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Claire McNeill - Enterprise Reporter
Claire McNeill

Enterprise Reporter

I've been dog-earing magazines since I was little, and I’m still a constant reader. I love reporting deep on complicated ideas and telling intimate stories that reveal the human experience: a forgotten school shooting victim, a Syrian refugee in a Southern fraternity, a mother-turned-drug smuggler for her dying son. I grew up in a small town in South Jersey and made my way here after attending the University of North Carolina. I covered all kinds of news in Pasco and Pinellas counties before leaping into the higher education beat and then onto the enterprise team. Outside of work, I hoard books, stress-bake and balance my soccer/softball/rock climbing routine with a serious Taco Bell habit. I live in St. Pete with my introverted Pomeranian, Wilson.

  1. Young doctors find a calling on abortion’s front lines
    Nov. 5• Special Reports
    “Coming out,” as providers call it, is not easy. But when people ask her specialty, Dr. Jewel Brown of Tampa owns it. She wants to be an abortion provider. Becoming one, she has found, takes determination at every step of the way.
    Florida providers seek training and work extra hours to give patients anything they might need.
  2. Gay rights icon Edie Windsor’s sheer force carries ‘A Wild and Precious Life’
    Oct. 8• Books
    Edie Windsor walks at the 46th annual NYC Pride March in 2016. Windsor was the Grand Marshal of the 2013 parade, just after the Supreme Court ruled in her favor and struck down the antigay Defense of Marriage Act. Her case set the stage for Obergefell v. Hodges, in which the Supreme Court made marriage equality legal nationwide.
    It’s a pleasure to hear from the late lesbian trailblazer, whose landmark case set the stage for marriage equality nationwide. | Book review
  3. Betty Castor wanted Florida to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s. She’s still fighting.
    Sep. 6• The Buzz
    Former Florida Senator and education commissioner Betty Castor, center, speaks during a Mayoral Panel on the Equal Rights Amendment Thursday in Tampa, while Linda D'Aquila, left, looks on. Castor was present earlier in the day when the Hillsborough County Commission resolved to support the ERA.
    The former education commissioner, USF president and state senator is at the forefront of a renewed effort to get the amendment passed.
  4. What is it like to work in an abortion clinic or pregnancy center? Our reporters visited both.
    Aug. 2• Florida
    MONICA HERNDON | Times
    While the missions are different, there are echoes, about courage and compassion
  5. A crisis pregnancy center in Florida wants to redefine choice
    Aug. 1• Florida
    MONICA HERNDON | Times
    First Coast Women’s Services encourages women considering abortion to pause before making a ‘tragic’ decision
  6. A Florida abortion clinic braces for a Southern surge
    Aug. 1• Florida
    MONICA HERNDON | Times
    A Woman’s Choice of Jacksonville offers women ‘freedom,’ refuge from a hostile climate
  7. Ruskin father fatally shot by deputies had plans to be a better provider, relatives say
    Jul. 8• News
    Angel Ramos Otero, 37, was shot and killed by Hillsborough sheriff’s deputies in Ruskin on Friday, according to his family. Ramos refused commands to drop a knife and advanced at deputies during a domestic disturbance call. [Courtesy of Shaina Otero]
  8. There's a small chance of a tropical system forming in the Gulf of Mexico next week.
    Jul. 6• Breaking News
    A tropical weather system might form in the Gulf of Mexico next week. (National Hurricane Center)
  9. Who wants to listen to the angel of death?
    Jun. 26• Florida
    Saundra Piercy, center, makes her pitch to Joyce Grout, left, and her husband, Steve Grout, who was diagnosed with Parkinson's last fall. Piercy was speaking at The Residence at Timber Pines, a senior community in Spring Hill. [DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD | Times]
    Saundra Piercy is trying to help people prepare for the inevitable
  10. He was at Stonewall 50 years ago. In St. Petersburg, he remembers the before and after.
    Jun. 12• News
    Activist Jay Chetney talks about direct non violent action and activism against the Vietnam war as well as his time being assaulted by officers at Stonewall. [LUIS SANTANA | Times]