One plus of driving past University Town Center on I-75 is the chance to glimpse the construction of the Mote Science Education Aquarium, or Mote SEA, scheduled for opening in December 2024. What began as a patch of land rich with opportunity has been transformed into a massive structure teeming with dedicated planners and construction workers. On July 25, the Mote team celebrated a critical milestone for the project, the installation of a 27,900-pound piece of acrylic for the Gulf of Mexico exhibit, the largest exhibit space in the new building. “Not everybody gets to design and build a brand new aquarium, so being a part of the entire process, from the beginning stages of chicken scratch of our ideas on paper to working with the architects to see them come to life on paper to now working with the construction company to see them come to life in person, has been fantastic,” said Evan Barniskis, the Mote Aquarium associate vice president.

Barniskis and other Mote staff gathered on the upper deck of PopStroke to watch from afar as a crane lifted the giant viewing window, which is 26 feet long, 17 feet high and 11 inches wide. Designed to celebrate the riches of the Gulf of Mexico, Sarasota’s maritime neighbor, the exhibit provides ample viewing of coral reef formations, sharks, rays, sea turtles and a myriad of fish species. The figure eight-shaped tank will also look out over a multi-purpose room, so that everyone, from students on field trips to banquet attendees, can appreciate the gulf’s natural wonders.

Mote projects that the new aquarium will double the number of annual visitors, drawing in residents from emerging communities along the coast. The building’s central location at UTC off of I-75 increases its accessibility and transports a drop of the ocean to inland communities. “The most amazing thing about this new aquarium will be the technology that we’re able to incorporate into the exhibits as well as the new habitats,” Barniskis added, eager to surprise visitors with this component of the space. “We’ll have an entire gallery dedicated to Pacific waters which will include South American penguins.”

Mirroring a bustling coral reef under the sea, the construction site is a hive of activity full of construction workers and Mote staff proud to experience this important milestone. “It’s a dream come true to be a part of this project,” he said, “and today to see the acrylic windows going into place in the largest habitat is fantastic.”

To learn more about Mote SEA, visit moteoceansforall.org. 

The 27,900-pound acrylic window for the Gulf of Mexico exhibit was installed on July 25, marking significant progress for the aquarium. Photo by Sarasota Drone Guy.

Mote SEA

Temple Sinai is proud to announce Bethany Leinweber, Director of Youth Education and Family Engagement, has enrolled as a rabbinical student in the Aleph Ordination Program (www.aleph.org/aop) and has been named as the temple’s Student Rabbi. Bethany has helped shape the outreach, engagement and educational programs at Temple Sinai throughout her 17-year tenure. She founded and launched the Gan at Temple Sinai preschool and has re-envisioned the religious school “JQuest” program, engaging the congregation’s children and teens through a variety of programs and creative curriculum. Bethany earned dual bachelor’s degrees in
Jewish Studies and Elementary Education and a master’s degree in Special Education from the University of Miami. Bethany feels privileged to work alongside Chazzan Cliff Abramson and for the opportunity to help lead services while she pursues her rabbinic studies. About her new role, Bethany says, “Temple Sinai has held a special place in my heart and is my family's home away from home. I feel honored and truly blessed to have the opportunity to serve Temple Sinai as its student rabbi. We are an inclusive, diverse and innovative congregation and community and I look forward to sharing in life cycle events, creating educational, social, and spiritual memories.“ Temple Sinai also announces a new tiered membership structure for JQuest families with children in grades K-12, providing families the flexibility to choose the membership tier that best matches their financial resources. JQuest is an exciting journey of Jewish learning and discovery for children and families and an opportunity to develop and strengthen Jewish identity, knowledge and community. The program instills children and families with a sense of commitment to and excitement about Jewish life and Jewish peoplehood. Through teaching students about the Jewish past they become inspired and empowered to create a Jewish life in the present that is committed to tikkun olam (repairing the world). Overall, the goal is for children and families in JQuest to be challenged, inspired, and energized by the power of Jewish ideas and traditions. To learn more about JQuest, please join us on Sunday, August 13, 2023 from 10:00am to 12:30pm for a JQuest Open House. In addition, to inquire about membership and all of Temple Sinai’s cultural, educational, religious and social offerings, please attend Connect with Sinai open house on Friday, August 18, 2023 from 5:00pm to 5:45pm and stay for Erev Shabbat services and barbecue dinner. Temple Sinai is located at 4631 South Lockwood Ridge Road, Sarasota (enter only from Proctor Road). For more information, visit templesinai-sarasota.org or call 941-924-1802. 

 The Orioles today announced their 2024 Grapefruit League schedule, which is slated to begin Saturday, February 24, at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota, Fla. against the Boston Red Sox. The club’s 2024 spring schedule features 16 home games, including eight weekend games. The O’s will face nine different opponents during Grapefruit League play, with 13 of the club’s 32 games against American League East divisional rivals – Boston Red Sox (3 games; 2 at home), New York Yankees (2 games; 1 at home), Tampa Bay Rays (4 games; 2 at home), and Toronto Blue Jays (4 games; 2 at home). The Orioles will play a spring-high six games against the Pittsburgh Pirates, three of which will be at Ed Smith Stadium. Baltimore will also host the Atlanta Braves, Detroit Tigers, Minnesota Twins, and Philadelphia Phillies during the 2024 Spring Training slate. The team’s 16-game road schedule features three games at the Braves and Pirates, two games at the Blue Jays, Rays, and Twins, and one game at the Phillies, Red Sox, Tigers, and Yankees. The 2024 season will mark the Orioles’ 15th Spring Training season in Sarasota and the club’s 14th season at the renovated Ed Smith Stadium. Game times and report dates will be announced at a later date. To be among the first notified for 2024 ticket offers, fans should subscribe to the free Orioles Insider digital newsletter at Orioles.com/Newsletter. For the complete 2024 spring training schedule, please visit Orioles.com/Schedule. A printable schedule is also attached. In the 14 years since the Orioles moved Major League Spring Training operations to Sarasota, more than 1.3 million fans have enjoyed Orioles baseball at Ed Smith Stadium. In addition, the Orioles host a myriad of special events throughout the year – including youth sports tournaments, arts and entertainment programs, and charitable activations – helping to generate more than $600 million in economic impact in the state of Florida since 2015. Beyond economic impact, the Orioles have provided more than $3.9 million to local Sarasota organizations through cash donations and in-kind contributions. Over the past 13 years, the team has made it a priority to help combat food insecurity, empower the youth of the community, provide arts and educational resources for local children, and be able to help when the community needs them the most. This past September when Hurricane Ian hit, the Orioles acted quickly to step in and help. Players and staff helped compile cases of water, gas tanks, ice, and other supplies, while Ed Smith Stadium parking lots were used to house emergency response providers. The Orioles also partnered with All Faiths Food Bank to provide local families in need with necessary food prior to the holidays. For details, visit Orioles.com/Sarasota. 

To learn more, visit

The Atlanta Braves and Major League Baseball announced the club’s 2024 Grapefruit League schedule. The Braves’ 32-game slate is scheduled to begin on Saturday, February 24 at CoolToday Park against the Tampa Bay Rays. All of Atlanta’s 32 games will be played against nine different teams – the Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers, New York Yankees, Minnesota Twins, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, Tampa Bay Rays, and Toronto Blue Jays. The schedule features 16 games at the Braves’ spring training facility, CoolToday Park in North Port, Fla. The Braves’ Grapefruit League home opener is slated for Sunday, February 25 against the Boston Red Sox. Atlanta will wrap up its spring schedule with consecutive games against Minnesota, including the finale on Tuesday, March 26 in Fort Myers.
The five-time defending National League East Champions are slated to open the 2024 regular season in Philadelphia with a three-game series against the Phillies on March 28. The 2024 Braves’ season home opener is set to take place Friday, April 5 against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Atlanta Braves are currently selling season tickets, group, and hospitality events for spring training 2024. Individual tickets will go on sale at a later date. To purchase season tickets or to book a group or hospitality event call 941-413-5004. Please contact 941-413-5000 or email springtraining@braves.com for questions or more information. Contact arianna.costello@braves.com for media inquiries. 

Attention all shark enthusiasts! The Bazaar on Apricot & Lime is going fin-tastic this week with a Shark Week celebration. Dive into a sea of excitement as we bring you shark-inspired art and an opportunity to win fin-tastic prizes! Highlighting our shark-infused week is the thrilling "Guess the Teeth" contest. Plunge your hand into a bucket filled with authentic shark teeth and channel your inner marine biologist to estimate the number of teeth it contains. The shark tooth aficionado with the closest guess will be swimming home with an exciting prize that will leave them grinning from ear to ear! But that's not all! The Bazaar on Apricot & Lime is thrilled to host an array of talented vendors who specialize in awe-inspiring shark-related art. From stunning art to intricately crafted paintings made with shark teeth you'll find a treasure trove of unique pieces that will leave you in awe. In addition to the captivating art, our vendors offer an enticing assortment of merchandise, including jaw-dropping jewelry, clothing, plants, crafts, and so much more. Whether you're a devoted shark lover or simply looking for an unforgettable gift, our vendors have just what you need to make a splash! Visit The Bazaar on Apricot & Lime at 821 Apricot Ave in Sarasota. Open Thursday - Saturday from 10-3pm. For more information, www.BazaarOnApricotandLime.com. 

Pictured: Guess the Teeth to win a prize at The Bazaar on Apricot and Lime during their Shark Week celebration.

The Hermitage Artist Retreat’s popular series, “Hermitage Sunsets @ Selby Gardens,” continues into its fourth year as part of the Hermitage’s 2023-2024 season. The outdoor series — a continuing collaboration between the Hermitage and Marie Selby Botanical Gardens — features performances and explorations of works-in-progress by Hermitage artists-in-residence and alumni. “Hermitage Sunsets @ Selby Gardens” events are currently scheduled to take place at Selby Gardens’ Downtown Sarasota campus and its Historic Spanish Point Campus in Osprey. The first of these events is “The Blurred Line Between Humor and Heartbreak: A Playwriting Workshop,” where award-winning writer, actor, and Hermitage Fellow Halley Feiffer will invite participants into the creative process on Thursday, October 5, at 6pm, at Selby Gardens’ Downtown Sarasota Campus, 1534 Mound St., Sarasota. Admission is free, but registration is required ($5/person) at HermitageArtistRetreat.org. Feiffer is a WGA, Drama Desk, Drama League, and Outer Critics Circle-nominated writer and actor. She is currently writing and show-running Season 12 of Ryan Murphy's hit television series American Horror Story, starring Emma Roberts and Kim Kardashian. She is also writing the book for the Broadway-bound stage adaptation of Thelma & Louise with Neko Case composing. Her television and film roles include HBO’s Mildred Pierce, Flight of the Conchords, and Bored to Death, and the films The Squid and the Whale, Gentlemen Broncos, and He’s Way More Famous than You, which she also co-wrote. She is currently developing a film adaptation of her play The Pain of My Belligerence with Lena Dunham’s Good Thing Going for her to direct. Confirmed dates for this fourth season of “Hermitage Sunsets @ Selby Gardens” include: Thursday, October 5, 2023, Downtown Sarasota Campus, Thursday, November 30, 2023, Historic Spanish Point Campus, Thursday, January 25, 2024, Downtown Sarasota Campus, Thursday March 28, 2024, Downtown Sarasota Campus, Thursday, May 23, 2024, Historic Spanish Point Campus. 

Pictured: Hermitage Fellow Claire Chase at Selby Gardens. Photo courtesy of The Hermitage.

Despite decades of advances in the understanding and treatment of heart failure, standard therapies do not work well for all patients, leaving many with chronic and at times life-threatening symptoms. An investigational cardiac implant, however, is raising the possibility of a new treatment option and hope for heart failure patients whose symptoms cannot be controlled by current therapies. Corvia Medical’s RESPONDER-HF study, now under way at Sarasota Memorial Hospital and about 60 other sites in the United States, Europe, and Australia, gives qualifying heart failure patients randomized access to atrial shunt therapy. The Corvia® Atrial Shunt is a minimally invasive cardiac implant that has been shown to reduce symptoms and improve quality of life. In earlier safety studies, atrial shunting resulted in significant reductions in the rate of heart failure hospitalizations and sustained improvement in patients’ quality of life. Sarasota Memorial’s Research Institute is currently enrolling patients in the RESPONDER-HF confirmatory study. Led by Sarasota cardiologist Hakim Morsli, MD, the local study is enrolling heart failure patients with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), the most common type of heart failure, but one for which effective treatments are limited. More than 26 million people worldwide have HF, and the majority have HFpEF, making it the largest unmet clinical need in cardiovascular medicine. The atrial shunt is placed by an interventional cardiologist or electrophysiologist during a one-time minimally invasive procedure. A catheter is used to place the shunt as a passage between the left and right atria. This passage allows blood to flow from the high pressure left atrium to the lower pressure right atrium, relieving pressure in the heart and lungs and thereby reducing shortness of breath, chest pain and other symptoms that put many HFpEF patients at risk. The RESPONDER-HF is a randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled study that will enroll up to 260 patients, age 40 or older, whose heart failure symptoms persist despite directed medical therapy. Patients will be randomized to a treatment track (to receive the investigational device) or a control track (where they will undergo testing and examination but will not receive the device), and monitored for five years. Neither the participants nor researchers know which treatment participants receive until their 24-month follow-up visit. The Corvia Atrial Shunt is the most widely studied atrial shunt for heart failure. It has been implanted in more than 550 patients worldwide and reviewed in academic publications. The RESPONDER-HF trial builds on the extensive data and progressive learnings from the earlier REDUCE LAP-HF II clinical trial, the largest randomized controlled trial of device-based therapy in HFpEF. Results of that study showed that within a large responder population, representing 50% of study patients, treatment with the Corvia Atrial Shunt resulted in a 45% reduction in heart failure events and a 55% greater improvement in quality of life compared to sham control.