears near the bottom of a broader list of store rules, alongside more routine policies like no pets and no soliciting.

Critics warn that what makes this kind of technology attractive to law enforcement — its ability to rapidly merge and analyze disparate data sources — threatens to erode individuals’ privacy.

The Sarasota County School Board and two county taxpayers have sued Tax Collector Mike Moran, alleging his office unlawfully diverted more than $2 million from a voter-approved school tax after changing a decades-old arrangement over who pays collection fees.

A long-running fight over a proposed subdivision next to Sarasota’s Celery Fields has escalated into a lawsuit, with D.R. Horton abandoning an arbitration process and suing Sarasota County after officials repeatedly rejected its scaled-down plans to build up to 170 homes on nearby Smith Farm.

The Live Local Act has become a flashpoint across the state, as residents and elected officials argue it can be used to push through projects that might not otherwise win approval.

Three times now, environmental advocates hoping to stave off a housing community proposed next to the Celery Fields bird sanctuary have seen huge victories in the Sarasota County Commission chambers. But a developer that calls itself "America's largest homebuilder” is still carrying on with its plans.

County staff presented a combination of funding options, including an additional sales tax for residents or increased mobility taxes on new housing developments.

They say many of the region’s most pressing environmental challenges — from microplastics found in dolphins and PFAS contamination to water shortages and habitat fragmentation — are unfolding in ways that are often overlooked or poorly understood.

Bill Furst heads the political action committee American Mission Florida, which filed registration paperwork with the state in February, listing its primary address as a Staples store in Tallahassee. A month later, the PAC put $2 million towards pro-Byron Donalds advertisements.