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Christopher Spata

Christopher Spata

Culture Reporter at Tampa Bay Times

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Covering topics
  • Entertainment
  • Local News
Languages
  • English
Influence score
50
Media Database
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Christopher Spata
tampabay.com

Tampa's 'dead' University Mall attracts fans nostalgic for the 90s - Tampa Bay Times

At the transforming University Mall near USF, some still shop and work, while others come for the vibes.
tampabay.com

What are Florida State Fair carnival jobs like in 2023? Lots of tra...

Carnival life in 2023 is mostly different than the old days, but in a few ways it’s the same.
tampabay.com

New York City's Naked Cowboy spotted in Tampa - Tampa Bay Times

Robert Burck said he plans to return to Lykes Gaslight Square Park.
tampabay.com

With inflation, what's happening at a Florida pawn shop? - Tampa Ba...

The “Pawn Stars” are coming to Tampa Bay, but what’s the reality of being a pawnbroker?
tampabay.com

Move to Florida under DeSantis? Expect texts from back home on gato...

Josh Perry was going about his day as a retail store manager in St. Augustine when an Instagram message from his sister in Maryland pinged his phone.“Blink once if you’re OK, twice if you’re not,” she wrote, before sharing a post about a new Florida health care law. Perry, 41, has become used to such messages, which he described as a mixture of genuine concern and humorous needling from people back home who don’t quite understand why he moved to Florida. (Perry and his wife, alienated by Florida…
tampabay.com

Hurricane Idalia damage creates two Tampa Bay realities: Luck and ....

TARPON SPRINGS — At the very tip of a peninsula on the far edge of Pinellas County, just past the mansions with their private docks, sits a small mobile home park renting lots for under $500 a month.Chesapeake Point is the dream of panoramic waterfront sunsets made accessible to a tightknit community of mostly retirees who on normal days play cards, share beers and marvel at the passing dolphins.After days of watching Hurricane Idalia’s approach on TV from Michigan, where she spends most of the…
tampabay.com

Festivus 2023: When we publish your grievances and complaints - Tam...

Festivus 2023 is coming. The “fictional” holiday that entered culture 26 years ago via a classic “Seinfeld” episode returns in December, meaning it’s time for the Eighth Annual Tampa Bay Times Airing of Grievances.It’s your chance to gripe and complain from anywhere in the world about ways you’ve been annoyed this year. Your most petty peeves about people, businesses, sports teams, your job, your pets — whatever — could be published in the Tampa Bay Times. Examples of past year’s funniest reader…

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tampabay.com

Best Christmas light display in Tampa Bay competes on 'Great ... - ...

A Hillsborough County family known for their over-the-top Christmas lights display will compete for a $50,000 prize on the 11th season of reality-competition series “The Great Christmas Light Fight” this December.Audra and Rodney Burton and their home at 2014 Sydney Road in Valrico will appear on the Sunday, Dec. 10, episode set to air at 10 p.m. on ABC.The series, in which displays are judged by the novel use of lights, overall design and Christmas spirit, generally films episodes a year in adv…
tampabay.com

Christmas light displays in Tampa, St. Pete: What's the electric bi...

It’s hard to put a price on the joy of seeing Christmas lights illuminate our local neighborhoods. We asked people to do it anyway — by sharing their electric bills with us.Brian Reitmeyer, whose annual Christmas display at 960 Valley View Circle in Palm Harbor features about 12,000 lights, said he’s used to it. “It’s the No. 1 question we get.”Some people feel let down when he says his lights only add around $15 to his monthly bills, which came to $253 and $324 last November and December.Such i…
tampabay.com

Ron DeSantis jokes fill Fallon, Colbert and Kimmel opening monologu...

Ron DeSantis’ eight-month presidential campaign never spawned Donald Trump levels of comedy material — few people ever have — but by dropping out on Sunday, DeSantis finally dominated Monday’s late-night TV jokes.“The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” and “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” both led their opening monologues with DeSantis. “Jimmy Kimmel Live” went there after discussing heavy rain in Los Angeles and “The Bachelor,” and Seth Meyers devoted his entire “A Closer Look” segment to…
tampabay.com

Tampa council approves $14 million to settle wrongful conviction la...

TAMPA — The Tampa City Council unanimously passed a resolution Thursday awarding $14 million to settle a lawsuit brought by Robert DuBoise, who spent 37 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of a 1983 murder.New DNA testing in 2020 indicated two other men with no connection to DuBoise were responsible for the murder of 19-year-old Barbara Grams. DuBoise, now 59, was freed soon after.A year later, DuBoise filed a federal lawsuit against the city, the retired police detectives who inves…