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Ritz-Carlton co-developer Kevin Daves saw Vern Buchanan as the answer to his financial problems in July 1999. Daves, in search of what he called a ”$15 million man,” believed Buchanan was wealthy enough to secure a $94 million bank loan to finance the luxury hotel project Daves had been working on for years. Daves said… Continue reading Vern Buchanan’s failed Ritz deal
Six days before Christmas in 1959, a killer wiped out a local family of four, staining their living room floor with blood. The crime -- one of the most horrific in Sarasota County history -- shocked a community unaccustomed to such wanton violence. Suspicion and fear spread from neighbor to neighbor as people wondered if… Continue reading The Walker Murders
Nothing seemed unusual about Murray Cohen. Except that he was dead. His doctor would later say Cohen had been lucky to live as long as he did. He was 71 years old, and it appeared obvious that 60 extra pounds and a diseased heart had finally done him in. So when investigators arrived at his… Continue reading A father’s death, a son’s obsession
Florida election officials said Saturday they will scrap the list they were using to purge felons off the state’s voter rolls, admitting that the list has too many flaws to proceed. The decision followed a report Wednesday in the Herald-Tribune that a flaw in the way state officials created the list might allow thousands of… Continue reading State scraps felon voter list
Public officials, ignorant of the law or paralyzed by suspicion, regularly thwart citizens exercising their constitutional right to inspect public records, a statewide audit has found. While journalists and attorneys enjoy the benefits of Florida’s open government laws, the same rights are not always granted to Florida’s other residents. During a week in January, the… Continue reading Access Denied
Matthew Doig 