The City of St. Pete Beach announced it is temporarily shifting traffic to accommodate the 17th annual St. Pete Beach Classic. The race takes place Saturday, Jan. 15, and Sunday, Jan. 16, on Gulf Boulevard. Traffic impacts occur from 6 a.m. until 10 a.m. On both days of the race, the outside, southbound lane on Blind Pass Road will close from 93rd Avenue to 75th Avenue. Both southbound lanes of Gulf Boulevard will also close for the duration of the races, and opposing traffic will run in the northbound lanes from 75th Avenue to 43rd Avenue. From 6 a.m. until 10 a.m. on Sunday, the southbound lanes of Pass-a-Grille Way will close from 35th Avenue to 22nd Avenue. Alternating one-way traffic will occur on 21st Avenue to Vina Del Mar.
Paul Tash, the Tampa Bay Times’ longest-serving CEO and chairman, announced he will retire. Times Publishing Co. President Conan Gallaty will step into the CEO role. Gallaty is also expected to become chairman when Tash leaves its board of directors July 1. Tash will continue to chair the board of trustees at the nonprofit Poynter Institute for Media Studies, which owns the newspaper, the Times announced. Tash joined the Times in 1978 as a reporter and was named CEO in 2004.
The City of St. Petersburg has partnered with Impact Health and the Tampa Bay Rays to open a drive-thru Covid testing site at Tropicana Field. The free testing site is now open. It will stay open all week from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. for PCR and rapid antigen testing. The testing is available on a drive-up basis.
Pinellas County government offices are closing on Monday, Jan. 17, in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. All departments under the board of county commissioners, clerk’s office, tax collector, property appraiser and supervisor of elections will remain closed in honor of the federal holiday. The county parks administrative office, Heritage Village and all educational centers will also close. However, county parks and preserves, Florida Botanical Gardens, county boat ramps and beach access points will remain open. The Solid Waste Disposal Facility is open from 7 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Monday, although the administration building and Household Electronics and Chemical Collection Center will close.
The Mahaffey Theater concert by the British synth-pop duo Erasure, schedule for Sunday (Jan. 16), has been canceled - along with every other January and February stop on the group's tour, "as a result of circumstances beyond our control" according to the official Erasure website. "We will announce the rescheduled shows shortly, so please hang on to your tickets and we will bring you more information very soon."
Tampa-based cybersecurity firm ReliaQuest, which recently reached unicorn status, has opened a location in Pune, India. Located in the state of Maharashtra, the office will employ 50 people, according to a news release. “2021 was an incredible year of growth and milestones for ReliaQuest, and we are continuing that momentum into 2022 — beginning with this new office location in India,” ReliaQuest CFO Greg Farrell said in the release. “Pune is known as a major IT hub with an exceptional talent pool, which makes it a perfect location for our first expansion into the country. ReliaQuest is uniquely positioned for major growth this year, and we are incredibly excited to welcome new team members in India as an impactful part of that growth.” The news follows ReliaQuest's decision to locate its corporate headquarters building in Water Street Tampa and open a new office near Salt Lake City.
This December, the St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport saw over 200,000 passengers arriving and departing at the airport--setting a new record for the passenger activity in the month of December. The number of passengers the airport saw this December surpassed the previous December by 67%. It also surpassed the pre-pandemic activity in December 2019 by 2%. The airport recently added two new airlines-- Swoop and Sun Country Airlines. Today, the airport has 65 non-stop destinations, which is the largest amount of non-stop connections in its history.
Performances by a touring company of the award-winning musical Jersey Boys have been canceled today and Thursday at Ruth Eckerd Hall. The Clearwater venue said that members of the cast had tested positive for Covid-19, and that the shows would be rescheduled when feasible.
Pinellas County is now accepting applications to fill a vacancy on the Pinellas County Construction Licensing Board. Applications are due by 3 p.m. on Feb. 4. The licensing board consists of 15 members representing various trades, building officials, a fire official and two consumer representatives. The county seeks a beach community governmental building official from the City of Belleair Beach, Belleair Shore, Redington Beach, North Redington Madeira Beach, Indian Rocks Beach, Indian Shores, Redington Shores, Treasure Island or St. Pete Beach. The Pinellas Board of County Commissioners will review all applications and announce its selection at an upcoming meeting. Applications can be found here.
St. Petersburg’s Flying Boat Brewing announced Monday it is selling its production facility at 1776 11th Ave. N. to Tampa’s King State Brewing. The facility will now be known as Brutalist Brewing. While King State owns the site, Flying Boat will continue brewing from the location as a contract brewer, and five of its beers will remain on tap. Flying Boat said the move offers the company the opportunity to pursue multiple satellite locations across the Tampa Bay region.
A massive surf park dubbed Peak Surf Park is slated to be built in Tampa Bay. The park will recreate ocean-like waves to give experienced and aspiring surfers an opportunity to catch some waves. The exact site in Tampa Bay was not disclosed, but its website states Peak Surf Park will also feature a 1/2-mile long beach with cabanas and bars. The adventure park will also have an area for concerts and recreational areas for skateboarding and more. The latest information on the park can be found on its website.
