St. Petersburg ranks No. 4 on a new list of best cities for women entrepreneurs. The list was compiled by Fundera, an online financial resource for small businesses, and based on factors such as the percent of self-employed women, the earnings gap between men and women business owners, housing costs and job growth. St. Petersburg is affordable because there is no state income tax, housing costs are low and the earnings gap is less than 10 percent, Fundera said. Women business owners in St. Petersburg earn 91 percent of their male counterparts and housing costs are 26.1 percent of earnings, according to Fundera. Seattle ranked No. 1 on the list, and overall Arizona and Florida are described as "very women entrepreneur friendly," while California cities are not kind to women entrepreneurs. See the full report here.
There's a new date for the upcoming St. Petersburg Power and Sailboat Show and a permanent calendar switch for the annual event. The next show will now take place from Jan. 14 to Jan. 17, 2021. Informa, which owns and operates the event, said the four-day show will now be held in January permanently. The boat show previously took place in early December. It's the largest and longest running boat show on the west coast of Florida, according to Informa, and is expected to include more than 400 power and sailboats, nearly 250 exhibitors and more than 60 cruising and sailing seminars and educational workshops. For more information about the St. Petersburg Power and Sailboat Show, visit the website: www.stpeteboatshow.com.
A new partnership between two well-known St. Petersburg marketing firms is designed to better target consumers while cutting marketing expenses. Direct mailer Valpak is partnering with Catalina, a technology company that collects and analyzes shopping trends, to help brands leverage point of sale loyalty insights, a news release said. The partnership follows a technology initiative Valpak unveiled earlier this month, called household select, that allows for in-zone targeting at the household level. That allowed Valpak to become the first shared mailer to allow advertisers to select only the households they want to reach while still achieving the postal efficiency of shared mail, the news release said. The partnership with Catalina will allow Valpak's envelopes to further be targeted based on known purchases, preferences and shopper behaviors.
The Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority will receive a $120,000 grant from the Department of Transportation to boost current efforts to drive innovation in financing, system design and service, Representative Charlie Crist announced Wednesday. This new funding follows a $1.2 million grant to help secure to upgrade the PSTA bus fleet, $21.8 million for the construction of the SunRunner Bus Rapid Transit Line and $40 million in CARES Act funding for Covid-19 response and recovery.
Clearwater High School, Carwise Middle School and the Pinellas Academy of Math and Science Charter each reported one student testing positive for Covid-19 Tuesday. At Clearwater High School, no quarantine orders were issued by the Department of Health as the student had not been on campus. At Carwise, seven classrooms received quarantine orders, while Pinellas Academy of Math and Science issued quarantine orders for four classrooms. As of Wednesday, eight students and three staff members have tested positive for Covid-19 at Pinellas County Schools.
The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity will submit the state's application to participate in the Lost Wages Assistance Program. This program provides additional temporary benefits for individuals who are eligible for reemployment assistance for weeks of unemployment ending on or after Aug. 1, 2020. Pending federal approval, the program will allow Florida to offer an additional $300 per week to eligible reemployment assistance claimants. To be eligible for this benefit, claimants must be currently receiving at least $100 in an approved reemployment assistance program weekly benefit amount and must certify that they are unemployed or partially unemployed due to the disruptions caused by Covid-19. If approved, payments will be retroactive to August 1, 2020. No additional application is required.
(ISC)² has named Clar Rosso as CEO, effective Oct. 1. Rosso succeeds outgoing CEO David Shearer at (ISC)², based in Clearwater and the world’s largest nonprofit membership association of certified cybersecurity professionals. Shearer will remain with (ISC)² in an advisory role through the end of the year to help with the transition and ensure the organization’s 2020 goals are accomplished, a news release said. Shearer will lead strategy and budget planning for 2021 after she joins. Rosso joins (ISC)² from the AICPA & CIMA, where she is executive vice president of engagement and learning innovation. Learn more about Rosso here.
St. Petersburg College has received a $1 million grant for the Tampa Bay Bridge to the Baccalaureate Alliance program to help increase diversity and support the advancement of Black, Hispanic and underrepresented communities in science, technology, engineering and mathematics degrees. The grant, awarded by the National Science Foundation, will allow SPC to fund activities focused on student recruitment and retention through advising, mentorship and peer connections. The funding will also be used for undergraduate research experiences, career exploration and professional development, activities which will be supported by a network of regional partners, including four-year institutions, research centers and STEM enterprises to help minority students graduate with STEM degrees and successfully step into the workforce.
Blue Star Families, a nonprofit organization that supports military families, has opened a chapter in Tampa. The chapter will work to support more than 100,000 locally-based military members and their families and Florida’s 1.5 million veterans by creating and utilizing virtual resources to connect them with their civilian neighbors, a news release said. The Tampa chapter is an extension of CSX Pride in Service, a commitment by Jacksonville-based transportation company CSX to honor and serve veterans, military, and first responders. Courtney Bilyeu is chapter director. To learn more about how to support or join Blue Star Families, click here.
St. Pete has been named the eighth most dog-friendly city in the U.S., according to a study by financial technology company SmartAsset. To conduct the study, SmartAsset analyzed data from the 100 largest cities across the country on metrics including how many dog parks, dog-friendly businesses and veterinary offices exist in each area. St. Pete, which finished two spots behind Tampa, earned high marks for its high concentration of pet stores and vet clinics, and it has the 15th-highest ratio of dog parks to residents, at 2.3 per 100,000 residents. The top city on the list was Tucson, Ariz.
Bridgette Heller has joined the board of directors of Newman's Own Inc., the food and beverage company that was created by the late actor Paul Newman. Heller is the co-founder and CEO of the Shirley Proctor Puller Foundation, a nonprofit focused on closing the achievement gap for underserved students in South St. Petersburg. She previously served as president of Nutricia, the specialized nutrition division of Danone and has led major businesses and business units at Merck Consumer Care, Johnson & Johnson, Chung's Gourmet Foods and Kraft Foods. Newman's Own Foundation continues Newman's commitment to use 100 percent of the royalties and profits that it receives from the sale of its food products for charitable purposes.
A Leon County judge has granted a motion for a temporary injunction against Commissioner Richard Corcoran’s executive order forcing all brick-and-mortar schools in Florida to reopen for in-person learning, ruling in favor of a legal challenge brought forward by the Florida Education Association in light of safety concerns related to Covid-19. In his ruling, Judge Charles Dodson wrote the order is "unconstitutional to the extent it arbitrarily disregards safety, denies local school boards decision making with respect to reopening brick-and-mortar schools and conditions funding on an approved reopening plan with a start date in August." The state is expected to appeal the ruling.
