Arts Capital of My Arse

The next time you hear about how Sarasota is the art capital of Florida, or the south, or the entire world, all of which one hears (but only in Sarasota), consider this:

 31 ONLINE PREDATORS.

 Count 'em, 31 sexual predators caught seeking to seduce, solicit, or entice a child to commit sex acts.

Thirty-one -- in just 6 days of one Sheriff operation.

 Here's the Wall of Shame.

 Not that they look like they are capable of much shame. Sarasota wants your business, wants you to move here, wants you to think it's just the best thing since sliced child.

 Of course Sarasota can't have all the glory. It shares some of this lice with other bungholes -- Cape Coral, Fort Myers, Port Charlotte, Bradenton, and even California. Long may they fester.

Fort Myers rockets to top of housing pyramid

There was a nearly 27-month supply of existing single-family homes on the Fort Myers market last month compared to a three-month supply at the height of the local boom in housing in August 2005, according to Denny Grimes, a top real estate agent in Fort Myers.

At the same time, more than 40 percent of single-family homes were listed at prices below $250,000 versus just 18 percent at the market peak.

"There's a lot of blood in the water and there's a lot more to come," Grimes said.

Fort Myers "is by far the worst housing market that we're in," J. Larry Sorsby, executive vice president and chief financial officer of home builder Hovnanian Enterprises Inc., told Reuters.

This just in:

a task force working with the Drug Enforcement Administration has raided 25 grow houses in Lee County so far this year.