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Jack Evans - Pinellas County Reporter
Jack Evans

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. Which projects could compete with Rays stadium for Pinellas tax dollars?
    Yesterday• Pinellas
    BayCare Ballpark is the spring training facility for the Philadelphia Phillies. The organization has started pitching local officials on a revamped baseball complex — one of the projects that could compete for the same pot of tourist tax dollars likely to be sought for a new Tampa Bay Rays stadium.
  2. Pinellas courts new ally in beach erosion battle: the White House
    Mar. 17• Pinellas
    From left, Pinellas County Commission Chairperson Janet Long, Indian Rocks Beach Mayor Cookie Kennedy, White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs Director Julie Chavez Rodriguez, Pinellas County Public Works Director Kelli Levy and Pinellas County Intergovernmental Liaison Brian Lowack. The group met March 6 at the White House as Pinellas County seeks help in a stalemate with the Army Corps of Engineers over beach renourishment policy.
  3. Here are the Pinellas County municipal election results
    Mar. 15• Pinellas
    Voters in several Pinellas County municipalities had ballot decisions to make on Tuesday. Check here for results.
  5. In Pinellas, industrial land could yield to more mixed use, including housing
    Mar. 14• Pinellas
    Pinellas County Commissioner Dave Eggers speaks during a board meeting in February 2022. Eggers was one of several public officials on an advisory committee for a recent study that suggests changes to the county's industrial land-use policies to make it more flexible what can be built on them.
  6. Was Pinellas prepared for Hurricane Ian? Three takeaways from a county report.
    Mar. 8• Pinellas
    Diego Tudor of Crystal Beach boards up the building that houses his business, M.A.S. Superior Service, on Sept. 26 in Palm Harbor as Hurricane Ian approaches the Tampa Bay Area. A new report from the county emphasizes the low numbers of residents who took advantage of county services such as shelters, help lines and sandbags as the storm approached.
  7. Tampa City Council District 5: Henderson appears to beat Gudes in tight race
    Mar. 8• Tampa
    Gwendolyn Henderson, Tampa City Council District 5 candidate, smiles while sign waving on the corner in front of the St. James House of Prayer Episcopal, 2708 N Central, on Tuesday, March 7, 2023 in Tampa.
  8. Tampa City Council District 6 results: Miranda leads, but runoff likely
    Mar. 8• Tampa
    Tampa City Council member Charlie Miranda is seen during a council meeting Thursday, March 31, 2022 in Tampa.
  9. Florida Senate bill could limit local regulations on short-term rentals
    Mar. 6• Pinellas
    Florida Sen. Nick DiCeglie, then a state representative, is pictured in January 2022. DiCeglie, an Indian Rocks Beach Republican whose district includes many of Pinellas County's small beach communities, is leading the latest charge in Florida's battle over short-term rental regulations — a hot topic for many of his constituents.
  10. Pinellas eyes youth sports complex with big question: Where would it fit?
    Mar. 2• Pinellas
    The Toytown area, the site of a former landfill, is pictured in 2009. It's one of the only spots in Pinellas County that would be large enough to hold a youth sports complex of the sort the county is now considering.
  11. DeSantis purged Pinellas’ public housing board long before New College overhaul
    Feb. 24• Pinellas
    The Pinellas County Housing Authority.
  12. Bill to rename part of Pinellas highway after late Dunedin soldier advances
    Feb. 22• Pinellas
    In this 2014 photo, Kim Allison holds a picture of her son, Zachary Shannon, who was killed in Afghanistan along with his helicopter flight crew. A decade after his death, a pair of bills in the Florida legislature propose naming part of a Pinellas County highway in Shannon's honor.
  13. Pinellas funding vote called free-speech attack on Black radio station
    Feb. 20• St. Petersburg
    The Pan-African flag blows in the wind with the Black Power 96 radio station antenna visible in the background outside of the Uhuru House, 1245 18th Ave S. look at St. Pete's Black Power 96 radio station after a news conference at the Uhuru House, 1245 18th Ave S., on Monday, Feb. 20, 2023 in St. Petersburg. Last week, the Pinellas County Commission voted to revoke American Rescue Plan Act funding it had promised to the African People’s Education and Defense Fund for its radio station, St. Pete's Black Power 96.
  14. Pinellas pulls funding for Black St. Petersburg radio station affiliated with Uhurus
    Feb. 14• Pinellas
    Protesters gather outside the Uhuru House in St. Petersburg before a June 2020 march. On Tuesday, the Pinellas County Commission revoked funding it had previously approved for Black Power 96, the radio station that operates out of the house.
  15. Looking for love? It’s in these Pinellas County mailboxes.
    Feb. 14• Pinellas
    Daynie Cutler, 19, of Dunedin, pulls a notebook from one of her love letters mailboxes on Tuesday, Feb 7, 2023, across from Lane's Lemonade on the Pinellas Trail in Dunedin. Cutler said she was struggling after a breakup when she conceived the project: Setting up mailboxes in semi-secret places around Pinellas County, leaving notebooks and pens inside, and encouraging those who came upon the mailboxes to leave love letters.
  16. Bruce Tyndall, Pinellas politician whose career ended in drug scandal, dies
    Feb. 13• Pinellas
    Former Pinellas County Commissioner Bruce Tyndall, center, with his attorney, Paul Meissner, and wife, Barbara Tyndall, during a 1997 hearing in which he pleaded no contest to a cocaine possession charge. Tyndall, who served 18 years on the County Commission before a drug scandal ended his career, died this month at 86.
  17. Amid new landscape, Indian Rocks Beach revisits short-term rental regulations
    Feb. 6• Pinellas
    City Attorney Randy Mora attends a meeting addressing short-term rental policies at the Indian Rocks Beach City Commission chambers on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023, in Indian Rocks Beach.
  18. Here’s what they’re saying about Mayor Ken Welch’s pick to redevelop the Trop
    Jan. 30• St. Petersburg
    St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch gives his 2023 State of the City address on the steps of City Hall on Monday. During the speech, Welch announced he'd be backing a plan by the Tampa Bay Rays and global development firm Hines to redevelop the city's 86-acre Tropicana Field site.
  19. At triumphant State of the City, Welch makes up for lost inauguration
    Jan. 30• St. Petersburg
    St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch walks from City Hall to give his 2023 State of the City address Monday.
  20. Pinellas nonprofit’s financial chief got, kept job amid fraud investigation
    Jan. 30• Crime
    Wendy Merson is accused of scheming to defraud Windmoor Healthcare of Clearwater, where she worked as chief executive officer from 2006-2018. Merson was more recently the chief financial officer at Pinellas County nonprofit Directions for Living.
  21. Pinellas’ big mental health connection plans coming soon, officials say
    Jan. 26• Pinellas
    Pinellas County commissioner Kathleen Peters, pictured during a commission meeting in 2022, has been among the officials pushing for improvements to the local mental healthcare system. Some of those — including a call-center program that aims to make it easier for those in need to get appointments — are close to fruition.
  22. Pinellas considers clean-energy loan program to entice affordable housing
    Jan. 20• Pinellas
    Solar panels purchased through the Property Assessed Clean Energy program are shown in Ruskin in 2019. Pinellas County, unlike some others in Tampa Bay, has never had a much-decried residential program, but commissioners are considering whether expanding its commercial program would be a boon to affordable housing.
  23. Pinellas County will explore East Lake Road overhaul
    Jan. 18• Pinellas
    Cyclists cross East Lake Road at Keystone Road as traffic piles up northbound Wednesday in Palm Harbor.
  24. Chris Latvala works for Pinellas now, but won’t push for home rule
    Jan. 14• Pinellas
    Pinellas County commissioner Chris Latvala speaks after being sworn into office in November. Latvala, one of the commission's newest members, said this week he'll vote against the county's legislative priorities because of a framework that supports home rule and the full funding of an affordable housing trust fund.