The Florida Supreme Court ruled Thursday the Hillsborough County 1-cent transportation tax to be unconstitutional. Vik Bhide is Tampa’s transportation department mobility director and said he considers the ruling a big setback for the county, which has already collected $502 million going back to January 2019. The money has been distributed but not spent by Hillsborough County, the City of Tampa, Plant City, Temple Terrace, The County’s Metropolitan Planning Organization and HART. That puts a halt to all projects as they wait for more information from the Florida Supreme Court.

Governor Ron DeSantis still says he expects the newest COVID-19 vaccine from Johnson & Johnson to available in Florida as early as next week, pending FDA approval which may come today. That vaccine has a 66% efficacy rate in preventing moderate to severe infections, and close to 85% for the worst side effects. It’s just one shot and can be stored at normal refrigeration temperatures. For additional information on the COVID-19 vaccine, how to register, where locations are and news on the coronavirus please take a look at our Vaccine in Florida page.

The four federal sites for vaccine distribution are scheduled to open next Wednesday, March 3rd, one of which is in Tampa at the Greyhound track on West Waters Avenue. Organizers expect to vaccinate up to 2,000 a day, and to start making the vaccine available to teachers and law enforcement officers soon.

This is the final weekend for vaccinations at University Mall. After the final shots on Saturday the site will close, and reopen on Monday as a testing site. Anyone with an appointment starting Monday will go to Raymond James Stadium. The University Mall site will continue to operate as a testing only site.

The Tampa Bay Rays will begin selling spring training tickets today for games in Charlotte Sports Park. Seating is limited due to social distancing and will be available in the MLB Ballpark app and at RaysBaseball.com. The Rays will open against the Atlanta Braves Sunday.

The warmer weekend forecast may have a lot of us heading for the beach and now we have what Tripadvisor calls the Best Beach in America honors in St. Pete Beach. St Pete Beach also ranked high as fifth best beach in the world. Other local beaches on the list were Madeira Beach as 9th, Treasure Island 16th place, with Siesta Beach and Clearwater Beach after that.

Cox Media Group