Pinellas County officials have opened the first year-round, self-service sandbag distribution location at 2855 109th Ave. N. in St. Petersburg. The site, adjacent to the Household Hazardous Waste facility, is open from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 7 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Saturday. The self-service site will allow residents to prepare in advance for rainy-day flooding and named storms.
Saturday (May 11) is the annual National Letter Carriers’ Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive. Homeowners can bag healthy, non-perishable food items and place them by their mailbox for their letter carrier to pick up and deliver to St. Pete Free Clinic's Jared S. Hechtkopf Community Food Bank.
St. Petersburg city officials have postponed a May 23 Committee of the Whole meeting to discuss the Tampa Bay Rays stadium redevelopment agreement until sometime in June. The announcement came about six hours into the committee's discussion Thursday of the surrounding Historic Gas Plant District's redevelopment. Officials said the postponement would provide the city council with "ample time" to review "complex" agreements before the meeting.
HGTV reports that 13.6 million viewers tuned in to watch the latest seven episode season of Rock the Block, which was filmed on location in Treasure Island; it is the network's most-watched series so far in 2024. According to Visit St. Pete/Clearwater, the production hired more than 120 local crew and occupied more than 1,300 hotel room nights, resulting in more than $1.3 million in local spend in Treasure Island.
HCA Florida Healthcare employees from HCA Florida Largo Hospital, Northside Hospital, Pasadena Hospital and St. Petersburg Hospital completed the company's third annual statewide "We Show Up for Our Communities" month of service in April, providing more than 120 volunteer hours (from 60 colleagues)to volunteer with Keep Pinellas Beautiful. They also donated 30 lbs. of food to the Lealman and Asian Neighborhood Family Center, 197 lbs. of food to Reach St. Petersburg and over 650 meals to Feeding Tampa Bay's Cereal for Summer Program.
The Tampa Bay Innovation Center has selected six early-stage startups for its second Climate Tech Accelerator, sponsored by ARK Invest, Duke Energy and PODS Moving & Storage. Participants will receive training and mentoring in customer discovery, product strategy, investor readiness and market validation. The selected startups include: ·AgWise (St. Pete): An agricultural and data analytics platform. ·Cupper (Bradenton): An eco-friendly coffee pod manufacturer. ·Mudder AI (New Haven, Connecticut): A data analytics startup that tracks weather events and community impacts. ·Numa Notes (St. Pete): A platform that transcribes medical records. ·Virginica (Tampa): Creates artificial reefs for oyster beds and carbon capture. ·Zinglan (St. Pete): A platform that monitors unlawful aerial drones.
The Tampa Bay Rowdies survived a 6-4 shootout Wednesday night to advance from the Round of 32 of the Lama Hunt U.S. Open Cup at Al Lang Stadium. The Rowdies led Birmingham Legion FC 4-0 late in the match before the visitors mounted a fierce comeback to send the game into extra minutes. Manuel Arteaga scored in the 102nd and 109th minute to seal a Tampa Bay victory. The Rowdies will host FC Dallas in the prestigious tournament’s Round of 16; U.S. Soccer will announce the date and time Thursday afternoon.
The Pinellas County School Board unanimously approved a ballot referendum in November that will ask voters to double the local-option property tax that supports schoolteacher salaries and arts programs. The increase to $1 per $1,000 in assessed value would allow district officials to boost each teacher’s pay by $11,000 annually. It would also provide an additional $2,910 annually for support personnel and expand funding for early literacy programs, classroom technology and other designated expenses.
Sunken Gardens, the botanical garden and longtime tourist destination on 4th Street N. in St. Petersburg, has added a state-of-the-art, hurricane wind-proof Animal Care Center. Mayor Ken Welch cut the ribbon Tuesday on the nearly $1 million, climate-controlled facility.
Tampa International Airport and Delta Air Lines are bringing back nonstop seasonal service to Amsterdam. The Netherlands route is scheduled to start Oct. 26 and run through March 29, 20225. TPA last offered Delta seasonal nonstop service to Amsterdam in 2019. The daily flights are now for sale on Delta’s website.
Seventy-one babies in Tampa Bay born on “Fifth Third Day” (5/3 on the calendar) recently received a gift of $1,053 from Fifth Third Bank, to be put toward a 529 savings account. The gift was designed by Fifth Third Bank, in collaboration with hospital systems, to help parents start saving for their child’s education early.
The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Chicago White Sox 5-1 Tuesday night at Tropicana Field to pick up their fifth straight win in new City Connect uniforms. The Rays debuted the “Grit x Glow” themed gear May 3 and earned their first sweep of the season against the New York Mets. The team decided to keep wearing the skate culture-inspired uniforms against the White Sox and picked up two more wins. Tampa Bay is now 19-18 on the season.
