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Tampa Bay gas prices keep falling

 
Rinda
Rinda
Published Oct. 18, 2014

tAMPA bAY

Gas prices keep falling; some are under $3

Gas prices are falling all over the country, and Tampa Bay is following suit. The average gas price locally is $3.12 — below the national average of $3.15 and state average of $3.19, according to TampaGasPrices.com, a website run by GasBuddy.com. It's the cheapest gas the area has seen since 2011, said Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst at GasBuddy. "Tampa prices could drop to an average of close to $3 a gallon," DeHaan said. Some gas stations already are selling regular-grade fuel below $3 a gallon. A Citgo in Thonotosassa on U.S. 301 is offering regular at $2.79, the lowest price in the region, according to TampaGasPrices. "The distributor is selling to me cheap, so I sell cheap," said Gita Patel, manager at the station. "We sell 4,000 to 5,000 gallons of gas every day, because I'm the cheapest one right now."

St. Petersburg

Man accused of swiping toilet parts

Police have arrested a man they say destroyed toilets in fast-food restaurants across St. Petersburg as part of a metal recycling scheme. Brian Rinda, 28, allegedly stole flushing handles and pipes, then traded the brass parts for between $36 and $40 at the county recycling center. Sometimes he would cause as much as $1,000 in damage when he broke the toilets, according to St. Petersburg police reports. Authorities suspect Rinda in thefts from numerous locations in St. Petersburg. Detectives used records from the recycling center and surveillance video from the restaurants to identify Rinda, police said. He faces nine counts of theft.

Tampa

Two fired from ABC affiliate

Local ABC affiliate WFTS-Ch. 28 has fired news director Bill McFarland and assistant news director Michele Murray, said parent company E.W. Scripps. "Those two people are no longer with the company," said Scripps spokeswoman Valerie Miller, "but that's all we can say at this time." McFarland came to WFTS in 2012 after nine years at WABC-TV in New York, according to his LinkedIn profile. Murray arrived at the station in 2011 after two years at Fox affiliate WTXF in Philadelphia.

Grants' objective: Cut gun violence

The White House has been making money available to reduce gun violence since 2013, and now $7.5 million of it is on its way to Hillsborough County. The district was awarded two five-year grants under President Barack Obama's "Now Is The Time'' initiative. The first, a school climate transformation grant, will bolster a behavior-support program already widely used in the district. The second, Project PREVENT, deals with breaking the cycle of violence through strategies that include increasing access to mental health services.