Suncoast Searchlight

Sarasota’s effort to directly develop affordable housing downtown — an unprecedented, city-led plan championed by former City Manager Marlon Brown — faltered after the city spent more than $7 million on land without a finalized construction budget or financing strategy and as anticipated state and philanthropic funding did not come through.

As political polarization deepens, Sarasota-based nonprofit Conversations Across the Aisle (CATA) brings together people from across the political spectrum for facilitated dinners designed to replace debate with curiosity and understanding.

The “Law Enforcement Accountability Dashboard” asks tipsters to identify non-compliant law enforcement agencies, but records show many submissions hinge on allegations about neighbors and community members suspected of being undocumented. Often embedded in those complaints are accusations that local agencies are not doing enough about it.

The Manatee County School District has rolled out new mandatory training on boundaries, sexual harassment and abuse prevention and launched an audit of its hiring practices after a joint investigation by Suncoast Searchlight and the Bradenton Herald into repeated cases of staff misconduct toward students.

A proposed 18-story downtown Sarasota condo tower that won city support by promising 40 below-market apartments in exchange for quadruple bonus density has stalled after developers began marketing the building as a short-term rental destination with three-day minimum stays, a use city officials say would violate local zoning rules.

The resolution, approved despite hours of emotional public opposition, does not spell out what documentation agents would need to enter schools, whether judicial warrants would be required for non-public areas, or who would make those decisions.

There is a trend of con artists posing as attorneys claiming they can help undocumented people secure work permits and bilking them of thousands of dollars.

The largest private landowner in the district would control its own local government to finance and oversee future expansions of the shopping hub, largely composed of commercial retail around the mall and rowing park.

Mayor Debbie Trice twice interrupted speakers during the public input portion of the commission’s Jan. 5 meeting, warning them that they could not make “personal attacks” or refer to commissioners by name.

An analysis of data shows teacher vacancies across the state have declined recently, but gaps remain — and limitations in the data make it difficult to compare districts or identify where shortages are most acute and how they are affecting students and classrooms.

After a three-year legal fight over sharply higher irrigation rates, residents of Gran Paradiso agreed to a settlement with their developer-controlled government that restores the possibility of water service — but only after major concessions critics describe as punitive.

A proposed land swap is now on hold after Siesta Key activist Lourdes Ramirez filed a legal challenge alleging violations of county development codes and improper disposal of public land.