There’s an estimated 500,000-700,000 razorbill breeding pairs in the world, but a Florida sighting of the penguin-looking sea bird is rare. Razorbills made an appearance at the Anna Maria City Pier beginning around Dec. 21. The razorbill looks a lot like a penguin because of its black and white coloring, but gets ...

Happy New Year from Joe Bird’s Astheworld Terns and everyone at The Islander newspaper.

Beautification plans for the city’s gateway at Cortez Road and Gulf Drive may soon be finalized, if one last hurdle is cleared, according to email communications from Bradenton Beach Commissioner Gay Breuler, Visitors entering the city from Cortez Road are provided a view of the Gulf of Mexico as they approach ...

The city of Holmes Beach issued the most building permits in its 62-year history as contractor applications flooded the city’s building department to meet a Dec. 26 deadline of a planned moratorium.         As the city commission, its planner and attorney worked in December to prepare for the moratorium expected to ...

Holmes Beach Mayor Carmel Monti announced Dec. 26 he had switched from his prior plan to conduct a statewide search to a closer-to-home search for a permanent police chief for the department now headed by interim Chief Dale Stephenson.     About a week after former HBPD Chief Jay Romine announced on ...

The Anna Maria Island Community Center, 407 Magnolia Ave., Anna Maria, is launching a cornhole league beginning this month. Cornhole is the trendy old name for the old-fashioned lawn game in which points are earned for tossing bags of corn or beans into a raised platform with holes. The co-ed league competes ...

Anna Maria • Dec. 18, 100 block of Crescent Drive, suspicious incident. A Manatee County Sheriff’s Office deputy responded to a possible burglary attempt. Upon arriving to the scene, he observed no suspicious activity. He made contact with the complainant, who reported someone had knocked loudly on her door several times. ...

212 52nd St., Unit 6, Villas of Holmes Beach, Holmes Beach, a 2,656 sfla / 3,898 sfur 3bed/3bath/2car bayview condo with shared pool built in 2006 was sold 12/07/12, Odom to Schlossberg for $625,000; list $730,000. 310 66th St., Holmes Beach, a 1,974 sfla / 2,517 sfur 3bed/3bath/1car  pool home built ...

Hooke runs to top of The Islander’s 2012 sports   Another year of Island sports is done, which results in the ranking of the top sports stories. It’s enjoyable to look back at all of the great sports moments reported and to reflect on the accomplishments of islanders. I’d be remiss if I ...

Wednesday, Jan. 2 1 p.m. — Gulf Coast Writers meet with local author Diane Robertson, Island Library, 5701 Marina Drive, Holmes Beach. Information: 941-928-5302.   Thursday, Jan. 3 5-7 p.m. — Thursdays, Thirsty Thursdays specials and activities, Bridge Street, Bradenton Beach. Information: 941-778-3400.   Saturday, Jan. 5 8:30 a.m. — The Kiwanis Club of Anna Maria meets ...