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Chris Tisch - Senior News Editor, Breaking News and Criminal Justice

Senior News Editor, Breaking News and Criminal Justice

I'm the editor of the Times' breaking news and criminal justice team, a group of about a dozen editors and reporters who bring you the Tampa Bay area's most urgent stories. I've lived in the Tampa Bay area since 1995 after growing up in a remote town of 2,500 in northern Wisconsin. After a childhood filled with things like ice fishing, Green Bay Packers worship and saying funny words like "bubbler" and "you betcha," I studied journalism at Northwestern University before landing a job covering the cops beat at the Bradenton Herald. I came to the Times five years later and have been in the thick of a number of big stories, including covering Florida's death penalty, riding out and reporting on Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, helping with the Terri Schiavo story and co-authoring a project about the mounting number of fatal prescription drug overdoses in Florida.

  1. Petru Veresan, 72, of Clearwater, is facing charges of lewd and lascivious molestation and lewd and lascivious conduct.
  2. Swim advisories have been issued at two Hillsborough County beaches, including the Davis Islands Beach, shown above in a 2022 photo, after fecal bacteria was found in the water.
  3. Largo Police detectives congregate outside of Stout's Auto Service, Wednesday in Largo, where at least 2 people were killed during a shooting, police say.
  4. Traffic was backed up in the southbound lanes of the Howard Frankland Bridge after a crash Tuesday morning. All lanes are now open.
  5. Gary Gauthier was booked into the Pinellas County jail this week after a warrant was issued for his arrest in May.
  6. Pinellas County Sheriff's Office deputies say a Palm Harbor woman was arrested on her third DUI charge after she was caught going 115 mph on the Bayside Bridge, which is shown in this 2020 photo.
  7. Pinellas Park police say they are investigating after three adults were found dead in a home in the 11400 block of 60th Lane N on Tuesday.
  8. A home in St. Petersburg’s Shore Acres neighborhood was heavily damaged by fire on Thursday.
  9. Florida officials are warning of a “potentially widespread fuel contamination” that may have resulted in people getting fuel from Florida gas stations that could harm their engines just as Tropical Storm Idalia may put residents on the road or in search of gas to power their generators.
  10. Rachel Goode, 61, is facing a charge of first-degree murder.
  11. Randy Akers is facing multiple charges of child sexual abuse.
  12. Andre Nolasco, 57, had launched a boat from Nicks Park in Port Richey on Sunday morning. It was found about 8 miles west of Hudson, but no one was aboard.
  13. Clearwater police shut down the eastbound lanes of the Courtney Campbell Causeway for just over an hour Friday afternoon after two vehicle crashed.
  14. Deputies said they were called to Tally Ho Bar Lounge & Grill, 7402 N 56th Street, just after 3 a.m. Sunday after there were reports of a shooting.
  15. Sherene Norton is facing a manslaughter charge.
  16. Snake hunters captured this 19-foot long Burmese Python this week, the longest ever captured in Florida.
  17. A woman was killed Monday morning after a large tree fell on her home in Weeki Wachee, Hernando County Fire Rescue reported.
  18. A man died after a residential fire in unincorporated Pinellas County on Sunday, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office.
  19. Kenneth Levelle Streeter, 32, was arrested on charges of kidnapping and attempted sexual battery.
  20. Police have arrested Halla Maher Masoud, 24, of Riverview, and Javon Ashley Davis, 40, of St. Petersburg, on charges of kidnapping and strong-arm robbery.
  21. Forecasters continued to watch Bret and Cindy in the tropics on Saturday.
  22. A man was seriously injured early Wednesday morning after a crash on U.S. 19 in which he was ejected and the vehicle caught fire, Clearwater police reported.
  23. A man was killed and another was seriously injured after a high-speed crash caused this car to rip in half Tuesday night, the Florida Highway Patrol reported.