Samoset News

Free Thanksgiving meals will be served at four Bradenton locations today: n Harvest Chapel, 1300 17th Ave.

Published: Monday, September 21, 2009 at 1:00 a.m. Last Modified: Sunday, September 20, 2009 at 10:43 p.m. Hit hard by layoffs and paycuts, more Florida families than ever are turning to federal aid to feed their children at school.

Even though it was still spattering rain Sunday, people flooded over a long, gray weekend began to haul out waterlogged carpets.

With heart-felt words, a symbolic release of 40 white doves, patriotic songs, and firefighters, police officers and soldiers standing shoulder-to-shoulder, Manatee County on Friday morning paid tribute to the heroes and victims of the terrorist attacks of Sept.

While researching for this article, I discovered there are very few photographs in the Manatee County Central Library archives of Samoset.

The Manatee County school district is rightly thrilled about the improvements in student performance in the state's recently released 2009 school grades.

When the state of Florida released school grades Thursday, fully half of Manatee schools had earned A's. Notable were Samoset and Tara elementary schools, which last year were C schools and this year are A schools.

Did you know that older, established neighborhoods have an advocate in Manatee County government? There's an entire department devoted to helping residents with neighborhood planning and development, nuisance abatement, code enforcement, public safety and other issues.

Tim McGonegal, superintendent of Manatee schools, predicts that the district is on its way to becoming an "A" district.

When it comes to the staff at Samoset Elementary in Manatee County, almost everyone is a reading teacher.

One Manatee County public high school - Lakewood Ranch - received an 'A' for the 2008-09 school year, according to ratings released today from the Florida Department of Education.

When Scott Boyes became principal of Samoset Elementary School six years ago, he noticed the playground at the community center was locked.

A convenience store manager was flown to Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg Saturday night after he was shot in the chest during a robbery.

Thomas F. Hennessy joined the ranks of the Oneco-Tallevast Volunteer Fire Department in 1980, and a year later became only its fifth paid member.

More of Manatee County's fourth-graders made the grade in the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test writing exam this year, but the same can't be said of 10th graders.

Published: Friday, May 1, 2009 at 1:00 a.m. Last Modified: Thursday, April 30, 2009 at 9:48 p.m. Fourth-graders in Manatee and Sarasota counties made big gains in writing on this year's FCAT, fueled by huge improvements among the area's poorest students.

Four young adults who deputies stopped from burglarizing a woman's home Wednesday spurred a pursuit that put a school in lockdown and involved multiple deputies, police dogs and a helicopter.