Manatee gallery

 

ANNA MARIA ISLAND – Ed Chiles, the owner of Chiles Hospitality, is selling the Sandbar Seafood & Spirits restaurant in Anna Maria, the Beach House Waterfront Restaurant in Bradenton Beach and the Mar Vista Dockside Restaurant & Pub in Longboat Key to the Pinellas County-based Beachside Hospitality...

BRADENTON BEACH – At a colony of 45 least terns, eight chicks vary in ages from one to four weeks and the oldest chicks are gaining their flight feathers and practicing flying. On July 8, shorebird monitor Kathy Doddridge witnessed the first chick taking several solo flights over...

BRADENTON BEACH – Upon seeing a group of six people digging around a marked turtle nest at the south end of Coquina Beach on Saturday, two early morning walkers did exactly what they were supposed to do - contact authorities. “We saw a group of people digging with...

On July 14, I had the pleasure of working with Damon Moore from Oyster River Ecology (ORE) and a film crew from the Ringling College digital filmmaking program to document and install 1,050 vertical oyster garden anchors (VOGAs) on ORE’s restoration aquaculture lease site known as the...

The last time I did a column about property appraisals was almost four years ago in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic when the real estate market was all over the place and a fair appraisal was difficult to achieve. Fast forward to 2024 and things haven’t...

To err is human, the old axiom goes, and we Republicans proved ourselves all too human in 2020 when we put Kevin Van Ostenbridge (KVO) on the Manatee County Board of Commissioners (commission). Now, in 2024, we have the opportunity to prove ourselves insane, as well, by...

The right to free speech is protected by the First Amendment. It’s a long-held Constitutional right cherished by Americans and is the foundation of a free press. The vandals who took over the Capitol building in Washington D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021, said they were exercising that right....

Interim Manatee County Supervisor of Elections James Satcher thinks voters who switch their party affili ation to participate in closed primary races are engaging in “election interference.” Satcher, a hyper-partisan, far-right conservative, made these remarks during a recent Supervisor of Elections debate with moderate Republican candidate and former...

HOLMES BEACH – Mike LaPensee’s life was joyously celebrated at the Key Royale Club in Holmes Beach on Sunday, July 14. Mike passed away on June 22 at the age of 79. Standing near a table filled with Mike’s model boats, cars, trains, planes, photographs, awards, medals and other...

HOLMES BEACH – City leaders are working to keep property taxes as low as possible despite property values increasing an estimated 11.8%. To do that, they’re planning to keep the millage rate at 2.05 mills for the coming fiscal year and cut expenses from the proposed 2024-25...

PALMETTO - Prompted by a 2021 lawsuit by multiple conservation groups, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) has agreed to allow more oversight of discharges from the Piney Point phosphate facility. The settlement agreement also establishes enforceable limits on pollution discharged into Tampa Bay and provides for...