MCR Health serves more than 100,000 low-income and under-insured patients in this area. WSLR News reporter Dania Hefley talked to its CEO, after the non-profit re-emerged from bankruptcy.Then: Rattlesnake Key was just sold to a private buyer. WSLR News reporter Brice Claypoole tries to find out what that means for what is the longest stretch of natural coastline in Manatee County.Next: Just five years ago, a pair of Trump followers and election deniers on the Suncoast launched Defend Florida, and the outfit saw a meteoric rise in influence. But now, Florida legislators are distancing themselves. Suncoast Searchlight brings us that story.Suncoast Searchlight also has a story on how Sarasota County got tied up in a new legal battle over rights to beach property and access.

Coming up: The Manatee County Commission has a new chair, and we have the details.Next: The arts community in Sarasota is still reeling from the erasure of hundreds of pieces of sidewalk art in September. Will a lawsuit be filed? Dania Hefley has a report.Then: The Trump administration is saber rattling around Venezuela. We interviewed a close observer who will be talking at a World Affairs Council event in Sarasota tomorrow.Finally: WSLR reporter Ramon Lopez took a close look at an unusual theater production. It’s about a school shooting, and some of the actors are school students. 

Near downtown Sarasota, a polluting plant may be on its way out, and truly affordable housing could be on the way in. The host of WSLR’s The Detail interviewed the man behind the project.Then: Decades after a military contractor polluted the groundwater in a majority African American community in Manatee County, the cleanup is slow to come. WSLR News reporter Ramon Lopez brings us Part 3 of his series on Tallevast.Next: Sarasota County has come up with a new way of killing mosquitos: By applying pesticides from drones. 

Coming up: This Thanksgiving, hunger is more widespread in Florida. What’s going on? Our reporter talked to volunteers who distribute food, to find out.Then: Artists on the Suncoast who produce public art are coping with erasure. Our reporter talked to a painter of murals whose art was erased not once, but twice.Next: Her four-year old twin sister died during Josef Mengele’s concentration camp experiments with twins. She survived. Our reporter talked to Sora Vigorito, who will be coming to Venice.Finally: The hosts of WSLR's Our Changing Environment interviewed an expert of wild turkeys.

Coming up: Manatee County adopted a juvenile curfew - a broadly supported idea. But WSLR reporter Gretchen Cochran also heard the anxious voices of those who fear the effects of more policing.Then: The Trump administration wants to expand oil drilling in the Gulf closer to Florida shores. It’s no surprise that has prompted pushback here - but the pushback comes from both sides of the political aisle.Next: There’s a ceasefire in Gaza, but the dying continues. A Sarasota activist responds by organizing a fundraiser for Palestinian children.Finally: For 15 years, Unidos Now has worked to move immigrants towards the mainstream. The Sarasota non-profit celebrated with a big Quinceañera party in Palmetto.

Coming up: The Sarasota School Board will be changing the times of their meetings and many community members are not happy about it. Johannes Werner has the details. Then: Sarasota Commissioners voted down a comprehensive plan amendment that could have transformed Siesta Key. Ramon Lopez reports.Next: A community advocate is bringing a countywide coalition of neighborhood groups back to life. She told the hosts of WSLR’s Our Changing Environment all about it.Then: A local group that helps put immigrants on the path through college is celebrating 15 years of work. Johannes Werner learned about the group’s plans for the future.

Coming up: The Sarasota legislative delegation met this week, and local officials and residents raised concerns about state proposals that could impact property taxes and local control. Johannes Werner and Klaus Obermeit have the details. Then: We break down how the controversial SB 180 is creating new friction between state lawmakers and grassroots Republicans over local control. Alice Newman with Suncoast Searchlight brings us the report. Next: In Manatee County, the planning commission approved a big  Lennar housing project, moving forward under a trade-off that dedicates funding for infrastructure but neglects to include affordable housing. Finally:  Shifting to local education, the controversial Schools of Hope law is heating up in Sarasota, as two different for-profit operators simultaneously filed to occupy space on the same two public school campuses. Derek Gilliam shares the facts.

Does climate change make you act like a deer in the headlight? A conference coming up tomorrow slices the big challenge into digestible portions - small enough for action. Gretchen Cochran gives us a preview.Then: Sarasota was a global pioneer a quarter century ago when it became home to one of the first canopy walkways. Now, an effort is on to preserve and improve it. Brice Claypoole reports.Next: A busload of Sarasota clerics and activists took a ride to the Alligator Alcatraz, and our reporter Ramon Lopez tagged along.

New College has been DOGE’d by the state, and the results don’t look pretty. The bad optics come at a time when the governor’s and legislature’s financial largesse could come to an end. We try to dig deeper.Then: Community Development Districts - the developer-controlled entities that tax homeowners, often with little to no representation - have received a not too flattering spotlight. The Manatee County Commission just approved two more CDDs.Next: Should Sarasota County have a recurring funding source for its land preservation efforts? Securing the future of this program will be up to you, as this will be a ballot question next year.

The threat of for-profit operators taking over school buildings lit a fire under the Sarasota School District. The five school board members seem ready to approve this Friday a substantial reshuffle. We have the details.Then: Low school enrollment in Sarasota seems to respond more to demographics than to performance. Occupancy at Sarasota charter schools is as low as in public schools, the Suncoast Searchlight found. Next: Publix decided to invite customers who openly carry firearms. Many disagree that this will make grocery shopping a pleasure. Lynn Aragon has that report.Then: Using incentives for developers, Manatee County has produced more than a thousand units of what is called workforce housing. But rents for these apartments are still out of reach for most working people. So the county commission tomorrow will discuss changing tack.Finally: Clergy have been among the most outspoken critics of the crackdown against immigrants. Sarasota has been a hotspot of religious resistance, as Ramon Lopez reports.  

Coming up: Turning Point, the organization founded by recently assassinated conservative influencer Charlie Kirk, is getting help from the governor in their push into high schools. SEE Alliance, on the other side of the political spectrum, now has ambitious plans to do the same.Then: A for-profit charter operator is asking the Sarasota School District for free access to a school for the disabled. That raises questions, and Suncoast Searchlight is seeking answers. Next: A religious coalition in Sarasota this Sunday is joining a national action in support of immigrants called Disappeared in America. We have the details.Then: A Sarasota police investigation found a neighbor who sent threatening texts about basketball playing kids in the majority black Central-Cocoanut neighborhood is not a danger to the community. The hoop is back up. But what’s next? We interviewed neighbors and activists.Finally: Is the ambitious Sarasota Performing Arts Center plan alive? The non-profit behind the $400 million project is planning a gala fundraiser, and Gretchen Cochran tried to find out what it’s about.  

Manatee County’s state legislators opened yet another front in what many in the Republican county believe is a war against home rule: This time, it’s about taking away local control over one of the area’s biggest economic generators.Next: The Schools of Hope law forces districts to hand over buildings of underused schools to private operators. That, in turn, has prompted the Sarasota school district into a flurry of reorganization plans to fill school buildings with low enrollment. But now, the superintendent retracted a consolidation plan - the second turnaround within a week. Then: Jon Thaxton was an unusual recent addition to the Sarasota County Planning Commission. The former county commissioner and long-time environmental activist was expected to change the public perception that this appointed advisory board is a rubber stamp for developers. But his first vote took many by surprise.Finally: At a film screening and panel discussion about the war in Ukraine, we asked the panelists about their reactions to Trump’s peacemaking efforts. 

For 24 hours, the City of Sarasota took down the hoops at a neighborhood park, after a neighbor made serious threats against teenagers playing basketball. We have the details. Next: The Sarasota Sheriff’s Office seems eager to cooperate with ICE in the crackdown against immigrants. This comes from Suncoast Searchlight. Then: A New College professor was denied emeritus status by the administration - a case of political retribution?Next: The future of the historic VanWezel Performing Arts Center looks brighter now. We explain why.Finally: Our reporter was there when Sarasota first responders practiced how to handle active shooter situations. 

Coming up: ICE is catching bad guys. That’s the simple message Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem brought during a quick stop during her whirlwind tour of the United States. Ramon Lopez got to ask her a couple questions. Next: Noem’s visit came 48 hours after No Kings protests brought thousands to the streets in this area. Klaus Obermeit has that report. Then: The Sarasota School district is under pressure to prevent Schools of Hope takeovers of public schools here.  But students and parents are pushing back against consolidation plans.Next: The Sarasota County Commission rejected a scaled-down project by a national homebuilder. We have the details.Finally: The City of Sarasota wants to bury power lines on barrier islands that were flooded during last year’s storms. 

Coming up: He’s home. A father of two and husband of a seriously ill mother is reunited with his family after he was released from ICE detention. This comes after the surprising ruling of an immigration judge. Ramon Lopez brings us this exclusive.  Next: The Bay - the big park project near downtown Sarasota - is expanding north, into the next two phases. We have the details. Then: Gotta go? Hopefully not during a city commission meeting. Suncoast Searchlight brings you breaking news about plumbing at Sarasota City Hall.Finally: Manatee County is opening up public use of a big chunk of county-owned agricultural land near Lakewood Ranch.

It’s going to be not one, but six. “No King” protests in Sarasota and Manatee County are taking shape this Saturday, and Klaus Obermeit has a preview.Next: Phillippi Creek flooded many homes during last year’s storm season. One year later, Sarasota County will soon get dredging underway. Then: Groundwater contamination keeps spreading at the historically African American community of Tallevast. They have been in a two decades-long David-vs-Goliath fight with Lockheed Martin, and going. Ramon Lopez brings you Part 2 of our three-part series.Finally: A local theater brings actual voices of immigrants on stage. We have this report from Suncoast Searchlight.

Coming up: The former Israeli defense minister who was in charge of the first year of the war in Gaza is coming to Sarasota. And that’s prompting pushback.Next: It’s raining private takeover notifications. The same for-profit school operator that wants to occupy three public school buildings in Sarasota has notified the Manatee County School District it wants access to two schools there. Then: We get an update from one of the lead plaintiffs in a case that could shut down the immigrant detention camp in the Everglades.Then: Sarasota County decided not to sell the land on which the Hermitage Artist Retreat stands. But how will it finally be fixed? Noah Vinsky brings us the details.Finally: The historic African American neighborhood of Tallevast is still dealing with the fallout of decades of soil and groundwater contamination. Ramon Lopez brings us Part 1 of a three-part series.

Wilkinson Elementary parents can breathe a sigh of relief. It looks like the neighborhood school will not end up being the first public school in Sarasota’s history to close, after all. Dania Hefley has this report. Then: The race for Bridget Ziegler’s school board seat is heating up. Brice Claypoole reports.Next: The non-profit in charge of developing The Bay park near downtown Sarasota picked a politically connected family business to run a yet-to-be-built waterview restaurant. Gretchen Cochran has the scoop.Next: At a packed community meeting this weekend about flooding and stormwater management, one county commissioner admitted to “sins of the past”. Ramon Lopez has that story.Finally: The architect of U.S. holocaust indemnification agreements is in Sarasota for a talk tomorrow. We talked to Stuart Eizenstat, to get his views on how to avoid a repeat of fascism and the Holocaust, on Trump and diplomacy, and on the Carter administration’s achievements.

Florida could make the difference in next year’s congressional elections, which is why many here are concerned about early redistricting and gerrymandering. Brice Claypoole has this report. Then: Distress is spreading amid the immigrant crackdown. Many are unable to go to work, stuck at home, or sick. A group of Sarasota churches is stepping in with help. Ramon Lopez reports.Next: Wilkinson Elementary could be the first public school ever in Sarasota to close. But many more could end up on the chopping block, as Suncoast Searchlight reports.Next: Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo wants to end all vaccination mandates and ban one type of vaccines. His predecessor speaks out against this. We bring you excerpts of a WSLR interview with Scott Rivkees.Finally: It’s Hispanic Heritage Month, and the Ringling Museum of Art is providing a big platform to local Hispanic artists. We have the details about Nuestro Vaivén, an exhibition that’s much more than just paintings on walls. 

Coming up: It used to be that you paid bail, and you’re out of jail. Not anymore. Suncoast Searchlight brings us a report about ICE retainers, and how local jails are the first stop of a deportation pipeline for people held for minor infractions. Then: It’s Hispanic Heritage Month, and the Ringling Museum of Art is providing a big platform to local Hispanic artists. We have the details about Nuestro Vaivén, an exhibition that’s much more than just paintings on walls. Next: It used to be that eating local and growing organic food was the realm of old hippies and tree huggers. Our reporter found that the chair of the all-Republican Sarasota County Commission is now a spokesperson for Eat Local Week.Then: It’s been two years since a young man in Palmetto lost his life while in police custody. His mother is putting together an event this Friday to remember Breonte, and to prevent more deaths like his.Finally: Suncoast demographics and parks make the crossover possible: A teenager from Bradenton is conquering the pickleball pro rankings. Partner station WMNF has that profile.