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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
The Florida School Recognition Program was supposed to be the gem in Gov. Jeb Bush’s plan to bring accountability to Florida’s troubled schools. By assigning grades to every school, then doling out money to those that scored an A or showed improvement, Bush planned to use cash as leverage to coax the best performance out… Continue reading Schooled in Excess
Matthew Doig 