Ray Arsenault, the John Hope Franklin Professor of Southern History and Program Advisor of the Florida Studies Program at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg, has announced his retirement at the end of the 2020 fall semester. Arsenault's books include “St. Petersburg and the Florida Dream, 1888-1950" - the definitive tome on local history - "Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice," "Paradise Lost?" and the recent "Arthur Ashe: A Life."
Lumina, a predictive analytics company in Tampa, partnered with IBM in a deal that the company said will improve the speed and accuracy of its work. Lumina moved its artificial intelligence-driven platform, Radiance, to the IBM Cloud, allowing searches that its clients perform to be completed more quickly and with fewer errors. "These advances will put our customers in a better position to prioritize their risks and protect the people and things that really matter," Michael Browne, Lumina's chief operating officer, said in a news release. Lumina also signed an IBM Embedded Solution Agreement that allows Lumina to go to market with IBM and provides better support to Lumina customers.
Sen. Marco Rubio has named Fresco Foods of Tampa as the U.S. Senate Small Business of the Week. Fresco Foods is a family-owned company, owned by Rob and Tracy Povolny, that provides healthy prepackaged meals, including at Publix Super Markets through a partnership with the grocery chain. Rubio, a Florida Republican who chairs the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, said Fresco Foods kept paying its 120 employees during the pandemic through a loan from the Paycheck Protection Program. Rubio also cited the company's donation of hundreds of meals to homeless and domestic violence shelters in the Tampa Bay area.
Sen. Rick Scott and Sen. Marco Rubio have introduced legislation that would keep the United States on Daylight Saving Time through November 7, 2021. The bill would help provide stability for families who are already dealing with virtual learning, work from home, and other disruptions during the Covid-19 pandemic, a news release said. Daylight savings time is scheduled to end this year at 2 a.m. Nov. 1, and because the number of legislative days prior to then are limited, Rubio is taking steps to allow the bill to bypass the Senate Committee on Commerce and be placed directly on the Senate calendar.
The Pinellas County State Attorney's office has charged a St. Petersburg man with engaging in a fraud scheme for his alleged role in a cryptocurrency investment scam. Anthony Robert Greene reportedly represented that he had made millions of dollars in profits from his cryptocurrency trading efforts and had made payouts to investors, according to a news release from the Florida Office of Financial Regulation. A state investigation revealed he used most of the victims' money for his personal use and no cryptocurrency assets were sent to investors, the news release said.
Deepak Menon, chief revenue officer at United Insurance Holdings Corp., is resigning from the company. His resignation is effective Sept. 30, a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said. The company said it has begun a review of candidates to replace Menon. Menon had served as chief revenue officer since December 2015 and previously was vice president of operations and business development. United Insurance Holdings (Nasdaq: UIHC), headquartered in St. Petersburg, is a property and casualty insurer that does business as UPC Insurance. The company's leadership changed earlier this year, when insurance industry veteran Daniel Peed took over as chairman and CEO.
The schedule for Covid-19 testing at a drive-up site outside of the Duke Energy for the Arts Mahaffey Theater will change, beginning Wednesday, Sept. 16. Covid-19 testing will be available from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, while antibody testing will be available from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. The antibody test is done by blood draw and checks to see whether a person has developed the antibodies to fight Covid-19. No referral or pre-registration is required to receive the antibody test, but individuals planning to get the test are asked to complete, print, and bring this form with them to the testing site: English form, Spanish form. The Mahaffey Theater testing site is a collaboration between Pinellas County, the Florida Department of Health, Florida Department of Health in Pinellas County, the City of St. Petersburg and community partners.
With the Tampa Bay Rays in first place in the American League East, St. Petersburg officials are starting to prepare for a possible World Series. The Rays were advised by Major League Baseball that any teams potentially competing in post-season play should take necessary steps to establish a "Clean Zone" — an area in which commercial activities can be regulated, illegal activities prevented and aesthetic qualities enhanced. At the request of the Rays, the City Council will consider a resolution on Thursday establishing the Clean Zone in an area generally between 8th and 19th Streets and between 1st Avenue North and 6th Avenue South. The city took similar steps during the Rays participation in the 2008 World Series and in 2010, 2011, 2013, and 2019 for Rays postseason play.
Construction is expected to begin in the first quarter of next year for Reflection, an 18-story condominium development planned for Mirror Lake. The project, approved in July by the St. Petersburg Development Review Commission, will be located at the northeast corner of 3rd Avenue North and 8th Street North. The 88 condo units will range from 1,167 square feet to over 2,285 square feet with between one and three bedrooms, with prices ranging from the $500,000s up to $1.5 million. There will be a rooftop deck with a resort-style pool and 360-degree views of the city, a news release said. There will be 3,300 square feet of retail space on the ground floor. Reservations open this week, with a sales center located on the ground floor of The Sage building at 600 1st Ave N. Sales are being led by KW Development Services.
The Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority said regular service will resume on several bus routes beginning Sunday, Sept. 13. The following routes will return to pre-coronavirus service seven days a week: 4, 9, 14, 18, 19, 34, 52/52LX, 59, 60, 74, 78, Suncoast Beach Trolley & Central Avenue Trolley. All remaining routes will operate regular Saturday service levels Monday through Saturday, PSTA said. All service will end at 10 p.m. Several safety steps remain place. PSTA is limiting passengers and requiring all passengers to wear protective face coverings while riding the bus. To reduce crowding at the farebox, passengers are asked to board and exit the rear door. PSTA also is not charging fares.
Pinellas County officials say countywide restrictions that are in place to combat the spread of Covid-19 will still apply when bars are allowed to reopen. Florida bars can resume sales of alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises on Monday, Sept. 14, under a new state order. In addition to a state restriction requiring bars to open at 50 percent of capacity and for seated service only, Pinellas County Ordinance 20-14 has a half-dozen additional restrictions:
•Employees must wear a face covering whether directly or indirectly preparing food or drinks, whether having customer contact or not, and whether indoors or outdoors.
•Patrons must wear a face covering except when seated and consuming food or a drink and distanced six feet from other parties
•Standing at a bar is prohibited. The state’s reopening plan and the County ordinance require that patrons be seated to be served drinks for on-site consumption.
•Tables/bar stools must be spaced so that individuals and their companion(s) are separated six feet from others. Tables are limited to 10 guests.
•Standing areas are not allowed. Patrons waiting to be seated must remain distanced in groups of no more than 10 people.
•Bars and restaurants must establish rules that encourage social distancing, hand-washing and other protective measures based on CDC guidance.
A program that provides food to children and families in Pinellas County needs volunteers. Meals On Wheels for Kids relies on 125 volunteers each week to help deliver frozen prepared meals, fresh produce and shelf stable food to children and families who have opted to attend school remotely. Volunteer drivers are needed to on Mondays and Wednesdays out of Daystar Life Center in St. Petersburg, Catherine Hickman Theater in Gulfport, and RCS Pinellas Food Bank in Clearwater. Routes take between 60 to 90 minutes to complete. Volunteers can also sign up to help pack boxes of shelf stable food on Tuesday and Saturday mornings. Click here for more information and to sign up. Meals on Wheels for Kids was launched by the Tampa Bay Network to End Hunger in response to Covid-19 school closures. The network also is accepting donations at www.networktoendhunger.org to help support the MOW4Kids program
