Good morning. Happy MLK Day—which means city offices are closed, your Monday trash pickup moves to Tuesday, and you probably woke up questioning your life choices as you scraped frost off your windshield. (Okay, maybe not frost, but it was definitely jacket weather.) The high today is supposed to hit the low 60s, which in St. Pete terms means half of you will be in shorts by lunch and the other half will still be complaining it's freezing. There's no in-between. Lets get into todays newsletter (its a good one)

Here's one that'll make homeowners either cheer or cringe: Pinellas County Commissioner Chris Scherer wants to eliminate the requirement for permits before removing trees from your own property. He's calling it "government overreach"— fox13newsFOX 13 Tampa Bayand honestly, if you've ever waited weeks for approval to take down a dying oak, you probably get where he's coming from.

Commissioner Kathleen Peters is on board with the idea. fox13newsFOX 13 Tampa Bay The county was already planning to cap required trees at 15 per lot and slash the non-replanting fee from $479 to a flat $50. fox13news But Scherer apparently said "why stop there?"

Here's the catch: eliminating these permits would cut the county's Tree Bank fund revenue by about 60%—from roughly $300,000 down to $120,000. fox13news That fund helps plant trees elsewhere in the county. So we're trading individual property rights against community green space funding. The next commission meeting is Tuesday, January 20, fox13news where this will likely come up again.

Bottom line: Your chainsaw might be getting fewer restrictions soon, but environmental advocates won't be thrilled about it.

Plot twist in the never-ending Rays stadium saga: the team has settled on Hillsborough Community College's Dale Mabry campus as their first choice for a new ballpark. FOX 13 Tampa BayBusiness Observer We're talking 100 acres for a stadium and mixed-use development FOX 13 Tampa Bay that new CEO Ken Babby hopes to open by 2029. FOX 13 Tampa Bay

HCC's board of trustees will vote Tuesday, January 21 on whether to set aside the land. FOX 13 Tampa BayBusiness Observer Tampa Mayor Jane Castor is reportedly supportive, Tampa Bay Times and Babby isn't being shy about the price tag: "We're going to write a big check," he said, FOX 13 Tampa Bay though he emphasized they'll need a public-private partnership to make it work.

This comes while Tropicana Field sits with its freshly repaired roof (finally fixed after Hurricane Milton damage), and the Rays are still targeting an April 6 home opener. Meanwhile, over at the 86-acre Gas Plant district site downtown, developers have until February 3 to submit new proposals WFLA for what St. Petersburg Chamber President Chris Steinocher calls "only the biggest [project] ever."

Bottom line: The Rays might be Tampa-bound after all—but nothing's official until that HCC vote.

If you've been following Mayor Ken Welch's push to get South St. Pete residents into better-paying jobs, here's the update: City Council approved $6 million for a new workforce development program called St. Pete Works: EDGE (Employment & Development for a Growing Economy).

The initiative partners with St. Petersburg College and focuses specifically on residents in the South St. Pete Community Redevelopment Area. The training will target technical and construction trades— TBNweeklyexactly the kind of skills that'll be in demand if all these massive development projects actually break ground.

"Developing and maintaining a qualified and robust workforce is a top priority for my administration," Mayor Welch said. TBNweekly The program is expected to launch early TBNweekly this year.

Bottom line: Real money for real job training, focused on the neighborhoods that need it most. We'll see how it plays out.

🦆 That giant rubber duck in Clearwater is sticking around until January 26. "Mama Duck" is 61 feet tall FOX 13 Tampa Bay and 64 feet wide. Stpeteissupercool There's also a 10-foot baby duck named "Timmy" popping up at local businesses. Bay News 9 A "Duck 'n' Drive Jeep Invasion" is happening January 24 Stpeteissupercool if that's your thing.

⚽ The Rowdies basically have a new team. After missing the playoffs for the first time since 2018, Tampa Bay brought in 17 new players with only 5 returning. Coach Dominic Casciato said he wanted "guys that were a little bit younger, guys that were hungry." Season opens March 7. WTSP

⚾ Rays signed some promising international prospects—headlined by Dominican shortstop Victor Valdez, who got a $3.5 million bonus. MLB Evaluators are calling this one of the Rays' best international classes in years. Baseball America

🏛️ Florida's 2026 legislative session kicked off January 13. Key items on the agenda: property tax relief, possible elimination of school vaccine mandates, FOX 13 Tampa Bay and some lawmakers pushing to lower the gun purchase age to 18. Buckle up.

🌴 St. Pete Pride announced their 2026 parade theme: "Here Comes the Sun." WFLA Over 300,000 people attend annually, making it the largest Pride celebration in the Southeast. WFLA

🎉 39th Annual St. Pete MLK Parade - 11 AM to 2 PM Bay News 9wtsp.com along 1st Ave S (from 3rd St to 16th St). Bay News 9 One of the nation's longest-running MLK parades City of St. Petersburg featuring HBCU marching bands from Tuskegee and Alabama A&M, plus a historic NASCAR car from the Wendell Scott Foundation. Visit St Petersburg Clearwater Florida Free to spectators.

🎬 Sunshine City Film Festival Closing Celebration - Evening at Greenlight Cinema Lounge Kitchen. Final day of the 10th anniversary festival with awards ceremony and showcase of Bay area films.

🖼️ The Dalí Museum - Open 10 AM to 6 PM. Currently featuring the "Van Gogh Alive 360°" immersive experience in The Dalí Dome. Pinellas/Hillsborough residents get local rates.

🌡️ Cold Night Shelter - Open until 6 AM at multiple locations including Salvation Army and Unitarian Universalist Church in St. Pete. Bay News 9 PSTA providing free rides.

January 19, 1977 — Snow fell in St. Petersburg. Actual, real snow. Tampa recorded 0.2 inches (its only measurable snowfall after 1900), and Plant City got up to 2 inches. Photos from southern Pinellas County show residents building snowmen and having snowball fights—probably the only time that's ever happened here. Schools closed, businesses shut down, and longtime residents still talk about it nearly 50 years later.

The agricultural damage from the accompanying cold wave totaled about $350 million statewide (roughly $1.8 billion in today's dollars). But for most people who lived through it, the memory is pure magic—the one time Florida actually felt like winter.