Local News

A tailored prom for teens

June 4, 2024 By Mary Rathman

The Lighthouse for the Visually Impaired and Blind (LVIB) hosted its annual prom on May 4 for about 50 youth — from five vision rehabilitation agencies — so they could experience an event tailored to their needs.

Days before the prom, some of the teens visited Marjorie’s Hope for dresses and suits, and on prom day, they visited Bene’s Career Academy for hair and makeup before taking a limo to the event.

DJ Jeudy and Kayla Choi were chosen as the LVIB 2024 prom king and queen, from New Vision for Independence and Lighthouse for the Blind & Low Vision, respectively.

Lighthouse offers year-round programs for teens that are focused on the development of skills needed for a successful transition to higher education, employment and independent living.

For more information, visit LVIB.org.

To see more photos of the event, go to Photos.app.goo.gl/MZEZXxi6shCHugsY9.

Published June 05, 2024

From left: J. David Wright, 2024 Chasco Coronation Ball king; DJ Jeudy, prom king; Kayla Choi, prom queen; and Becky Bennett, Chasco queen. (Courtesy of Jayne Maravola/New Vision for Independence Inc.)

Florida regulators hold hearing on Duke’s request for storm recovery costs

June 4, 2024 By Andrew Powell

(The Center Square) — The Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) held a hearing this week to oversee Duke Energy Florida’s storm recovery costs but didn’t issue an order.

Docket intervenor Walmart opted out of closing arguments on Tuesday and will instead submit a brief due June 14.

Duke Energy Florida (DEF) serves approximately 2 million customers across the state of Florida and sought cost recovery related to Hurricanes Elsa, Eta, Isaias, Ian and Nicole, and Tropical Storm Fred.

Crews work to restore power following Hurricane Ian. (Jocelyn Augustino/FEMA)

In September 2023, Duke Energy filed its petition to approve the actual storm-related costs, totaling $431.4 million. Then, in October 2023, the company filed another petition to implement an interim storm restoration recovery surcharge to recover $166.1 million in incremental storm restoration costs.

Approximately $73.9 million is related to uncollected restoration costs from the storms, and $91.9 million is related to Hurricane Idalia, which hit in late August 2023. Duke Energy requested that these costs be recovered over a 12-month period beginning January 2024.

Walmart submitted comments in response to Duke’s petition for recovery of storm restorations costs. While Walmart did not take a stance on other issues, Walmart objected to DEF’s recovery of storm costs through the energy charge for its demand-metered customers.

Instead, Walmart argued that this should be recovered through the demand-charge, because this approach would better align cost recovery with cost causation, since distribution costs are typically classified as demand-related because they do not vary with the amount of electricity provided.

Walmart had previously raised concerns about shifting cost responsibility from lower to higher load-factor customers.

The Office of the Public Counsel stated during the hearing that Duke had complied with all stipulations and added that it supports the company’s commitment to an ongoing continuous storm restoration process improvement plan to ensure customers are only paying for cost-effective storm restoration costs that have been incurred.

PSC staff questioned Christopher Menendez, director of Rates and Regulatory Planning at Duke Energy Florida, about the surcharges. Menendez stated that switching to a demand-based charge during a recovery cycle would likely lead to customer confusion and frustration.

“Customers who have been incurring the storm surcharge up to this point on an energy basis could be surprised, confused and frustrated if this were to switch towards the end of the recovery cycle,” Menendez told PSC staff.

Published June 05, 2024

Pasco County issues Emergency Burn Ban

May 31, 2024 By Mary Rathman

Pasco County is under an Emergency Burn Ban for all areas of the county, effective immediately, and will not expire until conditions improve, according to a news release.

The county is experiencing extremely dry conditions due to a prolonged lack of rainfall, resulting in an increased risk of brush fires.

Everyone living in unincorporated areas of Pasco County are prohibited from setting fires or causing fires, including: open burning, campfires/bonfires and burning yard waste/garbage.

Simple actions such as tossing a lit cigarette into the grass can easily ignite brush fires that can quickly spread out of control — putting people in danger and threatening homes and businesses.

Outdoor cooking in grills or smokers that contain the fire, flame and heat is acceptable. Pasco Fire Rescue encourages residents to make sure the coals in the grill are extinguished when cooking is finished.

Any resident planning to conduct an open burn must comply with all Florida Forest Service permitting requirements, the release says. The permit process ensures any potential risk is appropriately assessed and mitigated. Visit https://www.fdacs.gov/Forest-Wildfire/Wildland-Fire/Burn-Authorizations for more information.

Pasco County will notify the community when conditions are safe to resume open burning.

To report a Burn Ban violation, call the Pasco County Emergency Communications Center at 727-847-8102.

City of Zephyrhills starts new recycling pickup schedule

May 31, 2024 By Mary Rathman

The City of Zephyrhills is notifying municipal residents of a new recycling pickup schedule due to the increasing population within the city limits. The updated schedule aims to better serve the community’s needs and ensure efficient recycling management, according to a news release.

The new pickup schedule is:

June 5: Recycling will be picked up for city residents whose solid waste/trash days are Monday and Thursday. This recycling schedule will then continue every other Wednesday (i.e., June 19, July 3, July 17, July 31 and so on).
June 12: Recycling will be picked up for city residents whose solid waste/trash days are Tuesday and Friday. This schedule will then continue every other Wednesday throughout 2024 (i.e., June 16, July 10, July 24, Aug. 7 and so on).

To view the calendar for all recycling dates the remainder of this year, visit https://www.ci.zephyrhills.fl.us/DocumentCenter/View/3976/2024-Weekly-Recycle-Calendar-3.

To confirm if you are a City of Zephyrhills municipal resident, type in your address into the Pasco County property appraiser’s website at https://search.pascopa.com/.

For questions and further assistance, contact the City of Zephyrhills Public Works Department at 813-780-0022.

Lisa Yeager sworn in as commissioner

May 28, 2024 By Joe Potter

Lisa Yeager was sworn in to represent District 4 during the May 21 meeting of the Pasco County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC).

She was appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis on May 16 to fill the seat that had been vacant since the death of former Commissioner Gary Bradford on April 21.

Commission District 4 is in part of west and central Pasco County.

Yeager, of New Port Richey, is the wife of state Rep. Bradford Troy Yeager who was elected in 2022 to represent House District 56 on the west side of Pasco County.

She will stand as commissioner until a special election on Nov. 5 determines the candidate who will serve the remaining two years of Commissioner Bradford’s term. Bradford died in the middle of the four-year term to which he had been elected in November 2022.

Yeager is one of four Republican candidates seeking their party’s nomination for the District 4 commission seat in Pasco County’s Aug. 20 primary election.

The three other GOP candidates who have filed for the primary are Paul T. Bybee of Land O’ Lakes, former District 4 Commissioner Christina Fitzpatrick of New Port Richey, and Gabriel “Gabe” Papadopoulos of New Port Richey.

Fitzpatrick was elected in 2020 to serve the remaining two years of former District 4 Commissioner Mike Wells after he was elected as Pasco County’s property appraiser. She defeated Bradford in the 2020 primary election but he defeated her in the 2022 primary and went on to win the District 4 seat that year.

Daniel Ackroyd-Isales of Land O’ Lakes is the only Democrat who filed to run in the primary election as of May 22.

The winner of the District 4 commissioner race will assume office on Nov. 19. Candidates must reside in that district but voters countywide may cast their votes in that election.

At the May 21 BOCC meeting, commissioners also unanimously approved a resolution to not exempt property under provisions of the Live Local Act Property Tax Exemption enacted by the Florida legislature and recently signed into law by Gov. DeSantis.

The act would grant tax exemptions to units in multifamily projects that are used to house natural persons or families whose annual household income is between 80% and 120% of the median annual adjusted gross income for households within Pasco County.

Area median income (AMI) is a key metric in affordable housing. It is defined as the midpoint of a specific area’s income distribution and is calculated on an annual basis by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD refers to the figure as MFI, or median family income, based on a four-person household.

The commissioners’ action was taken as a result of the latest Shimberg Annual Report that says there is a surplus of affordable and available units in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metropolitan statistical area (MSA) that meet the income criteria for the 80 to 120 Tax Exemption. Pasco County is located within that MSA and it does have a surplus of rental housing in that range.

Chief Assistant County Attorney David Goldstein told commissioners the resolution they adopted only applies to county taxes. The Pasco County School District and cities in Pasco County would each have to enact their own resolutions in order to be able to not exempt property under provisions of the Live Local Act. Goldstein added he encourages the governmental bodies he just mentioned to enact their own resolutions.

The owners of two apartment complexes in the county have already applied to be exempted from 75% of the taxes they have to pay under provisions of the law, according to Goldstein. The county could lose out on $38 million in tax revenues over a 35-year period if both of those apartment complexes do receive the tax breaks.

Records show that only three counties in Southeast Florida — Miami-Dade, Monroe and Broward — have serious deficits in the 80-120 range, Goldstein said.

“In my opinion, the legislation should only apply to Southeast Florida and the rest of the state should be left out of it,” Goldstein said regarding the act.

The resolution the commissioners approved will take effect on Jan. 1, 2025, and will expire on Jan. 1, 2026, and it may be renewed prior to Jan. 1, 2026.

In other business on May 21, commissioners:

Approved the Recording of a Plat with Performance Guarantees for Brookfield Holdings, which plans to develop a subdivision with 100 residential lots on 111.6 acres on the east side of Two Rivers Boulevard approximately 0.1 mile south of State Road 56 on property located in Commission District 1 in southeast Pasco County. The county has received two surety bonds totaling $5,230,318.72 to cover the costs of necessary infrastructure and landscaping improvements.
Approved establishing Magnolia Island Community Development District (CDD) and designating a 202.3 acre site in Commission District 1 where the applicant plans to develop 475 residential units and 70,000 square feet of retail/commercial that will be assessed by the CDD. The CDD site is located south of future Tyndall Road, north of future Kiefer Road, and between Handcart Road and Curley Road.
Approved an agreement with Consor Engineers, LLC to provide engineering services for the Chancey Road and Morris Bridge Road intersection improvements and the widening of Morris Bridge Road from south of Chancey Road to south of State Road 54 in an amount not to exceed $1,515,719.84 for fiscal year 2024.

Published May 29, 2024

Pasco Schools to provide free meals during summer

May 28, 2024 By Mary Rathman

Pasco County Schools’ Summer Food Service will begin on June 3 and has provided the following information in a news release.

Breakfasts and lunches will be provided Monday through Thursday to anyone age 18 and younger at these school locations:

June 3 to June 28 — Anclote High, Centennial Middle, East Pasco Education Academy, Fivay High, Gulf High, Hudson High, Stewart Middle, River Ridge High, Wendell Krinn, West Pasco Education Academy and Zephyrhills High
June 3 to July 19 — Cypress Elementary, Lake Myrtle Elementary, New River Elementary and Richey Elementary
June 3 to July 26 — Centennial Elementary, Chasco Elementary, Cotee River Elementary, Mary Giella Elementary, Fox Hollow Elementary, Gulf Highlands Elementary, Hudson Primary Academy, James Marlowe Elementary, Moon Lake Elementary, Pasco Elementary, Quail Hollow Elementary, Cox Elementary, Schrader Elementary, Seven Springs Elementary, Sunray Elementary and Woodland Elementary

Students attending PLACE or Extended School Year programs at these schools will receive meals on campus while attending the program. Curbside meal pickup for those not receiving meals while attending on-site summer programs will be June 4 to July 23, every Tuesday from 11 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Seven days’ worth of breakfast and lunch will be provided to anyone 18 years and younger at these schools: Connerton Elementary, Lacoochee Elementary, San Antonio Elementary and Watergrass Elementary. To better help with service, complete a reservation form at https://www.pasco.k12.fl.us/fns/mform/view.php?id=285537.

Additionally, Pasco County Schools will have mobile feeding sites Monday through Thursday to provide lunch at these locations:

Hilltop Landings Apartments, 37611 Colina Drive, Dade City
Resurrection House Park, 37124 Lock St., Dade City
Zephyrhills YMCA, 37301 Chapel Hill Loop, Zephyrhills
Zephyr Park, 38116 Fifth Ave., Zephyrhills
Regency Park Library, 9701 Little Road, New Port Richey

For more information, visit ConnectPlus.pasco.k12.fl.us/do/fns/summer-feeding-home/.

For questions, email .

Published May 29, 2024

Florida regulators reject request for oral arguments in rate increase cases

May 28, 2024 By Andrew Powell

(The Center Square) — Florida regulators denied on Tuesday a request for oral arguments in two petitions by utilities seeking electricity rate hikes.

On April 2, Tampa Electric Company and Duke Energy Florida filed petitions to the Public Service Commission (PSC) requesting rate increases beginning in January 2025 if the commission approves.

The Office of the Public Counsel (OPC) disagreed with the rate increases. It argued that a hearing about the rate hikes scheduled for August 2024 did not allow enough time for intervenors to prepare testimony and further unfairly prejudiced the OPC’s ability to properly represent Tampa Electric and Duke Energy ratepayers.

The OPC further believed that the utilities are “not entitled” to a rate hike beginning January 2025, again citing the lack of time needed to prepare their case properly and said that the statutory timeline may need to be delayed.

In response, Tampa Electric said in late April that the OPC’s motion and request for oral argument should be denied because the OPC has not identified any new information and cannot justify a reconsideration.

Similarly, Duke Energy filed its own response in opposition to the OPC’s motion and request for oral argument, stating that the OPC does not have any new information to add to the case and asked for the request to be denied.

According to the PSC staff analysis, staff recommended that the OPC’s requests for reconsiderations should be denied, as there is no statutory requirement to allow them. They further added that the evidence that has already been presented to the Commission in previous hearings is sufficient for the PSC to make a decision.

The PSC staff said that the OPC should not be granted a continuance of this proceeding because it failed to provide adequate evidence, points of fact, or law that were missed during the case’s prehearing.

Commissioner Art Graham said during the PSC meeting on Tuesday that the pre-hearing officer did a phenomenal job and did not see the need to hear any oral arguments from OPC. The OPC was denied its request for oral argument and its reconsideration request.

Tampa Electric covers a 2,000-square-mile service area, providing electricity to over 800,000 customers in Hillsborough, Polk, Pasco and Pinellas counties. Meanwhile, Duke Energy Florida serves approximately 2 million customers across the state of Florida.

Published May 29, 2024

Let me spell it out for you

May 28, 2024 By Randall Grantham

You think that I don’t even mean
A single word I say
It’s only words, and words are all I have
To take your heart away

-Bee Gees, “Words”

As a child growing up in Lutz in the ‘60s, I was no stranger to corporal punishment. Children are children and there must be certain disciplinary actions taken by their parents to correct some behaviors and set the child on the correct course for life.

I’m not talking beatings or cruel physical abuse, but rather a smack on the bum when needed and maybe to reinforce the behavior modification, have the child choose the switch from the tree to make a mental bookmark that will last longer than the actual spanking.

At my house we had plenty of Australian pine trees that produced the perfect (in my parents’ minds) size switch for the job. We also had a store-bought “fanny whacker” that hung from a hook in the kitchen as a silent reminder to us kids of the cost/benefit analysis involved in not listening to our parents and behaving.

Of course, as a child grows up into puberty and beyond, spankings seem to have a smaller return on investment and other punishments must be used to accomplish the overall goal — which is not the infliction of pain, but rather education, behavior modification and raising a child who can thrive and succeed in the world they will be released into.

My parents used all of the standard tried and true methods, such as grounding, loss of privileges and having me write “I will not play with matches” 100 times. There was no internet or cellphones for them to take away in those days, so they had to make do and improvise when necessary. And they were good at that.

One particular punishment they devised was very effective and continues to benefit me to this day.

It was when I was in seventh grade at Buchanan Jr. High School. My ninth-grade neighbor and his class were sharing the classroom with my class for an educational A/V presentation and, of course, I thought he was Joe Cool. He whispered a crass comment about a girl in my class and I, being the impressionable little fool that I was, wrote it out in a note and passed it to the girl.

Bad idea! She, of course, gave it to the teacher who gave it to the principal, which resulted in a trip to the dean’s office for me. My parents were called to come pick me up and it was their job to craft the appropriate punishment.

I was grounded for awhile, but the long-term actions to correct my behavioral issue were yet to be decided. Finally my parents sat me down and told me that apparently my vocabulary needed some refinement and they were going to make that happen.

Every week my father would go through the dictionary and select 20 words from each letter, starting at “A,” then “B,” then “C” and so on. My job was to write out each of the words, learn the correct spelling and pronunciation and be able to recite the definition to them at the end of each week.

It was a lot of work but, looking back on it, I think I may have enjoyed it. I learned words that many people don’t know as adults, and became acquainted with the roots of words and how languages developed and intertwined with one another.

I developed a love of language and in college, after I finished my business core classes, I took some “fun” classes, like Vocabulary and English Literature.

My punishment was never completed though. It was a lot of work for me, but apparently it was a lot of work for my dad, too. Either he felt I had learned my lesson, or he just got tired of it, because he stopped the routine at “M.”

So I am really good with words starting with the letters A through M. Not so good with the second half of the alphabet.

Of course the advice I got from the Dean of Boys was also instrumental in my rehabilitation. He told me “Never put anything in writing that you would not want to see on a billboard.” Words to live by!

Published May 29, 2024

Florida’s Sports Coast offers marketing matching program

May 28, 2024 By Special to The Laker/Lutz News

Florida’s Sports Coast, the destination management organization for Pasco County, has introduced the 2024-2025 Marketing Matching Sponsorship Program (MMSP) aimed at promoting an artistic, cultural or unique experience that is not sports related. These types of events have the potential to attract visitors to the region.

The program provides up to $5,000 to expand the marketing reach of an event to audiences outside the Tampa Bay area.

Two additional funding incentives in the 2024-2025 cycle include:

Long-distance Promotions Incentive: providing up to $2,000
Room Night Generation Incentive: offering up to $3,000

To learn more about the incentives, visit MyPas.co/FloridasSportsCoastMMSP.

Applicants are required to attend a one-on-one session before funding is approved. To register for a session, call 727-847-8129, or email or .

Applicants must also give an oral presentation to the Tourist Development Council on Aug. 20.

Requirements are:

Event must take place between Oct. 1, 2024 and Sept. 30, 2025
Dollar-for-dollar match and/or in-kind goods or services on the first $5,000
Exhaust the first $5,000 in out-of-Pasco promotions to qualify for the Long-distance Promotions incentive
Track event room night generation in Pasco hotels to qualify for the Room Night Generation Incentive
MMSP funds are for event-related marketing expenditures only
Marketing dollars must be used to promote to tourists outside of Pasco County

Published May 29, 2024

State unemployment rate up slightly in April compared to same time last year

May 28, 2024 By Andrew Powell

(The Center Square) —The Florida Department of Commerce released a new report on the state’s unemployment rate, showing that while it has risen slightly from a year ago, it continues to outpace the national average.

According to the report, Florida’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 3.3% as of April 2024, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from March 2024 and 0.6% higher than a year ago. The U.S. seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 3.9% in April.

Also, during the month of April, Florida added 45,300 jobs, bringing the state’s total adjusted nonagricultural employment to nearly 9.95 million. Over the course of a year, 240,500 jobs were gained — an increase of 2.5%. In comparison, the number of jobs available nationally rose by 1.8%.

The report further states that nine out of 10 major industries in Florida had had positive job growth, including education and health services, which added approximately 60,100 jobs, an increase of 4.1%. Trade, transportation and utilities had 3% growth, adding around 57,000 jobs.

The hospitality and leisure industries added approximately 45,600 jobs, a growth of 3.5%, while total government jobs increased by 2.6% or 29,600 jobs. Construction jobs also grew by 3.5%, adding 22,100 jobs.

Manufacturing increased employment by 8,700 positions, a 2.1% increase. Professional and business services added 5,700 jobs, while the information industry grew by 0.9% or 1,500 jobs. Financial services was the only industry to see a net loss of employees, shrinking by 2,500 jobs, an overall loss of 0.4%.

However, not all of Florida has the same unemployment rates and some counties are much higher than the national unemployment rate. In April 2024, Citrus County had the highest unemployment rate of 4.9%. Sumter County followed closely with a rate of 4.7%, while Highlands County had an unemployment rate of 4.6%.

According to the report, Monroe County had the state’s lowest unemployment rate of 2% in April 2024. Miami-Dade County had a rate of 2.1%, while Gulf, Okaloosa and Wakulla counties all had unemployment rates of 2.8%.

Florida had a seasonally adjusted labor force of more than 11 million and 360,000 unemployed Floridians in April 2024.

Published May 29, 2024