New parking rules targeting ‘land pirates’ seek to ban ‘van life’ from beach town...
A CITY in a major American state once known as a haven for all things weird is now seeking to ban those living the van life from local parking lots....
Gulfport residents complain of car campers at beach
The City of Gulfport is getting complaints from residents because people are living in their cars at a parking lot along the water.
COLUMN: Biking in Venice Is a contact sport
VENICE — Last April 1 — yes, April Fool’s Day — I found myself in the back of an ambulance with an EMT handing me my cellphone.
Ruskin Man Arrested For ‘Glock And A Bomb’ Swatting Incident In The Florida Keys
MONROE COUNTY, Fla. – A Ruskin man has been arrested and charged in connection with an elaborate “swatting” incident that prompted a large law enforcement response to a Key Largo residence last month. Leonardo Javier Barrera, 20, was taken into custody in Hillsborough County, Florida, on October...
Sarasota students push back against proposed school merger
A proposal to merge Suncoast Polytechnical High School with Brookside Middle School is drawing pushback from students and parents.
‘No better than a grift,’ says Sarasota school board member about Schools of Hope
Enrollment in many public schools is down, and this week, officials from the state department of education are walking through schools in Sarasota to figure out ways to use their empty spaces. That's after dozens of schools in the Tampa Bay area were put on notice that Mater Academy, a...
SWAT team has part of Palmetto neighborhood closed off
PALMETTO, Fla. (WWSB) - A SWAT team has responded to a home in the Cypress Pond Estates in Palmetto, the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office. The team is attempting to communicate with a man inside the house, a sheriff’s office spokesman told ABC7. Residents of the neighborhood off Ellenton Gillette Road say streets are...
Sarasota police stop 47 speeders in two hours on Ringling Causeway Bridge
SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) - In a two-hour period Wednesday morning, 47 drivers were pulled over for speeding on the Ringing Causeway Bridge, Sarasota police said. Of those stops, three citations were for speed more than 30 mph above the posted speed limit of 35 mph, the Sarasota Police Department told ABC7. Those drivers...
Sarasota County commissioners deny housing development near Celery Fields
SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) - Sarasota County commissioners denied a proposed housing development next to the popular Celery Fields and bird sanctuary during Tuesday’s meeting. Developer D.R. Horton wanted to build 85 homes on the Smith Farm property adjacent to the celery fields. Commissioners rejected the proposal,...
Sarasota Memorial Hospital Named Among Newsweek’s “Best-in-State” Hospitals
Sarasota Memorial Health Care System CEO David Verinder. Oct. 22, 2025 – Sarasota Memorial Hospital was named among the nation’s leading hospitals in Newsweek’s annual “Best-in-State” hospital rankings released today. For the third year in a row, SMH-Sarasota was the only hospital in southwest Florida...
