Carrie West, president of Tampa Pride, canceled the organization’s annual Pride on the River event after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed HB1438 into law Wednesday. Last year’s event, held Sept. 24, featured a diversity boat parade, live performances, fireworks and drag brunches. The new legislation allows state officials to “fine, suspend or revoke the license” of any public establishment that admits a child to an adult performance, which could include drag shows.
Tech giant Google has joined the Tampa Bay Economic Development Council as a chairman’s council investor, according to the EDC's Thursday announcement. Taylor Ferguson, head of government affairs and public policy in the Southeast, will represent Google on the Tampa Bay EDC’s board of directors. Additionally, Google has also donated $20,000 to the Tampa Bay Economic Prosperity Foundation, an affiliate nonprofit organization of the Tampa Bay EDC. Among its initiatives is CertUp, a career awareness campaign that promotes short term and certificate degree programs in high-demand careers, including technology-centric ones such as cybersecurity, to residents of East Tampa, Central Park, Ybor City and Uptown.
Tampa-based cybersecurity company ReliaQuest has acquired Netherlands-based EclecticIQ's software assets and engineering team, according to the firm's Wednesday announcement. "When combined with our recently announced generative AI [artificial intelligence] capability within GreyMatter Intelligent Analysis, these new agent assets will allow ReliaQuest customers to drastically reduce their mean time to resolve security incidents from hours to minutes," Brian Murphy, ReliaQuest founder and CEO, said in a statement. The group didn't disclose the financial terms of the acquisition.
Mykenzi Davis-Cowart, 17, was one of over 300 students to graduate from Boca Ciega High School. While she received medical certifications, launched a nonprofit and maintained a 4.4 GPA during her tenure, Davis-Cowart told WFTS her proudest achievement was securing more than $750,000 in scholarship money. Despite her acceptance into Harvard University, Davis-Cowart will major in biology at North Carolina Central University before medical school.
St. Petersburg Police arrested Joshua McCarty-Thomas Tuesday after a search warrant uncovered two rare tortoises - one alive in his yard and one dead in a freezer. Microchips confirmed the endangered juvenile Galapagos Tortoises, which can reach 600 pounds and live 150 years, were stolen from the St. Augustine Alligator Farm and Zoological Park in November 2022. Police also allege that McCarty-Thomas stole thousands of dollars worth of rare books from St. Petersburg’s Haslam’s Book Store and Lighthouse Books.
Cansortium Inc., a cannabis company doing business under the Fluent brand name, is moving its headquarters from Miami to the Westshore District of Tampa. Over the next four months, the company plans to create more than 30 new jobs in administration, finance, human resources, marketing, sales, operations and other key roles, with an average salary of $100,000, according to an announcement this week from the Tampa Bay Economic Development Council. "Tampa is already a major hub for our cultivation and production facilities, and we continue to be impressed with the city’s large talent pool, business-friendly policies and overall quality of life. We believe our relocation is not only the best decision for our employees and culture, but a smart, fiscally responsible decision for the company’s shareholders," CEO Robert Beasley said in a prepared statement.
The Tampa Bay Beaches Chamber of Commerce has named Theresea Crane its 2023 Tourism Person of the Year. Crane is a senior account executive for Duke Energy and oversees the hospitality industry, municipal and several commercial accounts. She also served on boards for the Tampa Bay Women in Tourism, the Tampa Bay Beaches Chamber, Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association and Empath Health Hospice, and co-founded the Bay Area Concierge Association.
St. Petersburg-based company Spoor Bunch Franz, one of the area’s most prominent accounting practices, is opening an office in Knoxville, Tennessee as its first satellite office after one of its employees, Alexia Pappas, moved there. Pappas and another SBF employee are currently work in a co-working space west of downtown Knoxville. SBF hasn't identified the new office location, but said it will be in the heart of the city.
Sarah Schellhase, a senior biomedical engineering senior at the University of South Florida, recently won $20,000 for Meditrack GEO at Florida Blue’s 10th annual pitch competition. Schellhase emerged from 14 finalists representing six universities. The USF Center for Entrepreneurship hosted the event at the USF Health Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation in downtown Tampa.
A University of South Florida researcher and professor has set a record for the longest time spent living underwater without depressurization. Saturday, May 13, marked Dr. Joseph Dituri’s 74th day at Jules’ Undersea Lodge, located 30 feet below the surface in Key Largo. He plans to continue conducting research from the facility until June 9, which will mark 100 days underwater.
Three Tampa eateries received the city’s first Michelin stars Thursday. South Tampa’s Koya, Tampa Heights’ Rocca and Water Street’s Lilac received the prominent designation, which denotes a standard of excellence in the restaurant industry. Anonymous Michelin inspectors did not visit any Pinellas County establishments, as Visit St. Pete-Clearwater was not part of the agencies that facilitated bringing the guide to Florida.
A 2021 economic analysis by the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council found that small businesses account for $17 billion of Pinellas County’s $51 billion economic output. However, many small business owners remain unaware of significant incentives and programs to boost their companies and support their workforce. CareerSource Pinellas officials will discuss those local resources through webinar series starting Tuesday, May 16. For more information, visit the website here.
