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ZooTampa at Lowry Park welcomed a critically endangered Eastern bongo calf on July 3. 

The female calf, named Liberty, weighed 38 pounds and stood about 2 feet tall at birth. 

This marks the seventh Eastern bongo birth at the zoo since 2021, contributing to the conservation of a species with fewer than 100 individuals remaining in the wild due to habitat loss and poaching. 

The bongo joins two other bongo calves, two southern white rhinos, two impalas and two nyalas, all born earlier this year.

LAND O’LAKES – The Tunnel to Towers Let Us Do Good Village has welcomed two new heroes to its growing community.

Navy Fireman Brenda Arnaud and Industry Borough Police Officer Scott Morrison are among the 11 heroes who have moved into the village this year. Nearly 30 families call the village home.

The village will eventually feature nearly 100 homes gifted to catastrophically injured veterans, first responders and Gold Star and Fallen First Responder families. 

“Every smart home Tunnel to Towers delivers represents a new beginning,” said Frank Siller, chairman and CEO of Tunnel to Towers. “For Brenda and Scott, this means greater independence, peace of mind and the opportunity to focus on healing instead of the obstacles their injuries have created.”

Brenda Arnaud

Brenda Arnaud enlisted in the Navy on May 5, 2013, inspired by her husband, a Marine Corps veteran. She worked on pre-commissioning ships, getting them ready to deploy around the world. 

During one of these assignments, she suffered a devastating fall that resulted in several serious injuries, including a spinal cord injury, Complex Regional Pain Syndrome and frozen shoulder, which later spread. She developed hand contractures and drop foot that progressed to osteonecrosis. 

After years of surgery, she decided to amputate her leg nearly 10 years after the original injury. Dealing with her injury while living in a two-story home in Texas made everyday tasks difficult. 

“My kid’s bedrooms were upstairs, and I couldn’t always get upstairs,” Arnaud said. “I had to force myself to wear my prosthetic to get around my house, which kept me from healing properly.”

She is looking forward to her new smart home in the Let Us Do Good Village.

“I loved the fact that everyone there understands what you are going through because they have gone through the same thing,” Arnaud said. 

Her Tunnel to Towers smart home will give her greater mobility and safety. The financial relief has allowed Arnaud and her husband to focus more fully on her recovery and their children.

Scott A. Morrison

Scott Morrison is a Gulf War veteran who served in Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm in the 1990s, working as a helicopter crew chief in Germany. 

He returned home and started a career in law enforcement working as a K-9 handler and patrolman. During an encounter with a suspect, he broke his ankle, an injury that he continued to worsen over the years on the job. Eventually, the injury and pain forced him to retire. He endured multiple surgeries to repair the damage to his legs and back. His injuries have left him with limited mobility. He often relies on a scooter to get around. 

Struggling physically and financially to make ends meet, Morrison admits he was in a low place when Tunnel to Towers came into his life. 

“I was a broken shell of a man, I was fighting, I never gave up or backed down…but everything Tunnel to Towers has done just blows me away,” Morrison said. “I can’t find the words of what it means and how it feels. It’s been a blessing.”

Now he’s moving from Pennsylvania to Florida and looking forward to his next chapter in the Let Us Do Good Village.

“It’s a community where I’ll know the guy next to me has my back, as I will have his back,” Morrison said. “That’s something I haven’t felt since I was in the service.” 

Want to help?

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, when FDNY firefighter Stephen Siller gave his life in the line of duty. The Tunnel to Towers Foundation continues to honor his legacy by providing mortgage-free homes to injured veterans and first responders nationwide.

The foundation has delivered more than 1,700 mortgage-free homes and committed over $1 billion to its programs.

On the web: T2T.org 

In recent years, Pasco County has been exporting its greatest natural resource. Not phosphate. Not citrus. Not timber. Our people.

For decades, communities like Pasco County carried the label of a “bedroom community.” People live here because housing was affordable but every morning thousands of talented residents leave the county to build the economy of neighboring counties before making the long commute home exhausted each evening. That wasn’t economic prosperity. It was economic dependence.

Today, as our county continues to grow, I often hear concerns that “economic development” simply means more traffic, more rooftops and more congestion. Those concerns are understandable but they also highlight an important distinction that deserves greater attention.

Economic development is not the same thing as growth. 

And it is certainly not the same as unmanaged growth or urban sprawl.

Growth happens whether we plan for it or not. People move to Florida because of our climate, our quality of life and our economic opportunity. New homes are built because families need places to live. That is population growth.

Economic development, however, is intentional.

It is the deliberate effort to create quality jobs, attract investment, diversify our economy and ensure that residents can build successful careers without leaving the community they call home.

The question isn’t whether Pasco County will grow. The question is whether we will create enough opportunity to grow wisely.

For years, Pasco exported its greatest asset – its workforce. Thousands of talented teachers, engineers, healthcare professionals, manufacturers, software developers, financial professionals and entrepreneurs left our county every day to earn a living elsewhere. That meant more congestion on our highways, more time away from families and fewer opportunities for our local businesses to thrive.

Creating local jobs changes that equation.

When a company chooses to locate in Pasco County, it doesn’t simply occupy a building. It creates careers. It generates tax revenue that supports public services. It strengthens local restaurants, retailers, professional service firms and small businesses. It provides opportunities for our graduates to stay close to home instead of relocating elsewhere.

That’s economic development.

It is also important to understand what economic developers mean when we talk about creating employment centers. An employment center is a concentration of businesses that provides significant job opportunities across multiple industries, whether advanced manufacturing, life sciences, corporate headquarters, logistics, research and development, healthcare or technology. A great example of how economic development terminology is not widely understood was a recent community discussion where many of the commentators were speaking about ’employment centers’ under the assumption that they were actually ‘data centers.’ While data centers serve a role in the digital economy, they generally employ relatively few people compared to the thousands of jobs created by business parks, innovation districts, medical campuses, manufacturing facilities and mixed-use employment hubs. When economic developers advocate for employment centers, we are advocating for places where people work, not simply where computers operate.

Projects like Moffitt’s SPEROS campus (an employment center), advanced manufacturing facilities, corporate headquarters, life science companies and food manufacturers aren’t examples of sprawl. They represent the type of investment that transforms a community from a place where people simply sleep into a place where they can build a career.

Strong communities require balance.

Housing without jobs creates long commutes.

Jobs without housing create affordability challenges.

Infrastructure without planning creates congestion.

The goal of economic development is to bring those pieces together in a thoughtful way.

That also means protecting the qualities that make Pasco County special. Smart economic development isn’t about paving over every open field. It means directing investment to appropriate locations, preserving natural resources, supporting existing businesses and ensuring infrastructure keeps pace with development. Responsible planning and economic development are partners, not competitors.

It’s also important to recognize that Pasco County has demonstrated a long-standing commitment to land conservation. Through initiatives such as the Environmental Lands Acquisition and Management Program, the county has permanently preserved thousands of acres of environmentally sensitive lands, wildlife habitat, wetlands and natural corridors. Those protected lands will remain part of Pasco’s landscape for generations to come. The choice has never been between economic development or conservation; the most successful communities embrace both. By protecting our natural resources while strategically developing employment centers and infrastructure in appropriate locations, Pasco can continue to enhance both its economy and its exceptional quality of life.

Communities that fail to pursue economic development don’t avoid growth. They simply lose the ability to shape it.

The employers (and the high-paying jobs they create) go somewhere else, while residents continue commuting longer distances to support someone else’s economy.

As someone who has worked in economic development for more than three decades, I’ve seen firsthand what happens when communities invest strategically in their future. They become more resilient during economic downturns. They offer greater opportunities for young people. They attract talent, innovation and entrepreneurship. They improve quality of life not just for today’s residents, but for generations to come.

Economic development isn’t about chasing growth. It’s about creating opportunity. It’s about ensuring that the next generation can live, work and raise a family in the same community they grew up in.

For a county that spent decades as a bedroom community, that isn’t just progress. That’s transformation. And it’s a future worth building together.

The future of Pasco County is not a choice between jobs and green space. It is a commitment to both. We can preserve the places that make people want to live here while creating the opportunities that allow them to work here. That’s not sprawl. That’s smart economic development.

Bill Cronin serves as president & CEO of Pasco EDC.

TAMPA – Twelve University of South Florida students pursuing degrees in Exceptional Student Education gained teaching experience while helping children with learning disabilities at Pepin Academies.

The four-week Summer Institute wrapped up recently, giving both groups a chance to learn and grow. 

Pepin Academies students in grades 3 to 12 received individualized support from aspiring special education teachers, while USF students applied what they are learning in their coursework to a classroom environment.

“This has been great. It’s been nothing I could have prepared myself for,” USF student Solee Boutilier said. “I think this is the kind of thing where you can read about it in a textbook, but you’re not going to understand it until you’re in the classroom. So, this has been awesome.”

Boutilier said her time in the classroom deepened her understanding of teaching.

“It’s made me more appreciative of my teachers because, wow, there is a lot that goes into it,” she said. “Being able to adapt what students need into every single lesson… I feel very grateful for all my teachers growing up.”

Learning alongside future educators gave Pepin Academies students encouragement and extra support as they prepare for the upcoming school year.

“I feel that they want us to learn more and be ready for a new grade, a new level,” said Pepin Academies student Savannah McGowan, an incoming sixth grader. “They made it fun and treated you with respect. If something was hard for us, they would find a way to help us understand it in our way.”

USF student Maya Moneze said the experience has reshaped how she approaches instruction and lesson planning.

“I took what they know and enjoy and morphed it into our daily routine,” Moneze said. “We learned through games, so everything I taught used activities that engaged them. I changed my lesson plans at least three times a day based on comments they told me, and that’s been a really big part – being able to adapt to their needs.”

The Summer Institute concluded with a student showcase featuring performances created in partnership with Arts4All Florida, a USF-affiliated arts education program. Students spent part of the summer working with dance, music and visual arts instructors to develop an original production celebrating America’s 250th birthday and the nation’s diverse cultures and traditions.

CLEARWATER – Habitat for Humanity Tampa Bay Gulfside celebrated the Honrado, Soto and Unterberger families as they received the keys to their new Habitat homes June 18 at the Grove in St. Petersburg. 

St. Petersburg Councilman Corey Givens Jr. presented each family with a Bible. St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch officially welcomed the families to their new community.

“This is what progress looks like in our city when we work together with focus and intentionality,” Welch said. “I want to thank Mike Sutton (Habitat president and CEO), the Habitat for Humanity Tampa Bay Gulfside team, all the board members, volunteers, community partners and everyone who played a role in making this possible. To the Honrado, Soto and Unterberger families, we extend our warmest congratulations. Today marks a new chapter, and we could not be happier for you.”

Jazhel Honrado addressed the crowd on behalf of the new homeowners. 

“We’d like to first thank Habitat. Everyone here was integral in making this a reality,” Honrado said. “We can’t express enough how much this means to us. We are forever grateful for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We are blessed, honored and proud to be a part of this community.”

• AdventHealth Carrollwood 001/002: Bob Rohrlack, of the Tampa Bay Chamber, moderates a community conversation on AdventHealth Carrollwood’s investment in the community. Photo courtesy of AdventHealth
• AdventHealth Carrollwood 003: Malee Brookbank, a Hillsborough County teacher, shared how team members at AdventHealth Carrollwood helped save her from cardiac arrest. Photo courtesy of AdventHealth
• AdventHealth Carrollwood 004: Clinical team members learned about the impact of this expansion, from what it means for patients, to how it will help them provide whole-person care to the community. Photo courtesy of AdventHealth
• AdventHealth Carrollwood 005: From left: David Ottati, president and CEO of AdventHealth West Florida; state Rep. Susan Valdes; Joe Johnson, president and CEO of AdventHealth Carrollwood; Bob Rohrlack, Tampa Bay Chamber president; and state Sen. Brian Nathan. Photo courtesy of AdventHealth
• AdventHealth Carrollwood Expansion Project Rendering. Rendering courtesy of HuntonBrady
• AdventHealth Carrollwood Expansion Project Rendering. Rendering courtesy of HuntonBrady
• AdventHealth Carrollwood Expansion Project Rendering. Rendering courtesy of HuntonBrady
• AdventHealth Carrollwood Expansion Project Rendering – New Parking Garage. Rendering courtesy of HuntonBrady

TAMPA – AdventHealth Carrollwood will soon begin construction on an expansion with a new six-story patient tower, increased inpatient capacity and enhanced surgical and specialty services. 

AdventHealth said the expansion will create a more seamless experience for patients while preparing the hospital for continued growth across the Tampa Bay region.

The project includes:

• Expanded surgical support areas, including pre-operative and recovery capacity
• A new cardiac catheterization/electrophysiology lab
• A new parking garage to improve hospital campus access
• Flexible space for future clinical and support services
• Additional space reserved to support future bed expansion

More than 300,000 residents live within a short distance of the hospital. Demand for complex and inpatient care has steadily increased, according to AdventHealth, with many patients traveling outside the area for higher-acuity services.

During a community conversation on June 18, physicians, patients and leaders shared how this expansion will not only improve coordination across the AdventHealth network, but also meet the growing demand for specialized healthcare services in Carrollwood.

“We are honored to serve a community that continues to grow and evolve,” said Joe Johnson, president and CEO of AdventHealth Carrollwood. “This expansion represents our commitment to caring for our neighbors – body, mind and spirit – bringing more complex care closer to where they live and work. It allows us to continue extending the healing ministry of Christ while improving access, convenience and the overall patient experience.”

Construction is set to begin soon. The parking garage is expected to open ahead of the tower, which is projected to welcome patients in 2029.

DADE CITY – The Pasco County Planning Commission is recommending leaders approve a moratorium on the acceptance of applications and permits related to data centers within unincorporated Pasco County.

The planning commission came to this decision June 11 after hearing from several residents concerned about the impact data centers will have on the environment and their quality of life. The recommendation will be taken into consideration by the Pasco County Board of Commissioners, who were scheduled to discuss the issue June 16.

The moratorium would be for 12 months, giving the county time to evaluate the impact of data centers and other largeload customers on the community before accepting any applications for permits, site plans and other development services.

A member of Pasco County Planning Development and Economic Growth told the planning commission there are four key research points:
• Compatibility of data centers with surrounding land uses.
• Impacts on electricity demand, water consumption, wastewater treatment capacity and environmental concerns like noise and light pollution.
• Efficacy of best practices from jurisdictions nationwide.
• The appropriateness of data centers and if there is a need to develop definitions and performance standards to regulate or prohibit the use.

A significant amount of the planning commission’s discussion centered on whether the language of the moratorium was restrictive enough to prevent developers and their attorneys from spotting loopholes to push a data center through.