MOFFITT AMBULATORY CENTER COMING TO SOUTH HILLSBOROUGH

By Brian Bokor

By Kathy L. Collins

scholarship form.”

As this is tax season, residents should know Hillsborough County Extension Service is ofering a link to free tax software to residents whose adjusted gross income on the tax return does not exceed $73,000. Leslie explained, “Adjusted gross income does not include things like tax deductible contributions to retirement plans or Health Savings Accounts. To receive the link, complete a short form at https://go.ufl.edu/taxreturn and provide your name, email and zip code. Once the form is completed, you will instantly be provided the free link to a robust tax software program. If requested, one-on-one assistance can be provided via web conference, telephone or email by providing a telephone number and a best time to contact.”

Once the form is completed, an IRS VITA-certified Extension agent will reach out to you to schedule an appointment. Please note, assistance is available on a first-come, first-serve basis.

The Hillsborough County Extension Office has been ofering services since 1914. Leslie said, “Classes are ofered to enable people to improve their financial situation and for the good of the community.”

The Hillsborough County Extension Ofce is located at 5339 County Rd. 579 in Sefner. To register and get more information, please visit www.hcflgov.net/extension.

Moftt Cancer Center has acquired 9 acres in Ruskin, ofering access to thousands more patients in need of cancer treatment. The new facility will be located at the southeast intersection of East College Avenue and 27th Street South in Ruskin, less than a mile from Interstate 75.

Moftt plans to build a 75,000-squarefoot facility, with construction starting in early 2023 and to be completed by late 2024. The 2-story facility will employ cutting-edge technology that covers the gamut of cancer treatment options, including screening and diagnostics, radiation oncology, biopsies, medical oncology, infusion, clinical trials and a pharmacy. Moftt is expecting to serve nearly 9,000 patients by year four and create 150 jobs by year five.

Included in the new building will be 16 clinical examination rooms, 20 infusion bays (four private) and 10 blood draw labs. The radiation oncology department will ofer four exam rooms, along with two linear accelerator devices (LINACs) and a CT simulator to provide optimum setup accuracy for patients who will be receiving radiation therapy. A LINAC delivers high-energy X-rays or electrons to the region of the patient’s tumor.

The radiology department will have four

CTs, four MRIs, two mammography machines, one DEXA machine to measure bone density and one X-ray. Additionally, nuclear medical treatment will be ofered at the facility with a nuclear camera, also referred to a gamma camera, available on-site. Patients are injected with a gamma-ray-emitting substance that accumulates in the organ of interest, and a special camera records the gamma rays. It difers from a CT scan, which is usually a series of X-rays taken from diferent directions that are then assembled into a three-dimensional model of the subject in a computer.

“Moftt is building incredible momentum to expand our footprint and bring cancer care closer to where our patients live,” said Dr. Patrick Hwu, president and CEO of Moffitt, when asked about the new Ruskin location.

With locations at the University of South Florida, Wesley Chapel, International Plaza and Fowler Avenue, a presence in Southeastern Hillsborough County will allow local residents the care provided by Moftt without the hassle associated with the trip to other campuses, as some patients require daily treatment.

Moftt is also developing 775 acres in Pasco County, the largest expansion in the cancer center’s history. The multiyear, multiphase project will include about 16 million square feet of research lab, general ofce and clinical building space.

For information, reach Steve Blanchard, Moftt’s public relations account coordinator, at steve.blanchard@moftt.org.

Tampa Electric To Dismantle Two Chimneys At Big Bend Power Plant

Staf Report

GET THE DIRT: UF/IFAS HELPS IDENTIFY AND AVOID INVASIVE PLANTS

BY LYNN BARBER, FLORIDA-FRIENDLY LANDSCAPING™ AGENT

The skyline of Apollo Beach will change in the coming months, as Tampa Electric will remove two of the three chimneys at Big Bend Power Station.

“Big Bend’s chimneys have been landmarks in Apollo Beach for decades,” said Allan Williams, director of Big Bend Power Station. “This will dramatically change the landscape.”

The Big Bend Modernization project repowered Big Bend Unit 1 with stateof-the-art combined-cycle technology and eliminated coal as that unit’s fuel. The project is part of the company’s strategy to reduce carbon, and it will improve the land, water and air emissions at Big Bend as part of TECO’s legacy of environmental stewardship.

With the modernization project complete, removing the chimneys is part of a five-year plant dismantlement project. Preliminary work has begun, and the most visible progress will begin in May. The removal of the chimneys will be complete in the autumn.

The chimneys were built in the 1970s and served Big Bend Units 1, 2 and 3 for about five decades. Units 1 and 2 began operating in 1970 and ’73, and they shared a chimney. Unit 3 began operating in ’76 and will retire in April. An older chimney was removed in 2016.

The 500-foottall chimneys are made with an inner liner of brick and have an outer shell of poured reinforced concrete. They will be dismantled in pieces by a specialized team, beginning at the top. The large pieces of concrete will be removed from inside the structure.

Tampa Electric expects to recover 10 percent of construction costs through recycling and reselling some obsolete portions of the plant. Some metal will be recycled or sold as scrap; some equipment, such as pumps and motors, will be sold on the secondhand market. This is the first time Tampa Electric has recycled metals or components on such a large scale.

Big Bend’s Unit 4 remains in operation with natural gas or coal as its fuel, and its chimney will remain in use. In 2023, the company’s fuel mix is expected to be about 85 percent natural gas, nearly 10 percent solar and only 5 percent coal.

Tampa Electric, one of Florida’s largest investor-owned electric utilities, serves about 830,000 customers in West Central Florida. Tampa Electric is a subsidiary of Emera Inc., a geographically diverse energy and services company headquartered in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. For more information, visit www.tampaelectric.com.

Invasive plants can create havoc in your yard by displacing native vegetation. Their populations explode, with catastrophic efects. Those include displacing native and non-native adaptive plants and disrupting naturally balanced plant communities.

When our native and non-native adaptive plants are destroyed and replaced by invasive species, we encounter significant consequences. These include an aggressively hostile plant takeover, ecological problems such as habitat degradation or biodiversity loss, high management costs and significant impacts to recreational areas, which result in economic losses. We want to reduce the number of invasive plants invading your yard. To help, UF/IFAS developed the Assessment of Non-native Plants in Florida’s Natural Areas. This online resource, available at https://assessment.ifas.ufl.edu/, provides information about invasive plants and invasive plant potential around the state and those under caution in other areas.

Note that the status of a plant can change from being acceptable to being a high invasion risk based on the above criteria. One such plant, Liriope (common names: monkey grass, lily turf and border grass), has been determined to be invasive. In the newly published “Florida-Friendly Landscaping™ Guide to Plant Selection and Landscape Design,” this plant is no longer included.

Here are three of many of the ‘worst ofenders’ among invasive plants:

•Scientific name: Melaleuca quin-

Quenervia

Common name: Melaleuca, paper bark, punk tree. Prohibited in North, Central and South Florida. The only good thing about this tree is that the harvested byproduct is melaleuca mulch which has high termite resistance.

• Scientific name: Paederia foetida

Common name: Skunk vine.

Prohibited and high invasion risk in North, Central and South Florida. It has a foul smell (thus the name) and is extremely difcult to control. This plant can well be an unfortunate ‘gift’ from and to your neighbors. Vines can reach a length of 30 feet.

• Scientific name: Lantana strigocamara , Shrub Verbena.

Common name: Lantana. Invasive in North, Central and South Florida. All parts of this plant are toxic and have impacted livestock, pets and children, according to the Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants, University of Florida IFAS. There are non-invasive varieties. Look for those.

The assessment uses science-based tools to evaluate the risk of invasion by non-native species, new species that might arrive here and novel agricultural and horticultural varieties. The assessment, in conjunction with the UF/IFAS Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants and the UF/IFAS “Florida-Friendly Landscaping™ Guide to Plant Selection and Landscape Design,” can provide you with the information you need to make appropriate plant selections. Let’s get outside and garden!

For more information, contact Lynn Barber at labarber@ufl.edu.

While sports fans are usually most passionate about one sport, most sports fans love The Sandlot , a movie based on a group of neighborhood kids connecting through baseball.

The Sandlot resonates with them because of sports, the camaraderie of the kids, the nostalgia of the time and the plight of the characters.

What most people in our community don’t know is that Sandlot’s Tommy ‘Repeat’ Timmons graduated from Bloomingdale High School in 2001. Tommy is Bloomingdale’s Shane Obedzinski. He was born and raised in Brandon and owns Times Square Pizza in Bloomingdale Square with Charlie Jonathan.

This year is the 30th anniversary of The Sandlot . The movie premiered in April of 1993. Celebrations are being held all over the country this year, namely in Utah in August, where the movie was filmed. Shane will be there with his Sandlot co-stars.

Obedzinski’s acting career started at the age of 3 in a Kool-Aid commercial. He credits his mom, Peggy Lawson, for recognizing his potential and giving him the leeway to follow his heart. He turned 10 on the set of The Sandlot

“As I get older, I realize I was a part of something incredibly special,” Obedzinski said.

In The Sandlot , Babe Ruth said, “Remember, kid, there’s heroes and there’s

By Jane Owen

legends. Heroes get remembered, but legends never die. Follow your heart, kid, and you’ll never go wrong.”

Obedzinski puts his heart into all he does and loves living in Brandon. Our community is made up of hardworking people. Shane just happens to be a hardworking Bloomingdale business owner who was in a famous movie. He wouldn’t change anything.

“There’s not a lot of places in the world like Florida. There’s not a lot of places where you grow up and you still like it as much as you did when you were a kid. I’ve been lucky to travel my whole life, and there’s nowhere else I would rather be than this area of Florida,” Obedzinski said.

Obedzinski and Jonathan embody the sense of community portrayed in The Sandlot , as they support all things local. The pizzeria highlights artwork from Burns Middle School and Bloomingdale High School, and they donate pizzas weekly to Brandon Regional Hospital, welcome highlighting local artists and quite simply love connecting with customers on a personal level.

And great news for all Sandlot fans: A Sandlot television series based in the late 80s is set for next year with the movie’s players and their kids.

Times Square Pizza is located in Bloomingdale Square at 927 E. Bloomingdale Ave. in Brandon. For more information, visit https://tspizzaco.com/ or call 813-651-0122.