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Top 5 at noon: Times investigation into Tampa Electric deaths; Buckhorn, others donate to move Confederate monument; and more

 
Aerial view of the Tampa Electric Big Bend power station. [Sunday, August 13, 2017] [Photo Luis Santana | Times]
Aerial view of the Tampa Electric Big Bend power station. [Sunday, August 13, 2017] [Photo Luis Santana | Times]
Published Aug. 17, 2017

Here are the latest headlines and updates on tampabay.com.

TIMES INVESTIGATION: TAMPA ELECTRIC KNEW THE PROCEDURE WAS DANGEROUS. IT SENT WORKERS IN ANYWAY.

It wasn't the first time. Twenty years before five workers died at Big Bend Power Station in June, a similar accident hospitalized at least three Tampa Electric employees. The June accident didn't have to happen, a Tampa Bay Times investigation has found.

TAMPA INVESTOR GIVES $50,000 TO MOVE CONFEDERATE MONUMENT, BUCKHORN DONATES $1,000

Donations to remove a Confederate monument from downtown Tampa have skyrocketed since Hillsborough County commissioners tied the statue's fate to the success of the campaign, including one $50,000 donation from a local businessman. Count Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn among the latest donors. On Thursday morning Buckhorn posted to social media a picture of a signed check from him for $1,000 to the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners.

CAN THIS DEVICE WARN MANATEES ABOUT BOATS? SCIENTISTS DOUBT IT (W/VIDEO)

For 40 years, the state has protected manatees by setting up slow speed zones for boaters. The logic behind it was the same as speed zones around schools: Make people slow down and they're less likely to hit something. But in the 1990s, a scientist named Edmund Gerstein announced a startling discovery: Slowing boats down was actually bad for manatees. He said his research on manatees at Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo showed they couldn't hear slow boats, only fast ones. Now he's back, trumpeting an invention dubbed the "Manatee Alerting Device," or MAD for short.

TAMPA BAY HAS TWO NEW MILLION-DOLLAR ZIP CODE AREAS — IS YOURS ONE OF THEM?

You might not be a millionaire, but chances are greater now that you live in a million-dollar Tampa Bay neighborhood. In the past year, the region has gained two more ZIP code areas — downtown St. Petersburg's 33701 and South Tampa's 33609 — in which at least 10 percent of the homes are worth $1 million or more, Zillow says.

BUCS AND BUCKS: HBO'S HARD KNOCKS SERIES BOOSTS LOCAL BUSINESSES

Camp Tampa and Pin Chasers bowling alley are a few of the local businesses featured so far in the weekly HBO documentary "Hard Knocks," which follows the ups-and-downs of the Bucs training camp. Fresh Kitchen, which specialized in healthy, chef-inspired food bowls, and New Identities Hair Studio of Tampa may also be featured in future episodes. Many of the business owners expressed a shared vision from the show's publicity. Marc Rockquemore, co-owner of New Identities, said he wants the show to "translate into new customers."

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