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Business

June 16, 2025
By Joe Hendricks

April 2025 tourist tax collections

Manatee County’s 6% tourist development tax (resort tax) is collected from hotel, motel, resort, condo and other short-term vacation accommodations rented for six months or less. Amounts shown were…
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June 9, 2025
By Louise Bolger

Are you tired of homeownership?

Everyone who has owned prop­erty – whether it’s a condo or a single-family home or investment property – has had those days when you have no idea why you’re doing this. Isn’t renting easier, less str…
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June 2, 2025
By Louise Bolger

New take on hurricanes

I love to write. I didn’t come to writing from anything I learned in “J” school, where I never went, but rather in the school of hard knocks, working in business in New York City. Funny thing about w…
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May 28, 2025
By Louise Bolger

Insurance rates going down?

There’s a lot of reasons not to want to think about insurance. It’s expensive, confusing and boring. However, according to those in the know, Florida insurance rates may be starting to tick down or a…
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May 20, 2025
By Louise Bolger

All real estate is local, especially now

My favorite real estate expression is “all real estate is local,” which I have used in this space many times. But what exactly does that mean? Essentially it means that real estate markets are signi…
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May 12, 2025
By Leslie Lake
Slicker's to celebrate four year anniversary on May 17

Slicker’s to celebrate four years on May 17

CORTEZ – Slicker’s Eatery is celebrating its fourth anniversary on Saturday, May 17 under a giant tent with live music, food, raffles and prizes. After being closed down for 128 days following exten…
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May 11, 2025
By Louise Bolger

Florida condo owners getting a break

It hasn’t been pretty for condo owners in the Sunshine State since the collapse of the Champlain Towers South in 2021. After this tragedy, laws were passed requiring “milestone inspections” of older…
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May 6, 2025
By Louise Bolger

The end of another era

I live in Cortez and was never a fan of the Seafood Shack restaurant, although it did come in handy on occasion. Well now, if you didn’t already know, the “shack” has been demolished. It sustained a…
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April 22, 2025
By Louise Bolger

Tariffs: The great unknown

No one likes uncertainty, not stock investors and certainly not homebuyers. Nevertheless, here we are, six months after devastating storms and facing another, what appears to be active hurricane seas…
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April 14, 2025
By Leslie Lake
Commissioners approve Drift-In major development plan

Commissioners approve Drift-In’s major development plan

BRADENTON BEACH – Commissioners unanimously approved the Drift-In’s major development application on April 8 subject to conditions recommended by attorney Robert Lincoln and previously supported by t…
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Upcoming Events

April 9, 2025
11:45 am

The Off-Stage Ladies of the Island Players, April luncheon meeting