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APRIL 21, 2021
Road projects get extra funding
By B.C. Manion bcmanion@lakerlutznews.com
The Pasco Metropolitan Planning Organization has approved changes to the fiscal year 2020-2021 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) to include $6,161,504 in additional spending. The money will be used to support these improvement projects:
• U.S. 98, from U.S. 301 South to U.S. 301 North • U.S. 98/State Road 35/State Road 700, from the Polk County Line/County Road 54 to Old Lakeland Highway • U.S. 301, from U.S. 98 to the Hernando County line The Florida Department of Transportation, which provided the additional funding, said the projects are
designed to support economic development through the improved movement of goods, to provide better access to transportation facilities and major activity centers and to enhance safety, by reducing fatal and serious crashes. The amendments to the Transportation Improvement Program will add preliminary See FUNDING, page 9A
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KELLI CARMACK
Barbecue and blues are a tasty combo at Zephyrhills festival
with ka at tie & kel lli
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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LOC AL W ILDLLIFE IFE CAL WILD 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.
STEFFA ANIE BURLINGAM ME/STAFF PHOTO
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The LAKER WESLEY CHAPEL/NEW TAMPA EDITION
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FEBRUARY 3, 2016
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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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18920 N. Dale Mabry Hwy Ste 101 Lutz, FL (Corner of Sunlake & Dale Mabry)
101 18920 N. Dale Mabry Hwy Ste Lutz, FL (Corner of Sunlake & Dale Mabry)
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FLORIDA STRAWBERRY FESTIVAL
EDITION
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
FREE ADMISSION KATHY STEELE/STAFF PHOTOS
©
WESLEY CHAPEL/NEW TAMPA
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
KATHY STEELE/STAFF PHOTO
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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 Here’s an easy some food for thought way to launch a
book club, for free
By B.C. Manion bcmanion@lakerlutznews.com
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,
Maybe you’ve been interested in starting a book club, but didn’t know how. Or, maybe it’s been a desire — but seemed to be too expensive. Maybe you like the idea, but can’t decide what books to read. Or, perhaps you already have a book club, but could benefit from a single source of books that you can borrow, instead of buying. If any of those situations applies to you, you’re in luck. The Pasco County Library System has Book Club Kits designed to make it easy for people to run their own book clubs. The Pasco County Library System has been operating book clubs at some of its branches for years and also works with community book clubs, said Angelo Liranzo, regional branch manager for the Hugh Embry Branch Library, in Dade City. He explained how the system’s relatively new book club kit service works. Patrons simply put in a request for a book club kit and use their library card to check it out, Liranzo said. Each kit has up to 15 books.
See AWARD, page 9A
See BOOK, 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.