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CORTEZ – In a display of resilience following recent back-to-back hurricanes, both Cortez fish houses are moving forward with the seasonal stone crab harvest. Stone crab harvesting season runs from Oct. 15 through May 1. “One boat went out today,” Karen Bell, owner of A.P. Bell Fish Co., responded...

CORTEZ – A distribution center of donated food and supplies has been set up in Cortez in front of the Star Fish Co. According to Star Fish employees Dana and Nicole, supplies will continue to be distributed at least until Friday, and possibly longer. The two women helped...

CORTEZ – Multiple crews from Hydro One, an Ontario Canada-based electricity transmission and distribution service provider, navigated their way through debris-filled streets in Sunny Shores to restore electrical infrastructure damaged by the recent hurricanes. Working as part of Florida Power and Light’s Emergency Response Team the crews installed...

CORTEZ – The 12th annual Cortez Stone Crab & Music Festival is canceled this year due to the impacts of recent hurricanes. The festival was scheduled for Nov. 9 and 10. It's a Cortez tradition that celebrates the start of the stone crab harvest season. It typically draws...

ANNA MARIA – Sunday morning, Mayor Dan Murphy renewed for seven additional days two previously issued hurricane-related emergency orders. Monday morning, he discontinued the nightly curfew and the re-entry checkpoint at the entrance to the city. The Holmes Beach nightly re-entry checkpoint remains in place on Manatee Avenue. Emergency...

PALMETTO - With gasoline shortages at local stations following Hurricane Milton, welcome news came from SeaPort Manatee as the port resumed fuel distributions to southwest and central Florida on Sunday, Oct. 13. “Thanks to cooperative efforts between Manatee County, state and federal authorities and industry partners, fuel distribution...

CORTEZ – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis made a stop in Cortez shortly after noon on Friday, Oct. 11, and got a firsthand look at the damage to the fishing village following Hurricanes Helene and Milton. DeSantis, FEMA Executive Director Kevin Guthrie, members of the Florida National Guard, and...

       

CORTEZ — Hurricane Milton is expected to bring high winds and a storm surge to the area late Wednesday night, and time was running short on Tuesday to remove household debris left out following Hurricane Helene. On Monday, a Manatee County clean-up crew was in Cortez using a...

Hurricane Helene was the second deadliest storm in 55 years, Katrina being the first. Did we expect it? I didn’t, and I think most Florida coastal residents did not fully understand the danger of such a large storm and the biblical storm surge it brought. There are so...