Bobby Finke stunned swimming fans around the world when he came from the middle of the pack of swimmers in the men’s 800-meter freestyle race to capture an Olympic gold medal in a final, thrilling sprint at the end. He went on to repeat the breathtaking, gold-medal-winning finish for the men’s 1,500-meter freestyle race a few days later. The 21-year-old Clearwater native who grew up swimming at North Shore Aquatic Complex has since been called the greatest long-distance swimmer in the world.

Even his journey home was memorable. While connecting through Newark airport, Bobby’s carry-on luggage triggered a security alert with the TSA.… Read More

This year is the Diamond Jubilee of the St. Petersburg-Takamatsu, Japan, Sister City Partnership. Sixty years ago, some in St. Petersburg were not all that enthused about becoming a Sister City with any Japanese city. 1961 was only sixteen years after the end of World War II. Many still had bitter memories of Japan from the war. On the other hand, Takamatsu had bitter memories as well, especially dating from July 4, 1945, when about 80% of Takamatsu was destroyed by US bombing.

The Sister Cities Program was founded by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956. Eisenhower envisioned a network of sister cities that would be a “champion for peace and prosperity by fostering bonds between people from different communities around the world.”… Read More

Disgraced ex-police detective Jane Byrne is on the run. After surviving a brutal excessive-force civil lawsuit that scarred her with PTSD, she blows into New Orleans on her Ducati motorcycle looking for a fresh start, never expecting to uncover a hate-crime serial killer targeting NOLA’s inclusive LGBTQ community.

After reading this description of the fictional crime thriller, Love Power, I’m intrigued to meet the author, Martha Reed, who lives in Crescent Heights and retired last year as a senior project consultant for a local financial services firm.

It’s hard to imagine working in the financial world by day and writing mystery and crime fiction by night.… Read More

Eric Swanson waited for his wife Heather Graeme at the VA hospital where he was being seen for high blood pressure. After an unrelated Urgent Care visit out of town, he was advised to have his blood pressure checked by his hometown physician, as it seemed the medication he was previously prescribed was no longer adequate. When Heather entered the room, Eric’s eyes uncharacteristically welled with tears when he saw her. He immediately blurted out, “I have PKD.” At that time, she didn’t know what it was, or how it would change their lives forever. PKD is short for polycystic kidney disease.… Read More

Summer in the Old Northeast: the shouts of kids splashing in swimming pools, the howl of leaf blowers, the hum of mosquitoes, and the song of the ice cream truck – warbled by the humid air. In summer, there’s plenty of parking on Beach Drive and you don’t need a reservation. But a lot of our neighbors beat the heat by disappearing north. A few years ago, we decided to join the club.

It wasn’t retirement that afforded my family the chance to spend summers in a cooler climate. Our life changed five years ago, when I spent much of the summer of 2016 hospitalized from a series of major medical events.… Read More

Robert (Bob) L. Ulrich served as mayor of St. Petersburg from 1987 to 1991. Ulrich, now 87, continues to be engaged in the city he loves. He is a zealous protector of the Downtown Waterfront Parks and an active member of the Waterfront Parks Foundation. One of his other passions is baseball. He closely follows the current negotiations over the future of the Rays. As mayor, he played a major role in bringing Major League Baseball to St. Petersburg.

At the time he became mayor, the city already had made the bold decision to build a stadium without obtaining any assurance of a baseball franchise to play in it.… Read More

Residents of St. Petersburg have long admired the iconic property at 2221 4th Street North with the English-cottage style architecture. Over the years, it’s housed many landmark institutions, including the popular French restaurant Rollande et Pierre and the Melting Pot, famous for its fondue. Local history buffs will also recall that from 1940 to 1959 the venue was The Earl Gresh Wood Parade Museum, a well-known Florida roadside attraction that showcased the wood carvings of the colorful St. Pete character Earl Gresh. Now, new owners plan to transform it once again, this time as a craft beer pub restaurant and brewery called Sesh.… Read More

From December to May, it’s not uncommon to see Hilda Neily with her easel and palette of paints on the sidewalk of one of Crescent Heights brick-paved streets. She’s an impressionist plein air painter in the style set forth by master impressionist painters like Monet and Renoir. Plein air is a French term for ‘in the open air.’

In fact, Neily invites anyone who enjoys painting outdoors to come and join her. “The Impressionists often painted together,” she says. “You can learn from each other, see something different.”

Neily has the distinction of being one of the most prominent painters today in the Cape School of Art tradition.… Read More

There are a variety of interest groups in our city. These include the St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce, St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership, Pinellas Realtor Organization, Sierra Club, NAACP, Waterfront Parks Foundation and Preserve the ’Burg. Another important group is the Council of Neighborhood Associations, commonly known by its acronym ‘CONA.’

CONA’s mission is “to maintain its stature as a leading community organization for building a safe, high quality, and seamless city in order to meet the current and future needs of our diverse community. The vital role CONA plays in strengthening and advocating for neighborhoods through our many initiatives and activities contributes to a city of neighborhoods offering quality of life, and embracing mutual respect and appreciation among all people.”… Read More

Imagine getting paid for your hobby. Shore Acres resident John Satino does just that. He’s a car guy from way back in his childhood, hanging out in his stepdad’s garage, and later fixing cars needing a lot of work, which he bought from the ‘back lot’ of the local Chevy dealership and then sold for a profit. He was changing out engines and transmissions even before he had his driver’s license in his original state of Ohio. Since 1984, his car collection has been featured in numerous television and movie productions, sometimes generating a nice daily stipend, though clearly John would collect cars with or without the added attention.… Read More