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Jack Evans - Pinellas County Reporter

Pinellas County Reporter

Nothing excites me more than finding and telling a compelling, human story that illustrates a complicated issue. If you've got tips or story ideas, I want to hear them. I grew up in Tennessee, went to college at Indiana University and started at the Times shortly after graduating in spring 2018, and I love Florida and its idiosyncrasies (except the 90-degree October days). When I'm not at work, I write songs and spend too much time on Twitter. Let's talk about books and what new (or old) music you're listening to.

  1. Riders watch the SunRunner, the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority's rapid bus line, approach during its maiden voyage in 2022. A bill that would have restructured the agency's board of directors died in the state legislature Thursday.
  2. Pinellas County Administrator Barry Burton, pictured in 2022, told county commissioners Tuesday that he has no timeline for a discussion or vote on a deal for a new Tampa Bay Rays stadium.
  3. Construction continues for the Gateway Expressway Project near Ulmerton Road and Roosevelt Boulevard intersection.
  4. The Sirata Beach Resort, pictured in 2019, has been the subject of a contentious redevelopment plan. St. Pete Beach city commissioners on Tuesday approved a permit that will allow that plan to move forward.
  5. St. Pete Beach Mayor Adrian Petrila, shown at a City Commission meeting in December, suggested after 2 a.m. Thursday that a final vote on a controversial beachfront resort redevelopment be postponed to next Tuesday.
  6. St. Pete Beach Mayor Adrian Petrila, shown during a December meeting, has been asked to recuse himself from a vote Wednesday on whether the city should grant a permit that would allow the development of two new hotels flanking the Sirata Beach Resort.
  7. Visitors tour the boardwalk at John's Pass Village in November 2022. Pinellas County commissioners on Tuesday approved a plan that would formally allow higher-density development at the tourism draw, one of the last steps in resolving a longstanding land-use conflict between the county and Madeira Beach.
  8. Gary Greene, left, and Lora Greene, of Rossville, Ga., are hounded for fish by a great blue heron while fishing Tuesday at the Fort De Soto Park Campground in Tierra Verde.
  9. Coca-Cola's Dunedin plant will shut down at the end of May, nearly 2½ years after an initial closing date announced in 2020, the company said last week. It's been a producer of juice and jobs since the 1940s and a connection to the city’s bygone era as a citrus powerhouse.
  10. John's Pass Village, one of Pinellas County's biggest tourist attractions, has for years faced an existential threat based on planning discrepancies between the county and Madeira Beach. A plan to rectify the problem goes to county commissioners Tuesday, but it still faces opposition from those who fear it'll open the door for dense development.
  11. Pinellas organizer for Faith in Florida, Dylan Dames, speaks during a September news conference on the steps of St. Petersburg City Hall. The group has been a vocal critic of the proposed ballpark redevelopment project and is now working with the Southern Poverty Law Center.
  12. A trash truck crosses the bridge at Crosswinds Drive on Jan. 23, in Palm Harbor, where construction materials remain at the site 35 months after the bridge’s construction was started. On Tuesday, Pinellas County commissioners voted to terminate the county's contract with American Empire Builders, which was responsible for the project.
  13. A trash truck crosses the bridge at Crosswinds Drive on Jan. 23, 2023, in Palm Harbor, where construction materials remain at the site 35 months after the bridge’s construction started.
  14. Riders await the maiden voyage of the SunRunner in St. Petersburg in October 2022. The rapid bus line, during its first year, was the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority's highest-ridership line for much of 2023. But ridership has dropped sharply since fares were added to the once-free route in October.
  15. Wendy Merson pleaded guilty on Friday to scheming to defraud Windmoor Healthcare, a Pinellas Park clinic where she served as chief executive officer from 2006 to 2018. She later worked as the chief financial officer at the healthcare nonprofit Directions for Living.
  16. Gary Gepfrey, 67, of Seminole walks down a path between eroded sand dunes along Indian Rocks Beach near the 7th Street beach access point in August, just after Hurricane Idalia battered Pinellas County's beaches.
  17. A sign is displayed on a beach dune at Indian Rocks Beach in December. Though a similar storm last month battered the coast and eroded much of the recent dune-restoration work on Pinellas County beaches, Tuesday's system did relatively little damage.
  18. Ricky Butler (left) and Mike Haworth are facing off for one of two Pinellas Park City Council seats up for election in March. Butler is the son of Rick Butler, the seven-term council member vacating the seat, while Haworth is the city's former police chief and assistant city manager.
  19. The SunRunner heads west on a bus-and-turn lane on First Avenue North in 2022. Though the lanes have been a target of criticism from Republican politicians, recent studies by outside organizations show that, since they were added, crashes have dropped sharply while travel speeds have stayed much the same.
  20. Pinellas County Commissioner Rene Flowers gives a speech in St. Petersburg in 2022. Flowers, who was set to serve as the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority board's secretary-treasurer in 2024, was instead removed from the board by new County Commission chairperson Kathleen Peters.
  21. Rays president Brian Auld, right, and president Matt Silverman, second from right, at Tropicana Field in September. Auld said Thursday that the team will not change its name to the St. Petersburg Rays, despite recent discourse around the subject.
  22. The SunRunner stops in St. Pete Beach in August. After residents and officials from the city complained about homeless riders sleeping on the beach and panhandling, Sheriff Bob Gualtieri urged the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority to impose a fare on the previously free bus line. On Wednesday, he said the measure worked: Complaints have plummeted.
  23. The SunRunner — stopped in St. Pete Beach in August — has been touted as one of many recent successes by the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority. But Republican lawmakers have been critical of the agency, and a bill that would cut its board of directors by nearly a third will advance to the state Legislature after a vote by local lawmakers Wednesday.