Free Republic

NOKOMIS, Fla. – A Florida man was arrested after he allegedly shined a laser at a Sarasota County Sheriff’s office helicopter. Deputies said Nick Davidson, 44, pointed the green laser at the chopper on Tuesday, while pilots were responding to a fire. The Sarasota Sheriff’s office said Davidson’s actions could not have come at a worse time because the area was under a state of emergency after Hurricane Ian. Deputies were busy assessing damage and guiding ground units around potential hazards. “Not only are Davidson’s actions dangerous, but they have the potential to flash blind and cause long-term damage to...

Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner announced that archeological investigations found a 7,000-year-old Native American ancestral burial site in the Gulf of Mexico near Venice. “The Florida Department of State takes our responsibility for the preservation, respectful treatment and security of this rare and unique site very seriously,” said Secretary Detzner. “Our dedicated team of underwater archaeologists has done an incredible job of documenting and researching the Manasota Key Offshore archaeological site, and I am extremely proud of the work. Our hope is that this discovery leads to more knowledge and a greater understanding of Florida’s early peoples. We are...

A Native American burial site hidden for 7,000 years beneath the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida has been unearthed in what archaeologists are calling an "unprecedented" discovery. Florida Secretary of State, Ken Detzner, said in a news release on Wednesday the unmarked site near Venice, which measures roughly 0.75 acres, was first discovered by a diver in June 2016, who then reported possible human remains on the continental shelf to the Bureau of Archaeological Research. One of the stakes excavated at Manasota Key Offshore revealed a notch in its length. It is not yet known what the...

Researchers recently announced the discovery of human remains off the coast of Sarasota County, Florida. Radiocarbon testing of wood buried with the bones suggests the remains date back some 7,000 years. It's believed the remains were some of the first Native Americans to settle in Florida. Just 300 feet off the coast of Manasota Key in Sarasota County, Florida, divers made a recent discovery that could unlock centuries of Florida's ancient history. The find, called "unprecedented" by National Geographic, is a burial site that contains human remains dating back some 7,000 years. Originally believed to be a crime scene when...

Large alligator pulled from pool in Sarasota County Gator pulled from pool in Sarasota Co. Large gator found in pool By: Jennifer Holton, FOX 13 News NOKOMIS (FOX 13) - It’s not your typical pool party, but for this eleven foot-long alligator, this Sarasota home seemed like the right place to make a splash and startle the homeowners. At first, Rob Carver thought the noise could have been an intruder. “I thought a two-legged intruder,” Carver said. “I turned on the lights and looked out the bedroom window, and I saw something outside the lanai and at first I thought...

Rod Thomson Republicans lost a seat big in the Florida Legislature Tuesday that carries ridiculously outsized implications — because everything since November 2016 is DefCon 1 Armageddon for Democrats. In this era of The Woman and #MeToo, the race pitted a female Democrat against a male Republican in a fairly even district. Republican James Buchanan, son of Congressman Vern Buchanan lost to liberal Democrat lawyer Margaret Good. The House District covers northern Sarasota County, including the Democrat-dominated City of Sarasota, and has flipped between Republican and Democrat over the years. Most recently it was held by a Republican who chose...

SARASOTA COUNTY - Doctors who prescribe pain medications sometimes find themselves in a tough spot: they may want to report suspicious or clearly illegal behavior by patients, but they are prevented from doing so by the sweeping federal medical privacy law known as HIPPA. dministrators with the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office, which is fighting a prescription drug epidemic that led to 113 overdose deaths in Sarasota and Manatee counties during 2010, thought they had found an easy way to learn more about medical patients who might be breaking the law to get pills. Their solution? Provide doctors with a form...

There isn't a doctor's office in the nation that doesn't hand patients a stack of papers to complete before they see the doc.  And we dutifully fill them out because, well, we just don't care that much about the forms and expect them to be the typical bureaucratic nonsense that one must endure before getting to the point of the visit.  Everybody knows we do this, including the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office. And that gave them an idea.Like many law enforcement agencies, prescription drug abuse was a problem in need of a solution, and rather than go through the onerous...

Sarasota, Florida —- Sarasota County Government has its no smoking sign up. Unfortunately if you're trying to get hired by them the sign is going to stay up for good. “We're not saying you can't smoke cigarettes, we're not going out and telling the public that you cannot smoke cigarettes, we're just saying that if you are a tobacco user, you are going to be disqualified in the application process of Sarasota County Government” says Steve Marckinko. It's that simple. So in order to work for the man, you have to give up the Marlboro Man or any other pack...

Firefighters appear in political ad By VICTOR HULL victor.hull@heraldtribune.com SARASOTA COUNTY -- Four Sarasota County firefighters apparently violated a policy forbidding employees from political activity on the job. The firefighters appear in a Candice Brown McElyea campaign ad that began airing over the weekend on television and on the candidate's Web site. Video of the firefighters was shot recently in a Sarasota County fire station while they were on duty. The firefighters are shown talking to McElyea, a Democrat running for the District 13 congressional seat, in front of a fire truck. The words Sarasota County Fire Department are visible...