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APRIL 21, 2021
Hillsborough Schools plans deep cuts
By B.C. Manion bcmanion@lakerlutznews.com
Hillsborough County School Board members spent much of the day and evening of April 13 discussing the district’s need to make deep cuts to avoid losing financial control of the district. “Hard decisions have to be made to protect this organization,” Superintendent
Addison Davis told board members, and the public. If the district doesn’t reduce its expenses, the Florida Department of Education will take over, and the cuts it makes will be less surgical in nature, Davis said. The state will tell the district “what to do for every cent and dollar,” Davis said, essentially stripping the board and superintendent of their financial power.
Board members and Davis discussed the need to make more than $100 million in cuts during a board workshop in the morning and a board meeting in the evening. Davis said he came to Hillsborough County with the mission of improving the district’s academic performance. His 13-month tenure in the district, howSee CUTS, page 9A
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Barbecue and blues are a tasty combo at Zephyrhills festival
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Tampa singer/songwriter Damon Fowler was one of the headlining acts at the 11th annual Pigz in Z’Hills BBQ & Blues Festival in Zephyrhills. Check out our social media team’s video recap of this event by heading over to LakerLutzNews.com or Facebook.com/LakerLutzNews/videos. More photos, page 1B.
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What’s barbecue without the sauce? No need to find out — Southern Girls Gourmet Sauces provided plenty of choices for patrons at the 11th annual Pigz in Z’Hills BBQ & Blues Festival. Sisters-in-law and co-owners Jenny Bryan, left, and Renee Bryan from Lake County have been offering their products at the festival for six years.
Event-goers relaxed on the lawn and enjoyed some live blues from Damon Fowler. Other performers included Hector Anchondo, RJ Howson, Justin Headley, Rob Stoney, Ed Wright and Chuck Riley.
Award recipient lends New Lutz hospital some food for thought specializes in rehabilitation
By B.C. Manion bcmanion@lakerlutznews.com
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The LAKER WESLEY CHAPEL/NEW TAMPA EDITION
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FEBRUARY 3, 2016
The LAKER
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Auto Accident? Slip and Fall?
By Kathy Steele
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The site is located at the corner of of heading toward a construction start Magnolia Boulevard and Wesley Chapel Amici Plaza in spring with an opening likely Boulevard, which is also known as County ksteele@lakerlutznews.com by the end of 2016. Road 54. Pasco County records show a conceptual Pasco County is moving forward with acOwners of Amici Pizza & Deli are planthe plan with about 3,000 square feet for Road ning to build a new stand-alone restaurant, for quisition of right-of-way along County restaurant, and about 1,800 square feet 54 to prepare for the expansion of the twowith additional retail space, on Wesley retail. the lane road into a four-lane road at Chapel Boulevard. “We’d like to have our own building and 54 junction of State Road 56 and State Road The new restaurant is a short distance a bigger kitchen,” said Andrea Mannino. from the existing Amici restaurant in Grand No decisions have been made on the adSee PIZZA, page 13A Oaks Square, at Wesley Chapel and Pet Lane. ditional retail space, he said. Andrea and Josephine Mannino, are
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JANUARY 27, 2016
Pasco administrator to retire in
By Kathy Steele
ksteele@lakerlutznews.com
Pasco County Administrator Michele Baker expects to be very busy over the next year and a half. She’ll be crossing off a to-do list, one by one, before leaving in 2017 to go on a lengthy road trip with her husband. The couple will hit the road with their recreational vehicle and their motorcycles, on a tour of as many baseball parks and national parks as they can squeeze into a year. “That’s been our dream,” Baker said, so letting her contract lapse in July 2017 makes sense. But, don’t expect a lame duck administrator. “There’s no kicking back here,” Baker said.“This isn’t me slowing down. ” Baker has told Pasco County commissioners she won’t seek renewal of her current two-year contract, which makes her
2017
last day July 9, 2017. the jail and construction of new fire stations By then, Baker will • Relocating have worked 35 years central Pasco more government offices to in public service, 24 Baker also plans to fill vacancies for a of those years with few key leadership positions that remain, Pasco County. cluding an assistant county administrator infor Her to-do list, in public safety and administration. short form, includes: Progress has been made, Baker said, but • Completing mas- government services still could be more ter plans and updates customer-friendly. for storm water, solid A culture that was decades in the waste and tourism making is being changed, she said.“You don’t • Funding and building a diverging get to dia- turn a canoe.You’re turning mond road design to ease traffic congestion a ship.” Public service wasn’t Baker’s first at State Road 56 and Interstate 75 career choice. • Completing the State Road 56 extenOver the years she worked sion as a waitress, • Nurturing SunWest Park, the county’s flight attendant and a theater manager. She also served in the U.S.Air Force Reserve. fledgling aqua park Her undergraduate degree was in • Replacing and repairing aging busiinfra- ness administration. structure and roads damaged by the It wasn’t until she accepted a secretarial summer flooding • Making progress on the expansion of See RETIRE, page 11A Michele Baker
Kumquats reign supreme at area festival
By Kathy Steele
ksteele@lakerlutznews.com
®
Saturday, January 30, 2016 9 AM - 5 PM Historic Downtown Dade City
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Amici Pizza plans stand-alone location
Mark Pizzurro, Joe Traina and Peter Abreut
anticipate
Lakes in spring. opening their craft brewery in Land O’
I th
The first kumquat tree in St. Joseph took root more than 100 years ago, when C.J. Nathe planted it in his backyard. He added a few more, and soon he had small grove on an acre of fertile ground. a The kumquat king, as Nathe was later dubbed, transformed a quiet back road community into the Kumquat Capital of the World. An open house will take place on Jan. and Jan. 29 at the Kumquat Growers 28 pack- Margie Neuhofer and her i h h b dJ d
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Alex Sink’s resume is lengthy. She was Florida’s Chief Financial Officer, ran for governor in a tightly contested race with Rick Scott and was Bank of America’s Florida president for seven years. That just scratches the surface of Sink’s life in the private sector, government, education and nonprofits. She has extensive involvement on boards for such organizations as United Way Suncoast, Leadership Florida,Take Stock in Children, Hillsborough Education Foundation and the Nature Conservancy Florida Chapter. She served for 25 years as a trustee at Wake Forest University and is now a life trustee, and she serves as board chair of Tampa Bay Wave, a tech startup accelerator. The wide-ranging list of organizations she’s helped to shape, or guide or lead goes on and on. Her list of accolades for her contributions is lengthy, too, and recently, she added another one. The North Tampa Bay Chamber honored Sink with its Women’s Distinguished Leadership Award for 2021. The chamber had planned to honor Sink as the 2020 recipient of the award, but those plans were thwarted by the COVID19 pandemic. Instead of having a big celebration, as
By B.C. Manion bcmanion@lakerlutznews.com
planned, the event was called off and the chamber shifted gears. The organization still is holding its breakfast meetings remotely, via Zoom, but it wanted to honor Sink, just the same. So, the award was delivered to Sink, and she showed it off to chamber members via Zoom. “Haven’t we all had quite a year behind us?” Sink said, via Zoom. She went on to talk about the importance of chambers to their communities,
Encompass Health Rehabilitation Hospital of North Tampa — a 50-bed hospital specializing in helping people recover from illnesses and accidents — opened earlier this month at 3840 Atmore Grove Road in Lutz. “We are an inpatient rehab hospital,” said Chris Ballish, area business development director for the hospital, which is located in the general vicinity of Idlewild Baptist Church. The facility provides a hospital level of care for acute rehabilitation, Ballish said, noting patients must meet specific criteria to be admitted. For instance, they must require medical supervision by a physician and must be able to manage the recommended therapy. They also must require around-the-clock nursing availability, Ballish said. In general, the facility serves stroke patients, orthopedic patients, spinal cord patients, amputees, and patients with neurological disorders, he said. Encompass Health is a national company, with 139 locations. It has facilities in Spring Hill, Ocala and Altamonte Springs— but this is the compa-
See AWARD, page 9A
See HOSPITAL, page 9A
COURTESY OF NORTH TAMPA BAY CHAMBER
Alex Sink is widely known for her work as Florida’s Chief Financial Officer, for her role as a banking executive and for her work on myriad nonprofit boards. Recently, she added to her list of accolades when she received the North Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce’s Women’s Distinguished Leadership Award.