Pinellas Co. school closures & Savor St. Pete

Good morning everyone and thanks so much for joining us here on Fox 13 Live. It is Wednesday, October 14th. I'm your host and executive producer Gina Gonzalez. As always, moving through a lot of different live events, in-depth conversations and getting you up to speed on major headlines both here at home and internationally today that you want to know about. We do have some great guests joining us over the course of the next hour. In just a minute, Pinellas School Board Vice Chair Don Peters is going to join us for a conversation about last night's vote to close several schools in the Pinellas County area. And then in just a few minutes, we also do know that a doctor from Moffitt Cancer Center is going to be with us to talk about the Pope's lung cancer diagnosis that came from the surgery that he had yesterday. I know a lot of people have questions about that, about early detection. The good news is we did get word from the Vatican this morning that Pope Leo is up. He was eating breakfast. He was walking around. So where do we go from here? Where does his treatment and prognosis go from here? We'll talk a little bit with a doctor about that. We're also going to have an expert on red tide when it comes to our local beaches. We know some minor traces of it were detected in Pinellas County. So what does that mean for beachgoers as the weather is getting relatively nicer? We're definitely feeling that Florida fall weather lately plus Chef Clayton Parade is going to be cooking up a preview of Savor Saint Pete this is going to be the first time that we touch base live with our friends from our Fox 13 kitchen where Dinner with Diaz is normally filmed so exciting show for you planned today a very informative topic so like we said if you have a question or a comment scan that QR code that you see on your screens. But speaking of the weather, why don't we go out to this beautiful shot of Paradise Grill at Paradise Beach I always say how much I love this shot, especially because no one really knows they're on camera. So sometimes you see people playing volleyball, getting a nice drink, depending on what time of day it is. And it looks like some people are taking advantage of getting a little early beach day in on this Wednesday. But are these temperatures going to stick around? it has certainly felt nice and cool when we've woken up in the mornings these last few days so why don't we bring on Fox 13 meteorologist Jim Weber for a conversation about that how you doing Jim doing good um and short answer is enjoy the weather while you've got it because it's not going to stick around a whole lot longer here oh that's not fun yeah exactly you know at some point it's going to change you just don't want to be the one that brings that bad news but yeah we've got the beautiful weather out there. We've had this over the past several days. Today, you probably notice that humidity is starting to work its way back in. It's not quite as comfortable as it was a couple of days ago, so we are going to see that moisture starting to make returns. So today, it's just mostly sunny to partly cloudy skies. Beautiful looking view over in Lakeland, 82 degrees. Winds are out of the northeast, but you get these little hints of what's going on. You start to see a few little clouds here and there we saw that yesterday along the coastline still plenty of sun those temperatures though they're a little bit warmer than they were yesterday a degree or two of those winds again added that northerly and northeasterly direction but the key is these temperatures are now climbing 82 83 84 degrees and at the 11 o'clock hour and then those winds which the past several days they've been more northerly now you notice a little bit more of an easterly component. So they're pushing across the state. That tells us something. It tells us we're not bringing down that cooler, drier air to our north. We're moderating those temperatures. And then those dew point numbers, those are starting to really climb up there. We're still holding 69 here in Tampa, but we're right on that cusp. And you notice many of these numbers are now into the 70s. 70 is somewhat that dividing line. Once you get into that, it starts to feel more humid out there and that's where we're at and that's where we're going to continue to be over the next couple of days because those winds they will continue to moderate those temperatures it's a quiet day for today just some scattered clouds but then watch what happens as we head into tomorrow we're bringing more of that moisture back from the south remember with this front that came through a few days ago all it did is it shoved it all down to our south now it's making a return as we head through thursday heading into friday more moisture better chance for some of these showers it's not a huge washout but we're going to see more clouds and we're going to see those rain chances starting to squeak back in so tomorrow 20 up to about a 30 chance on friday but more clouds rain chances as we go through the weekend the other thing we'll have is this front somewhat stuck over the state and so we're going to have some cloudy breezy conditions as we go through the weekend. So we've had this gorgeous weather. You're wanting a nice looking weekend, especially after the weekend we just had. Unfortunately, it looks like more clouds and breezy weather, maybe a few showers as we head into this weekend. So not an ideal weekend. So I know we have the Bucs playing the Steelers at home at one o'clock. That shouldn't be, it doesn't look like it'll be too bad. Yeah, I'm not concerned about the rain with that. What we're going to see is just cloudy, temperatures not too bad. We'll see if maybe the wind plays a little bit of a factor here. If it ends up being a big kicking game, could be an issue with the wind as well. And where the weather doesn't matter is the trop. But they certainly brought some heat yesterday tying up the series, huh, Jim? Yeah, good to see that. I mean, you know, we got a little concerned after that first game. Although, you know, it seemed like after that first game, they were doing well until the very end there. Things fell apart and got out of hand, but pulled it off last night. Yeah, Freddie Peral. Also, they wore the Devil Rays uniforms. That's probably what it is. Yeah, it brings that good luck, I think. It brings that energy. Jim, thank you, as always. I know you're going to be joining them at noon. Yes. All right, well, we will see you soon. All right, guys, well, we do want to get started with the first topic of conversation here because I know the decision came kind of late last night, but it was some big news out of Pinellas County. A number of schools now set to close and several others facing pretty big changes. We know the Pinellas County School Board officially approved the closures of Bear Creek Elementary, Blanton Elementary, Kings Highway Elementary Magnet, Lealman Innovation Academy, and Pinellas Park Elementary. And a new fundamental elementary school will open at the current Pinellas Park Campus. So this was approved last night as the district deals with declining enrollment. But for families, I mean, this is more about, you know, empty seats, more than just empty seats and budgets. It's about their children's classrooms, their teachers, the communities they've built. So we know more than 60 people spoke during public comment, with many asking the board to delay its decision. So I know a lot of you have questions and might be affected by this. So joining us right now to talk about it is Pinellas County School Board Vice Chairperson Dawn Peters here on Fox Tampa Bay Live. Ms. Peters, thank you so much for joining us. I know this was a big decision. You were probably up late last night, so we appreciate you. How are you doing this morning? Thank you, I'm doing well. Well, first off, for those who maybe don't live in Pinellas County, who haven't necessarily been following this, but now they see these headlines. Can you walk us through how we got to this point with the vote and making these decisions? So that could be a long answer, but I'll make it as short as possible. So obviously, we know this is not just a Pinellas County issue, this is a nationwide issue. People, I don't know if it's an issue, people just aren't having kids at the same rate that they used to have. And it's very simply that's the biggest reason. And could this process have started sooner or should it have started sooner? Possibly, but this is where we are right now. And these decisions that we have to make as a board, they're not easy. But we just have to do it, unfortunately. And it does greatly impact, very emotionally impact our communities. And as a board, we know that. Yeah, and I mean, I know that there have been some parents. You had a lot of public comment. People have been outside with these signs saying at least delay the vote. What have you made about the reaction from some of these families that this is going to affect? So we've seen reactions from parents at every single school that we've closed, not just Sunset Hills, not just Sexton, but every school in our community has responded in some way, shape, or form, regardless of the volume of voices and not every school has as loud of a voice as another school does but we as a district do have to consider the impact to the entire school district and it's a big school district it's a big responsibility and even though we know that it is very emotional for people and you know they want more time we as a district now can move forward after the vote or since the vote last night, we can now move forward with presenting them the information that they want that will help make this decision clearer for them and the plan will be clearer. And they'll be able to see what that looks like for their school and their community, not just for the families, but the staff as well. And the other reason that we wanted to make this decision and the school board asked our district for this decision to be made at this time was before the district application program tours and open houses and all those things start before the application period. So families can make the most informed decision for their families. Yeah, I was just gonna say, I know meetings like yesterday can get very lengthy. There's a lot of back and forth, there's public comment. But what were your biggest takeaways from last night with the vote and then how this process moves forward? I really appreciate how passionate our families are about their communities and their schools and to see that all the meetings it wasn't just last night it's been at the last several meetings that we've had that's that's actually a wonderful position to as a school district to have that many engaged families in our schools it's wonderful it makes our schools the place that they are and the reason that they love their schools as far as moving forward um again this this gives us now as a district the opportunity to say here's what the plan looks like which is what the biggest concern is they want to know what does this look like or what is the plan for this? What is going to happen here? So now we get to show them what that looks like because we couldn't move forward with any of those plans until that vote was made. So I feel like this gives us that opportunity. We now have extra time to present them with that, to give them an opportunity to really understand and be able to accept those changes and what those plans look like. But then if they decide they need to make alternate choices, they can. And that's always been the thing that makes our districts so special is that they can choose any school within our district that works best for them. And I know that a lot of the schools are going to become K through 8 campuses. We've seen that more and more in several other school districts. I mean, what would you say is the benefit of that model and how will those campuses accommodate younger children and middle schoolers? So we as a district, of course, this isn't the first time we have voted to approve a K-8 model. We voted on two last year, and we have several throughout the district already, which is why we know that they are very successful. We know how to turn those schools into a K-8 model. We have wait lists at every single one of our K-8 schools, so we know just from the wait list portion of it that it is very desirable. And it gives families is an opportunity to stay together longer especially families with multiple children and you have your kids in middle school on this side you have kids in your elementary school over at this side you get to do one pickup at the end of the day and you know that they are together on the campus even though they're not together during school hours but if something were to happen or come up you know at least you have that consistency and it gives more of that community and neighborhood feeling when they have that that track from kindergarten all the way up through eighth grade And we saw that in the planning for progress meetings that we had throughout the community. That was one of the loudest things that we heard was we want more K-8 and we want more K-8s up in our North County. And I mean, I know that there's a lot of different plans working. At least one of the schools I know is going to be repurposed. What does that look like? Do we know that just yet? We don't. And it's because that isn't where our focus should be right now for the most part. We have ideas and we have had. I know that there are conversations that have happened outside. There are people that say, what are you gonna do with this school, what are you gonna do with that school? And of course, we do not want our campuses to stay closed off and fenced up and not being utilized. We want them to be utilized. So this is something that we're gonna be going forward with, but you can't, again, you can't make those decisions or have those real conversations until that vote is complete. So now that we made that vote last night, people will come forward and say, there are also some community partners that will not engage in that usage conversation until after the elections on November 3rd, and there are a lot of reasons for that. So that will be to come, and it's gonna be here sooner than later. But now that we have voted, we can have those conversations and start to make those decisions. Exactly, so now going off of that, my next question was gonna be, do we have dates for any of this and when this would take place? But I'm assuming that's kinda up in the air. No. Yeah, yeah, well- As of right now, I have not seen any dates. And that makes sense. This just happened last night. A lot to talk about moving forward. Any final thoughts as we wrap this up? Anything you want parents, families to know, people watching this from Pinellas County? So our website, pcsb.org, is the best resource for families that want to know what the plan is going forward. our district will be sending out communications to families that are impacted at every level and staff that are impacted at every single level. So watch for those communications. But again, our website is the best resource. You can always get in touch with us at boardpcsb.org. And those are really the best resources that I can speak to that families can obtain their information from. And of course, always at your school level. Definitely. Dawn Peters, thank you so much for joining us here to you know clarify for those who weren't able to follow all this what's been happening how we got here and what happens moving forward i know it's a lot to pack into just a few minutes so we appreciate your time and i'm sure we'll be talking to you again soon thank you anytime thank you have a great day you too all right everyone uh we are going to step away for our first quick commercial break of the hour and when we return we're going to shift our focus internationally to get an update on Pope Leo. He did have surgery and he was officially diagnosed with a form of lung cancer yesterday. So what we know so far, we're going to speak to a doctor with Moffitt Cancer Center on what his prognosis could look like and the importance of early detection. So stay tuned for that chat. We'll be right back. Welcome back here to Fox Tampa Bay Live, everyone. Pope Leo is officially recovering after surgery that confirmed a lung cancer diagnosis. Doctors, we know, removed the lower lobe of his right lung and Vatican says he had a peaceful night in the hospital. We even did just get word, I know there are a few hours ahead, so at this point it's in the afternoon in Italy, but we got word that as of the morning after his surgery. He was walking, he was eating. I did read somewhere that when he finally gained consciousness after the surgery that he said he just wanted to eat. But of course, this news is concerning and it raises questions about treatment, about recovery, and how to detect lung cancer as early as possible. So joining us live right now on Fox Tampa Bay Live is Dr. Larry Robinson, director of Moffitt's Lung Cancer Early Detection Center. Dr. Robinson, I know you've been doing a lot of interviews since we got word of this news, so we appreciate you. How are you today? I'm fine, thank you. Well, thank you for being here. Doctor, first off, obviously you are not treating the Pope, but when we got word, I remember last night getting the breaking news alert that Pope Leo had officially been diagnosed with a form of lung cancer. I mean, what was your reaction to that? But after knowing that he was gonna have that surgery, was this kind of in the back of your mind? Well, I'm happy to see he was apparently had early stage cancer enough so that he could undergo surgery. And that would give him probably an excellent prognosis just by the fact that he was able to have resection of his tumor. The thing I think was surprising was that apparently he's a never smoker. And of course, now we see a lot of never smokers who get lung cancer. 10% of the men who get lung cancer are never smokers, 25% of the women who get lung cancer are never smokers. So that's not a surprise in some respects. We just don't see this frequently in men. Of course, adenocarcinoma is the most common kind of lung cancer. It's one of the non-small cell carcinomas. 70% of all lung cancers, adenocarcinoma tends to occur out toward the periphery of the lung where they have glands. It's a glandular cancer. And almost everyone who's a never smoker who gets lung cancer, it's adenocarcinoma. So I'm hopeful just based on what we know so far, that this is an early stage disease and have a high chance of cure. And you raised a really good point doctor, that was actually one of my questions to you. Before we get into the actual surgery itself, I mean, we know that a lot of people associate lung cancer with smoking. And we also know that Pope Leo, he's known for swimming, playing tennis, keeping a very busy schedule as the pontiff, obviously. How much could that fitness and healthy lifestyle help his recovery? And what does recovery typically involve? Well, he's an ideal candidate for surgery in terms of his lifestyle and his function. And now we operate on a lot of people who are quite elderly or have a lot of debilitating other diseases. He's at the far end of that whole idea that he's an excellent chance that he'll completely recover very rapidly. And as you can see, he's up walking, eating according to their reports. And that's generally what we do with almost everyone. We get them up the first day and get them up walking in the halls. The faster you walk after surgery, the sooner, the more rapid is your recovery. And so I think he's going to recover very quickly. Average stay in a hospital after you have a lobectomy on most patients is only two or three days at the most, and they recover quite quickly. So I think he's probably gonna do very, very well. Yeah, I would imagine so. And of course, you just have to pray that he's gonna do well because it feels like he just took this job in the grand scheme of things. And he's obviously got a busy schedule ahead. I know that the Vatican was working out what his schedule is gonna look like from here on out. But early detection, that is what you do over at Moffitt Cancer Center. And especially you saying that lung cancer can develop in people who aren't smokers. What do you want people to know about early detection after hearing international news like this? Well, I think first thing is that we do know that smoking has a strong relationship to cancer. And we know the people who are at highest risk for lung cancer, and those are the people, as has been shown in a number of studies, those who should go undergo a low-dose screening chest CT scans. And that's basically someone who's over the age of 50. Actually, lung cancer doesn't occur under the age of 50 very often. Those who are current smokers or quit within the last 15 years, and those who have at least a 20-pack year history of smoking. One pack a year is one pack a day for a year. So those folks are at higher risk. That's not the only ones at risk, but those are the ones who we definitely feel should get the screening chest CT scan and should have it yearly if you are in that group then it's paid for by Medicare and almost all the insurance companies so it's really it doesn't cost anything uh so those are the recommendations unfortunately right now only about 15 16 percent of the people who are eligible get those screens so we're really trying to get people to be encouraged to understand that they need to have these done if you took all of the people who are eligible for screening chest CT scans in the United States, which is probably about 14 million. If all of those had chest CT scans that one year, you'd probably save anywhere from 60 to 80,000 lives every year. It's a remarkable amount. Just in Florida, you'd say probably 12 to 15,000 lives every year from lung cancer if you could get those folks screened. There's about a million, million and a half in Florida who are eligible. So that's the first step. And so I wanna talk about recovery, especially for the Pope with this type of operation. Are you able to explain, almost if you would a new medical class, or just to viewers who may not understand this, but I know he had the lower lobe removed of his right lung. As far as his prognosis goes in moving forward, will that affect his breathing? Is that necessarily like losing part of his lung? Well, yes, of course it is. As I often tell people, the good Lord saw fit to give us a lot of extra lungs. So we have a total of five lobes. is two on the left and three on the right. Almost anyone, unless they have terrible lung function, can tolerate having a lobe of the lung taken out and go back, recover completely back to doing the same silly things they were doing before they had the surgery. So most people do very well. People have lobectomies, they go back to running marathons, all sorts of things. So he should be able to completely go back to normal. We have a lot of reserve in our lungs. We were well designed. Yeah, that's good to know. That especially is my sister's the one in medical school, not me, I'm here. Doc, we actually have a live look coming in from Rome today, from the Vatican. What's interesting to me, and of course, I want your insight on this, but Pope Leo is originally from Chicago. So obviously, without speculating about his plans, would there be any medical reason that someone in his position might choose to seek care in the United States, or are the same treatment options available in Italy? Italy is very much up to date with all of their medicine. They have excellent surgeons, they have excellent facilities, they do the same things that we do here. I think he chose well to go right where he was locally. And I think he's done very well with it and he's obviously gonna recover very well. So there would be no particular medical reason for him to come back to the United States to have this same kind of surgery. They have excellent facilities there and excellent physicians. That's great to know. That's great to know. I'm assuming obviously Pope Leo would be in the best care possible. Dr. Robinson, last but not least, for someone watching this who may not qualify for a screening or maybe has never thought of getting a screening before, what symptoms should you never brush off when it comes to lungs and breathing and pulmonology? Well, I think one thing is the word persistent. For example, if you have some chest discomfort or you have some shortness of breath, if it persists, particularly the shortness of breath or pain in your back that persists or headaches that persist, they may be related to some type of malignancy, particularly in the chest, maybe a lung cancer. Now everyone gets headaches from time to time. I get it sometimes when I watch the wrong news programs. But if it persists, if you have a cancer that's spread, for example, to the brain, it's not gonna go away. The pain's gonna stay there, the headache's gonna stay there. If you get shortness of breath and then it goes away, most likely it's not related to something that's, for example, a cancer. But if you develop persistent cough, you have persistent shortness of breath, start coughing up blood, you start having pain when you take a big breath in, or pain in your bones, any Any of those things can be a significant problem. If you have some generalized symptoms such as unexplained weight loss, now that may be related to lung or some other type of cancer. So any of those things that come up and persist, I think that's the whole secret. I see someone who has apparently a lung cancer, and they said, yeah, my back was hurting a couple months ago, and is it still hurt? No, it went away. unlikely he has a metastasis to his back because untreated, that pain will only get worse. It won't stay there. Yeah, yeah, if I've learned anything both personally with family and just from people I've interviewed, if something doesn't feel right, you need to listen to your body and you need to get it checked out cuz it could lead to so many different things. Dr. Robinson, thank you so much for joining us in the middle of your busy day. We appreciate you and hopefully we'll be able to talk about good prognosis news soon once we learn more about Pope Leo. We appreciate you. I think we're all praying for him. Thank you. Absolutely. All right, everyone. We are going to step away for another quick two-minute commercial break. And when we come back, I do believe we're going to have a look at a little cooking demo. We're going to talk about Savory St. Pete. We've got a chef here in studio at Fox 13, and we're going to tap into our kitchen. Wow, this looks so good. Welcome back to Fox Tampa Bay Live, everyone. We are getting a little preview of Savor St. Pete, the food and wine festival returning to Vinoy Park November 7th and 8th, bringing together local restaurants, celebrity chefs, and plenty of bites and sips along the waterfront. So we, like we teased a little bit before this break, are not only welcoming on Chef Clayton Perret, executive chef at Hugh Parlor and Chop House at the Fenway Hotel in Dunedin, but he is actually joining us from our kitchen over in our other studio where Dinner with Diaz is filmed. Chef, thank you so much for joining us. Can you hear me all right? I can hear you. How are you? Yay, yay. The test worked. It worked, everyone. Chef, so glad to welcome you on. talk to me about Savor St. Pete and what you got going on today we're getting a little demo here i'm gonna let you take it away i do um so this is our boutique dinners tomorrow night um we have a very fun interactive um eight course dinner we're gonna do with our sold out show um what i have in front of us is uh we had our nice pretty little moon dancers come in uh from Maine we are making a snow cone. So I have a yellow agua chili. There's a lot of different yellow colors. So we didn't really go with just a food style. We went with a color platform. So we have tomatoes, we have carrots, we added some cucumber to help soften it up, some aji amarillo chilis. This awesome little packed ice flavor that'll go on top of our oysters and then we'll serve serve that on top of a cocktail that our mixologists are pairing. My goodness, you got me at oysters, I'm a huge oyster fan. And then did I see that you grew up in southern Louisiana, chef? Do you feel like those Cajun and Creole influences are seen and tasted a lot in your cooking? Always, that's raised by grandparents, the elders of our community. So it's a huge agriculture state. So when I moved to Florida, it was amazing to see the amount of agriculture and we've been studying since we've been here. So, wow, that's awesome. And talk to me a little bit about the many hats that you wear over in Pinellas County. I work at probably one of the most wonderful hotels imaginable. It's my magic kingdom. So I run the culinary program for the Fenway Hotel. We oversee all of the food operation on that property. So we do everything from our Hugh Parlor and Chop House, which is our upscale, I'd say, meat experiment. And then we have Hi-Fi, our rooftop bar. We have Parlor that's at the front. It's more of your upscale bar life. We do weddings every year. We have an amazing front lawn that looks over the Joseph Sound. And then the other parts are community there. You know, Dunedin's an amazing place to visit, hang out with the locals. True Florida vibe. I love it so much. I'm sure you're, I've been to the Fenway Hotel before for a wedding. So now I'm thinking I probably have tasted your cooking because I remember the food being really, really good. Chef, I know you mentioned what you have in front of you is going to be served tomorrow for a special event when it comes to Savor. Can you talk to us a little bit more about that for viewers? Anything that you want them to know? No, this is our prequel. So we're super excited to be invited to savor this year. I'm extremely excited to see a lot of chef friends. I think this is an amazing culinary gathering. This dinner we went, it's going to be our first time with a style, but we're going to be super interactive around our hotel. We're trying to showcase our sunsets in the evening, and we want to show our chef counter or speakeasy. So every little bit of this will be our mixologists having their time, Our chef's having their time, and we're just pairing it together and having a good evening. And let's talk about, are these recipes that a lot of people want to mimic at home? Always. I am 100% on sharing. We're a knowledge-based place, so any questions I get, we'll share whatever recipes we have. Our job is, once we're done with a recipe, we move on to the next one. And anything for, we always have to ask, Chef. I know you go to these events, there's some picky eaters, which is surprising if you show up to an event like that. Anything for them? So we will. We work with everybody. I'm a true believer in everybody should have a four- to five-course meal. So anything we can do to make our guests feel appreciated, it's been a fun journey. We learn a lot by allergens, particular styles of food that they eat. So it's cool to see the different adjustments in food. And now it's an exciting time for a lot of our young culinary students. I love it. There's an amazing community mission behind this festival, supporting local breast cancer initiatives. Are you able to talk a little bit about that? Say that one more time, sorry. I know you're good. I said I know that the community mission behind Savor St. Pete goes back to local breast cancer initiatives. Are you able to talk a little bit about the mission? I'm 100% on board, I think our whole community is, I myself, I found our family in some situations. We are a huge supporter, our company, our local organizations, we are willing to work however we can. So I'm extremely excited for SAVOR to be a part of it and continue the research development and however we can support, so- Definitely, and give me the details as we wrap this up chef if people want to head out to savor or i know there's that savor the bay boutique dinner give us all the details so dinner is officially packed but you can catch us in our restaurant that night as well to come check us out and then the big piece will be come find us at Savor, we have an amazing dish that we're putting out, we have our smoked beef cheeks, we're gonna have a French onion mousse and a little tartlet shell, super excited to be there and you know hopefully everybody if you got time come see us all right, uh well chef, we really appreciate you for joining us and really being our guinea pig here, Chef Clayton Peray, live from our kitchen here at Fox 13 Studios, we appreciate you and we hope you have a great time, you as well, thank you thank you, all right everyone, we are going to step away for a quick two-minute commercial break and when we return we've got plenty more news on the other side, all right everyone welcome on back to Fox Tampa Bay Live. Be sure to scan the QR code on your screens if you have any questions, things to say, you want to say hello, go raise Hey, Regina, we're going to go to Savor St. Pete after that last segment. Anything you want to chat about on this Wednesday, we are welcoming questions and comments if you scan the QR code and join the chat there. We are taking a live look at the Inn on the Gulf in Hudson Beach. Jim Weber saying that the weather is going to be lovely for the rest of the week. before we welcome in some showers over the weekend. So from the looks of it, if we go on over to Paradise Grill at Pass a Grille Beach, looks like some people are taking a dip in the Gulf. Momentarily, we are going to welcome on an interview regarding red tide. We know that some increments were detected in local beaches, but I mean, we normally see red tide in August. So if you have any questions for that expert, We're going to be talking to them in just about five minutes. But really quickly, wanted to get you on out to Brooksville. The Metro Development Group officially breaking ground this morning on more than 1,000 acres of Sunrise Hills community. So the community is going to include almost 4,000 homes, a two and a half acre lagoon and miles of trail. The name Sunrise Hills was inspired by the area's reputation as the first place where one can see the sunrise in Hernando County, tying the community's identity to the land itself. So we're going to head out to this press conference. I'll let you listen in to the nuts and bolts for the next five minutes, and then we'll wrap up with a conversation about Red Tide. My name is Lisa Givings, vice president of marketing and communications at Metro Development Group. Thank you all for making the trek this morning and joining us as we break ground on our second community in Hernando County. I would first like to recognize a few guests. I would like to recognize State Representative Jack Holcomb. Thank you for coming. Commissioner John Mitten. Our very distinguished guests here from Hernando County. Without your strategic partnership this milestone would not be possible i would also like to thank any realtors here today any realtors raise your hand i buy into metro's vision of an inland coastal living and you really do help us sell the lifestyle that our prospective buyers buy into and for that we say thank you we could not offer this one of a kind lifestyle without our national builder partners DRV Homes for choosing to be a part of the Sunrise Hills community at Metro to bring a community like this to life so I'd like to thank a few other groups thank you for helping to continue to shape this beautiful community from our planning teams to our engineering teams I believe we have Madden Moorhead and Stokes represented here today raise your hand thank you for engineering expertise our project management teams represented by Mike Carlton I'm sure you've met him construction teams your hard work and dedication does not go unnoticed represents a significant expansion of Metro's investment into Hernando County across this 1100 acre site we plan up to 4,000 homes and a nearly two and a half acre lagoon which will be right on the site here where we're located as well as several miles of trails ultra-high-speed internet, and street-level solar-powered street lights. Additionally, we will have thoughtfully planned parks and green spaces planned throughout the community so that residents can enjoy an active and healthy lifestyle. We also wanted Sunrise Hills to reflect the character of Brooksville. We redesigned the entry monument to incorporate the signature silo structure that Brooksville has become known for, taking inspiration from the Brooksville Silo Project. Our investment in Hernando County also includes Sandal Key, where we are planning a lagoon with Metro's first integrated lazy river, which we plan on ceremonially breaking ground on this December, so keep an eye out for that. These reflect our long-term commitment to Hernando County and the people choosing to make it home. Finally, my favorite part about Sunrise Hills is the name. if you're wondering where the name came from due to the beautiful hills in the community this area is actually the highest point in Hernando County first place where you can see the sunrise in Hernando County it's pretty neat i wanted to carry that story on in the identity of the community now it is my pleasure to invite other esteemed guests to help share more about the vision of Sunrise Hills first i would like to invite Omar De Pablo Hernando County's director of development services to share the county's perspective Fun fact i've been with the county now going on 21 years and this was one of the first DRIs that i got to work on development original impacts when coming to the county so i've been around for a while i've seen this project since 2007 when it was first thought of and brought to our county and uh during that time it sat dormant and as a planner you know you kind of plan for the future and you can't wait for it to get here and then you blink and here it is and uh we're here in the groundbreaking it's been a pleasure uh to work with the Metro team not just on the Lake Hideaway Sandal Key project but also on the Sunrise and see this come to fruition as a planner we had kind of laid out this area the I-75 plan development district with certain visions and and what you call it dreams and thoughts of what it would come to and having kind of metro come in and kind of take care of that set the stage for what it looks like it's a big deal for us as a county but also as planners it was stated earlier 1100 acres 4200 homes I think there's also part of that project, which is not part of Sunrise Hill. It's commercial, that's gonna be along the front to support the homes here. It took some careful planning, a lot of details as you would expect on trying to plan a project of this size. We were dealing with the bugs and bunnies, as some would say, and taking care of the pedestrians and the citizens and making sure that they had all the amenities that were needed in order to make a project. All right, everyone, so this was about a 20-minute press conference. We do not have time to air it in its entirety, but wanted to bring you the nuts and bolts of this official groundbreaking on more than 1,000-acre Sunrise Hills community. This will include almost 4,000 homes, a 2.5-acre lagoon, miles of trails. And as we mentioned before, the name Sunrise Hills was inspired by the area's reputation as the first place where one could see the sunrise in Hernando, tying the community's identity to the massive land itself. So we are going to have more on this coming up in our later shows on Fox 13 News. But we did, with just about 10 minutes left in our show, want to move on to the last in-depth conversation we had planned for you. So Pinellas and Manatee counties, we know, are checking in on conditions along the Gulf Coast after recent testing detected the organism that causes red tide. So according to FWC's October 9th update, it was found at background levels in Pinellas and Manatee, with some samples in Sarasota and Charlotte counties showing very low levels. And some very important context, no fish kills or respiratory irritation was suspected to be related to red tide. That was reported during that reporting period, so all good there. So what do these levels actually mean? Should we be concerned? What do beachgoers need to know? Well, we actually do want to welcome into the conversation a friendly face here on a Fox Tampa Bay Live. We've got Dr. Shelley Marquardt with the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. Dr. Marquardt, thank you so much for joining us. How are you today? I'm good, thank you so much for having me. Absolutely. So Dr. Shelley, I mean, great to see in these reports that these were background levels. But what does that necessarily mean here? Are we in the clear? Are scientists watching this right now? Give us the lowdown. So being in Florida, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission is monitoring this daily. This is something particularly in peak seasons like summer. They really are on top of it, they want to make the public aware of, you know, any concern that they might have for themselves and also the animals in the area. So this is something that is monitored annually for all of us that we don't really stop monitoring. We do have seasons where it's more prevalent, but it can really occur at any time of the year. And so background levels are not unusual this time of year. We do see kind of some little inklings of that. But this is pretty typical, unfortunately, for Florida. And so it definitely is something that is monitored very closely. Do we know how often we test the waters for red tide? It mostly depends on, I think, what's going on. It's several times a week at our facility. If we do get into a concern with our area, we actually test daily. And so it depends on the organization that's doing it, how they're utilizing the water. But it's done at least several times a week through the state. So obviously, you said we're monitoring this, can scientists at this point predict whether these early detections will develop into a larger bloom or is it just too soon to tell? It's really hard to tell, it's a great question cuz everybody, we love early detection. At this point, it really depends a lot on your temperatures, your winds, you know, what are the nutrients in the water? And so once you kind of start getting it, it certainly goes on people's radar and I I think they definitely start to keep a closer eye on it. But overall, it's really hard to, there's so many components that go into unfortunately these blooms and so it's hard to predict them. And that's totally fair, and what does, do these organisms mean anything for marine wildlife at this point? At this particular level, we're okay, we don't typically see a whole lot. They do have, like you were saying, the fish kills are probably our very early concern. And so we're gonna see those first. you'll see them coming out on the beach. Some people who are overly, really sensitive asthma, you might have the scratchy throat, the coughing, the sneezing. Those are going to probably be your first ones. Once we get to that level, then you're going to start seeing the larger ones. So your sea turtles are going to be next, then probably your manatees, and then your dolphins. And so it kind of works up the food chain. But yeah, at this point, we're not seeing anything. The signs are pretty much the same for every species though, which is nice for us for detection purposes clinically. But it's gonna look very similar to just being disoriented. And so these animals are going to have trouble swimming, trouble surfacing to breathe. They look sometimes they're spinning in circles. And so it's very evident that something is not right. And so that's where hopefully we can intervene and help them in that scenario. So kind of combining two questions into one right now. Should beachgoers be monitoring this themselves. Obviously, the weather is getting glorious. Florida fall, the best time to go to the beach. Should they be concerned? And where can residents and visitors find the most reliable, up-to-date information when it comes to this? At this point, I don't see that there's a concern, at least from the animal side. So, you know, that would translate to hopefully no concern for the people side. If they are wanting to monitor this, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission website has the red tide monitoring. It has the date that the tests were drawn. And so if you were to Google that, you should be able to find that very easily on their website. Awesome. Well, Dr. Shelley Marquardt, thank you so much for easing our concerns, giving us the best information, telling us how you're monitoring this actively. We appreciate all the insight and we'll be talking to you again soon. Have a great day. Thank you so much, you too. All right, everyone, we are gonna take one last quick commercial break before we wrap things up. I even have a little oyster taste test coming up because Chef Perret was so kind to run in one of the oysters that he made into our studio. He ran across the newsroom. So we'll wrap things up and welcome in Linda Hurtado for the news at noon when we come back. All right, everyone. As we wrap up this rendition of Fox Tampa Bay Live on this Wednesday, October 14th. If you caught us at about 11.30, Chef Perret over in our kitchen was previewing Savor St. Pete and the event that they are throwing tomorrow. And they were so kind to run me over an oyster. I'm trying to get the liquid on all of this equipment here, but it's got a little, I smell some ginger. I can't remember off the top of my head what he said was in it. I'm gonna, ooh, mm, mm, wow. You don't expect that to be on an oyster. Well, you taste the oceanic taste of oysters, if that makes sense. A little lemon, a little ginger. Wow, that is good. It's always got that Creole influence because he is from Louisiana. And, Linda, if we are welcoming you in right now, I know Saber St. Pete benefits local breast cancer initiatives, which I know you're going to be talking about in your breast cancer special next week on streaming. Hello. On Thursday, yes, we are inviting in. Dr. John Cox, who's going to talk about some new technology they have at Advent Health. And we're going to bring in some some hope ambassadors to talk about, you know, the walk and how wonderful it is to see women who have been surviving 15, 20, 25 years. It's just an amazing event at Ray J that FOX 13 is sponsoring. I think you're going to be there, right? Oh, yeah. It's so much fun. I'll be there in my pink, walking alongside of you. I've worked for the last couple of years and I've gone to interview you. But now I get to march right next to you. I'm so glad. By the way, I think you just gave Chris Cato a run for his money in terms of eating on TV. It just brought me so much joy to see you eat that oyster. I don't know how to describe oysters, but it's wonderful. It was lovely. Enjoy your show, Linda.