Sarasota County

The Sarasota County Commission on Wednesday approved a $91.8 million budget amendment to fund hurricane recovery projects, a stark reminder that efforts to return the area to a sense of normalcy after a rash of major storms remains a work in progress.

Sophia Haakman is something of a bird whisperer. The 16-year-old Pineview School student doesn’t just notice Sarasota’s birds. She wants to understand how they live, what they need to survive and whether efforts to protect them are actually working.

Sarasota's Selby Library will host its annual SRQCon pop culture convention on Saturday, bringing together comic book fans and cosplayers for a day of free activities.

The ongoing fight between Sarasota County Schools and Tax Collector Mike Moran over millions in tax dollars is now drawing attention in Tallahassee, where state lawmakers are proposing a change that could clarify who pays the cost of collecting voter-approved school taxes.

Although fears of a recession over President Donald Trump’s tariff policies did not come to fruition, Sarasota County Commissioners were told recently that the nation’s military engagement in the Middle East presents a looming economic threat. The most immediate impacts of the Iran War are felt at the pumps and in the price of airfare and there could be other long-term ramifications.

The fate of a more than century-old downtown Sarasota building could be headed to court following a last-ditch effort from a preservation group trying to stop it from being razed for luxury condos. A Naples-based developer has used a controversial state law known as the Live Local Act to bypass downtown height restrictions while also tapping the city’s density bonuses to pack nearly 190 units on just over 2 acres.

Fifty percent of household water consumption comes from outdoor use. Households restricted to one-day watering schedule

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. While some jurisdictions actively patrol for violations and issue citations, others rely primarily on education and warnings and provide few clear ways for residents to report violations. We also examine how the drought has heightened public scrutiny over water use, with hundreds of residents filing complaints about sprinklers, lush lawns and suspected overwatering during the regional shortage.

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. Behind the scenes, county, school and tax officials spent the next few days sparring over whether Tuesday’s commission vote actually restored the decades-old practice — or whether another formal vote would be required before the money could be released to the school district, according to emails obtained by Suncoast Searchlight.

The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office is expanding its surveillance capabilities, tapping a state fund to purchase a software platform that offers AI-powered data analysis with the stroke of a key.