Michael Braga
The News Leader
Florida, United States
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Past articles by Michael:
With stimulus stalled, shortfalls in tax revenues leave states facing layoffs, service cuts
Covid crisis and dropping oil prices have impacted state tax collections. Declining revenues may force layoffs cuts or tax increase in the year ahead. → Read More
Florida took thousands of kids from families, then failed to keep them safe.
Florida removed kids from their families by the thousands after 2014. But they weren’t always able to find safe places to put them. → Read More
Two girls, mother sue over alleged sexual abuse
Children had been placed in foster home with man who committed suicide during his sexual abuse trial → Read More
Firm representing Garth Brooks buys Holmes Beach resort
Railroad subsidiary sells private getaway for more than $8.8 million → Read More
‘At the end of the day, it’s the judge’s responsibility’
The judges were right about one thing.They are not the only ones to blame for the racial disparities in sentencing that plague Florida’s courts. → Read More
Sharp contrast stands out in public defenders Carey Haughwout and Diamond Litty
Diamond Litty and Carey Haughwout were elected to represent criminal defendants too poor to hire a private attorney in neighboring Martin and Palm Beach → Read More
Florida spends millions making the mentally ill competent to stand trial in court and gets nothing for it
Patients get little therapy, just drills to teach them how a courtroom works → Read More
In the end, it wasn’t Anthony Barsotti’s demons that killed him
GAINESVILLE — Anthony Barsotti looks on the verge of death. His skin is ashen, his face gaunt. His mouth gapes as he stares at the ceiling, sporadically sucking in breaths. Three hours earlier, Anthony was a physically healthy 23-year-old living in the state’s care at a Gainesville mental hospital. → Read More
In the end, it wasn’t Anthony Barsotti’s demons that killed him
GAINESVILLE — Anthony Barsotti looks on the verge of death. His skin is ashen, his face gaunt. His mouth gapes as he stares at the ceiling, sporadically sucking in breaths. → Read More
How Florida’s state-run mental hospitals keep deadly mistakes hidden
The state has built a wall of secrecy around its mental hospitals. → Read More
How $100 million in cuts created chaos in Florida's mental hospitals
Read the Tampa Bay Times/Sarasota Herald-Tribune investigation → Read More
DATA MINE: Bear hunting in Florida
Reader comments posted to this article may be published in our print edition. All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged. → Read More
Downtown Sarasota Condo Market- Apr 2015
The following market analysis comes from Coldwell Banker agent Scott Norris: The best place to start this story is at the “New Listings” line in the graphi → Read More
Manatee lending settles down in April after monster month in March
Mortgage lenders operating in Manatee County originated 1,179 loans for $355 million in April. While the totals was nowhere near the record 2,015 loans for → Read More
Manasota Key house changes hands for $1.125 million
William F. Swift sold a 1,870-square-foot house at 6040 Manasota Key Road in Englewood to Shady Lakes Camp Ground LLC for $1.125 million. Swift had owned the house since 1984. It was built in 1965. Shady Lakes Camp Ground is a New Port Richey company managed by Michael and Judy Marxen. → Read More
14 Manatee commercial properties break $1 million in April
Hemisphere Lakewood Ranch LLC, a Buffalo-based company headed by Julius Baldassari, bought two Imagine Schools buildings - measuring 33,000 square-feet –from the master developer of Lakewood Ranch for $6.666 million. Hemisphere intends to keep leasing the two buildings to the charter school, which opened since 2009. Hemisphere is a subsidiary of Hemisphere Communications, which provides Western… → Read More
House on Siesta Drive sells for one third its boomtime value
Sweet Hammock Properties LLC, a St. Petersburg company managed by Mindaugas Rimkevicius, bought a 2,012-square-foot house at 1521 Siesta Drive in Sarasota → Read More
New owner pays $800,000 for Siesta Key apartment building
MAB Enterprises LLC, a Sarasota company managed by James C. Whatmore, sold a 4-unit apartment building at 5231 Avenida Navarra in Siesta Key to David and Robin Brown for $800,000. Whatmore’s company paid $750,000 for the 2,007-square-foot building in January 2008. It was built in 1952. → Read More
Manatee County's top closing firms in April
Manatee's top closing firms ranked by dollar value of closings: CLOSING FIRM CLOSINGS DOLLAR VALUE BARNES WALKER 130 27,133,286 FIRST AMERICAN TI → Read More
Ringling College picks up an adjacent lot
An Atlanta company managed by Anisa Telwar sold a vacant lot at 3014 West Place in Sarasota to the Ringling College of Art and Design for $45,000. Telwar p → Read More