Image zoom St. Phillips Island, South Carolina
It s a bit like a fragile family heirloom passed down with care and love. What better way to describe South Carolina s remarkable St. Phillips Island? Jigsaw-puzzled among its marshy sea-isle sisters southeast of Beaufort and just northeast of Hilton Head, St. Phillips lay largely undisturbed other than by temporary Native American habitation, colonial oversight by the Spanish, and well-heeled sportsmen who came here for pig hunts until famed media mogul Ted Turner bought the island for $2.4 million in 1979.
St. Phillips encompasses nearly 4,682 acres of ancient landscape, all of it accessible only by boat, featuring narrow ridges of upland dunes flanking freshwater sloughs, with live oaks and magnolias on the high ground, palmettos and marsh grasses on the low. Here was a strand of pale and shifting sands cradling the boneyard remnants of trees, a salty Eden where dolphins leaped and vivid painted buntings perched
St. Petersburgâs election season begins. So whoâs running?
There may be seven months before the cityâs primary elections, but candidates have already lined up.
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From top left to bottom right: Gina Driscoll, Wengay Newton, Darden Rice, Clifford Hobbs III, Wendy Wesley, Ken Welch, Brandi Gabbard, Richie Floyd, Michael Ingram [ Photos courtesy of the candidates ]
Updated Jan. 23
ST. PETERSBURG â Now that the national campaign season is over, a local one is just beginning: 2021 is an election year in the Sunshine City.
Four City Council seats are on the ballot, with two members being forced to leave because of term limits. But the most high profile, expensive and contentious race will surely be for mayor.
08:28 PM EST Share Downtown Investment Authority CEO Lori Boyer plans to meet with the Jacksonville Jaguars and wants to personally engage state and federal officials on riverfront development options.
A National Park Service decision complicates Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan’s plans to develop the Shipyards and Metropolitan Park.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection notified city attorney John Sawyer on Dec. 2 that the National Park Service will not consider the Shipyards as replacement property for Metropolitan Park.
“I wanted to let you know that NPS has responded to the City’s proposal of the Shipyards as replacement property for the Metro Park conversion,” department Land and Recreation Grants Program Manager Rebecca Wood wrote to Sawyer, governmental operations department chief of the city Office of General Counsel.
Heavy Lifting
Tom Serio Photography
Derecktor Shipyard’s Fort Pierce, Fla., facility continues to take shape. Construction began in November last year, and the yard has taken delivery of a mobile lift that has a 1,500-ton capacity.
Tom Serio Photography
Following a lengthy approval process by various agencies including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the City of Fort Pierce and others, construction began in November of last year at the century-old port.
Manufactured by Italy-based Cimolai Technology, the lift has 32 wheels that are more than 8 feet tall and weigh more than 10,000 pounds each. When assembled, it will be 85 feet high, 75 feet wide, 120 feet long and weigh 738 tons. The lift will be able to haul vessels to 250 feet.
Miami Herald
A new state law that takes effect July 1 will require projects using state money to conduct studies tallying the potential damage and costs of future sea rise. As part of the law, the state on Tuesday unveiled a new sea rise mapping tool.
The tool is part of a new law taking effect July 1 that calls for projects using state money to conduct studies on damage and costs tied to sea rise. Critics say the law falls short by not requiring fixes.
This post has been updated.
Florida environmental regulators say they are creating the state’s first uniform sea rise level projections as part of a new law to better prepare coastal projects paid for with state money.