{"id":123580,"date":"2026-01-19T10:35:58","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T10:35:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/123580\/"},"modified":"2026-01-19T10:35:58","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T10:35:58","slug":"evening-briefing-tampa-january-16-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/123580\/","title":{"rendered":"Evening Briefing Tampa January 16 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Good evening, Tampa Bay. We&#8217;re wrapping up the day for you with the most important stories you need to know and your weather outlook.<\/p>\n<p>Your Weather Planner<\/p>\n<p>Saturday will start cold again, but with sunshine we will warm back to near 70 during the afternoon.<\/p>\n<p>Clouds will begin to return Saturday evening.<\/p>\n<p>There will be a chance of rain Saturday night and Sunday morning.<\/p>\n<p>Another cold front arrives during the day on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Partly_Cloudy_day.jpeg\" class=\"hashed-image\" img-data-alignment=\"center\" img-data-width=\"percent-hundred\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>High:\u00a071<\/p>\n<p>Low:\u00a054<\/p>\n<p>Rain Coverage:\u00a00%\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/spectrumnews.smart.link\/7bmjdbvcs?cid=id-app353_m-digital_s-textcaster_cmp-2021-cm-organic-app-promo_po-organic\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><a href=\"https:\/\/baynews9.com\/fl\/tampa\/weather\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Check your hour-by-hour forecast here<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/baynews9.com\/weatherphotos\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Share your weather photos<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Today&#8217;s Big Stories<\/p>\n<p>1.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/baynews9.com\/fl\/tampa\/news\/2026\/01\/13\/cold-weather-shelters-in-bay-area\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Cold weather shelters in the Tampa Bay area<\/a><br \/>With colder conditions moving into the Bay, cold weather shelters will be opened in the Bay area.<\/p>\n<p>2.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/baynews9.com\/fl\/tampa\/news\/2026\/01\/16\/rays--hillsborough-college-officials-set-to-discuss-stadium-site\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Rays, Hillsborough College officials set to discuss stadium site<\/a><br \/>The stadium plans of the new ownership group of the Tampa Bay Rays may become clearer soon.\u00a0The Hillsborough College board of trustees is scheduled to host a meeting Tuesday afternoon to hear the Rays idea of a stadium at the campus site.<\/p>\n<p>3.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/baynews9.com\/fl\/tampa\/news\/2026\/01\/13\/students-with-intellectual-disabilities-thrive-with-project-edge-class-at-mtc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Students with intellectual disabilities thrive with Project EDGE class at MTC<\/a><br \/>At Manatee Technical College, there\u2019s a program called Project EDGE that teaches students with intellectual disabilities work skills to increase their independence.<\/p>\n<p>4.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/baynews9.com\/fl\/tampa\/space\/2026\/01\/16\/nasa-artemis-sls-orion-moon-rocket-rollout\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">NASA to roll out SLS rocket Saturday for Artemis II moon mission<\/a><br \/>During the early morning hours of Saturday, NASA will begin the Artemis II\u2019s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket\u2019s slow roll to the launch pad.<\/p>\n<p>5.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/baynews9.com\/fl\/tampa\/florida-on-a-tankful\/2026\/01\/16\/tiny-animals--big-smiles--inside-whispering-oaks-miniature-ranch\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Tiny animals, big smiles: Inside Clermont&#8217;s Whispering Oaks Miniature Ranch<\/a><br \/>Tiny animals with big personalities are drawing visitors to a unique stop in Lake County.\u00a0Whispering Oaks Miniature Ranch\u00a0is home to miniature horses, donkeys, goats, and other pint-sized farm animals, giving guests a rare chance to get up close with animals no taller than a few feet high.<\/p>\n<p>Featured Social Post<\/p>\n<p>Your Notes for Tonight and Tomorrow<\/p>\n<p>ON THE TOWN |\u00a0The \u201cManatee Capital of the World\u201d is hosting the 39th annual\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/baynews9.com\/fl\/tampa\/news\/2026\/01\/16\/crystal-river-s-favorite-manatee--celebrity--to-attend-manatee-festival\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Florida Manatee Festival<\/a>\u00a0this weekend in downtown\u00a0Crystal River.\u00a0The festival features two days of live entertainment, food, activities and vendors along with guided manatee boat tours and kayak tours. \u201cMarley the Manatee,\u201d who locals lovingly describe as a Crystal River celebrity, will also be in attendance.\u00a0Tickets are $10 for adults. Children under the age of 12 can get in for free.<\/p>\n<p>LEVEL UP ARTS GRANT | The city of St. Petersburg has launched the Level Up Arts Grant for nonprofit arts and culture organizations with budgets of $50,000 or less. Applications will be accepted until 5 p.m. on April 30, or until funds are depleted. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stpete.org\/residents\/grants___loans\/level_up_arts_grant.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">View additional information about the Level Up Arts Grant.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>UNIVERSAL MARDI GRAS CONCERT LINEUP |\u00a0Guests at Universal Orlando can enjoy a live concert series during the return of its event, Universal Mardi Gras: International Flavors of Carnaval from February 7 through April 4. The concert series takes place on select nights and is included with regular park admission to Universal Studios Florida, park officials said. Attractions Insider shares <a href=\"https:\/\/baynews9.com\/fl\/tampa\/attractions\/2026\/01\/13\/universal-orlando-2026-mardi-gras-concert-lineup\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">who you can expect to see<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/TI_Kite_Festival_crop.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"hashed-image\" img-data-alignment=\"center\" img-data-width=\"percent-hundred\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The annual\u00a0Treasure Island Kite Festival\u00a0returns to the beach today for the first time since a pair of hurricanes devastated the area in 2024.\u00a0The family-friendly event runs through Sunday. It is free to attend, and the public can bring their own kites to fly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Good evening, Tampa Bay. We&#8217;re wrapping up the day for you with the most important stories you need&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":123581,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[834,275,135,137,136],"class_list":["post-123580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-app-evening-briefing","tag-spectrum-news-staff","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123580"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123580\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}