A new cruise port proposal is emerging near Tampa Bay, sparking early debate. The developers say the privately funded terminal would support tourism and accommodate larger ships. Environmental advocates, however, warn about potential impacts on nearby waters and wildlife, including manatees, those porky “sea potatoes of Florida.”
St. Petersburg has seen its share of strange headlines. Sand sculpture festivals. Giant ducks. Florida Man doing Florida Man things. But on January 17, 2020, the city briefly added something new to the lore: a real-life, luxury-condo version of a Batman origin story starring Scott Swift.
Downtown Clearwater’s Coachman Park has a new resident that’s impossible to miss: a 61-foot-tall inflatable giant billed as the world’s largest rubber duck, and visitors aren’t just quacking up — they’re flocking in.
In early September 2025, Treasure Island made headlines for all the wrong reasons when District 3 Commissioner Arthur Czyszczon sent a series of bizarre, late-night text messages to a constituent using his city-issued phone.
December brings a full schedule of markets, festivals, parades, and seasonal celebrations across St. Pete Beach and surrounding coastal communities. From Corey Avenue’s holiday shopping nights to Treasure Island’s New Year’s Eve fireworks, there’s a wide range of events waiting for you to mark the end of the year.
They say there are five stages of grief. Santo Sardo found a sixth: GIVING. 18 years ago, he lost his younger sister, Stella, to breast cancer. She was just 37 years old, an age that still feels unfinished, a life paused mid-sentence. The kind of loss that doesn’t fade with time or soften at the edges.
