Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik, via his Vinik Sports Group company, has launched Backing the Bay, a program that will provide free marketing services for locally owned small businesses in the Tampa Bay region. According to a news release, Vinik Sports Group will help eligible companies create a custom marketing strategy — valued at $50,000 — that will include brand videos, written features, promoted sweepstakes, custom graphics, Tampa Bay Lightning radio spots and more. Businesses owned by minorities, women, veterans and members of the LGBT community are strongly encouraged to apply. The deadline for applications, which can be submitted here, is March 15.
Desmon Silva has returned home after beating encephalomyelitis, or ADEM, a coronavirus-related infection that attacks the central nervous system. Silva, 23, was employed as a nurse at Largo Medical Center last July when he contracted Covid-19 and ADEM. The maladies left him unresponsive and paralyzed, and reliant on a ventilator to breathe. After being treated in Massachusetts, Silva returned home today aboard an aircraft owned and operated by Jet ICU, a Tampa-based air ambulance company. Jet ICU offered the service, which normally costs about $25,000, free of charge. Silva, unfortunately, remains paralyzed but a GoFundMe campaign has raised more than $150,000 to help pay for his care.
American Land Ventures has hired Coastal Construction to build 334, a new 24-story residential tower in downtown St. Petersburg that, when completed, will stand 250 feet tall, making it one of the tallest buildings west of Beach Drive. Located at 334 2nd Ave. S., groundbreaking for the project is scheduled for later this month. Coastal Construction, with offices in Miami, Orlando, Tampa and West Palm Beach, has been deeply involved in Jeff Vinik’s Water Street Tampa project, recently completing work on that development’s JW Marriott hotel. “Coastal has built some of the state’s most iconic high rises, from the Porsche Design Tower in Miami to the Surfside Four Seasons Hotel at the Surf Club,” American Land Ventures Vice President David Fellows stated in a news release.
L3Harris Technologies is selling two business units, and Tampa will be the beneficiary in one of the deals. CAE is buying L3Harris' military training business for $1.05 billion. The military training business has annual revenue of $500 million, a news release said. After the deal closes, the L3Harris military training business will operate under CAE USA, headquartered in Tampa. Separately, L3Harris said it would sell its combat propulsion systems, which manufacture military engines and transmissions, to RENK AG, for $400 million. That business has annual revenue of $230 million. L3Harris (NYSE: LHX) is based in Melbourne, Florida and has its commercial aviation solutions headquarters in St. Petersburg.
After 32 years in government service, 21 of which were spent with the Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney Maria Chapa Lopez is resigning from her post at the Tampa-based Middle District of Florida, effective today. Lopez’s distinguished career also includes service in the U.S. Army, where she obtained the rank of lieutenant colonel. Prior to her appointment as U.S. attorney, Lopez served as the Department of Justice’s deputy attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico, where she worked to disrupt cross-border crime. Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri praised Lopez for cultivating a “productive and strong working relationship" with his agency. “Her reputation is one of being committed to her work and has shown through her accomplishments during her appointment,” he stated in a news release. “We are grateful to have had the opportunity to work with her.” Karin Hoppmann will succeed Lopez in an acting capacity until an interim U.S. attorney is appointed or President Joe Biden formally nominates a permanent replacement.
The Bay Pines VA HealthCare System will have a Covid-19 vaccination clinic on Saturday, Feb. 27 for veterans who are essential workers, according to the Florida Department of Health in Pinellas County. In social media posts, the health department said veterans can be any age, but must be an essential worker as defined by the CDC here: https://www.cdc.gov/.../categories-essential-workers.html. For more information, call 727-395-2400.
#Veterans, here's a chance to get your #COVID19 vaccine tomorrow, Sat., 2/27, from Bay Pines VA Health: You can be any age, but you must be an essential worker as defined by the @CDC here: https://t.co/GsKoTy4mC4. Call 727-395-2400. pic.twitter.com/NdDnJfc2Bm
— FL Health Pinellas (@HealthyPinellas) February 26, 2021
The Clearwater stadium that is home to the Philadelphia Phillies spring training games and the Threshers, the club’s low-A affiliate, has a new name. It's now called BayCare Ballpark, as part of six-year naming rights agreement with a five-year renewal option. BayCare Health System also will be the exclusive healthcare system partner for the Phillies in the Florida market. Financial terms were not disclosed. While the name is new, the relationship is not. BayCare Health System has been a partner with the Phillies at their 8,500-seat spring training ballpark for more than 17 years, the system said in a news release.
BayCare Health System plans to significantly increase capacity for behavioral health patients. The Clearwater-based system said it will provide 24 more behavioral health inpatient beds at its hospitals by mid-2022. Over the next three years, BayCare plans to add 65 more psychiatrists and therapists to provide outpatient services across the region. Twenty of those new providers are expected to be added by the end of 2021. Once fully implemented BayCare expects to increase its capacity for outpatient care by 22 percent and provide access for about 1,000 more inpatients, a 6 percent increase, a news release said. The investment follows a community needs assessment that showed there's an unmet need for behavioral health resources that's grown since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
A property in Largo that purports to be a church is being investigated as a front for an illegal casino. In documents filed in Pinellas County Circuit Court, the Pinellas Park Police Department said the property, located at 11100 66th St. N., Unit 17, contains 20 computers displaying “slot machine style reels,” televisions displaying “jackpots,” 16 slot machines and a sign reading “Welcome to Treasures.” The exterior of the building is adorned with a sign reading, “Assembleia De Deus Unidos Em Cristo,” which translates to Assembly of God United in Christ. Officers entered the building earlier this month when they responded to an alarm call; according to court documents, while at the scene, they seized $4,577 in cash that was found inside the property.
SeaWorld Entertainment Inc., the Orlando-based parent company of Busch Gardens Tampa Bay and several other theme parks across the country, has reported a net loss of $312.3 million for its 2020 fiscal year. SeaWorld's latest financial results report, released on Thursday, also revealed that the company suffered a net loss of $45.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2020. Forced to limit capacity because of the Covid-19 crisis, attendance dropped by 16.3 million in 2020 and 2.5 million in the fourth quarter. However, guests who visited SeaWorld parks last year tended to spend more, with in-park per capita spending up by 5.2 percent to $27.68.
The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that Hillsborough County’s one-cent transportation surtax, approved by voters in 2018, is unconstitutional. The vote was 4-1, with Justice Jorge Labarga dissenting. The tax initiative was championed by an advocacy group called All For Transportation and was controversial from the start because it called for the creation of an independent body of unelected citizens to decide how funds would be used. That drew the ire of Hillsborough County Commissioner Stacy White, who waged the legal battle that tied up the charter amendment in court and froze approximately $472 million that had been collected since the surtax was implemented.
At its Feb. 8 meeting, the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council elected a new slate of board officers for 2021. The leadership reflects the council’s wide geographic reach, with officers hailing from Manatee, Pasco and Pinellas counties. Pasco County Commissioner Jack Mariano was elected board chair, succeeding Patrick Roff, a Bradenton City Council member. St. Petersburg City Council member Brandi Gabbard won the vote for vice chair and Manatee County Commissioner Vanessa Baugh was chosen as secretary-treasurer. The Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council brings together governments to coordinate planning for the community’s future and provide an opportunity for sharing solutions among the local government jurisdictions in the Tampa Bay region.
