Pinellas County will host a free Hurricane Preparedness Day event Saturday at the Lealman Exchange, to provide residents with information and resources. The family-friendly event, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., will include free hurricane kits, presentations by local experts on storm-related topics, including hurricane planning for pets, Pinellas County flood risks, zone information and a Q&A session about the 9-1-1 Regional Communications Center and County Information Center, free vaccines and boosters for Covid-19, plus flu shots and Hepatitis-A vaccines and more. The Lealman Exchange is located at 5175 45th St. N.
Starting Tuesday (today), Finnair will serve Lufthansa’s Eurowings Discover route service between Tampa and Frankfurt over the summer, Tampa International Airport announced. Eurowings Discover and Finnair are in a wet-lease agreement that allows the newer Lufthansa brand to use Finnair’s aircraft and crew. The flight, which operates six times per week, Tuesday through Sunday, will retain the Eurowings Discover flight number, but will be operated by Finnair and its flight crews. The Finnair A350 is scheduled to operate at TPA through the end of October, when Eurowings Discover will resume operating their flights, according to TPA.
In honor of the Memorial Day holiday, Pinellas County will close all government offices on Monday, May 30. This includes the clerk’s office, tax collector, human services, building services and the animal shelter. The solid waste disposal facility will remain open from 7 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Monday. However, the solid waste administration building and electronics and chemical collection center will close. While county parks and preserves remain open on the holiday, administrative offices will close, as will Heritage Village, Brooker Creek Environmental Education Center and the Weedon Island Cultural and Natural History Center.
The popular Boyd Hill Nature Preserve will be closed this Memorial Day. The city offices, post office and recreation centers will also be closed.
The St. Pete Catalyst staff will take the Memorial Day holiday (Monday, May 30) off. We will resume publication, and distribution of the Daily Spark, Tuesday the 31st.
According to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Living Wage Calculator, in 2021, the average livable wage for a single person in Florida was $30,825. That amount has increased to $35,858. The cost of living is higher in Pinellas, with the calculator stating that one person needs to make at least $36, 846. In Citrus County, located in the northernmost section of the Tampa Bay region, a person needs to make a minimum of $31,866 to "live."
While bitter American League East rivals on the baseball diamond, the Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees formed an unlikely partnership off the field before Thursday’s game in St. Petersburg. Rather than using their social media platforms for updates, highlights or general trash talking, the two teams synchronized their posts to share statistics on gun violence in America, bringing awareness to the devastating events in Buffalo, Uvalde and countless other communities. The Rays and Yankees’ Twitter accounts began posting in collaboration roughly 20 minutes before Thursday night’s opening pitch at Tropicana Field. Earlier in the day, Tampa Bay announced they were donating $50,000 to the Everytown for Gun Safety’s support fund, “the largest gun violence prevention organization in the country.” In a Friday morning tweet, St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch said he was “never more proud to be a Rays fan than I am today.”
Due to an overwhelming need in the community, the Pinellas County Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) program is now closed to new applicants. The county distributed $47.9 million to over 5,200 households and the remaining $5 million in funding is set aside for the backlog of applications. County staff will continue processing requests over the next several weeks, with priority given to residents with active evictions and households earning less than 50% of the area median income (AMI). Pinellas County and the City of St. Petersburg jointly administered the federal funding. St. Pete exhausted its ERA money earlier this year.
According to the Unmanned Safety Institute, Rhys Marriot, 11, is the youngest person in the nation to earn its Safety Level 1 Industry Certification. The certification is a college-level accredited course. Rhys completed the course as part of Azalea Middle School’s Academy of Engineering program.
Strikepoint Group Holdings (SGH), one of the largest home services companies in the U.S., announced Tuesday that it acquired Pinellas Comfort Systems as part of its expansion in the Tampa Bay region. SGH also owns and operates Performance Air and Paradise Air in Tampa Bay, and Elite Heating & Air in Sarasota. Pinellas Comfort Systems has served the area since 1957 and marks the 21st acquisition in the last 21 months for SGH, formally Horizon Group Holdings. Founded in 1987, SGH owns home service companies in 11 states from New England to Florida.
The retailer giant Walmart is expanding its drone delivery program to six states, including Florida. By the end of the year, it hopes to fly deliveries from 34 sites across Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Texas, Utah and Virginia, Walmart announced Tuesday. Walmart launched the drone delivery program in 2021 and it was only available in Arkansas. Walmart customers who live near drone-capable stores will be able to order items weighing less than 10 pounds in total between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. The deliveries will be done via a drone operated by a company called DroneUp.
The City of St. Petersburg is seeking four members to potentially serve as ad hoc members of the Community Benefits Advisory Council (CBAC) for the first project of the Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) program. Ad hoc members are chosen from residents within one mile of the project location. The project in review is the development proposed for the site at 800 1st Ave. South in downtown St. Pete. The TPA Group and the Moffitt Cancer Center are planning to develop a cancer care center and residential tower. Residents living within one mile of the site are encouraged to apply for the vacant ad hoc CBAC positions. Applications can be submitted here and will be accepted until May 28 at 11:59 p.m.
