Among the field were big names such as Dan Harrington, Sandra Naujoks, Brian Townsend, Kara Scott, Marty Smyth, Neil Channing, Andy Black, Marty Wilson, Liam Flood, Ross Boatman and snooker ace Ken Doherty.

Mitchell battled his way through the field to face a final table comprised of Paul Carr, Santeri Valikoski, Rob Sherwood, Ben Roberts, Edmund Sweeney, Declan Connolly, Peter Murphy and Yann Dion.

When Finland’s Valikoski was eliminated in third place by Mitchell, the stage was set for the heads up between Mitchell and Paul Carr, which the young Brit carried after some exciting exchanges. Paul Carr picked up a runner-up prize of Euro 312 600, and the six-figure cashes extended down to sixth placed Edmund Sweeney.

Last year’s EPT season was a success as it overtook the rival World Poker Tour in terms of player numbers and prize pools. Its fifth instalment generated an overall prize pool of almost $77 million and saw 7,980 players from 97 countries compete.

The second half of the sixth season begins in France on January 20 with a €5,300 buy-in six-day tournament from the picturesque town of Deauville. This will be followed from February 16 to 21 with a stop in Copenhagen for a €5,005 buy-in event before an as yet unannounced German location plays host later that month.

The EPT has featured in Kiev, Barcelona, London and Warsaw so far in 2009 and will move to the small mountainous municipality of Saalbach Hinterglem near Salzburg in Austria from March 21 26 for a tournament being called Snowfest. This event is scheduled to be a €3,750 buy-in no-limit hold’em tournament and will also feature a number of skiing and snowboarding activities to keep players entertained.

The sixth season of the EPT will then move on to the Italian resort of San Remo from April 15 to 21 for a €5,300 buy-in event before the traditional showpiece €10,600 buy-in Grand Final takes place in Monte Carlo from April 25 to 30. Last year, Dutchman Pieter De Korver outlasted 935 other players to take the Grand Final title and its €2.3 million prize, the first win in the showpiece event by a Europe-born player since Rob Hollink won in the EPT’s inaugural 2005 season.

PokerStars.com is set to run a series of online qualification tournaments offering seats into the various EPT events for as little as $2.22 or 111 frequent player points.

As city officials celebrated the arrival of GTE Federal Credit Union to Midtown this week, they wearily acknowledged how long it took to bring the first financial institution to the poorest section of town.

Eight years earlier, Mayor Rick Baker ran on a platform promising to make Midtown part of a “seamless city” where all residents have equal access to services. To an overlooked area about 40 blocks wide and 30 blocks just south of downtown, he promised to bring a major supermarket, a post office, a library and a bank. All would be part of an economic development zone in the heart of Midtown.

In the years that followed, as the first three were completed, the bank stalled. SunTrust bought a piece of property at the southwest corner of 18th Avenue S and 22nd Street, but today that project remains in question.

“We kept knocking them down, but we just couldn’t get this one done,” Baker said during a Monday groundbreaking ceremony. Referring to the credit union, he added, “If they hadn’t stepped in, I don’t know that we’d be here today.”

City officials pulled considerable strings to bring the Tampa-based credit union here just months before Baker leaves office. GTE, in a deal in which it pays $1 for the land, will build its second St. Petersburg branch at the southeast corner of the intersection, across the street from a Sweetbay Supermarket that went up in 2004. Construction is expected to be completed by year’s end.

SunTrust paid $500,000 for its lot, which remains empty today, save for a company sign. A spokesperson for the company could not be reached for comment.

The GTE project quickly took on steam once another developer’s plans for a gas station and a fast food restaurant on the site fell apart, said Mike Psarakis, the city’s senior real estate coordinator.

According to the contract with the city, GTE must build a 3,000-square foot branch and remain in business on the site for 50 years before the city hands over the deed. If GTE pulls out before 30 years, it must pay $700,000, what the city paid for a strip that included homes, a gas station and pool hall years ago. If GTE leaves in 40 years, it pays the city $350,000.

The city will also prepare the property and sidewalk for construction with a $225,000 economic development grant.

“If they meet all the conditions of the contract, they will eventually own the property,” said Deputy Mayor Goliath Davis III, who oversees economic development in Midtown.

For the credit union, the deal made sense not only because GTE has only one other location in the city, at 4584 38th Ave. N, but also because it is eyeing a potential new customer pool in an area where the bank is sometimes beneath the mattress.

“We are going to have a tremendous impact in the neighborhood,” said Stephen Foster, vice president of real estate.

Through the city’s Bank on St. Pete program, which brings financial literacy education to residents, Davis sees collaborations between GTE and neighboring schools that teach children about saving early.

“What this does for people is it gets them on the first rung on the ladder,” said City Council member Karl Nurse, who represents the area.

To be sure, the city has made substantial inroads in Midtown during Baker’s tenure, even as crime continues to be a problem. Early critics of Baker’s efforts, such as City Council member Wengay Newton, who grew up in the area, celebrated those successes at the groundbreaking.

Across the street from the credit union, Sweetbay anchors the Tangerine Plaza shopping complex. Further up 22nd Street, the relics from the strip’s heyday as a black business mecca have been renovated. They include the Manhattan Casino, the Royal Theatre and the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Station, converted into the St. Petersburg Clay Co.

The city also cites the Davis-Bradley drug treatment center, the restoration of Mercy Hospital, the opening of the Johnnie Ruth Clarke Health Center, restoration of Lake Maggiore and sprucing up of Dell Holmes Park as successes.

Said Baker: “I know that we have not gotten all the way there yet and that there is still work to be done.”

The iconic recording artists will not only be performing in an unprecedented spectacular shipboard concert, but they will be mixing and mingling with music lovers in a number of unique and festive activities throughout the cruise celebrating 50 years of their musical legacy.

In addition to the three confirmed superstars, several other former Motown recording artists including the Original Vandellas, The Miracles, and The Contours with Joe Billingslea have been invited to attend the gala party on the high seas.

The cruise was organized by Hitsville Venture, LLC, the Detroit-based gaming and image branding company co-owned by entrepreneur and visionary Herbert J. Strather and many other former Motown recording artists.
Strather designed the series of events to offer fans a truly spectacular venue in which to dine with the artists as well as enjoy their company at a cocktail party, a karaoke and trivia night, and attend an incomparable concert on the Caribbean.

Sailing on Royal Caribbean’s luxurious Majesty of the Seas, the cruise will depart the dazzling art deco brilliance of Miami and set sail for Coco Cay and Nassau in the Bahamas before returning to its home port for another opportunity to partake of Miami’s festive atmosphere.

The blending of the Detroit Sound with the shipboard Las Vegas style entertainment and party atmosphere will be non-stop, promises Abdul “Duke”
Fakir, the last surviving member of the Grammy-award winning original Four Tops.

There will be free gifts galore as well as opportunities to win one-of-a-kind personalized items autographed by the former Motown stars.

“We are thrilled and honored to have some of the most incredible musical legends in the world joining us for this once in a lifetime experience,”
said Strather, “It is extraordinary that these world-renowned superstars would come together to be a part of music history. We are working with the artists to plan a variety of wonderful events for our guests to help make this fantastic experience memorable.”

The Four Tops, Freda Payne and The Dramatics are among the legendary artists whose likenesses can be found on the Washington, D.C. Lotto Soul series of instant scratch tickets, which debuted to great acclaim this spring.

They are also among the galaxy of artists spotlighted on the newly released CD, “Motor City Hits: Real Music is Back.” The CD not only features such collector’s items as the last recordings made by Levi Stubbs with the Four Tops, but also introduces the first new recordings made in decades by the Four Tops, The Miracles, and The Contours with Joe Billingslea as well as other former Motown superstars.

Tickets for the Heatwave Celebrity Cruise may be purchased online at www.heatwavecelebritycruise.com. As Duke Fakir, puts it, “There is no better way to celebrate 50 years of the Motown sound than with the stars that made it happen. We’re looking forward to having a fantastic time with our friends.”

The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. in the Schenectady High School’s Black Box Theatre on The Plaza.The event will be recorded by the city’s cable access channel SACC-TV 16, but won’t be shown live.The disclosure of the photographs is the latest controversy for the school district. The district was already under fire for its handling of complaints that facilities director Steve Raucci, who is now accused of threatening enemies with explosives and graffiti, was abusive to staff and for closing a popular elementary school on the city’s north side.