Bradenton FL

Bradenton, Fla. — Mel Hope, the chief financial officer of First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc., has informed the company of his intent to retire later this year. The company has commenced a process to identify his successor, considering both internal and external candidates. It is expected that Hope will remain as CFO...

BRADENTON, Florida - A standoff in the Braden Castle Park neighborhood concluded peacefully this morning following a domestic incident involving Christopher Liebeck. The Bradenton Police Department reported that the situation began Sunday night when officers responded to a call from an 87-year-old man, who claimed...

Manatee County Commissioner Carol Ann Felts, 68, has died. Felts was found outside her home Tuesday afternoon by her aide, Selena Cunningham, who went to Felts’ home in Myakka City for their afternoon work session. The last time Cunningham spoke to Felts was around 10 a.m. that morning. A...

BRADENTON, Fla. (WWSB) - A wildlife rehab organization is working to help a panhandling pelican that was recently captured on Manatee Beach. “This guy was wandering around Manatee Beach looking for a handout, following people around,” Wildlife Inc. said a social media post. The pelican, not deterred by people...

Manatee County officials unanimously denied a 2,000-home project in Parrish after raising concerns about a lack of infrastructure and amenities to support new residents. At a recent Land Use Meeting, commissioners heard arguments for and against the “Lone Valley” project proposed by Lennar Homes. It would have added...

The Sarasota County Sheriff's Office located a lost hiker on Friday after they went missing in Deer Prairie Creek Preserve.

A 34-year-old man from Sarasota died after his SUV left the roadway and struck multiple trees along Bee Ridge Road before splitting in half, troopers said. The crash happened when a 2018 Toyota RAV4 traveling eastbound on Bee Ridge Road, about 1,000 feet east of Swift Road, veered off the roadway and entered a grassy...

VENICE, Fla. - A woman wanted in Indiana for reckless homicide has been captured in Sarasota County. According to the Grant County Sheriff’s Office, Adria P. Wilkerson, 31, was involved in a deadly, head-on vehicle crash on October 1, 2025, that killed 45-year-old Vicki Colley in front of a high school in Indiana.

The entrance to VillageWalk in South Sarasota is marked by palms, a guardhouse and the kind of manicured stillness that suggests firm adherence to quiet hours. The streets curve past identical roofs and clipped hedges. It doesn't hint at the possibility that, on the first Sunday of each month, at 3 p.m., a cello will...

Michelle Frease used to inspect the Kiddie Academy of Lakewood Ranch on Concept Court when she worked for the Florida Department of Children and Families. Now, she’s the director of the new Kiddie Academy of Sarasota at 7290 Canon Street in Waterside Place, which actually is in Lakewood Ranch.