Sarasota County

Downtown Sarasota's newest bakery is a family affair — and a way for its Ukrainian owners to stay connected to home during an ongoing war.

The New College Foundation Board voted Wednesday morning to dissolve the school’s nearly 50-year-old alumni association, approving a controversial restructuring over the objections of alumni leaders.

New College of Florida officials are seeking to dissolve the college’s nearly 50-year-old alumni association, a group that has criticized the school’s conservative overhaul, and replace it with a new committee overseen by its foundation.

The Florida Department of Health in Sarasota County is monitoring rabies among wild animals in response to a single confirmed case of rabies in a raccoon.

The City of North Port's outdoor burning ban is no longer in effect. Residents are encouraged to review the guidelines on what outdoor burning is permitted.

The unhoused in Sarasota hope on a daily basis to go unnoticed by anyone who may pose a threat in the middle of the night — or ask them to move. In Sarasota, and throughout Florida, that includes the police, because lodging outside on public property is illegal.

A burn ban issued in March by Sarasota County Fire Department prohibiting unpermitted open burns in Sarasota County is lifted as of July 12.

Sarasota commissioners voted on Wednesday to halt the “acceptance, review and approval” of any major data centers until at least July 2027, but seemed eager to push for an outright ban in perpetuity. The move comes as data center developments become a flashpoint for local governments across the country, including neighboring DeSoto County, which approved a similar moratorium this week.

Two decades ago this summer, a bottlenose dolphin made international headlines after he was spotted swimming through Sarasota Bay wearing an extra-large men’s Speedo. The dolphin, named Scrappy, was found caught in the swimsuit, unable to escape as the fabric cut deep into his soft, gray skin. Today, Scrappy is still alive, still swimming in Sarasota Bay — and thanks to researchers who freed him — helping tell a much bigger story about dolphin conservation.