Sarasota & Manatee Counties news thread

[wondermint2]

Originally Posted by wondermint2

Bradenton Area River Regatta expected to bring in millions to local businesses

For full article:

https://www.newsbreak.com/bradenton-...cal-businesses

The ninth annual Bradenton Area River Regatta is expected to bring $10 million in revenue to Manatee County's urban core.

Residents and guests will pour into downtown Bradenton and Palmetto — which will be linked on Saturday with the closing of the Green Bridge to create one large event with unique views.

“We want to provide the residents with free entertainment, unique entertainment, but really the objective was to create a signature event to lure people into the urban core that have never been here before," Bradenton Area Convention & Visitors Bureau Executive Director Elliott Falcione said.

Almost 3.8 million people visited Manatee County in 2023, generating more than $30 million in tourism tax dollars.

“It’s a signature event because it brings in the most people in one day in a year’s time," Falcione explained.

An estimated 100,000 people are expected to attend the event, which promises to deliver races, rain or shine.

“We’re going to be sold out again this year," said Robyn Price, director of sales for the group that manages the Courtyard Marriot on the Bradenton Riverwalk.

Each visitor who stays overnight in the area for the regatta spends an estimated about $157 a day, according to the visitor center's research.

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For more information about the Bradenton Area River Regatta:

https://bradentonarearegatta.com/

The 2024 Bradenton Area River Regatta, Manatee County’s Largest and FREE Civic Event, Opens:

With “Friday Night Flash”…February 16 @ 7:15 p.m—with the world-famous Sky Elements Drone Light Show…followed by an all day slate of Powerboat Racing and free family fun Saturday, February 17!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGT7KlolSZs

[wondermint2]

What's that bass sound in Tampa Bay? Florida scientist investigates

A group of neighbors in South Tampa are teaming up with a scientist from Mote Marine Laboratory to try to get to the bottom of a noise that's been keeping people awake at night. FOX 13's Aaron Mesmer reports.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=466JsMUGlDs

[wondermint2]

Caregiver forum draws more than 100 from across the Suncoast

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ca...0a5c25ab&ei=50

After a seven-year hiatus, organizers of the Caregiver’s Forum said the sold-out event drew more than one hundred people.

The event, hosted at Senior Friendship Centers Sarasota Campus, provided caregivers a wide range of services and resources from care planning to legal and financial assistance. Spokespersons said Senior Friendship Centers said they co-produced the event with The Alzheimer’s Association, Sarasota Memorial Hospital’s Memory Disorder Clinic, and Neuro Challenge Foundation For Parkinson’s.

Multiple agencies including The Alzheimer’s Association Griffin & Griffin, Intercoastal Research Clinic along with the Jewish Family and Children’s Service were some of the non-profits on hand for attendees to receive information and support services.

According to The American Association Of Retired Persons, nearly three million people in Florida provide unpaid care valued at nearly $40 billion dollars. The AARP added that between 17% and 35% of caregivers rate their own health as poor.

Featured keynote speaker, Dr. Miguel Rivera, shared his own stories of taking care of his elderly parents while encouraging caregivers to be mindful of their own mental and physical health.

“Not only do I have the experience as a physician, but also as a son, as a dementia care giver,” Rivera added.

The AARP added that by 2045, one in five Sarasota County residents will be at least 80 years old and require some form of daily help from at least one caregiver.

For more details on resources, visit:

https://friendshipcenters.org/

[wondermint2]

New College of Florida one year later: A tumultuous transition for liberal arts school

For full article:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/care...0a5c25ab&ei=52

Since he was appointed interim president in February 2023, Corcoran has emphasized enrollment increases and established an athletics department that increased first-year enrollment to a record figure. However, increased enrollment came with a decrease in overall grade point average and test scores, which had historically helped the school earn a national reputation as a top public liberal arts college.

[wondermint2]

‘Profits before patients and it’s disgusting’: Tampa Bay nurse wants more regulation for patient safety (Video)

For full article & video:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/oth...0a5c25ab&ei=65

A concerned Tampa Bay area nurse is turning to 8 On Your Side about patient safety issues.

Gloria Wolfe is a registered nurse who said she’s seen too many hospitals and facilities overfilled with patients who do not have enough nurses to care for them with the quality they deserve.

“It all comes down to the bottom line: profits before patients and it’s disgusting,” said Wolfe.

Wolfe has a passion for taking care of people. She grew up in the medical community and became a nurse a few years ago, working at two area facilities.

“When I’m at one facility, I’m taking on up to six to seven patients, and another facility up to five patients,” she said. “I go home I’m burnt down. I’ve got three kids that want my attention and it’s hard it affects my home life and my work life.”

Wolfe said when there aren’t enough nurses to care for patients, some are left without care and that’s when she says medical errors happen.

“How would you feel if your sister or brother or your husband or your wife or your child goes into a facility and they’re like I’m sorry they acquired an infection here and the real reason is we couldn’t change that dressing in time because we didn’t have enough staff?” she said.

[wondermint2]

Just like clockwork there's another local accident involving a pedestrian. Do you think most of these accidents are the fault of pedestrians or the drivers?

Pedestrian struck, seriously injured in late-night Bradenton crash (Video)

For video:

https://www.mysuncoast.com/2024/02/1...adenton-crash/

One unidentified man is now fighting for recovery in a Bradenton area hospital after a crash Friday night.

A 62-year-old Bradenton woman was heading northwest on 301, nearing the intersection at 5th Street, near Hi Way Bar. A pedestrian headed in the same direction, along the same road, tried to cross in front of her car.

Her car struck and seriously wounded him. FHP says the crash is still under investigation.

[wondermint2]

Commissioner James Satcher applies to be supervisor of elections

For full article:

https://www.yourobserver.com/news/20...-of-elections/

Manatee County District 1 Commissioner James Satcher is one of two candidates who has submitted an application to be appointed the county’s supervisor of elections.

Satcher is seeking the appointment from Gov. Ron DeSantis to replace retiring Supervisor of Elections Mike Bennett. Bennett announced in late December he will retire March 1. His position is up for election in November. He submitted his resignation letter Feb. 1.

The other candidate seeking the post is Scott Farrington, who has served 11 years as chief of staff and No. 2 elections official in the supervisor’s office.

Bennett told the Observer he is retiring “because of my age."

"My next birthday (Jan. 1, 2025), I’ll be 80. I want to spend more time with my wife.”

He also said, “I really felt my heart wasn’t into it, and my drive wasn’t into” another presidential election.

Bennett has held the position since being elected in 2012 and reelected in 2016 and 2020.

With Bennett leaving with only months remaining in his term, DeSantis is now charged with appointing a replacement before March 6. That is the day Florida’s 67 county canvassing boards perform two tasks for the upcoming presidential primary: issuing permission to the supervisors’ offices to open ballots and running what is known as a logic and accuracy test, a mock election to verify all the equipment is operating.

[wondermint2]

County Reinvents Public Communications Division

The division has grown nearly twice the size in the span of three years

For full article:

https://thebradentontimes.com/storie...division,74780

A review of public records shows how the Manatee County Government’s communications division has changed in recent years and just how much the division has grown. TBT also analyzed more than 450 social media postings produced by the division for the government organization's Facebook and Instagram accounts over the last six months. Here is what we found.

The county's social media pages have drawn some attention lately, but not all positive. Between suspiciously timed “informational videos,” posts that appear to promote certain commissioners, and the disabling of comments, the accounts have led some to accuse the county of turning its public outreach apparatus into a one-way communication machine.

[wondermint2]

Events in Anna Maria, Holmes Beach, Bradenton for Feb 17th - Feb. 27th

For full list:

https://www.amisun.com/2024/02/16/events-3/

[wondermint2]

Originally Posted by wondermint2

New College of Florida one year later: A tumultuous transition for liberal arts school

For full article:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/care...0a5c25ab&ei=52

Since he was appointed interim president in February 2023, Corcoran has emphasized enrollment increases and established an athletics department that increased first-year enrollment to a record figure. However, increased enrollment came with a decrease in overall grade point average and test scores, which had historically helped the school earn a national reputation as a top public liberal arts college.

‘His humor is disgusting’: New College Dean of Students criticized for stand-up routine

For full article:

https://www.wfla.com/news/sarasota-c...nd-up-routine/

David Rancourt, the dean of students at New College of Florida, has been criticized for a stand-up routine some call offensive and embarrassing.

According to the Herald-Tribune, the act was part of a New College-sanctioned group comedy class at McCurdy’s Comedy Theatre.

Rancourt told jokes that ranged from stories about exposing himself to a girl as a child to native Amazonians forcing themselves on his Peace Corps battalion. Some of the jokes were from comedians like Ron White and, strangely, former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

“All of his jokes are old,” one YouTube user commented. “The Susie joke is from the 1970s. The bull story he screwed up. It was a Jerry Clower joke from the early 1970s.”

Other comments called the routine “embarrassing for the college.”

“This guy is Dean of Students? His humor is disgusting,” one comment said. Another called it “cringey.”

The college, once known as a progressive school with a fairly strong LGBTQ+ community, has experienced many changes over the past year as Florida Gov. DeSantis works to make it more conservative after saying it was indoctrinating students with leftist ideology.

One alum, Mike Palmieri, took to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, to criticize the routine as well as Rancourt himself, calling into question the dean of students qualifications for the job.

“Today, I share with you his recent ‘comedy’ set in Sarasota, where the person responsible for college student wellbeing tells tired homophobic jokes from the 1950s,” Palmieri said in a tweet.

Palmieri said Rancourt had “ZERO experience ever working at or for a college, university, or student-focused *anything*” when he was appointed last year.