Axios Tampa Bay

April 16, 2021
Welcome to Friday, friends.
- 🌦 High in the lower 80s, and a 30% chance of rain.
Correction: Abraham Lincoln died in 1865 — not 1856, as yesterday's newsletter suggested. We regret the mistake and we're thankful to the roughly 741 eagle-eyed readers who emailed to let us know.
- 🤿 Let's dive in.
Today's newsletter is 963 words, a 3.5-minute read.
1 big thing: 🏒 Spend a night in hockey heaven
Photo: Airbnb and Tampa Bay Lightning
Grab your billet sister. The defending world champion Tampa Bay Lightning is turning a luxury suite at Amalie Arena into an Airbnb. Like, you can sleep there. Overnight.
- Even cooler: The actual Stanley Cup will be there.
📆 Mark your calendar: One lucky fan, the first to book a reservation on Monday at noon, will pay $5,000 and can take five friends for a stay on April 24.
- Proceeds benefit the Lightning Foundation and the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay.
Extras include:
- Champagne during your own private happy hour.
- A five-course meal.
- Your own personalized player stall in the Lightning's locker room.
- Private skate time.
- A tour of Amalie Arena.
- Set off the Tesla coil, sound the goal siren and get up close to the pipe organ.
- A movie on the humongous Lightning Vision screen.

2. Tally Tally: New bills you might've overlooked
Waller Park’s Florida Heritage Fountain outside the Florida capitol in Tallahassee. Photo: Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
A bill to reclaim Florida’s used water — the so-called "toilet-to-tap" program — will head to Gov. Ron DeSantis' desk. If signed, Florida utility companies would have to submit plans by 2032 for cleaning and reusing water.
- In favor: Everyone. 118 yeas.
- Opposed: Zip.
Florida’s "no-fault" auto insurance system could soon go flat. After it quickly passed in the Senate, the House is poised to pass sweeping changes to the state’s automobile insurance laws, assigning fault in accidents and requiring every motorist to carry bodily injury coverage.
- In favor: So far, all but one senator.
- Opposed: Sen. Jeff Brandes (R-St. Petersburg), who told Times/Herald correspondent Lawrence Mower, "You can’t go home and look your constituents in the eye and say, 'This is going to lower your rates.'"
The "voter integrity" bill was scaled down in the Senate this week. Instead of banning drop boxes and requiring IDs for ballot drop-off, senators proposed more than 20 smaller changes to how mail ballots would be requested, examined and reported.
- In favor: Gov. Ron DeSantis, even though his own signature has been rejected on a ballot.
- Opposed: Sen. Randolph Bracy (D-Orlando) told Mower, "We are literally going to wipe millions of people off the rolls by requiring this."
The ban on trans athletes on high school and college girls sports teams passed Wednesday in the House with a 77-40 vote, followed by an eerie round of applause.
- It's not over: The bill is headed to the Senate.
3. Hot homes: 5 for sale, starting at $310K
Photo courtesy of Yareli Rodriguez
Whether you're looking for a historic bungalow or a Spanish-style villa, the roundup this week from Axios' Brianna Crane is filled with gems.
917 E. Crenshaw St. — $309,900
Why we love it: This 1920s Seminole Heights bungalow has an open floor plan, white kitchen, wood floors, and other thoughtful updates.
- Neighborhood: Seminole Heights
- Realtor: Yareli Rodriguez at Star Bay Realty Corp.
- Specs: 3 beds, 2 baths, 1,008 square feet
- Notable features: Curb appeal, painted brick fireplace, location.
4. The Pulp: And that's when all hell broke juice
Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios
💃 A renewed focus on dress code enforcement at Sarasota High School has prompted students and alumni to protest rules that they say are sexist. (Sarasota Herald-Tribune)
😷 Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran told school districts to amend their mask policies for the 2021-22 school year to make masks optional. (Sarasota Herald-Tribune)
- Here's how each school district feels about that, via Bay News 9.
👮♀️ Tampa police officer Richard Cloud was mysteriously killed in 1975; new information suggests he was killed for investigating organized crime for the feds. (Tampa Bay Times)
🚨 A pastor and a high school girls’ assistant basketball coach were among the 79 people arrested in a weeklong sex crime sting conducted by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office. (Tampa Bay Times)
🚴♂️ Bicyclists will soon have an idyllic spot in Dade City to relax and take a breather thanks to a new visitor’s information welcome center and bike hub that’ll help anchor a forthcoming downtown park site. (Laker/Lutz News)
🏗 St. Pete City Council members asked the legal team to draft a resolution supporting efforts to work with the Rays before moving forward with Trop redevelopment. (St. Pete Catalyst)
5. Things to do this weekend
During goat yoga, actual goats hop on and off participants' backs. Photo: Britta Pedersen/picture alliance via Getty Images
🎪 World Circus Day at The Ringling, which is offering free admission for children 17 and younger when accompanied by a ticketed adult, 10am-5pm Saturday at 5401 Bay Shore Road, Sarasota.
🛍 Shop local at Shop & Stroll in the Edge District of St. Petersburg, Gulfport's Indiefaire or the Winthrop Pop Up Market in Riverview.
🐐 Goat Yoga at Dancing Goat Farms in Tampa, Sunday from 8:30-9:30am and 10-11am. Free.
👸 Drag Queen Bingo at Bahi Hut in Sarasota, Sunday from 7:30-9:30pm. Free.
6. Neurological disease imperils Florida panthers
Wildlife veterinarian Lara Cusack handles Florida panther kittens. These young cats were measured and given immunity boosters while their mother was hunting away from the den. When panthers have space and protected habitats, their populations can grow. Only about one in three Florida panther kittens survives to adulthood. Photo: Carlton Ward Jr./National Geographic Society
National Geographic reports that scientists are worried about a newly discovered neurological disease that causes limb weakness and, in severe cases, partial paralysis in Florida panthers and bobcats.
- The disease — cause unknown — makes it difficult for panthers to walk, leading to starvation.
The big picture: With a total population around 200, the future of the Florida panther remains tenuous, and this disease is just the latest challenge.
Known as feline leukomyelopathy, the disease has likely afflicted 19 panthers and 18 bobcats throughout the state since spring 2017, the magazine reports, and an additional 11 cases have been confirmed — three panthers, eight bobcats.
"It was crushing to witness. One of the saddest, most helpless things I’ve ever seen."— Photographer Carlton Ward Jr. on witnessing a panther cub dragging himself along the ground while the mother waited for him
7. Check out this massive wiener
Courtesy of Low Rider Dachshund Rescue
Chuck, the 5-year-old dachshund, needs a fur-ever home supportive of his fitness goals.
- He's 27 pounds with a big ol' belly and only a few teeth left, but so much love to give.

- Head to Low Rider Dachshund Rescue to see more info and more extremely cute pics.
Okay, just one more:

8. Poem du jour
Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios
Today's poem is by Dawn McMahon, a graduate of the University of Tampa’s Master of Fine Arts program.
- She's working on a collection of poems celebrating the American worker.

- Find her on Twitter @Poet_Dawn.
😻 Ben is listening to the Bellamy Brothers and reading this story about the the high-school dropout in Texas who invented the frozen margarita. 🍹
🎧 Selene is listening to the new Bechdel Cast and eating ikigai sushi. 🍱
See y'all next week. We hope you find what you're looking for.
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