St. Petersburg backs a new $1.3B ballpark for the Rays. Now it's up to Pinellas County

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St. Petersburg backs a new $1.3B ballpark for the Rays. Now it's up to Pinellas County

2024-12-06 09:36 Last Updated At：09:40

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — The Tampa Bay Rays' potential new ballpark got a boost Thursday when the St. Petersburg City Council voted to approve the bonds necessary to finance the $1.3 billion stadium.

This is only part of the deal. The Pinellas County Commission also must decide whether to approve its share, with a vote set later in December. Meanwhile, the Rays will play this season in the New York Yankees’ spring training site, Steinbrenner Field in Tampa because of hurricane damage to Tropicana Field.

The Rays have said it is impossible to play at the Trop next year and maybe not until 2026. The vote Thursday was to issue bonds that could finance a new stadium, perhaps by the 2028 season. It came after the county hedged on the financing deal, while the overall plan was approved by the city and county last summer.

The ballpark is part of a larger $6,5 billion project called the Historic Gas Plant District, which is an urban restoration effort aimed at righting a wrong when Black people were moved out so that Tropicana Field and a highway could be built on prime land in downtown St. Petersburg.

“There’s more to it for me than just baseball. We are upholding our part of the bargain,” said Deborah Figgs-Sanders, chair of the St. Petersburg City Council. “We honored our deal.”

Now it’s up to the Pinellas County Commission to decide to issue bonds that would be paid for by tourist taxes that can’t be spent on such things as hurricane recovery. That meeting is set for Dec. 17.

The Rays have had no comment. The team has previously said they are abiding by the current agreement and intend to stay in St, Petersburg.

The Rays’ home since 1998, the domed Tropicana Field was hit hard by Hurricane Milton on Oct. 9, with most of its fabric roof shredded and water damage inside. The city of St. Petersburg, which owns the Trop, released an assessment of the damage and repair needs that estimated the cost at $55.7 million.

Prayers and tears mark 20 years since the Indian Ocean tsunami that killed some 230,000 people

2024-12-26 17:53 Last Updated At：18:00

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) — People gathered in prayer and visited mass graves in Indonesia’s Aceh province on Thursday to mark 20 years since the massive Indian Ocean tsunami hit the region in one of modern history’s worst natural disasters.

Many wept as they placed flowers at a mass grave in Ulee Lheue village, where more than 14,000 unidentified tsunami victims are buried. It is one of several mass graves in Banda Aceh, the capital of Indonesia’s northernmost province, which was one of the areas worst hit by a magnitude 9.1 earthquake and the massive tsunami it triggered.

“We miss them and we still don’t know where they are. All we know is that every year we visit the mass grave in Ulee Lhue and Siron,” said Muhamad Amirudin, who lost two of his children 20 years ago and has never found their bodies.

"This life is only temporary, so we do our best to be useful to others,” Amirudin, visiting the grave with his wife, said.

The powerful earthquake off the coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra on Dec. 26, 2004, triggered a tsunami that killed around 230,000 people across a dozen countries, reaching as far as East Africa. Some 1.7 million people were displaced, mostly in the four worst-affected countries: Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand.

More than 170,000 people died in Indonesia alone.

Even though 20 years have passed, survivors in Indonesia are still grieving the loved ones they lost to the giant wave that flattened buildings all the way to the provincial capital of Banda Aceh.

Hundreds of people gathered to pray at the Baiturrahman Mosque in downtown Banda Aceh. Sirens sounded across the city for three minutes to mark the time of the earthquake.

Infrastructure in Aceh has been rebuilt and is now more resilient than before the tsunami struck. Early warning systems have been installed in coastal areas to alert residents of incoming tsunamis, providing crucial time to seek safety.

The rebuilding efforts were made possible by the support of international donors and organizations, which contributed significant funds to help the region recover. Schools, hospitals, and essential infrastructure destroyed by the disaster have been reconstructed.

In Thailand, people gathered at a memorial ceremony in Ban Nam Khem, a small fishing village in Phang Nga province that bore the brunt of the devastating wave in the country.

The tsunami claimed the lives of over 8,000 people in Thailand, including many who remain missing, leaving a deep scar in the nation’s history. Nearly 400 bodies remain unclaimed.

Mourners shed tears and comforted each other as they laid flowers at the village’s tsunami memorial. Around 300 people joined a modest ceremony with Muslim, Christian and Buddhist prayers.

Urai Sirisuk said she avoids the seaside memorial park the rest of the year because the loss of her 4-year-old daughter still cuts deep every time she's reminded of it.

“I have this feeling that the sea has taken my child. I’m very angry with it. I can’t even put my foot in the water,” she said.

But, she said, “I still hear her voice in my ears, that she’s calling for me. I can’t abandon her. So I have to be here, for my child.”

In India, hundreds gathered at Marina beach in the southern city of Chennai in Tamil Nadu state. They poured milk into the sea to propitiate gods and offered flowers and prayers for the dead as drums beat in the background.

According to official data, 10,749 people were killed in India, including nearly 7,000 people in Tamil Nadu alone.

“It has been 20 years since the tsunami,” said 69-year-old Sadayammal, who uses one name. “We are here to pay respects to the people who lost their lives.”

In Sri Lanka, survivors and relatives of tsunami victims gathered at the coastal village of Pereliya and laid flowers at a memorial that commemorates nearly 2,000 passengers who died when their train, the Queen of the Sea, was hit by the wave. Only a few dozen people are believed to have survived.

Anura Ranjith joined the mourners to pay respects to his younger sister, Anula Ranjani, and her 9-year-old daughter who were passengers on the train. Ranjith never heard from them after that day.

“I looked for them everywhere for years and still, no information about them. Their loss is a great sorrow and pain for me. I am still grieving,” he said.

Overall, more than 35,000 people died in Sri Lanka in the tsunami. People across the country observed two minutes of silence on Thursday in memory of those who lost their lives.

Tarigan reported from Jakarta, Indonesia. Associated Press journalists Tian Macleod Ji in Phang Nga, Thailand, Jintamas Saksornchai in Bangkok, Aijaz Hussain in New Delhi, Bharatha Mallawarachi in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and Eranga Jayawardena in Pereliya, Sri Lanka, contributed to this report.