Lauren Peace

The goal is to educate parents in Hillsborough and other counties about how to keep babies safe while sleeping.

The singer partnered with the organization to raise money for fighting food insecurity the day after groundbreaking at the site of a new headquarters.

Volunteers and staff at the women’s health center are now asking the City Council for help.

Florida’s governor has proposed stripping funding for diversity and inclusion; Black students refuse to be erased.

Students at Florida’s only public historically Black university respond to proposed changes.

ST. PETERSBURG — The Tampa Bay Rays are expected to announce plans Tuesday for a long-awaited deal to redevelop 86-acres of downtown real estate where the current baseball stadium sits.The project, estimated to cost at least $1.2 billion, promises to bring a state-of-the-art stadium experience to a fanbase that responded this year to support a team with the best home record in Major League Baseball.But this deal is about more than baseball. Rather, it presents an opportunity to make good on brok…

Editor’s note: This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know is considering suicide, help is available. You can call or text 988 to be connected to the suicide & crisis helpline . Additional resources are listed at the bottom of this story. Arthur Schnurpel’s daughter heard it in his voice. Not his usual soft-spoken tenor, but something different — inconsolable.Three days earlier, Hurricane Ian had made landfall in Lee County. Walls of water crashed into coastal homes, t…

From the second-story porch of the Palm Harbor Inn, Jennifer Spencer leaned back in a folding chair and watched as her 5-year-old granddaughter plunged a wood chip into a sun-dried cockroach.“Ellie!” Jennifer gasped. “Really?”Crouched low on two bare, dirt-covered feet, Ellie dipped her nose toward the concrete.Her brown curls hung loose in her face, but the kindergartner kept the focus of a surgeon. Here on the walkway outside Room 218, there were plenty of pesty patients to practice on.Ellie p…

Two people were arrested on Friday after a Nardo Wick fan was beaten while trying to get a photo with the rapper outside of Tampa’s Club Skye, according to Tampa police.Zachary Benton, 34, and a 15-year-old turned themselves in to police on Friday, according to the Tampa Police Department. Each was charged with felony battery. The 15-year-old was also charged with being a minor in possession of a firearm while wearing a mask. The Tampa Bay Times is not naming the 15-year-old because of his age.T…

Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo has added a $1.6 million Pinellas County home to his name, according to records filed with the county.The three-story house in South Pasadena features four bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms, with 360-degree views of the surrounding water and a heated pool. The lot is more than 7,000 square feet, according to the listing on Realtor.com. The purchase was first reported by Florida Politics on Saturday.There’s no record that Ladapo has applied for a homestead exemption…

Nina Shand couldn’t stay awake.She had taken afternoon naps since she was a teenager to accommodate her “work hard, play hard” attitude, but when she was in her mid-20s the sleepiness became more severe.Menial computer tasks put her to sleep, and a 20-minute drive across St. Petersburg brought on a drowsiness so intense that her eyelids would flutter, forcing her to pull over. She knew something was really wrong when she no longer felt safe behind the wheel.In 2021, she received a diagnosis: nar…

Julie Adair was in need of a volunteer sniffer.It was March 2022, and the amateur candle-maker wanted someone to test her work — not just praise her, but critique how far the scent traveled and whether the fragrances were balanced.“Feedback on what you like and don’t would be very welcome,” she wrote in a Dunedin Facebook group.Kelli Hart, a single mom and lover of candles, reckoned she had the nose for the job.Adair, now 42, left the candles outside in a bag to pick up.Over two months, the wome…

Julie Adair was in need of a volunteer sniffer.It was March 2022, and the amateur candle-maker wanted someone to test her work — not just praise her, but critique how far the scent traveled and whether the fragrances were balanced.“Feedback on what you like and don’t would be very welcome,” she wrote in a Dunedin Facebook group.Kelli Hart, a single mom and lover of candles, reckoned she had the nose for the job.Adair, now 42, left the candles outside in a bag to pick up.Over two months, the wome…

A dense fog advisory will go into effect in the Tampa Bay area on Monday evening, according to the National Weather Service.Fog is expected to start forming about 10 p.m. and linger into Tuesday. It should clear up by mid-morning, according to a weather service advisory.Commuters should be prepared for poor visibility on the roads, said Austen Flannery, a meteorologist with the weather service’s Tampa Bay office. Flannery said drivers should allow extra time for their commutes, slow down when dr…

Less than 24 hours after Taylor Swift surprised fans with the announcement of her forthcoming 11th studio album during an acceptance speech at the Grammys, a social media share of the tracklist has Sunshine State residents reeling.The album — titled “THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT” — will include a track titled “Florida!!!” featuring English artist Florence & The Machine.Swift announced her newest era when accepting the Grammy for best pop vocal album on Feb. 4.The announcement came as a surprise…

Pinellas Park police detectives have charged a man with murder who they say sold fentanyl to two people who died of drug overdoses in April 2022.James Peoples III, 33, faces two counts of first-degree murder, police said, in connection with the deaths of two Irish men: Luke Comiskey, 31, and Kane Mitchell, 32. Comiskey and Mitchell were found dead on April 23, 2022 in their apartment on Grand Avenue, authorities said. “The devastating consequences of fentanyl abuse are clear in this heartbreakin…

Hillsborough deputies arrested a man wanted by the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office in the killings of two people near Largo, authorities said Saturday.James McKinley Barber Jr., 28, is facing two charges of first-degree murder, deputies said, connected to an investigation at 7981 Smoketree Court in Pinellas County.The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office had issued a statement Friday night asking for help in locating Barber.Deputies did not immediately provide information about the victims or furth…

Ed Pena has heard it dozens of times.On a Saturday at the soccer field, amid the sounds of whistles and cheers and cleats thumping mud ― there comes an F-bomb sailing through the air, aimed directly at him.“I’ve been cursed out, I’ve had my car keyed,” Pena said. “It didn’t used to be this way.”As one of Florida’s longest-tenured soccer officials, he’s seen it all: Parents shouting profanities at players, fueled by thermoses full of alcohol. Coaches chasing officials to their vehicles, spitting…

It’s a rite of passage in Florida.You’re out at the park with your friends, ooh-ing and aah-ing over a brood of ducklings when an egret swoops in and snatches one like a Dorito.Chomp, Chomp! It’s gone. You shriek.Now — nature lovers be warned — it’s the little alligators’ turn.At preserves and swampy parks around Tampa Bay, dozens of juvenile crocodilians, likely born last summer, are attracting the attention of binocular-clad spectators.At Boyd Hill in St. Petersburg, they lie in shallow waters…

Larry Gesick couldn’t hear his alarm, so when it went off at 5 a.m., his wife nudged him awake. A half hour later, he was out the door — green polo tucked in, lunch cooler in hand.While neighbors slept, Gesick ambled to his car, guided by street lamps and moonlight.He is 77 years old, a Vietnam veteran and a great-grandfather to two. He’s also part of the fastest growing age group in the labor force: people 75 and older.On that early morning in March, he was on his way to Publix for work.America…