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The U.S. Coast Guard is suspending its search for four missing boaters out of Sarasota County.
The four men left set out on a boating trip Saturday morning and never returned. Police found their vehicle and boat trailer at the Marina Park Boat Ramp, where they launched the 1995 23-foot SportCraft. The boat is white and has the boater registration number FL9937HC.
The Coast Guard said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Monday night that the search was ending unless new information became available.
City officials in Venice asked boaters to remain vigilant and report information to the Venice Police Department at 941-486-2444 or use radio Channel 16 VHP.
Families of 4 missing boaters plead for help after Coast Guard suspends search
The families said the Coast Guard stopped the search too soon as they believe the missing boaters are now as far south as Key West.
Sarasota County commissioners decided on Wednesday that they will assign a task force to monitor boat charter captains who pick up and drop off customers on public park docks.
The task force will also decide how the county will move forward with rules and regulations regarding the boaters.
Charter boat captains say they don’t conduct business on public grounds, so they want to know how they are violating an ordinance.
In the meeting, one boater said, “my business is run off a third-party website they pick and choose the pickup location, the time they get picked up, the duration they get picked up and where they want to get dropped off,” he said on a microphone to the commissioners.
But the Sarasota County Parks and Rec director says it isn’t about the money exchange.
“We understand that most of the transaction is occurring online or not in the park, but you picking up and dropping off people is still conducting business within the park,” said Nicole Rissler, the director.
Because of the blurred lines and confusion, a task force will be chosen. The next meeting with those details is set for some time in April.
The Crooked River Ranch, one of the last privately owned parcels on the Manatee River, is the first to be protected under a new conservation fund approved by Manatee County voters in 2020.
The 64-acre property boasts waterfront views of the northern Manatee River shoreline in Parrish, about halfway between Interstate 75 and Ft. Hamer Road in an area where open tracts of land are often sold for development. The Hunter family instead set their sights on conservation after about 30 years of ownership.
The property was sold to Manatee County on Feb. 12 for $11.2 million, leveraging funds from a voter-driven referendum to create a new tax dedicated to environmental conservation purposes approved in 2020.
County officials agreed to give staff the ability to close on the deal during a public meeting in December, where preliminary concept plans for a public park on the property were also revealed. The park would include trails, a pavilion, a kayak launch, a parking area, restrooms, and about three acres of space for recreational use.
Crooked River Ranch co-owner Elizabeth Skidmore pitched the property as one of several under consideration for conservation funds to county commissioners during a public meeting last August.
"My late father and mother held a deep affection for this old Florida property with its natural beauty and riverfront location," she said last year. "For my father, he's had it since the '70s. This place was his therapy. His place to unwind and commune with nature. It would be a treasured legacy to see it shared with others."
The Environmental Conservancy of North Port needs to raise $10,000 by Feb. 28 to buy a quarter-acre lot off of Chamberlain Boulevard in Port Charlotte, just outside of the North Port city limits.
The parcel targeted – Lot 16 on Chris Terrace – would be used as "stepping-stone" wildlife habitat, with a collection of Florida native plants and trees, including several oaks of various ages.
What is the Environmental Conservancy?
The nonprofit, which changed its Facebook page to The Environmental Conservancy of North Port and Surrounding Areas to reflect the fact that it also targets land in unincorporated Sarasota and Charlotte counties, started in the spring of 2020 in North Port.
To date, it has purchased or received donations of 37 parcels for wildlife habitat.
Seventeen of the protected parcels are in North Port, 11 in Charlotte County's Harbour Heights neighborhood, six in El Jobean, two in Deep Creek and one in Port Charlotte.
Its most recent purchase came in December, when four lots in the Harbour Heights area of Charlotte County were purchased to preserve Florida Scrub Jay habitat.
The conservancy also targets preservation of habitat for another threatened species, the gopher tortoise.
This would be the conservancy’s first purchase in the northwest Port Charlotte area.
Bradenton has always been a special place for Roberto Clemente and his family. When the Pittsburg Pirates made it their spring training home, it became a second home for him.
“Prior to coming here, he had to get in an old station wagon with his minority teammates and travel beside the team because of segregation," Clemente’s eldest son, Roberto Clemente Jr., said. Clemente could not stay in hotels with his teams, so Pirate City became a safe place for him and others.
Manatee County is hosting a public information meeting Feb. 22 for the upcoming improvements to Lorraine Road.
The meeting, at the FDOT Manatee Operations Center at 14000 State Road 64, will provide the public with an opportunity to learn more about the proposed improvements to Lorraine Road, from State Road 64 to 59th Avenue East.
Project staff will be on hand to answer questions and provide other project-related information. There will be no formal presentation and guests may show up any time between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.
The project will widen approximately 2.83 miles of Lorraine Road, from south of 59th Circle/Avenue to the S.R. 64 roundabout, from two lanes to divided four lanes, with a raised median. Enhancements will include pedestrian and bicycle facility upgrades, including a shared-use path and seven-foot buffered bike lanes, drainage improvements and designated stormwater ponds, two bridge replacements, and will include traffic signals and street lighting throughout the corridor.
Anyone who requires special accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act should contact Carmine DeMilio, Parks and Grounds Deputy Director, by phone at 941-742-5923, ext. 6016, or by email at carmine.demilio@mymanatee.org at least five days prior to the public meeting. Persons who require translation services (free of charge) should contact Valerie Ciudad-Real at 813-404-1572 or by email at valeriec@valerin-group.com at least five days prior to the public meeting.
For additional project information, please visit the project website at:
New construction is coming to one Manatee County road, and some are saying it’s long overdue.
Around 3 miles of Lorraine Road, south of SR 64, will be getting 2 more lanes, as well as a center divider-median, and other updates to increase safety and accessibility, according to Manatee County Public Works.
“Providing a much safer roadway is one of the goals we’re trying to do,” said Ogden Clark, communications director for the county’s public works department.
Many residents who live just a few feet away from the road are furious. They’ve said it’s only going to add to the preexisting traffic issue, and it will be “a nightmare.”
This hypothesis isn’t supported by everyone in the nearby community.
Tim, from the same neighborhood, said, “It’s long overdue. Lorraine Road south of SR 70 is beautiful, we should have that too.”
The project is said to be costing close to $66 million, and has a projected start-date of January, 2025.
While the option of voting by mail remains popular, the majority of voters still cast ballots in person, either during early voting or on Election Day, data shows.
But for disabled citizens, voting at a polling place unassisted – without the help of a family member or poll worker – would be nearly impossible without the aid of special machines available at every precinct.
The machines, called Express Vote, can be used by people with nearly any disability. "We certainly try to provide every tool and every assistance – as much or as little assistance as someone would like," said Ron Turner, supervisor of elections for Sarasota County. "We want to honor the voter's independence and be able to cast that ballot, you know, independently and secretly."
The Express Vote machines have a large touchscreen that can adjust the size of the type; headphones are available, and the keypad has Braille labels for voters with vision impairments.
The machines can also be controlled with a sip-and-puff device for voters who do not have the use of their hands.
"Every early voting site has one of these Express Vote devices," Turner said. "Our poll workers are trained on them. The voter can use them independently."
The Express Vote machine does not count or store votes; it marks a ballot which is printed to be tabulated by poll workers like any other paper ballot with scanners at every precinct.
The League of Women Voters of Sarasota County will host a demonstration of the Express Vote technology at a workshop on Feb. 28 from 1:30-3 p.m. at the North Port Library, 13800 S. Tamiami Trail. Jennifer Fagenbaum, executive director of Family Promise of South Sarasota County, will also speak about families in need of housing in southern Sarasota County.
Turner's office is gearing up for a busy year, adding nine additional polling places in Sarasota County, "because we think we're going to have a large turnout in November," he said.
Voters can choose to vote by mail, vote early at one of several in-person sites, or vote in person at their designated polling place on Election Day.
While vote-by-mail surged during the COVID-19 pandemic, Turner says he expects more people turning out in person in 2024. "Behavioral patterns may be a little less predictable than they were a few years ago in the pre-COVID, pre-pandemic environment,” he said.
BRADENTON — Studies indicate that English fluency is critical to succeeding in school and on the job in the U.S. Language limitations also impact an individual’s ability to secure necessary resources and services and provide support for any children in the home.
Thanks to philanthropist MacKenzie Scott’s gift of $10 million in December 2020, Goodwill Manasota created the JobsPlus Language program in 2021. The purpose of the program is to assist those who speak little to no English with employment, an opportunity to learn English on-the-clock, and a family-sustaining career path.
Goodwill recently celebrated the graduation of two team members from the JobsPlus Language program – Lisbeth Leal Suarez and Lazara Munoz Jimenez, who both began working for Goodwill in November 2022 and have earned promotions.
“The JPL program is a great opportunity for Latin people to learn English and work at the same time,” Suarez said. “I have to say a very huge thanks to Goodwill for the wonderful opportunity to learn English, to have a job, to meet my peers who are very special to me, and to grow in the company.”
Suarez began as a sorter/hanger at Goodwill’s Honore store. After graduating from JPL, she earned her Role Model Worker badge; two months later, she was promoted to pricer and continues to take advantage of educational opportunities available at the organization.
The final weekend of our eventful February in Sarasota and Manatee counties features a food festival and carnival in Venice, a reggae block party in downtown Sarasota, a complimentary movie screening at The Bay, circus thrills in the University Town Center area, and the chance for free water-ski watching fun.
In addition to the five events featured below, MLB's spring training season starts this weekend. The Baltimore Orioles play their home opener against the Boston Red Sox at 1:05 p.m. Saturday at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota while The Tampa Bay Rays play their home owner against the Atlanta Braves at 1:05 p.m. Saturday at Charlotte Sports Park in Port Charlotte.
Meanwhile, the Braves' own home opener will be against the Red Sox at 1:05 p.m. Sunday at CoolToday Park in North Port. The Pittsburgh Pirates' home opener will be against the Orioles at 1:05 p.m. Sunday at LECOM Park in Bradenton near the Village of the Arts. For more information on all of these games, visit mlb.com/tickets/spring-training.
At Tuesday's Manatee County Commission meeting, board members were given a presentation on a planned park in northwest Manatee County, the cost of which surprised at least one commissioner.
Deputy County Administrator Brian Parnell introduced the presentation as "informational" and said that in addition to introducing the concept, he had a request for more initial funding "to move forward with more detailed planning design and initial construction activities."
The park, which has evolved in somewhat different visions since last summer, will be mostly passive, featuring walking paths and a boardwalk on 24 acres. There will also be a 12,000 square foot veterans center/welcome area on the premises. The concept is inspired by Veterans Memorial Park and Museum in Hillsborough County.
After the initial presentation, Commissioner Jason Bearden immediately moved to approve the requested $4 million in funding. Commission Chair Mike Rahn nearly allowed a vote without discussion but ultimately allowed Commissioner George Kruse to weigh in before the vote was cast.
Kruse questioned exactly what taxpayers would be getting for the initial $4 million and said that he couldn't understand how $4 million could be spent on the entire park as he had envisioned it from previous discussions, let alone on planning and design (see video below).
When asked what the total cost would be, Parnell answered $30 million. He added that they only really needed $2.5 million for planning and design but wanted a cushion of $1.5 million to begin some elements of construction in order to "prove the viability of the project."
When asked where the rest of the $30 million was going to come from, county administrator Charlie Bishop chimed in, telling commissioners that he had been having promising discussions with Congressman Vern Buchanan and another "prominent" local fund-raiser that was not named and said he was confident that a significant portion of the funding would come from state, federal, and private funding sources.
Kruse said that he supported the concept but would be much more comfortable voting on the $2.5 million that was needed for the project and extending more funding in future votes once funding sources were better understood. When it became clear that no one else shared his concerns, the item passed 7-0.
A common refrain to explain the county's slow-moving Premier Park efforts involves funding.
I've been told by multiple commissioners that "we don't have the money" to do it all right now.
In was in December, 2017 when Manatee County paid Schroeder-Manatee Ranch $5.2 million for the 127-acre Premier Sports Campus and the 36 acres to the north of that property.
It was on Sept. 11, 2018 that the East County Observer ran the story about Manatee County Commissioners approving $4.6 million to purchase 75 acres north of the Premier Sports Campus from SMR "for a future hub for government services and parks and recreation offerings."
Part of the 2017 agreement was that the county had to construct an aquatics center in five years.
Obviously, at the time, Manatee County commissioners thought they had the money.
Six years have passed. An aquatics center now has a timeline of being open in 2026.
If you live in East County, you might well have given up on seeing many of the promised amenities that were supposed to be built on the land our tax dollars purchased.
You might well have stopped thinking about it, too, until the Feb. 14 Commission meeting.
That's when Commissioners talked about building a $30 million park in Palmetto.
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