Category: Uncategorized

BY SAMANTHA PUTTERMAN NNB Student Reporter ST. PETERSBURG – When a Polish family decided to move some of its distillery business to the United States, there were lots of options. But Texas was too polluted. Miami was too expensive. Tampa was too crowded. So when Kozuba & Sons opens its doors in late June, it… Continue reading Polish distillery brings distinctive spirits to Midtown

BY SARAH NORCINI NNB Student Reporter ST. PETERSBURG – The laptop in Officer Bryan Rentas-Pina’s car beeped and the bottom corner flashed red. Rentas-Pina scrolled through the information on the call: An 8-year-old boy walking home from school never made it. The officer drove quickly to the school, where he talked to the YMCA after-school… Continue reading On patrol, the routine can suddenly turn serious

BY SARAH NORCINI NNB Student Reporter It’s 7 p.m. on a Thursday when Creative Loafing’s Meaghan Habuda, 23, arrives at the Mad Beach Craft Brewing Company in Madeira Beach. She has come for the screening of a new craft beer documentary titled Blood, Sweat and Beer, which is a part of Tampa Bay Beer Week.… Continue reading At alternative weekly, food and drink are her beats

BY SAMANTHA PUTTERMAN NNB Student Reporter ST. PETERSBURG – Roy Peter Clark likes to wear socks. And not just any socks: Pizza-patterned socks. During a conference that brought newspaper editors from across the country to the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, Clark, 67, sits at a piano in front of the room. He starts to… Continue reading Passionate piano, colorful footwear help him coach journalists

BY MICHAEL BUTLER NNB Student Reporter ST. PETERSBURG – Kyle Parks was only five months into his new job as director of corporate communications for Walter Industries Inc. Now TV news cameras from across the country were pointed at him, reporters parsing every word. Hours before, 13 workers in a Walter Industries coal mine in… Continue reading Mining disaster helped steel him for a new career in public relations

BY MICHAEL S. BUTLER NNB Student Reporter ST. PETERSBURG – It is organized chaos, a noisy and frenetic ant colony of shared purpose. There are electricians, plumbers, heating and air conditioning specialists, masons and other craftsmen in every direction, high and low. Their goal is to complete the new Midtown branch of St. Petersburg College… Continue reading As college building goes up, he’s a maestro in Midtown

BY MICHAEL BUTLER NNB Student Reporter ST. PETERSBURG – Even in the Internet age, most schools are still made up of brick and mortar, books and pencils, classrooms and playgrounds. Academy Prep Center of St. Petersburg is not that different. But it is also made from donations, volunteers and the dedication of mostly single-parent households.… Continue reading School strives to break the cycle of generational poverty

BY MICHAEL BUTLER NNB Student Reporter John Martin may be the most ordinary sleuth you will ever meet. He is not grizzled or hardened. He doesn’t wear a rumpled raincoat or a deerstalker hat. And you won’t find him chain-smoking in his rundown office while a leggy dame of questionable veracity darkens his doorway. But… Continue reading He finds the facts, the people and the payments that elude others

BY MICHAEL BUTLER NNB Student Reporter ST. PETERSBURG – Jerry Biss is one of those parents who make you feel like the old nature- versus-nurture debate has ended. Game over. It’s nurture. The 49-year-old father sits calmly and contentedly behind his son Zack as he plays guitar and sings for a room full of admirers.… Continue reading He lives his son’s dream, every step of the way

BY DUNCAN RODMAN NNB Student Reporter ST. PETERSBURG – Tucked away in the once-barren food desert of 22nd Street S is an unlikely food oasis that has withstood the test of time. Lorene’s Fish and Crab House, a restaurant with only two tables and a kitchen the size of an average living room, is the… Continue reading Lorene’s is still thriving after two decades in The Deuces