The Clearwater municipal takes place on Tuesday, March 8, and residents can find their polling location here. Voters can drop off their ballots at 315 Court Street, Room 117, in Clearwater between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Residents can drop off ballots between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. on election day. As of Friday, 14% of registered voters have cast their ballots.
Embarc Collective CEO Lakshmi Shenoy will be recognized by the Indo-US Chamber of Commerce in Tampa and will receive a Businesswoman of the Year award at this year’s Banyan Ball. The event will take place on April 16 at the Grand Hyatt in downtown Tampa. Under her leadership, Embarc has reached over 100 members and continues to foster innovation in Tampa Bay.
Beginning Saturday, March 12, and extending through Sunday, March 20, the University of South Florida and the Pinellas, Hillsborough, Pasco, Hernando, Manatee and Sarasota County school systems will all take the same week off for spring break. Nearly 570,000 students are out of school during that time. In addition to the hundreds of thousands of area students and faculty looking for ways to enjoy the break, Tampa International Airport expects over 80,000 daily travelers on peak days through the spring break period, which runs through April 26.
Tampa Bay-based BRP Group (NASDAQ: BRP) is acquiring California-based Westwood Insurance Agency for $385 million. It's the largest deal to date for BRP Group, and will add $81.8M of revenue.
Irish step dancers and rock tribute acts will provide the entertainment at Saturday's Shamrock Fest St. Patrick's Day celebration at the St. Pete Pier, Spa Beach area. Tickets to the 1-9 p.m. event are $15 advance and $20 at the gate. Food and beverage will be available for purchase.
Eight months after announcing plans for a St. Pete location, the popular Ybor City-based La Segunda Bakery and Cafe is finally heading across the bay. Famous for its fresh-baked Cuban bread, the 106-year-old bakery will open in St. Pete on Monday, March 21. The location, at 2436 4th Street N., will focus on grab-and-go service, delivery and catering. While smaller than the Ybor City and South Tampa location, the new site will seat 40 people inside and 40 on an outdoor, pet-friendly patio. La Segunda is the world's largest producer of Cuban, baking 18,000 loaves a day.
Seven University of South Florida faculty members have earned recognition as Fulbright scholars for the 2021-2022 school year, the most in Florida and tied for seventh nationally. The recipients of the highly competitive award represent several disciplines, including biomedical engineering, education, business, philosophy and psychology. Fulbright scholars teach or conduct research abroad and then integrate that experience into the classroom.
Indianapolis-based marketing tech firm TrendyMinds plans to open a St. Pete location. TrendyMinds, which has clients such as Humana, Salesforce Tampa-based Drift, plans to add more than 100 local employees at the St. Pete location, which the address of was not disclosed. The news follows the company securing an eight-figure investment from San Antonio-based firm Contour Ridge, which will allow TrendyMinds to add at least 600 positions nationwide. The firm will also open a hub in San Antonio, Texas.
Pinellas County Utilities is closing the westbound lanes of State Road 580 to repair a leaking water main. The project, adjacent to Countryside Highschool, begins on March 12 and will last through spring break. The county encourages motorists to avoid the area if possible and expect delays through the project’s expected completion date of April 3. Eastbound lanes will remain open, and detours will direct traffic north and south on McMullen Booth Road. Residents and visitors can receive project alerts by texting “SR580” to 888-777.
All city employees will earn at least $15 an hour starting April 1. A new policy will extend the city’s $15 minimum wage to part-time employees with less than five years on staff, who were previously exempt from the minimum wage ordinance, according to a news release. The decision expedites a new state law gradually increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2026, which voters approved in 2020. “Everyone deserves to earn a living wage whether they’ve been on the job for five years or five days. St. Petersburg led the way in 2015 to provide a $15 minimum wage and it is time we extend that to all employees, regardless of tenure," St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch said in a statement. The policy change will affect 211 city employees.
Tampa-based Florida Funders, recognized as the top VC in the Southeast region by Pitchbook, announced an investment in SecureCo, a company that provides next-generation cybersecurity protection for data-in-transit, allowing for government entities, businesses and critical infrastructure. Florida Funders invested in SecureCo’s $2.5 million seed round from the Florida Funders’ Fund 2 LLC. The financial terms of the investment were not disclosed. The funding will be used to support the development and commercialization of SecureCo’s product for existing federal customers and expansion into industrial and commercial markets, according to Florida Funders' announcement this week. “With today’s challenging online environment, SecureCo fills a hole in the market with its comprehensive and unique approach to the ever-evolving risks associated with network security,” Tom Wallace, managing partner at Florida Funders, said in a news release.
Starting today (March 2), Edelweiss Air is returning to Tampa International Airport (TPA), reestablishing its nonstop service between Tampa and Zurich. The return of the service comes nearly two years after Edelweiss Air paused its TPA-Zurich service, according to a release from the airport. The TPA-Zurich flights will operate twice weekly.
