Bradenton Beach News

The Bradenton Beach commission met Friday morning to seal the fate of Rotten Ralph's, a restaurant on the city-owned Bradenton Beach City Pier.

A 30-day extension to resolve an outstanding debt to the city of Bradenton Beach by Rotten Ralph's concessionaire Dave Russell to keep the restaurant open was not successful.

According to the probable cause affidavit, Brandon Lee Rivera met the victim at a friend's house in Bradenton Beach April 13 and began to engage her in a sexual conversation.

A 26-year-old Sarasota man was arrested May 6 for felony domestic battery by strangulation, felony tampering with a witness and misdemeanor criminal mischief.

The Bridge Street Night Market is going to be held every Saturday evening in June and July on Historic Bridge Street in Bradenton Beach.

"It was pretty basic. She said 'I love animals!' They were her friends," says Marilyn Howard, the executive director with the Manatee County Foundation.

March 2013 marked the 23rd month of the past 24 that resort tax collections by the Manatee County Tax Collector's Office exceeded the same month's collections the previous year.

Bradenton Beach city attorney Ricinda Perry presented at the May 2 city commission meeting an offer to dismiss the lawsuit from Holmes Beach city attorney Patricia Petruff.

Cortez resident Newell Freeman, left, talks about the Cortez Bridge with the DOT's Brian Williams at the April 29 meeting on the bridge, held at the Kirkwood Presbyterian Church, 6101 Cortez Rd.

People dine outdoors at the Bradenton Beach Historic Bridge Street Pier's Rotten Ralph's Restaurant.

Anna Maria Island is in line to receive $3 million in state dollars for beach restoration, since the shoreline was damaged in Tropical Storm Debby.

Signs warning swimmers of the dangerous current at Longboat Pass are scattered throughout the area.

Anna Maria Island Chamber of Commerce administrator Terri Kinder, right, makes a call in search of accommodations for the Schull party of six, who arrived from Germany without accommodations.

Kaci Patsios, left, and Tami Funkhauser of the Bridge Street Bazaar, 117 Bridge St., Bradenton Beach, were busy the past three months.

A public meeting will take place from 4 to 7 p.m. tomorrow at Kirkwood Presbyterian Church, 6101 Cortez Road, Bradenton, to gather public feedback about the future of Cortez Bridge as part of a Project Development and Environment study.

Could Florida's best beach bar be right here in Bradenton? Several area establishments are in the running for this year's "Best Florida Beach Bar" crown, as chosen by readers of floridabeachbar.com . Voting in the online contest runs through April 30.

Only birds occupy and fish from one of three storm-damaged erosion-control groins along Cortez Beach.

Bradenton Beach pier concessionaire Dave Russell of Rotten Ralph's restaurant learned April 18 that the city granted a 30-day extension for him to resolve his back rent.

The Florida Department of Transportation will hold a public hearing in Bradenton April 30 seeking input on the future of the Cortez Bridge spanning Sarasota Bay and linking Bradenton Beach to Cortez on the mainland.