Former University of South Florida standout Shane McClanahan will make his second consecutive Opening Day start for the Tampa Bay Rays. McClanahan also served as the American League’s starting pitcher in the 2022 All-Star Game. The Rays kick off the 2023 season at Tropicana Field Thursday, March 30, against the Detroit Tigers.
St. Petersburg’s St. Anthony’s Hospital is expanding its Emergency Center to better serve behavioral health patients. The facility will soon feature 13 dedicated rooms that hospital officials can also use for general emergencies according to need. The new construction project will also add more imaging space and expand the Emergency Center’s waiting room.
The latest Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission red tide update shows the harmful algal bloom continuing to dissipate around coastal Pinellas County. Concentrations of Karenia brevis, the organism that causes red tide, did not exceed low to medium concentration levels locally. In addition, the Red Tide Status map shows a drastic reduction in red tide south of Pinellas.
TIE Tampa Bay and TIECON Chair Michael Cross, along with the TIECON 2023 Committee, revealed the marquee TIECON event will take place Thursday, Sept. 28. The VIP event will take place the prior evening. TIE Tampa Bay will announce further details in the upcoming months.
University of Tampa President Ronald Vaughn, 76, announced Friday he is retiring at the end of the 2023 - 2024 academic school year. Vaughn, who was named president in 1995, said in a news release, “The University’s reputation has grown, and the physical campus has been transformed. I believe it’s a good time for the next leader to take over at this great university." The UT Board of Trustees will launch a nationwide search for his successor.
In celebration of Women's History Month, representatives from the National Collaboration for Women's History Sites unveiled the St. Petersburg National Votes for Women Trail historic marker Friday on the southeast corner of Central Avenue and 6th Street. The speakers included Nancy Hewitt, a professor Emerita at Rutgers University, and Judith Wellman, a professor at the State University of New York, and City Council Vice Chair Deborah Figgs-Sanders who presented a proclamation on behalf of Mayor Ken Welch. William Straub, who owned the St. Petersburg Times and served as its editor, was a supporter of Women's Suffrage.
Thanks to former Congressman Charlie Crist, BayCare has received $963,260 in federal funding to expand its Healthcare Workforce Development program throughout Pinellas County. Staffing shortages continue plaguing the healthcare industry, and the organization expects to train 30 additional practical nurses, 120 patient care technicians and 12 first-year registered nurse students. The federal dollars stem from a Community Project Funding appropriation.
Andy Hafer will share his entrepreneurial expertise with students and the surrounding community at the University of South Florida. He successfully launched and exited multiple companies, co-founded Synapse Florida and was recently named executive director of the Muma College of Business’ Center for Entrepreneurship. Hafer earned his Ph.D. in business administration with an emphasis on entrepreneurship at USF and later served as an adjunct professor.
Full-service construction firm Frampton Construction Company, which has offices in the Carolinas, has expanded its operations with the opening of a new Tampa office. The local office, located at 4300 West Cypress St., Suite 200, marks the company’s third location. The company is working on construction projects throughout the state in Ocala, Lutz and Lakeland. Senior Project Manager Kyle Shank will lead the company’s Tampa operations, according to a news release.
Mikhail Mansion, artist and Chief Technology Officer at Fairgrounds, has been named this year's Artist Laureate by Creative Pinellas, the umbrella arts support group. Also named a 2023 Professional Art Grant recipient, Mansion will receive a total of $10,000. The other 2023 grant recipients are Elizabeth Barenis, Christina Bertsos, Courtney Clute, Mark Feinman, Shawn Dell Joyce, Anna Kate Mackle, Eric MacNeill, Jabari Reed-Diop (aka iBOMS) and Andee Scott. Each will receive $5,000.
Texas-based home goods retailer Tuesday Morning is closing many of its stores across the U.S., including stores in St. Petersburg, Seminole and Clearwater. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in mid-February to "focus on optimizing its store footprint and focusing on its core and heritage markets.” The full list of store closings can be found here.
Scooter’s Coffee, an Omaha, Nebraska-based chain, will have a new location in Pinellas Park that will be among the first of its shops in Tampa Bay. A stormwater permit was filed for the development of a 664-square-foot Scooter's Coffee drive-thru site on a 0.23-acre parcel at 4672 Park Blvd. The plans were filed on behalf of Bean There Done That LLC, which is connected to Angela Fulks and Bley Igor, a senior pre-development manager at Scooter's Coffee Eastern U.S. franchise division. Another Scooter's Coffee shop is currently under construction at 9299 4th St. North in St. Petersburg.
