Bradenton Times News Articles

In January, 2012, the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, in conjunction with the Bradenton Police Department, Florida Department of Financial Services, U.S. Department of Agriculture and Homeland Security Investigations initiated an investigation into the use of fraudulent Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) Cards. The undercover operation resulted in arrest warrants for 53 subjects with 78 total charges.  The subjects are charged with Social Welfare Fraud (3rd degree felony) and various drug offenses. So far, 45 subjects have been arrested and booked into the Manatee County Jail.

Palmetto City Commissioners decided to go forward in approving a $1.9 million Gateway/ Riverside renovation project from 10th Avenue North to 17th Street. The city jumped into the BP lawsuit to recover losses encountered from the oil spill, and a new sign ordinance is passed just in time for elections - it's easier to know who to tell to come get it, when it has their name on it.

At Tuesday's BOCC meeting, the new Pink Palace Hotel got the green light on 25 county parking spaces that developers say are needed to procure financing and South County and Midtown got a future. Animal Control also adopted a new tethering ordinance designed to improve safety.

The six phase project will run from Riverside Drive on the south, to 17th Street North. There will be a bike path, separate walking paths, and parks and trees along the way. It's a conceptual plan like no other in the county. A multimodal pedestrian and vehicle corridor with islands of landscaping and benches, it will also have plenty of shops and places to eat. The streets and pathways will be lined with old street lamps and the brick paths dressed in native palms.

A new school board study proposed the consolidation of four buildings, two of which will be sold as sources of new revenue. In order to relocate the departments to the remaining buildings, a new recommendation based on the study would add 5,000 square feet to the current School Support Center located at 215 Manatee Ave. West. Currently, the SSC is over 60,000 gross square feet. 

Paula Tatgenhorst had been living in Tampa for only nine months after relocating from St. Louis, Missouri for a new job opportunity. Her three rescue dogs, Bella, Boomer and Cindy had made the trip to the Sunshine State with the rest of her family. On a warm day in March, Paula decided to do some spring gardening, which involved her replanting two seeds from a plant in her front yard into a pot on her pool patio. Hours later, she found Bella playing with one of the walnut-size seeds. Paula, not being a Florida native, did not realize the seed posed a tremendous amount of danger. She did what any pet parent would do: took the seed away, not knowing Bella had swallowed the second one. Within hours, Bella began vomiting severely

Manatee County Library System is wiping the slate clean for anyone who owes late fees on library materials from over the years. Fines Forgiveness Week, May 14 – 19, is a one-time promotion that will allow anyone who has an outstanding debt with Manatee County Public Library System to return late materials without paying late fines. Anyone with overdue fines or fines as the result of lost and damaged materials on library cards prior to May 14 may bring in charitable donations of food, toiletries or pet items to clear the fines. Accepted donations include nonperishable food items, boxes of diapers, laundry detergent, shampoo, deodorant and pet food.

The School District continues to follow their practice of obscuring the facts with misleading information. Look at the headline “Manatee Schools cut 6 Administrators.” This has appeared six times in the newspapers, each time worded carefully, if a little differently. It leads one to assume that they are cutting six administrative positions. This is not so.