HRT - Hormone Replacement Therapy in Sarasota, FL

Dr. Brennan Asplen was hired in 2020 to heal a district still reeling from the sexual harassment scandal involving former superintendent Todd Bowden.

SARASOTA COUNTY, Fla. — Sarasota County Schools is in the midst of yet another disruption involving the superintendent in three years.

Sarasota County Schools Superintendent Brennan Asplen announced on Monday that he has agreed to step away from the school district. This comes after he was negotiating with the Sarasota School Board to resign from his position.

Asplen was hired in July 2020, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, when he was expected to lead the district through the uncertainty of the health crisis and also heal morale after a sexual harassment scandal led to the previous superintendent's departure.

In 2019, Todd Bowden was removed from his position as superintendent following an independent investigation that revealed Bowden's role in the handling of sexual harassment claims against former assistant superintendent Jeff Maultsby.

Maultsby was fired at the time but the school board still had to decide what should happen to Bowden. Ultimately, they reached a separation agreement and severance package with Bowden.

Bridget Ziegler is the only remaining school board member who was also on the board during the 2019 scandal.

At the time Ziegler said, "If there was any integrity there, he would recognize that and he would resign allowing the board to focus on what that next path is to restore confidence and have better leadership at the district."

Asplen was supposed to be the answer to restoring that confidence.

"It was just a disaster, and I think all of us wanted a period of calm after that," said Barry Dubin, Executive Director with the Sarasota Classified Teachers Association.

Dubin said teachers were pleased with the job Asplen had done and found him to be fair and honest through the pandemic and, recently, Hurricane Ian.

"He had done a remarkably good job of healing the rift with the staff, there’s no question about that. That’s why the staff is so upset," Dubin said.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect Bowden resigned and separated himself from the school district before he could be fired.

The season of giving back is in the air.

Florida Power and Light Company has celebrated this annual holiday tradition of giving back to local heroes for 15 consecutive years. With the help of the Denis V. Cooper Foundation, a Sarasota veteran and his family received a holiday surprise to remember.

Carlos Moreira spent more than 15 years on active duty in the U.S. Marine Corps plus three years as a reservist before enrolling at University of South Florida. Since retiring from military service, Carlos has continued to give back as a veteran services administrator at USF’s Military and Veterans' Success Center.

“I was a student at USF and Carlos helped me out a lot with G.I. Bill and the benefits. My dad was in the military and I’m a dependent. I met Carlos through the USF Veterans Success Center. He got me a job as a work study,” said USF alumna Madison McMahon. "He's involved in everything. He is a great person to have on your side."

With the help of Carlos’ wife, Rayne Moreira,the Denis V. Cooper Foundation and Florida Power and Light was able to show how appreciative they are of Carlos and his heart of helping veterans, the nation and the community.

”FPL reached out to us and asked us to nominate a vet. I asked some people. We work with veteran organizations all throughout Sarasota and Manatee counties. I knew Carlos, but I didn’t think about it, however, he was mentioned by other people. So, we nominated Carlos to FPL, then FPL reached out to his wife, who kept it a secret and worked with her to make sure he wasn’t home so we could do this,” said Maverick Johnson, founder of the Denis V. Cooper Foundation.

FPL and USF volunteer “elves” started going to work converting his front yard into a winter wonderland.

After two hours of dedicated light decorating, The “elves” waited for Carlos, Rayne and two children Carlos Jr. and Miguel Moreira to arrive home.

When the Moreira family arrived, Carlos was in disbelief. He jumped out of his vehicle with a big smile as his coworkers and FPL volunteers cheered ‘woohoo' and 'Carlos, Carlos, Carlos.'

The FPL and USF "elves" gifted Carlos Jr. and Miguel toys right after the grand arrival.

"I'm shocked even though I was in on the surprise," said Rayne Moreira

"When I saw that all my security cameras were off, I was like, 'what's going on?' said Carlos Moreira as he lifted his eyebrow toward his wife. "At the end of the day, it's about helping people. The more you help people the more you help your community without thinking about it."

With a smile, Carlos says that now he doesn't have to do the decorating.

Dariela is the Sarasota community reporter for the Observer. After graduating from Florida State University with degrees in English and education, she’s been a writer and an editor for publications in Tallahassee and Sarasota. In her free time she gives violin lessons.

Next time you’re on St. Armands Circle, trade your ice cream cone for a box of freshly made pasta—designed for maximum walkability and carb-loading. At the new pasta to-go concept DalMoros, you can watch fresh pasta being made in the window while waiting for your food to be prepared.

With pasta options like fusilli, rigatoni, fettuccine and bigoli (a fat, spaghetti-like pasta) and sauces like Bolognese, pesto and amatriciana (tomatoes, pancetta and onion), there’s something for anyone who likes a heaping helping of hot, steamy noods.

DalMoros was started in Venice, Italy, by Gabriele Dal Moro. The Caruso family, who originally hail from Dallas, PA, but now reside on Lido Key, brought the franchise to the United States and chose St. Armands for its third location, which opened last Wednesday.

Brothers David and Chandler Caruso run the spot on the circle, minutes away from their home.

After receiving a blessing from the parking gods, I find a spot on the circle near the restaurant, which is located across from Kilwins. A giant pasta extruder looms in the front window surrounded by large containers of raw, fresh pasta. My skepticism begins to evaporate at the sight of those noodles.

I meet Chandler Caruso at the register and ask for his recommendations. He tells me he loves the cacio e pepe, which means “cheese and pepper” in Italian. He also steers me toward the amatriciana, but I make that at home so often that sampling here won’t feel like a treat. Instead, I opt for rigatoni with pesto and sundried tomatoes, and bigoli with the recommended cacio e pepe.

Because the pasta is as fresh as can be, the meal is ready in under five minutes. Two paper containers filled with steaming pasta arrive in a flash. Color me surprised when they taste fantastic. I can taste the nuts in the pesto, highlighted by bursts of garlic. And the thick bigoli noodles stand up to the rich, pecorino Romano-laden cacio e pepe.

I munch on my pasta while Chandler regales me with stories about visiting Sarasota in his youth. He asks if I’d like to see the pasta extruder at work, and I watch as he fidgets with the machine, finally getting the mixture just right so fresh fettuccine can cascade out of it. I am captivated.

I’m not the only one. A French couple walks in to place an order. They take their boxes on a stroll, only to return minutes later to congratulate Chandler on a job well done. I can’t help but agree.

DalMoros is open 11 a.m.-9 p.m. from Sunday-Thursday and 11 a.m.-10 p.m. on Friday-Saturday at 309 John Ringling Blvd. For more information call (941) 217-4386 or visit its website.

The familiar stench of dead fish is back in the air in parts of Sarasota County as a red-tide bloom that has plagued Southwest Florida since Hurricane Ian continues to worsen, and fish and other sea life are beginning to wash ashore.

The massive red tide bloom first took hold off the shores of Sarasota County in the weeks following Hurricane Ian in the same communities also most impacted by the Category 4 storm.

Dead fish have dotted the scattered shorelines of waterfront parks, beaches and boat ramps throughout the region.

On Thursday, winds had blown recently deceased fish to Ken Thompson Park and beaches like Lido. City of Sarasota officials said they are monitoring the site, along with many other areas throughout the city, for potential cleanup operations — although the amount of dead fish has not yet met the required threshold to do so.

"There's a snowstorm at home, so I am enjoying the beach anyway," said Jayme Bradshaw, 54, a Michigan resident visiting family for the holidays. "I've just been here a few days. I'm enjoying the beach for sure, staying away from the dead fish, and rinsing off in the shower. "

This week, bloom levels of red tide were found in samples from south Manatee, Sarasota, Lee, and Collier counties, according to a mid-week update by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission issued on Wednesday.

The state agency also reported low concentrations of red tide in Pinellas and Charlotte counties over the past week, but those concentrations remain below bloom level.

According to reports by the Mote Marine Laboratory, dead fish and murky brown water were spotted on Longboat Key and Sarasota County beaches, including Lido and Siesta Key.

Detailed and up-to-date beach reports by Mote Marine ambassadors can be found at visitbeaches.org.

Manatee County spokesman Bill Logan said staff removed about a dozen small fish from the Coquina Beach boat ramp and the Longboat Pass shore on Wednesday morning, but reported no signs of dead fish in the water.

He said county lifeguards have identified "an odor" but that there have been no complaints of respiratory irritation often caused by red tide. He said staff rakes beaches daily and has staged cleanup equipment in preparation should conditions in Manatee worsen.

Few topics raise more interest at Sarasota City Hall like a discussion about changes in zoning on St. Armands Circle.

At its Nov. 21 meeting, the Sarasota City Commission heard a request by the St. Armands Business Improvement District to direct staff to study possible changes to the Commercial Tourist Zoning District with the intent to “promote mixed use development in the area, improve upon the existing functionality and aesthetics of the circle, and lay out framework for future development.”

Under consideration was a request to begin a new process that would have required additional community workshops and public hearings. Still, more than a dozen people spoke out against the BID’s request primarily because changes sought include raising the maximum building height from 35 feet to 45 feet above the FEMA design flood elevation, a review of additional density and the addition of hotel as a conditional use.

Opponents saw that as an opportunity for commercial property owners on the circle to go vertical with their buildings, add short-term rental housing above retail.

Traffic in and around the circle was the main objection.

St. Armands BID Chairman Tom Leonard told commissioners the primary objective is to allow owners of the century-old buildings to bring them up to contemporary standards, if they were so inclined.

“I've reached out to every property owner on the circle and the majority of those operators feel that St. Armands needs more flexibility to allow it to maximize its potential,” said Leonard, who owns Shore restaurant there. Many buildings, he said, have eight-foot ceilings and non-conforming parking, which limit their owners’ ability to renovate.

“Our hands are tied out there,” he said. “We’re not asking you to vote on this to approve it. We're just asking you to vote on it so we can go through the public scrutiny process.”

This isn’t the first time the BID has attempted to affect zoning changes on the circle. In 2008, it commissioned a study that resulted in an expressed need for a hotel and grocery store on the key.

“Not 10 grocery stores, not 10 hotels, one of each,” said Chris Golia, president of the St. Armands Residents Association. “But the matter before you today would allow every single commercial building on St. Armands to have hotel rooms if the owners wanted to do that, so we're very concerned about that.”

Golia cited community workshops in August 2021 and January 2022, during which an overwhelming majority of participants objected to the proposals being brought by the BID.

Prior to the City Commission meeting, the St. Armands Residents Association reported a recent survey with nearly half of the residents responding resulted in 90% opposing a commercial building height increase and 87% objecting to a zoning text change that would allow boutique hotel usage and the potential for Airbnb’s.

“To anybody who says all you're doing is opening it up to public scrutiny, it’s already been done,” Golia said.

Carl Shoffstall, a Lido Key resident, neighborhood association president and candidate for City Commission this year, objected to the BID bringing the matter to the city.

“It has nothing to do with I got mine and nobody else should get theirs,” Shoffstall said. “We don't need hotels. There is a hotel approved already. I really have a serious issue with the people who are pushing this forward. We vetted this for over a year-and-a-half and it was resoundingly voted down, and here we are back at picking at the scab.”

“We're not trying to build towers out there,” Leonard said. “What we're trying to do is bring St. Armands up to a developmental standard that makes it current with other cities like Naples, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Tampa and St. Petersburg.”

Leonard and Julie Ryan, the BID’s city-appointed business manager, told commissioners that the BID itself is up for renewal in 2023, and progress toward a zoning change may help ensure property owners there approve. As a special tax district, the city returns the additional ad valorem revenue for BID use to enhance business on the circle.

Erik Arroyo, supported by his fellow commissioners, told Leonard that on the heels of the approved comprehensive plan amendments and the myriad zoning amendments to enhance affordable housing efforts that will follow, staff is already overburdened to take on a zoning study.

City Manager Marlon Brown asked Planning Director Steve Cover to articulate the staff’s workload, and when it might be able to fit the BID’s request on its schedule.

“We do have a very heavy year ahead of us with the zoning text amendments related to downtown, which we're going to be jumping on early next year,” Cover said.

Could it be done in 2023, Brown asked?

“To really fit comfortably, make it 2024,” Cover said.

Rather than tackling a year-plus-long process to review a wholesale text amendment change, Arroyo suggested property owners should bring proposals for specific projects individually rather than wholesale under the cover of the BID.

Commissioner Jen Ahearn-Koch agreed.

“When I read this, it's to authorize city staff to prepare a zoning text amendment, which is a big ask of staff, and then it very specifically says review additional density in the comp plan,” Ahearn-Koch said. “I see this as a wide open door. It's not targeted. It's not specific. We've not had a plethora of people coming down asking for any of this. To Commissioner Arroyo’s point, we have a lot going on, and to put this out there without it being targeted, I think we're asking for problems.”

City Attorney Robert Fournier settled the matter among commissioners’ minds with a timely legal interpretation of the BID’s request.

Specifically, it isn’t specific enough.

"If the BID has amendments that they want to request, they ought to be able to articulate them or to specify what they are. I don't think they've done that,” Fournier said. “The BID says the changes are necessary, and the residents say they aren’t. I think it's unwise to authorize a zoning text amendment unless you know exactly what the proposed amendment is, and I think this is a little too open ended for that.”

Andrew Warfield is the Sarasota Observer city reporter. He is a four-decade veteran of print media. A Florida native, he has spent most of his career in the Carolinas as a writer and editor, nearly a decade as co-founder and editor of a community newspaper in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.