Planning to attend Anna Maria Island’s holiday celebrations? The Islander has a challenge: How many events can you attend with Santa on Anna Maria Island in December? Take a Santa photo at each, be sure to note the event, location and date, and post to The Islander’s Facebook page. At the end of ...

The Bradenton Beach City Commission will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 1, at city hall, 107 Gulf Drive N. The agenda includes a public hearing on a request for a special exception to erect a dock on Sarasota Bay at 500 Bay Drive S. The planning and zoning board did not ...

There’s no formal proposal to establish a dog-friendly beach on Anna Maria Island, but Islanders are barking about the concept. An informal Islander survey, conducted on Facebook and randomly at local events in recent weeks, found a lack of a majority consensus — about a third are enthusiastic about strolling the ...

A Holmes Beach man faces 13 felony charges in DeSoto County in connection with a telecommunications sting operation. Ronald Littlehale, 64, was arrested several weeks ago in Manatee County on a DeSoto County warrant. He faces three felony charges of obscene communication/use of computer service to seduce. He also faces 10 felony ...

Commercial fisherman John L. Yates returns to a federal courtroom in December for sentencing for destroying evidence after taking under-sized grouper. Yates, 59, a Holmes Beach resident who fishes out of Cortez, plans to appeal the conviction after his sentencing. He’s contesting the government’s case against him and maintains he neither ...

Holmes Beach city commissioners heard impassioned pleas of residents to address enforcement issues relating to multi-unit and short-term rental properties following a two-hour regular commission meeting Nov. 22. A consensus of commissioners advised residents that new Commission Chair David Zaccagnino can be asked to set a single-topic work session to address ...

The conflict resolution process initiated by Holmes Beach against Bradenton Beach over its 2008 quitclaim of 27th Street east of Gulf Drive to the Sandpiper Resort will begin at 9 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 7, in the Holmes Beach city commission chambers, 5801 Marina Drive. Officials of both cities have said previously ...

Thanks to improved collection methods, payment of past due accounts and an increase in tourism, resort tax collections in Manatee County for fiscal year 2010-11 set a record. The tax office reports that $7.104 million was collected for 2010-11, representing a seven percent increase from the previous record of $6.64 ...

Five vacant beachfront lots in the 2500 block of Gulf Drive, Bradenton Beach, that once were planned for development as Rosa del Mar, a 14-unit luxury condominium, have been sold to Anna Maria businessman Steven Hanson and some partners. Along with the sale to Hanson went the dreams of Robert Byrne ...

Florida scientists studying the causes of sea turtle deaths in the Gulf of Mexico received $227,793 for the first year of an anticipated three-year, $653,379 project to determine how the red tide toxin, or brevetoxin, affects turtle health. Endangered sea turtles inhabit areas in the Gulf of Mexico where toxic red ...