FLORIDA — The bad news keeps coming for fabrics and crafts retailer Joann, which will close 500 of its 800 stores, according to multiple sources.

Joann on Wednesday filed a court motion to start its closures, according to the financial and risk advisory agency Kroll, which is assisting Joann with its claims. This comes after the company filed for bankruptcy for a second time last month.

A list of store closures shows that Joann will shutter stores in 49 states, with California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington among those most affected. Hawaii is excluded from the closures.

The 81-year-old Ohio-based retailer has identified the following 36 Florida stores for potential immediate closure:

Joann stores in Jensen Beach, Tallahassee, Brandon, West Melbourne, Panama City, Tavares, Destin, University Park, Pensacola and Winter Haven were not on the list.

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A company spokesperson said that “right-sizing our store footprint is a critical part of our efforts to ensure the best path forward.” The spokesperson also told USA Today it was "a very difficult decision to make, given the major impact we know it will have on our Team Members, our customers and all of the communities we serve."

The company will decide which stores to close after "a careful analysis" of how those stores are performing.

RELATED: How Joann Fabric Bankruptcy Will Affect GA Stores

Last March, the retailer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and kept all of its stores open. At that time, the company said it had acquired $132 million in new funding which it planned to use to reduce its debt by approximately $505 million.

Sales at Joann had slumped after a jump during the pandemic, when Americans were isolated in their homes and spent more money on sewing and craft supplies. Due to the subsequent inflation, several people had to cut back on their discretionary spending.

The news comes as other major retailers have announced closures as well, with Kohl's notably among those last month.

Buckley, an endangered green sea turtle found far from the ocean, was released to the Gulf after months of rehabilitation, FL Aquarium said.

Tiffany Razzano, Patch Staff

TARPON SPRINGS, FL — A rehabilitated lost green sea turtle was returned to Gulf waters Wednesday from Fred Howard Park in Tarpon Springs, the Florida Aquarium said in a news release.

The endangered turtle, Buckley, was found stranded more than a mile from the ocean on a dirt road in Dixie County in November.

He spent the last three months at the Florida Aquarium’s Sea Turtle Rehabilitation Center in Apollo Beach. There, staff worked to help the turtle regain weight, stabilize dangerously low blood sugar levels and heal scratches to its bottom shell caused by navigating rough terrain.

“This is why we do what we do — to see a once-struggling sea turtle like Buckley return home, stronger and healthier. It’s heartwarming,” Ashley Riese, sea turtle conservation director, said. “Buckley’s recovery is a testament to the incredible collaboration between rescuers, the Aquarium’s animal care team, veterinarians, and our entire community.”

Named after Buck Creek, near where he was found, Buckley’s story inspired community support from the very beginning. After hearing Buckley’s name, local businessman Ed Buckley, an advocate for marine conservation, wanted to help.

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He donated $7,500 to underwrite the turtle’s medical expenses and encouraged others to contribute to support Buckley’s care, which has topped $10,000, the aquarium said.

"When I heard they rescued a turtle with my same name, I knew I had to get involved," Ed Buckley said. “There’s a strong connection between Buckley and me — maybe it’s the name, maybe it’s kindred spirits — but one thing I do know is that protecting sea turtles is important. Their survival depends on all of us stepping up and hope the community will be compelled to help as well.”

A grant from Verizon and collaboration with the Sea Turtle Conservancy allowed the aquarium to attach a satellite tag to Buckley’s shell, allowing the community and biologists to track him now that he’s been returned to the wild.

Each time Buckley surfaces to breathe, the tag will send a signal to a satellite, enabling real-time tracking of feeding habits, migratory patterns and environmental conditions like water temperatures.

The feed to track Buckley’s journey, which will be live within 24 hours to a week following his release, can be found here.

Angie Rey, a country singer from Seminole, was chosen to move forward on "The Voice" Season 25 during the Feb. 3 blind auditions.

Tiffany Razzano, Patch Staff

|Updated Fri, Feb 14, 2025 at 6:27 pm ET

HOLLYWOOD, CA — A Tampa Bay-area singer fulfilled one of her biggest dreams: Competing on NBC’s “The Voice” and getting a coveted “chair turn” by one of the coaches, moving her forward to the battle round, which starts next month.

Angie Rey performed a rendition of “Penthouse” by country artist Kelsea Ballerini, a coach on Season 27 of the hit singing competition, during the episode that aired Feb. 3.

Ballerini turned her chair for Rey — indicating that she wanted to serve as Rey’s coach this season — and even performed a duet of “Penthouse” with her.

“I ran through every single possible scenario in my head,” Rey told Patch. The only possibility I hadn’t drawn up for myself was, hey, Kelsea might sing with you. It never even crossed my mind. It’s funny watching it back, looking at myself, and it looked like I was in shock. It felt like such a dream.”

She added, “Having the chair turn was amazing, but to have (Kelsea) come up and sing to me and to harmonize on her lead, oh my gosh, that was amazing. I think I’m going to take a picture of it and frame it.”

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A first-generation Cuban American, Rey grew up in southern California before moving to Seminole, Florida, where her parents still live, in the seventh grade.

She started singing at a young age, but was very shy. To encourage her to explore her talents, her parents convinced her outgoing older brother, Ray, to attend singing lessons with her.

“He agreed to go with me until I wasn’t shy anymore,” she said. “He likes to say if he kept going he’d be a better singer than me.”

Rey grew up listening to a lot of soul and Latin music, and eventually, when she was about 13 years old, had the opportunity to compete on Telemundo's “La Voz Kids,” where she reached the Top 18.

She was about 15 years old when she fell in love with country music, after her best friend brought her to a Lady A concert.

“I remember standing there with lighters, well camera phone lights, in the air. It was the coolest thing and I realized, I love country music,” Rey said. “It was really interesting coming from a Latin family. When you think of a Latin girl singing country music, it’s kind of unheard of. But the country community and the people who listen to country music and the Latin music (scene) all have the same values — family, god, love and having fun.”

She added, “Except Latin music is in Spanish. It’s basically country music but with a little bit of a beat to it.”

Being eliminated from “La Voz Kids” was challenging for Rey.

“After that show, going through the eliminations, I think mentally and emotionally it takes a little bit of a toll on you,” she said. “It’s like, man, am I good enough and all that stuff?”

But her mother pushed her to keep going and didn’t “let (her) sit in that sadness,” according to Rey.

Not only did she start writing her own songs, but she would hit all the Pinellas County beach bars handing out business cars telling people “they should pay me to sing at their restaurants,” she said.

She booked a few gigs at spaces like Crabby Bill’s and Aqua Prime, sometimes making “100 bucks” in an evening if she was lucky, Rey said. “I was like, man, I’m a big baller.”

She waitressed for a while, as well, and when she grew tired of that and missed music, her mother again pushed her to go up and down the beach to connect with venues.

Eventually, she got a call from a woman who booked acts for The Stockyard, a country music club in Holiday. The opening act for John Michael Montgomery canceled and they needed a band to perform in two days.

Rey, lying, told them she had a band in place and was ready to take the stage. In reality, she cobbled together a band filled with other teens she had met at a summer music camp.

“I called them and said I need a guitar, drums, I need bass,” she said. “It was a killer show … and I got a little taste of what it was like to play with a band.”

After graduating from Seminole High School in 2017, she headed to college in Nashville, thinking she could chase her dreams while studying voice and commercial music business. But she burned out quickly and though she gave the University of Tampa a try when she returned home, she realized college wasn’t for her.

Rey threw all of her efforts into performing and writing music full time with trips back and forth to Nashville.

“It’s such a who-you-know business, and I was trying to maintain relationships,” she said.

About two years ago, she moved to Nashville full-time, where she performs regularly at local venues and works with various songwriters and studios when she can.

She started speaking to producers at “The Voice” in December 2023 and when she took the stage for the blind audition earlier this month, it was “full circle” for her, bringing her back to her time on “La Voz Kids.”

It was a nervewracking experience stepping on that stage, Rey said. “I thought this is what I do. I’m good. I do this all the time. This is just another day at work and I remember walking out on stage and I was freaking out.”

Singing Ballerini’s song right in front of her made Rey feel like she was “going to have a heart attack.”

Ultimately, she got what she hoped for — Ballerini as her coach.

The Battle Rounds will likely start sometime in March. During this phase of the show, Rey will be paired up against another singer on Ballerini’s team and one will be chosen to move on in the competition.

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Tampa ranks high on a list of "Cities with the Biggest Inflation Problems," with one of the higher increases in month-over-month inflation.

Tiffany Razzano, Patch Staff

TAMPA BAY, FL — The Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater region is one of the top metro areas in the U.S. hardest hit by inflation, coming in at No. 10 on a list of “Cities with the Biggest Inflation Problems,” according to a new report from Wallethub.

The list was created looking at data from the Consumer Price Index.

The Tampa Bay area saw a 2.3 percent CPI increase in January compared to January 2024, and a 1.2 percent increase in the last two months, according to the report.

The Chicago-Naperville-Elgin metro area topped the list at No. 1 with a 4.3 percent CPI change year over year, according to the report.

“The U.S. inflation rate hit a 40-year high after the pandemic but has since cooled significantly due to factors like the Federal Reserve rate hikes,” the report said. “The year-over-year inflation rate sits at 3 (percent) as of January 2025, which is still above the target rate of 2 (percent). Various factors, such as the war in Ukraine and labor shortages, drive this higher than average inflation. Despite the country not meeting its target yet, the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates at the level set in December 2024.”

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It’s not all doom and gloom in the Tampa Bay-area, though.

Though long-term inflation keeps the region on the list of “Cities with the Biggest Inflation Problems,” Tampa is also among U.S. cities with the lowest year-over-year inflation rate.

The city ties at No. 19 on that list with Dallas, Texas, and Anchorage, Alaska.

In order to determine how inflation is impacting people in different cities, WalletHub compared 23 MSAs (Metropolitan Statistical Areas) across two key metrics involving the Consumer Price Index, which measures inflation. The metrics are listed below, along with their corresponding weights.

We then determined each MSA’s weighted average across the metrics and used the resulting scores to rank-order our sample.

For each MSA in the sample, we used the latest data available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

For some MSAs, there is a one-month lag on the data available.

Sources: Data used to create this ranking were obtained from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Tampa Bay Sun FC's push for the playoffs kicks back off when the spring schedule starts on Feb. 8 but the Bay area’s first professional women’s soccer team is going to get one hell of a matchup a month later.

Today in Tampa, the team announced plans to host a spring match against Gotham FC, the 2023 champions from the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL).

The friendly marks the first matchup between teams from the 12-year-old NWSL and the USL Super League, which launched its inaugural season last summer.

Related

Everything to know about Tampa Bay Sun FC, which kicks off its inaugural season this weekend Tampa Bay’s new professional women’s soccer team hopes to change the game.

The match is a huge get not just for Blake High School’s Riverfront Stadium, but for local fans of the game who may very well get to see Gotham FC stars—including 2019 USWNT World Cup winners Rose Lavelle, Tierna Davidson, and Emily Sonnett—play in downtown Tampa.

The Sun, for its part, includes three of the USL Super League’s top goal scorers, Carlee Giammona, Cecilie Fløe Nielsen, and Natasha Flint.

Tampa Bay Sun FC, which is starts the spring campaign just one point out of the playoffs, made the announcement today, with Christina Unkel, the team’s President and General Manager, saying, “This game represents a significant milestone for both leagues and serves as a testament to the growing strength and visibility of women’s professional soccer in the United States.”

Unkel was flanked by Gotham FC midfielder and Florida State University alum Jaelin Howell (who has five caps for the USWNT) and Sun FC midfielder Jade Moore who’s made 50 caps for England’s national team.

Season ticket holders will get first dibs at tickets to see Tampa Bay Sun FC v Gotham FC at Blake High School's Riverfront Stadium in Tampa on Sunday, March 2.

Event Details

It’s been a busy winter for the Sun, too, which said goodbye to a lot of players after the fall season—but also unveiled its new mascot last month.

A press release says, “Solé (pronounced “so-LAY”) is a stylized lizard with bright colors that represent the vibrant Tampa Bay area and the vibrant light of the Sun—the star that inspired her name. Her cheerful, smiling face is bright yellow with electric blue accents and fiery flames to resemble the strength of the community and the female athlete.”

Solé served as the Grand Marshall of the Gasparilla Children’s Parade after her unveiling, and this weekend—when the Sun takes on Fort Lauderdale United FC for a match rescheduled due to the hurricanes—is the first time the mascot will be in front of fans at the stadium.

“You can expect Solé to show the same passion for engaging with the community and sharing the love of ‘the beautiful game’ as our team has shown since its very beginning,” Unkel added.

UPDATED 02/02/25 10:50 a.m. Updated with information on the team's new mascot. 01/31/25 5:50 p.m. The Sun's spring campaign kicks off Feb. 8, not in late March.

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