Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/121369
This issue of the News Leader is a momentous one for all of us: It marks the first anniversary of our existence. Although we did not premiere the formal digital publication until late September 2012, we started posting stories on our WordPress blog site in mid-April last year. My husband rarely gets sufficient credit for founding the News Leader. I may have been burnt out when I left the Pelican Press a year ago last month, but he knew it would just be a matter of time before I would be itching to cover local government meetings again. After more than 30 years in journalism, I will be one of the first to admit that it is terribly difficult to get printer's ink out of the bloodstream! The great thing for us, of course, is that we no longer have to rely on ink to put out a product — a point legendary journalist Tom Brokaw made just this week during his Ringling Town Hall Series lecture in Sarasota. While my first blog posts last spring may all have been news-related, our issue this week is a great combination of news and features. Yes, the County Commission kept Cooper Levey-Baker and me busy, but Stan Zimmerman was able to don his historian's cap for more than one article and take some great shots of lovingly crafted ships. Giving Tyler Whitson a break, contributor Harriet Cuthbert has a sweet story about the couple who created Used Book Heaven on Siesta Key; a new contributor, Rick Wielgorecki, offers insights about gardening; and Otus has a lot to report about a trip he took — by Jaguar, no less — to Crowley's Nursery. We appreciate so much all that you, our readers, have done to spread the news yourselves — about the News Leader. It is amazing how much we have grown in such a relatively short space of time. Editor and Publisher