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Opinion

SW Florida Fishing: Fall fishing is here …

October 1, 2026
BY CAPT. WILL WATERHOUSE Summer weather patterns are slowly starting to break down and early fall cold fronts are starting to show. This means only one thing, fired up fish in the backcountry…

Letters: Meeting Michael Melton, candidate for Charlotte commission

October 1, 2026
To the Editor: Prior to the recent primary, most of the political attention in Charlotte County was focused on legacy candidates. I will admit that I did not know candidate Michael Melton well. I…

EcoWatch: A Coat of Many (Natural) Colors

October 1, 2026
“ We should pay more attention. We’re just mistreating Mother Nature–that’s like being ugly to your mama.”  Dolly Parton, 1/19/46–8/25/26, American singer, songwriter, actress, philanthropist and…

OPINION: Amendment 3 and consequences felt at local level

October 1, 2026
BY BOBBIE MARQUIS F lorida’s public libraries depend heavily on local revenue to remain open, staffed, stocked, connected and available to the public. Those dollars support library hours, book…

National Newspaper Week: Newspapers survived radio, TV, internet and social media

October 1, 2026
BY BENJY HAMM When the Declaration of Independence was signed 250 years ago, newspapers throughout the colonies shared the life-changing news with their readers.  With all of the enormous chan…

EDITORIAL: What is the price of a playground?

October 1, 2026
This week, the Beacon attended the celebration of the opening of the renovated G.C. Herring Park in Rotonda West. Details and photos are inside. It is a superb facility, and facilities for outing…

OPINION: Watching local government in Southwest Florida and the Suncoast

September 24, 2026
Editor’s Note: As newsrooms have closed across Florida, new organizations have grown. A report from Suncoast Searchlight, which has been breaking big stories in neighboring counties. BY EMILY LE…

EDITORIAL: Fall arrives in the quiet during beach cleanup 

September 24, 2026
Last weekend, the beaches were clean. No actual hurricanes depositing refrigerators, boats and back porches. The volunteers, all from off-island, signed up for duty for the Barrier Island Parks Soci…

EcoWatch: Wendell Berry, a true Renaissance man

September 24, 2026
“The developing nations had given to the free market the status of a god, and were sacrificing to it these farmers, farmland and communities, their forests, wetlands, and prairies, their ecosystems…

Swimming with the yellow flag 

September 18, 2026
BY ERNIE VANDERWALT Three days without salt. That’s a long stretch for a man who counts water as oxygen, and I felt every hour of it. A tropical storm had stirred the Gulf into a wild mess, and m…