- Named Best Florida Newspaper In Its Class -
VOL 23 No. 28
March 8, 2023
Red tide lingers longer
BY LESLIE LAKE SUN CORRESPONDENT | llake@amisun.com
Saving daylight RUSTY CHINNIS | SUN
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan have introduced legislation that would make Daylight Saving Time permanent. But until it passes, don’t forget to set your clocks forward one hour on Sunday, March 12 at 2 a.m.
One proposed bill would pave way for parking garage at Manatee Beach... If the parking garage - with 1500-1700 spaces - is built at Manatee Beach, beachgoers would have to park elsewhere for two years, then pay meters.
ANNA MARIA ISLAND – Respiratory irritation and fish kills were reported in Manatee County last week due to red tide. Intense respiratory irritation was reported at Coquina Beach in Bradenton Beach and moderate respiratory irritation was reported at Manatee Beach in Holmes Beach, with fish kills present, according to visitbeaches.org, the Mote Marine Laboratory reporting system. According to the most recent Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) report last Friday, red tide levels were very low in water samples at Longboat Pass bridge in Bradenton Beach and the Rod and Reel Pier in Anna Maria, and low at the Palma Sola Bay bridge on the causeway, however, gusty winds arose that scattered the airborne toxin produced by red tide. Red tide produces a neurotoxin called brevetoxin that can cause respiratory irritation, coughing, and more serious illness for people with severe or SEE RED TIDE, PAGE 25
... while another threatens freedom of speech
BY KRISTIN SWAIN
The Florida Legislature is considering bills that would, in part, change defamation law to make it easier for elected officials and other public figures to sue news and social media producers.
SUN STAFF WRITER | kswain@amisun.com
BY CINDY LANE SUN STAFF WRITER | clane@amisun.com
HOLMES BEACH – A bill in the Florida House of Representatives would allow a three-story parking garage to cover the entire parking lot at the Manatee Countyowned Manatee Beach. If HB 947 passes both houses and is signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, Island visitors and residents could be facing at SEE PARKING, PAGE 19
CITY OF HOLMES BEACH | SUBMITTED
A rendering from the City of Holmes Beach shows an estimate of how much space the proposed parking garage could take up on Manatee Beach’s parking lot. Manatee County Commission Chair Kevin Van Ostenbridge describes the proposed garage as larger than this projection.
TALLAHASSEE – As the Florida legislative session opens this week, lawmakers have two companion bills to consider that critics say would remove longstanding constitutional and judicial protections of freedom of speech and of the press. If passed, Senate Bill 1220, “Defamation and Related Actions,” filed by
Jason Brodeur (R-Lake Mary), and House Bill 991, “Defamation, False Light, and Unauthorized Publication of Name or Likenesses,” filed by Alex Andrade (R-Pensacola), will not only have a chilling effect on free speech in traditional news media outlets, but on people who publish their views in social media, according to Bobby Block, executive director of the Tallahassee-based First Amendment Foundation. “HB 991 is officially called the Defamation, False Light, and Unauthorized Publication of Name or Likenesses Bill. But First Amendment activists like me who have read it call it the “Death to Public Discourse Bill,” SEE BILLS, PAGE 25
A LITTLE SHRIMP,
ST. PATRICK’S DAY parade
a bit of sausage and a pinch of inspiration. 24
comes early on AMI. 8
Page 27 Anna Maria Island, Florida
AMOB staff rescues 80-year-old
man who jumps off pier. 4 The Island’s award-winning weekly newspaper www.amisun.com