🛍️ Help local businesses

Friday! We did it.

☀️ Nothing but rays. 82°/66°.

• Sounds like: "Superstition," Stevie Wonder

🎂 Happy birthday to our Axios Tampa Bay member Robert Baron! And happy early birthday to member Garry Brumback!

Situational awareness: Tampa Bay residents with roof damage from Hurricane Milton can get a temporary tarp through the Operation Blue Roof program from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and FEMA.

• The program is for primary homes or occupied rentals with less than 50% structural damage.
• Residents can sign up at BlueRoof.gov or by calling 888-ROOF-BLU (888-766-3258). Have a driver's license or other proof of residency handy.

Today's newsletter is 908 words, a 3.4-minute read.

First, Hurricane Helene's storm surge totaled Samantha Cipriani's Toyota Corolla and wrecked the homes of her employees.

• Then, Hurricane Milton flooded the St. Petersburg warehouse where she keeps wax, shipping boxes and other supplies for her small business, Nightshift Wax Co.

Why it matters: Back-to-back hurricanes have left Tampa Bay businesses reeling — and they need our help. 

The big picture: Local chambers of commerce are still tallying the impacts, but merchants and chamber officials told Axios it's tough to find a local business that hasn't faced setbacks from the storms.

• If a shop or restaurant hasn't closed indefinitely due to storm damage, it's likely facing a dearth of customers as the locals they rely on pick up their own pieces. 

What they're saying: "It's really hard to ask for help as a business when you know that so many individuals in our community are suffering and have lost all of their belongings or even their own home," Amanda Hill, owner of St. Pete plant store and gift shop Wild Roots, told Axios.

Zoom in: Hill was able to reopen her Grand Central District storefront the day after Milton hit, but she spent the weekend mostly alone, with maybe a few customers coming in to shop each day. 

• That's when she realized she needed to ask for help.
• She and several other  business owners, including Cipriani, posted candidly on social media about the dire straits. 

Both business owners are grateful for the outpourings of support they've gotten since turning to the community for help: "I feel hope," Hill said.

• Still, they've got a long way to go. 

How to help

"Hotels, Motels & Inns of Florida," a new guidebook by Tampa Bay journalist Kristen Hare, has a lot more than just ghost stories.

• It's a 184-page deep dive into some of the most unique, memorable places to stay in the Sunshine State, organized by decade and packed with glossy vintage photos.

Yes, but: 'Tis spooky season, so we asked Hare to break out some of the paranormal details.

• And if you're hungry for more, catch Hare talking about the book with Creative Loafing Tampa Bay's Ray Roa from 3-5pm Sunday at Hotel Flor in Tampa.

The Belleview Inn in Belleair: If there is a ghost here, it's probably that of Morton Plant's wife, Maisie Plant, who the hotel's cafe is named after.

• The story goes that when the couple married, he traded a mansion on Fifth Avenue in New York City for a string of pearls. 
• After her death, Maisie's pearls were sold for a fraction of their original value. You can't blame a girl for being saucy about that.  

The Hacienda in New Port Richey: This pink Mediterranean hotel first opened in 1927.

• Today, staff will show you where the cold spots are and share stories of some friendly guests who apparently never checked out, including The Lady in White, a dancing ghost and a little girl. 

The Cordova Inn in St. Petersburg: This neoclassical hotel opened in downtown St. Petersburg in 1921 as the Hotel Scott.

• Staff there claim their friendly ghost is thought to be the hotel's longtime concierge who reportedly died in the hotel and now sticks around to be helpful, not spooky.

Share these stories

🚨 A debris pile at a St. Petersburg scrap yard caught fire yesterday. No one was hurt, but residents from the nearby Ponce De Leon neighborhood were evacuated due to the heavy smoke. (Bay News 9)

Sarasota's Skye Ranch neighborhood is in the national spotlight after a Black teen recorded a group of white men following and harassing him in a video that went viral this week. (Sarasota Herald-Tribune)

Andrew Warren, the ousted Hillsborough state attorney running to get the seat back, accused his successor and opponent, Suzy Lopez, of antisemitism after she repeatedly derided him for taking campaign money from liberal billionaire George Soros. (Tampa Bay Times)

• Many Jewish people and extremism researchers consider attacks on Soros, who is Jewish, to be antisemitic dog whistles.

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Wilson abruptly quit days after sending letters to Florida TV stations warning they could face criminal prosecution for airing political ads in support of the abortion rights referendum.

• The DeSantis administration has since been rebuked by First Amendment experts and the head of the Federal Communications Commission.

The latest: A federal judge yesterday temporarily prohibited the state from threatening to prosecute TV stations that carry Amendment 4 ads.

What they're saying: "Political advertisement is political speech," wrote Chief U.S. District Judge Mark E. Walker.

• "To keep it simple for the State of Florida," he added, "it's the First Amendment, stupid."

👋 Kathryn here. I was on a walk in my St. Pete neighborhood when I saw a woman dragging a piece of soggy furniture down her driveway.

• She told me that, like so many across our region, Hurricane Milton's historic deluge of rainfall had flooded her garage and car.
• I continued on my way, turning the corner onto Murilla Way South, and was confronted with the flood water, still covering the road nearly a week after the storm.

Then I saw it: A roseate spoonbill, a native wading bird I've adored for years but have never seen in the wild.

Even in the wreckage, Florida's beauty persists.

📸 Have a cool photo taken in Tampa Bay? Hit reply, and we may feature it in a future newsletter.

Thoughtful design and superior home technology create the ideal space to discover a more relaxed lifestyle.

Tour studios and one- to three-bedroom apartment homes in Westshore Tampa that offer a well-balanced lifestyle where you're minutes from your next flight or a short drive to a good night.

🏝️ Kathryn is looking forward to tomorrow's beach cleanup on Treasure Island.

👋 Yacob is back from a day off.

This newsletter was edited by Jeff Weiner.