Bradenton Times News Articles

If 51 percent of both teachers and households vote in favor of a proposal to convert popular elementary magnet school Rowlett into a public charter school, Manatee School District could see the beginning of a trend. Frustrated by district mismanagement and the harsh spending cuts that have ensued, parents and teachers at successful schools are looking for a way to insulate themselves against a system that they see as having failed them.

The largest slave rebellion in American history is seldom talked about. It is a story of self-emancipated Africans knocking down the bounds of pain and degradation, freeing themselves to grab the most basic of our freedoms: that all men, no matter what race, creed or color, are created equal. The story starts not on those often famed and largely misunderstood Civil War battlefields, nor in the Oval Office where Abraham Lincoln would sign the Emancipation Proclamation not long before his assassination. This story starts in the untamed wilds of Florida, where those freed slaves first encountered the natives of the land.

Your virtual Sunday circular delivers the deals without the mess. Check out the specials at all of your favorite stores without having to strain your back by picking up the dead tree on your lawn, known as the other Sunday ads. We bring to you most of the inserts for a typical printed paper. Now all you have to do is click and you can find the special section for those weekly discounts. Give it a try!

Turner Tree and Landscape has taken its community service to a new level this year with its lead role in completing Riverwalk, Bradenton’s award-winning riverfront make-over. Riverwalk is the fifth major “public use” project in which Turner Tree has been involved over the last three years. Owned by philanthropist Darrell Turner, Turner Tree provided 600 trees and 24,000 plants for the project. The company earned an Eagle Award for “excellence in construction” April 19 from the Florida Gulf Coast Chapter of the Associated Builders and Contractors.

A group of 49 adult and student Bay Guardian volunteers with the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program (SBEP) planted 3,500 Florida native plants at a shoreline area on Perico Preserve Saturday, May 4. The plants were donated by Manatee County Natural Resources and FWC Redfish Hatchery at Port Manatee. Other project partners included Around the Bend Nature Tours and Martha B. King Middle School in Bradenton. King Middle School was honored with an SBEP Blue Dolphin Award in 2012 to acknowledge the school’s commitment to supporting local environmental projects.

Extending this season’s hot streak of productions that make bold artistic statements, Asolo Repertory Theatre presents Noah Racey’s Pulse. A song and dance celebration that harkens back to the golden age of hoofing, Pulse is written, conceived, and choreographed by Broadway song and dance man Noah Racey in collaboration with Broadway director and two-time Tony Award nominee Jeff Calhoun. Pulse opens at the FSU Center for the Performing Arts on Thursday, May 23 with an 8 p.m. curtain.

According to a study reported in Forbes in 2010, only 35 percent of Americans have a will, and many of those who do spent less time planning for it than they did their last vacation. In neglecting estate planning, though, they run the risk of losing a sizable portion of their estate to taxes and fees. In establishing objectives for transferring your estate, it is important to develop a wealth management plan that matches your priorities

This week, the experts at EarthTalk are asked a movement by beer companies to garner support for the Clean Water Act.

The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office is currently looking for the listed Absconded Sexual Offenders and Career Offenders from Manatee County.

The Food Bank of Manatee is asking the community to take part in upcoming events to help “White Out Hunger” and fill their shelves this summer, when donations are slow. “Summer is always a difficult time of year for us,” said Cindy Sloan, Director of The Food Bank of Manatee, “because food donations decrease considerably, while demand increases. Without school-provided meals, local families need food assistance even more.”