Noted baseball aficionado and St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch will sign the 5,000th autographed baseball in the Little Cooperstown exhibit at the St. Petersburg Museum of History on April 15. The ceremony coincides with Jackie Robinson Day, which honors the first African American to break the color barrier in Major League Baseball. This year marks the 75th anniversary of Robinson making his debut for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. Welch is no stranger to making history himself, as St. Petersburg’s 54th mayor became the first African American to lead the city in its 129-year history. The Little Cooperstown exhibit, which takes its name from the location of Major League Baseball’s Hall of Fame, features the world’s largest collection of autographed baseballs. The program begins at 11 a.m. on Friday, April 15, at 335 2nd Ave. NE in St. Petersburg.
BayCare Health System Inc., which has multiple hospitals in Tampa Bay, will pay the federal government $20 million to settle allegations that the organization inappropriately donated to the Juvenile Welfare Board of Pinellas County to fund Florida's share of Medicaid payments to get federal matching funds in violation of the False Claims Act, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Thursday. Prosecutors say BayCare knowingly caused false claims for matching funds to be submitted to the federal government between 2013 and 2014. "The funds transferred by [the Juvenile Welfare Board] to the state were 'matched' by the federal government before being returned to the BayCare hospitals as Medicaid payments, and BayCare was thus able to recoup its original donations to JWB and also receive federal matching funds, in violation of the federal prohibition on non-bona fide donations," the Department of Justice wrote in a news release.
Shane McClanahan, a Cape Coral native and University of South Florida graduate, will take the mound Friday when the Tampa Bay Rays face the Baltimore Orioles in the first game of the season. McClanahan, 24, will become the Rays’ youngest Opening Day starter since 2007. During his time with USF, McClanahan pitched in the university’s first combined no-hitter and became the second Bull to strike out over 100 batters in consecutive seasons. The Rays drafted him with the 31st pick in 2018, the third-highest selection in USF baseball history. McClanahan made his Major League debut in the 2020 American League Divisional Series (ALDS) and finished the 2021 season atop Tampa Bay’s pitching rotation. McClanahan will face Orioles pitcher John Means for his first Opening Day assignment.
Pinellas County is seeking a program manager to coordinate and develop environmental programs and projects. This position oversees the county’s Brownfield Program and petroleum clean-up, and also provides support in state and federal permitting for county projects. The manager would direct program administration, develops and maintains interagency and community partnerships, advisory boards, volunteers and interacts with the public. More information can be found here.
Tampa-based tech giant ConnectWise, the world’s leading software company dedicated to IT solutions, announced that its PitchIT Accelerator Program is now accepting applications. PitchIT, which launched in 2018, is a competition specifically for innovators to showcase a potential offering that could be built or integrated into the ConnectWise platform. The 16-week program allows participants to gain coaching from industry experts, earn placement on the ConnectWise marketplace and engage in co-marketing. Ten applicants will be accepted into the program. From the pool of contestants, ConnectWise will choose three finalists to present their solutions on the center stage at IT Nation Connect in November. The first-place winner will receive $70,000 in investment money and the second-place winner will receive $30,000. Those interested can apply here. Applications close on April 30.
A Philadelphia financial planning team, announced Wednesday (today) that they have partnered with Dynasty Financial Partners and are launching an independent wealth management firm, Presilium Private Wealth. Four professionals from Merrill Lynch are joining Presilium Private Wealth, including Jerry Davidse. Accompanying the two advisors are Jackie Ellison, serving as vice president of operations, and Kelley Casper, serving as the vice president of client experience. “We are particularly interested in developing sophisticated digital media strategies to leverage industry trends and meet our clients where they are most interested. Also, our investment platform, technology, planning software, and our new ability to customize will allow us to provide the highest level of service to our clients," Brook Hart, President and CCO, said in the news release.
St. Petersburg-based Catalina, a leader in shopper intelligence and omni-channel media solutions, has entered a strategic partnership with Neustar Inc., a TransUnion company. This partnership enables consumer packaged goods (CPG) brand advertisers to make critical, on-the-fly optimizations to its marketing tactics and audience targets based on real-time purchase behavior to maximize return. Catalina’s real-time shopper intelligence platform will be integrated with Optimizer, Neustar’s closed-loop marketing optimization and consumer insights platform, to make CPG marketing analytics and data science more accurate and actionable, according to Catalina's news release. The financial details of the partnership were not disclosed.
The University of South Florida announced Wednesday its on-campus stadium plans received another philanthropic boost as Jeff and Penny Vinik gifted the university $5 million to support the project. The school’s announcement comes less than a month after Frank and Carol Morsani became the first major donors for the stadium, also pledging $5 million. The Viniks have strong ties with the university, with the Vinik Sport and Entertainment Management Program in the Muma College of Business receiving national accolades. The Tampa Bay Lightning owner and co-developer of Water Street Tampa told the USF Newsroom, “an on-campus stadium at USF will be a game-changer, literally and figuratively, for the university and our entire Tampa Bay community.” The Vinik’s gift coincides with the university celebrating Giving Week across all three campuses.
St. Petersburg community activist Corey Givens Jr. announced Monday that his political committee, St. Pete Now, has officially registered as a third-party voter registration organization. Givens hopes to increase voter turnout for the 2022 midterm election and beyond by rebuilding an electorate that often feels neglected by the country’s two major political parties. St. Pete Now will focus on non-partisan quality of life issues and educating voters. The organization’s inaugural registration event begins at noon on Saturday, April 23, at 1800 34th St. S. in St. Petersburg.
The City of St. Petersburg is one of the top dog-friendly cities based on multiple factors such as the number of veterinarian establishments, dog parks, quality of life index and the average home and apartment size. St. Petersburg reached the No. 7 spot due to strong marks in most categories, with its number of veterinarian establishments per capita standing out, according to a study from Commercial Cafe. Tampa also made the list at No. 16, with good scores in apartment size and number of dog parks. Madison, Wisconsin claimed the top spot. Find the full list of rankings here.
Pinellas County is accepting applications for its Social Funding Grant Program from social service organizations that directly serve area residents. The funding is available to registered nonprofits incorporated for at least a year before the date of the application. Organizations can apply for up to $150,000, with the county offering a minimum grant of $10,000. The applicants' mission must align with one of the county’s social action priorities. These include food and nutritional services, homeless prevention and support, healthcare and human services for disadvantaged residents and elderly support services. For more information, visit the website here.
The unemployment rate in the CareerSource Pinellas region was 2.8% in February 2022, according to the latest CareerSource data that's released monthly. This rate was two percentage points lower than the region's rate last year of 4.8%. The industries gaining in jobs over the year: Leisure and hospitality (+19,400 jobs); trade, transportation and utilities (+18,000 jobs); professional and business services (+15,800 jobs); financial activities (+9,800 jobs); education and health services (+4,800 jobs); mining, logging and construction (+3,500 jobs); manufacturing (+2,600 jobs); information (+2,400 jobs); and other services (+1,600 jobs).
