Since I've seen Ladapo take 1 out of 6 studies to support his recommendations, when the other 5 showed the opposite, he has no credibility. Pharmaceutical companies donate a lot to politicians to make sure they can maximize their money. Treating sick people makes them more money then keeping people from getting sick, and my view is that Ladapo is benefiting from that system.
This isn't the same set of meeting notes I received from the LWV. Why does TBT's leave out the concluding NOTES ON GOOD GOVERNANCE? In the email I received from the LWV, they conclude:
"During the discussion of Annie’s Bait Shop, Commissioner Bearden was emotional and disrespectful to his fellow commissioners. We applaud the commissioners that did comment with reasoned discussion of their positions and although empathetic, voted appropriately.
We appreciate the commissioners paying attention to having their microphones on and speaking into them."
Manatee County has a real problem in enforcing the laws of the land. The paving of 51st. St. E. as a corridor to 44th ave. caused it to become a raceway! It's now extremely dangerous for walkers! At least 6 new 30mph signs need to be erected on the road, three on each side. And then the law should be enforced!
Russell Owens
Manatee County currently gets a 25% discount through a voluntary program by being more restrictive than the minimum National Flood Insurance Program based on Title 44 Code of Federal Regulation called the Community Rating System. Losing the discount while bad is not the worst that could happen to the county. The county could be put on probation which you would get no discount but would be charged an additional charge. If FEMA deems the county to not in compliance with regulations, the county could be kicked out of the NFIP. That means no new policies and no renewals. That will greatly impact anyone trying to get a mortgage as flood insurance is required to get a mortgage that is federally backed or insured. Only option would be private flood insurance.
While Annie's is an old building, without the designation of being on the National Registry or the Florida Master Site File there is no exemption or variance accepted by FEMA to keep it at the elevation it currently is.
There is usually some truth to these persistent complaints. The animal shelter volunteer complaints over the years have some merit to them. However, based on what Sarah Brown has been hired to manage, her position holds way too many responsibilities for one person. The county administration is at fault for asking any one person to perform oversight of too many departments including probation defendants, children services, adult and aging services, veteran services and animal welfare. The position she is accepting sounds outrageously impossible to be performed at a competent level. I could understand complaints coming from citizens in any and all of these departments as normal.
Why is the concept of compliance so foreign to so many people? The solution to the problem is DON'T SPEED! In order to get a ticket, a person typically has to be at least 10 mph above the posted speed limit. Reckless and speeding driving has become an epidemic in Florida.
The original concept of insurance was a not for profit shared risk structure. Today the insurance industry is a for profit corporation designed to create dividends for stock holders. There are infrastructure costs needed to run this business but the main object is to create returns for the investors not to pay claims. Since this report has traced the flow of funds generated by policy payments it should be possible to see what the actual revenues and claims costs would be without profit taking. The State could then set up a not for profit insurance program everyone could buy into. The current system is voluntary and some people choose to go bare this could work the same way or it could be mandatory and the same actuarial cost calculations used by the for profit industry would be used for either option by the State.
No details and no links! I assume Glenn is talking about this:
https://www.fox13news.com/news/mosaic-inc-exploring-underground-wastewater-well-raising-concerns-amongst-environmental-group
https://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/2025/02/18/mosaic-phosphate-wastewater-drilling-hillsborough-tampa-bay-florida/
Have you ever wondered how early education shapes career choices? I believe showing the Olivia video is beneficial for students as it illustrates the development of life. This is no different from teaching students about the reproduction of frogs, fish, butterflies, or other animals. Understanding human development is as important as learning about other creatures taught in schools. I learned about frog development in kindergarten, and this type of science education sparked my interest so much that I became a biologist. Perhaps I would have pursued a career in medicine if I had been shown life development in humans. Certainly, the Olivia video represents legitimate science. I encourage you to consider the benefits of including human development in the curriculum. Consideration of adding the Olivia video to curriculum is a good idea. Not everything needs to be made into politics.
Mitch and Dawn, always love listening to your podcast on local topics. You both are spot on Regarding: Storm Water review, not what citizens were looking for. Joing COB &MCG meeting and "affordable housing/rent" desperately needed for local Manatee County EMS staff as well as LEO and Healthcare professionals. Finally the "fly over", I have submitted many monkey surveys to FDOT on the US 41 relief bridge for traffic. We all love to live,work and play in Manatee County, but you can't get from here to there in a timely manner. Keep up the excellent local reporting.
So who do the Lawyers sue in the future when it is proven that persons' exposed to this radiation develop cancer? I am sure the politicians and the phosphate industry will have some form of protection against law suits.
Well said and pretty much what I have been saying to all three of our elected officials for the past month. I have yet to receive any feedback from Vern Buchanan (even when I indicate I would like a reply).
If these "leaders" are afraid of Trump - please - let's get new leaders.
New College's finances are so bad and their cost per student so high that the governor is now trying to merge stronger state universities (FSU's Ringling Museum and USF-SM) into New College to support New College. Merging the other direction would make more sense.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rejected selling SRQ airport land to New College in April 2024, then rejected their appeal. This month the FAA put restrictions on any New College development on the airport land. This is another reason for the mergers-New College covets their adjacent neighbors land.
Mitch, agree with your comments and input. I have stated several times to FDOT thru different surveys a fly over, like Tampa's crosstown is the only logical option. Not only will this assist in the downtown area of Bradenton and Palmetto with bottle necks/grid lock. It will assist Manatee County EMS (ambulances) and all other 1st responder agencies get thru that congestion area's in emergency situations. Currently ambulances are having extended response times and critical patients are having delays to the arrival of Emergency Departments.
Hoping FDOT listens to local leaders and the citizens to improve the area that we live, work and play in, and attempt to drive thru.
Mr. Barfield, thank you for your detailed reporting and sharing the facts. My wife and I purchased our first home in 1987 in South county. I stood in front of the BOCC in 1988 when a small 61 home community called Centre Lake had a flooding event. In 1992 Centre Lake had a large event where the residents needed to be evacuated by then Oneco-Tallevast FD. These too were classified as 100 year flooding events. After this event Charlie Hunsicker and Sia Mollazar met with Centre Lake homeowners with some opportunities to fix the issues. Some of those recommendations did occur. Like a flapper gate on the centre lake drain, cleaning the Pearce canal and surrounding ditches. Around the same time in 1991 ordinance 91.25 was created which had some actionable plans to reduce flooding. It also shared certain preventable actions that we didn't have then, and still don't today. My family moved out East and Centre Lake continued to have flooding with the more recent events of 2017, and 2024. We maintain friendship with many residents that reside at Centre Lake and they continue to look for help. With the last large event of August 2024, we too had flooding that we never had in 26 years living off Rye Rd. Again, classified as 100 year flooding events. I am hoping the board takes action, listening to staff (especially Tom Gesterberg), the citizens out cries for help and have some storm water plans including maintenance as indicated in the ordinance from 91.
Finally, within the outside review that was presented on September 19th of the events in August, it was stated "the Dam functioned as intended, by a controlled release." Most of the citizens, are aware that the spillways did not have a controll release, but some other factors that created the additional water to be released creating a large issue of flood waters in areas that never ever have had that. The lack of storm maintenance for decades and this release created the issues for homeowners. Our BOCC needs to take action on all the points made from staff, the citizens as we can't continue to have 100 year floods every five years or at least six events in my 40 years of living in Manatee. Thank you
Phosphate mining has a huge detrimental impact on the environment and our water supplies. Duh! Palmetto Point, and the risk to the Peace River as a fresh water supply!
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