R esponding to well-founded concerns about water degradation a decade ago, cities and counties along Florida’s coasts began taking steps to curb one offender: chemical fertilizer runoff. Special fertilizer ordinances now have been enacted throughout Southwest Florida, from Marco Island … Find out how to read more online.

What is the best measurement of success for our country? One measurement, highly touted by politicians of both parties, is how fast our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is growing. You hear both Republicans and Democrats say, “Elect us, and we … Find out how to read more online.

Find out how to read more online.

It is that time now, I reckon. I really thought long and hard on what I would write in my final column as publisher of the Venice Gondolier Sun and to tell you the truth, as I type this column … Find out how to read more online.

Editor’s Note: The number for the Let ’em Have It Line is once again 941-207-1111. Jetty Needs Rail. This is in response to the tragedy at the South Jetty. People, regardless of where the funding comes from, have spent millions … Find out how to read more online.

We note with relief the recent passing of one of the more obnoxious laws passed by the Florida Legislature in the past decade. RIP, “Docs vs. Glocks.” That was the moniker attached to the 2011 law that sought to forbid … Find out how to read more online.

Find out how to read more online.

In the movie “Field of Dreams,” a voice tells Iowa farmer Ray Kinsella that if he builds it, they will come. Regarding the sharing of Venice’s unique heritage, it would seem the opposite has occurred. The increasing demand of residents … Find out how to read more online.

Siesta Beach has famously cool, bright-white sand. It is wide and flat, shaped in a crescent, with generally calm, clear water. Great for swimming, great for hanging out. A top beach. In fact, named the Number One Top Beach in … Find out how to read more online.

There is no doubt we are seeing a debt bubble similar to the stock margin craze in the 1920s before the Great Depression and the subprime home mortgage crisis prior to the Great Recession of 2008. Last week, we noted … Find out how to read more online.

Find out how to read more online.

Venice, Florida, I am sure going to miss you. What Venice means to me has been on my mind an awful lot now that my days in paradise are numbered. Today, it feels as if I took every day for … Find out how to read more online.

Editor’s Note: The number for the Let ’em Have It Line is once again 941-207-1111. News. News gone wild. I am reminded of what an iconic Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper columnist once said, “Media, the plural of mediocrity.” More than ever, … Find out how to read more online.

N ews flash for anyone frightened away from the notorious “Circle of Hell” at Jacaranda Boulevard and Venice Avenue for the past six years: The Jacaranda roundabout is OK. It took a lot of redesign and resigning — more than … Find out how to read more online.

Find out how to read more online.

Editor’s Note: The number for the Let ’em Have It Line is once again 941-207-1111. Free Speech Questions. Selective free speech: There should be no abridging the exercise of free speech; so sayeth the First Amendment. Would someone please teach … Find out how to read more online.

Before you reach into the medicine cabinet for that medication your doctor prescribed, please reach back in your mind to the time it didn’t exist, and those who needed it didn’t exist for long without, it either. I think back … Find out how to read more online.

Editor’s Note: While Venice may have two hospitals in the city in the next few years, our neighbor to the south, North Port, has been begging for a hospital for years. Now, the second-largest city (in terms of land mass) … Find out how to read more online.

Reader “NN” raised an interesting question in a prior column about our nation’s ballooning student debt. We might as well call millennials Generation Debt. What caused this student loan debt crisis? About 44 million Americans owe student debt — one out … Find out how to read more online.

Good morning. It feels like forever since I have sat down and completed a column. I have missed it, to be frank. I guess it’s going to be a little tougher as I make my way to the last one; … Find out how to read more online.