Cathy Carter

By Cathy Carter

A proposal to ban polystyrene products, commonly known as Styrofoam, and to limit the use of plastic straws is moving forward in the city of Sarasota with a public hearing scheduled for Monday night. 

Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a bill aimed at fighting red tide.

Speaking at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota Thursday, DeSantis said the state will commit $18 million over the next six years to research and mitigate the effects of another potentially devastating toxic algal bloom.

Later this month, members of the Flying Wallendas will perform a live high-wire walk on national television.  The event comes two years after several performers were involved in a devastating fall in Sarasota.

This week, siblings Nik and Lijana Wallenda are practicing at the city's Nathan Benderson Park for a high-wire walk above Times Square in New York City.

The Sarasota Orchestra will look beyond the city limits for a new home. The announcement comes a week after Sarasota rejected the orchestra's plan to build a new music center at downtown Payne Park.

In a statement, the orchestra said "pressing calendar constraints and acoustic limitations at the six venues used by Sarasota Orchestra currently hinder growth and future achievement of its mission."

Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota has been selected as the site for the 2020 U.S. Olympic and Paralympic rowing team trials. The event will determine who represents the United States at the Olympics in Tokyo.

The first batch of state test scores are in.

The Florida Department of Education has released test results for the state's third grade reading exam. The Florida Standards Assessment language arts scores are from standardized tests Florida students took starting in February.

It's back to the drawing board for the Sarasota Orchestra.

Monday night, the Sarasota City Commission voted down the art organization's proposal to build a new 2,500 seat concert hall on seven acres of city-owned Payne Park.

The recent college admissions scandal exposed the role of wealth and privilege in gaining entry to America's best schools.

But its also helped bring attention to the issue of access to education for low income students and communities of color.

Loggerhead sea turtles spend most of their lives in the open ocean or shallow coastal waters, but soon thousands of female sea turtles will come ashore to begin their annual rite of spring.

May 1 marks the beginning of sea turtle nesting season on Florida's Gulf Coast.

Another local school board has spoken out about teachers carrying firearms, a decision that comes as Florida lawmakers are close to passing a bill that would expand the state’s school guardian program.

Housing prices and rents continue to rise across Florida. Thursday, a group of community leaders and advocates gathered in Bradenton to discuss Manatee County's ongoing affordable housing crunch at an event sponsored by the Manatee Tiger Bay Club.

Nationwide, an average wage earner would need to spend 32.7 percent of his or her income to buy a median-priced home. But for Manatee residents, that figure is 46.3 percent.

Within weeks of the mass school shooting in Parkland, the Florida Legislature passed the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act. The law requires a police officer or sworn school guardian be present on all public school campuses.

People caught with small amounts of marijuana or drug paraphernalia in Sarasota could soon avoid arrest.

On Monday night, the city commission will discuss the possibility of allowing law enforcement to issue civil citations instead.

The first day of the Gasparilla Music Festival drew a sold-out crowd to Curtis Hixon Park on Saturday. 

Headliners included the Avett Brothers and 2017 NPR Tiny Desk Contest winners, Tank and the Bangas.  But the nonprofit organization that plans and runs the festival also committed 50 percent of the spotlight to local acts. 

State housing advocates on Tuesday gathered in Tallahassee to call on the Florida Legislature to use all state and local housing trust fund monies for affordable housing. The Sadowski Coalition is made up of 32 statewide organizations, including industry and business groups.

The interim school superintendent in Manatee County has been offered a long-term contract.

The deal follows two months of postponement after the Florida Department of Education issued a report accusing Cynthia Saunders of manipulating data to improve graduation rates.