SARASOTA, Fla. (Tampa Bay Now) – Sarasota City Commissioners are discussing a new smoking ban at beaches and public parks. Tuesday morning commissioners had a meeting about ban enforcement and possible designated smoking areas. “I think it’s awful that people do that it’s the same thing with cars. You see them throwing butts out the window all the time. It drives me crazy,” said resident, Joe Slowey. A new smoking ban for cigarettes and tobacco could be coming to Sarasota beaches and parks. “I think people need to be held accountable for themselves and make sure they are cleaning up their ciga ..read more

PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. (Tampa Bay Now) – Local environmental groups will be spending hours out at the beach, cleaning up trash following labor day weekend. “It’s Monday, the sanitation trucks are not picking up so the trash cans are going to be pretty full. We need to get out there and remind people to pick up their trash,” said Carrie Auerbach with Treasure Island Adopt A Beach. Auerbach ays this week her organization will be going out to the sand every day to pick up trash. “We have early reports that this is one of the busiest weekends we’ve had so far this year so there’s going to be a lot ..read more

WASHINGTON, Dc. (CNN) — If it weren’t for her student loan debt, Lark Abelson would already be retired. The 63-year-old took out $5,000 in loans more than 20 years ago to get an associate degree in computer technology from Wor-Wic Community College in Maryland to try to make a better life for herself and her younger daughter. But she wasn’t able to find work in the field and remained in low-paying retail jobs that prevented her from paying back the debt. After enrolling in income-driven repayment plans several times, she went into default a few years ago. Abelson, who lives outside of Ocean Ci ..read more

LONDON. (CNN) — A star-studded line-up, including Paul McCartney and Liam Gallagher, joined the Foo Fighters for an emotional tribute to the band’s drummer Taylor Hawkins at a concert in London on Saturday night. Hawkins, 50, died in March in Bogotá, Colombia, hours before the Foo Fighters were set to take the stage at the Festival Estereo Picnic. The band immediately canceled its remaining tour dates. Saturday’s concert was the first time the band had performed together since Hawkins’ death. According to the UK’s PA Media news agency, a tearful Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl told ..read more

SARASOTA, Fla. – The Sarasota Police Department have arrested a Bradenton man and is facing multiple felony charges following a traffic stop on Monday, August 29. Lashay D. Smith, 32, of Bradenton was arrested after a traffic stop. According to officials, just before 5 p.m., Sarasota Police officers stopped a vehicle in the 1900 block of Orange Avenue, Sarasota, for illegal tint.  When officers searched the vehicle and Smith, they found illegal narcotics and paraphernalia including: 45.9 grams of Fentanyl 14 grams of Hydromorphone 40.1 grams of Cocaine 33.8 grams of Marijuana 4.5 grams ..read more

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. – The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office has arrested a man on multiple charges after a young child found a firearm and was shot accidentally on September 1. According to officials, at 8:10 a.m., the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call that a 5-year-old child accidentally shot themselves. Simultaneously, Aston Simmons, 28, drove the child to St. Joseph’s Hospital. When detectives arrived at the home on the 6000 block of Sunsail Place, in Apollo Beach, they smelled a strong odor of marijuana. No firearm or casing could be observed ..read more

MERRITT ISLAND, Fla. (CNN) — NASA will not pursue a launch of Artemis I for the remainder of the launch period, which ends on Tuesday, according to an update from the agency after a second scrubbed launch attempt Saturday. Future launch periods, including those in September and October, depend on what the team decides early next week, but this results in a minimum of delays consisting of at least several weeks. “We will not be launching in this launch period,” said Jim Free, associate administrator for NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate. “We are not where we wanted to b ..read more

TAMPA, Fla. (Tampa Bay Now) – Three US citizens are safely back to American soil after being trapped in Afghanistan for the last year. A local organization called Project Dynamo brought them back to American soil on Tuesday after an intense rescue plan. “If you’re an American, it’s not like a crime, it is a crime,” said Bryan Stern with Project Dynamo. Stern spends his time helping people escape from the Middle-East. “If you’re in Afghan and you’re caught with a picture of an American soldier on you, you’re usually arrested, often tortured and sometimes killed,” said Stern. And most recently ..read more

EAST TAMPA, Fla. (Tampa Bay Now) – Residents in East Tampa could soon see some home improvements at no cost! The East Tampa Community Redevelopment Area is starting a program that would allow people to apply for their roofs to get repaired. The East Tampa CRA says $1.7 million is available to repair roofs and residents say this kind of help can be life changing. “I have my daughter, my grandkids and my great grandkids who live here. And we do the best we can, but I would appreciate it if I could get that roof,” said resident, Bessie Murphy. Murphy has lived in her home in East Tampa for almost ..read more

PALM BEACH, Fla. (CNN) — US District Judge Aileen Cannon on Friday released a detailed inventory from the Mar-a-Lago search that the Justice Department previously filed under seal in court. The search inventory released showed that classified documents had been mixed in with personal items and other materials in the boxes in which they were stored. Federal investigators also retrieved more than 11,000 non-classified government documents from former President Donald Trump’s Florida home and resort. RELATED: William Barr, on Fox, says there’s no legitimate reason for classified docs to be a ..read more