While You Were Sleeping: Friday, Oct. 23

A man named David O. Campbell has given two $100,000 contributions to Stand Up for Sarasota, a political committee that has paid for ads supporting City Commission candidates Flo Entler and incumbent Jen Ahearn-Koch, Suncoast Searchlight reports. Their opponent, John Harshman, called attention to the money at a press conference outside City Hall on Thursday. The contributions equal about 91% of what the three remaining candidates have raised directly, according to campaign finance disclosures. Entler told Suncoast Searchlight she had no involvement or coordination with the committee and does not know Campbell; Ahearn-Koch did not respond to calls.

Why it matters: The two seats on the ballot represent the entire city: Ahearn-Koch is seeking a third term, while Entler and Harshman are vying to replace retiring Mayor Debbie Trice.

Patrick Britton-Harr, 42, who founded the private jet membership company AeroVanti in Sarasota and Annapolis in 2021, was convicted by a federal jury in Maryland on five counts of health care fraud and one count of transactional money laundering, the Business Observer reports. Prosecutors say he billed Medicare $18.7 million for respiratory tests on nursing home residents during the pandemic that were never performed, and Medicare paid more than $7.2 million. He was already convicted in June on six counts of wire fraud tied to AeroVanti.

Why it matters: Sentencing in the Medicare case is set for Dec. 21, and he faces up to 60 years in federal prison in that case.

The online lookup tools on county Supervisor of Elections websites, which went down across Florida on Wednesday during early voting, were restored around 7 p.m. that evening, according to an update from Suncoast Searchlight. VR Systems, the Tallahassee company that hosts the sites, had pulled them at 10 a.m. after the PHP Foundation flagged critical security vulnerabilities. In Sarasota County, the outage had kept voters from viewing sample ballots or finding voting locations.

Why it matters: Voters can once again check their status online, and VR Systems said the outage never affected the ability to vote or the voter rolls.

Today stays sunny and dry with highs in the low 80s, but winds start to increase and waters will be choppy, WWSB reports in a forecast that calls a First Alert Heads-Up Day. Northeast winds strengthen Saturday and Sunday, with partly cloudy skies and highs in the low to mid 80s; most of Sarasota and Manatee stays dry, though a few afternoon showers could reach inland. Gusty northeast winds continue Monday and Tuesday before easing around the middle of next week.

Why it matters: Hazardous boating conditions are likely Saturday through early next week, with gusts that could reach gale force offshore and water levels that may run below normal along the coast.