Advertisement
Zachary T. Sampson - Environment Reporter
Zachary T. Sampson

Environment Reporter

I grew up in Rhode Island, on a bay similar to Tampa's. I'm fascinated by where we're from — how places shape us and we shape them. In Florida, our life turns on nature, from the gulf to rivers and flatwoods and swamps. I want my coverage to be just as expansive. Do you have a place to show me or a story to tell? Reach out. I'm friendlier than my face suggests. We can also talk about baseball, but it might be hard to get me to stop.

  1. Florida adds more than 1,200 coronavirus cases as death toll approaches 2,500
    1 hour ago• Health
    Feeding Tampa Bay volunteers carry boxes of food into waiting cars during a mega-pantry drive-through operation at the State College of Florida on Tuesday. [MARTHA ASENCIO RHINE | Times]
  2. After reopening, Florida hasn’t seen a spike in coronavirus cases. Are we in the clear?
    Yesterday• Health
    People walk around Sparkman Wharf in Tampa on Memorial Day. [DIRK SHADD | Times]
  3. Florida officials approve $79 million in conservation land buys, including near Green Swamp
    Yesterday• Environment
    Sandhill cranes in an area of the Green Swamp in Polk County that is similar to a tract preserved Thursday under the Florida Forever program. [Photo courtesy Doug DeNeve]
  4. Sponsored Content
  5. Florida children’s climate lawsuit against state leaders set for key hearing Monday
    Yesterday• Environment
    Left to right: Isaac Augspurg, 14; Levi Draheim, 12; Delaney Reynolds, 20; Valholly Frank, 17. They are part of a lawsuit challenging Florida leaders over climate policy. [Mary Ellen Klas | Times/Herald]
  6. The pandemic took their livelihoods, but not their spirit
    Yesterday• Business
    Eric Carrasquillo, 35, the general manager of Butter's Burgers, 777 N Ashley Drive, Tampa, on Tuesday. Butter's Burgers bar and restaurant opened March 13th, just days before it would be forced to close because of the pandemic. [DIRK SHADD | Times]
  7. Florida coronavirus death toll hits 2,400
    Yesterday• Health
    People stroll through Sparkman Wharf in Tampa Bay on Memorial Day. [DIRK SHADD | Times]
  8. Florida reports 509 new coronavirus cases Tuesday, and seven more deaths
    May 26• Health
    People stroll the boardwalk at John's Pass Village in Madeira Beach on Memorial Day. [SCOTT KEELER | Times]
  9. Las muertes por coronavirus en Florida superan las 2,300 y se reportan 879 nuevos casos, según el estado
    May 25• CENTRO
    299/5000 Esta ilustración proporcionada por los Centros para el Control y la Prevención de Enfermedades en enero de 2020 muestra el nuevo coronavirus 2019 (2019-nCoV). Este virus fue identificado como la causa de un brote de enfermedad respiratoria detectado por primera vez en Wuhan, China. (Centros para el Control y Prevención de Enfermedades a través de AP) [AP]
  10. Florida coronavirus deaths top 2,300 as state reports 879 new cases
    May 25• Health
    New signage greets reminds guests of the new rules as the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa re-opens to the public for the first time since March 20 in Tampa. [LUIS SANTANA | Times]
  11. As the world slowly reopens, these 13 Tampa Bay business owners adapt to the times
    May 24• Business
    David Eliasson, 48, Tampa, owner of Snack Attack Vending, has seen his sales shrink 50 percent since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. He services 250 accounts around Tampa Bay. He poses at home May 19, 2020, with his van that carries his inventory snacks and drinks [SCOTT KEELER | Times]
  12. Feds demand new payment records from Tampa Bay CareerSource job centers
    May 21• Pinellas
    Former CareerSource Pinellas and CareerSource Tampa Bay president and CEO Edward Peachey led both public job centers until a series of Tampa Bay Times investigations exposed improper spending of more than $17 million in public money in 2018. Multiple federal investigations are ongoing. [SCOTT KEELER | Times]
  13. Tampa Bay Water files ‘forever chemicals’ lawsuit against DuPont, 3M
    May 19• Environment
    An alligator, bottom, and a great blue heron are seen along the banks of the C.W. Bill Young Regional Reservoir in Lithia in 2018. [CHRIS URSO | Times (2018)]
  14. Scientists find rare Florida blue bee, last spotted in 2016
    May 19• Environment
    A University of Florida researcher has been searching the Lake Wales Ridge for the blue calamintha bee, a species scientists say is unique to one section of Florida. [Chase Kimmel/University of Florida]
  15. Pollution changes are one reason for more tropical cyclones in Atlantic since 1980, NOAA says
    May 13• Environment
    Boats lay sunk and damaged at the Port St. Joe Marina in the Florida Panhandle as Hurricane Michael made landfall in October 2018. [DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD | Tampa Bay Times]
  16. Whit Remer named Tampa’s sustainability officer
    May 12• Tampa
    Tampa Mayor Jane Castor named Whit Remer, pictured, as the city's first sustainability and resilience officer Tuesday. [City of Tampa]
  17. How Florida slowed coronavirus: Everyone stayed home before they were told to
    May 10• Health
    Aerial view of an empty Clearwater Beach due to COVID-19 closures pictured on April 10. [LUIS SANTANA | Times]
  18. Eleanor June Schueneman, 94, was ‘quiet and strong’ until coronavirus brought a sudden end
    May 6• Health
    Eleanor June Schueneman, left, in an undated photo with her son, William. [Sandra McKinley]
  19. Air pollution dropped while Florida shut down for the coronavirus, NASA says
    May 2• Environment
    NASA tracked nitrogen dioxide levels above Florida for a month during the coronavirus pandemic. [NASA'S SCIENTIFIC VISUALIZATION STUDIO | NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio]
  20. More Pinellas nursing home residents die of coronavirus in one of Florida’s worst outbreaks
    May 1• Health
    Health care workers work near one of the entrances to the Seminole Pavilion Rehabilitation and Nursing Services building at Freedom Square on Friday, April 24, 2020, in Seminole. [DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD | Times]
  21. Will coronavirus beach closures help Florida sea turtles?
    May 1• Environment
    Joe Widlansky of St. Petersburg patrols St. Pete Beach for sea turtle nests on Friday. The beaches are reopening right in time for the start of sea turtle nesting season in Pinellas County. That means the benefit of empty beaches, without obstructions or confusing lights, will be over too soon to help the turtles. [SCOTT KEELER | Times]
  22. Water officials signal potential restrictions for Tampa Bay amid drought conditions
    Apr. 28• Environment
    Sprinklers run as the sun rises on a strawberry field in Plant City in 2018. [TAMPA BAY TIMES ARCHIVE | Tampa Bay Times]
  23. Florida releases data on number of COVID-19 cases in each nursing home, assisted living facility
    Apr. 27• Health
    Emergency personnel prepare to transport a patient by ambulance from the Freedom Square Seminole Nursing Pavilion, 7800 Liberty Lane, on April 17 in Seminole. About 30 patients and staff members at a Pinellas County nursing home have tested positive for the coronavirus, county officials said. Several patients from Freedom Square Seminole Nursing Pavilion have been transferred to local hospitals, Assistant County Administrator Lourdes Benedict told the Tampa Bay Times. Other residents of the facility will be tested, officials said, and the grounds are being cleaned. [DIRK SHADD | Times]
  24. Florida’s climate change efforts ‘disjointed,’ former state resilience officer found
    Apr. 22• Environment
    Redington Beach is one town scientists say could see flooding from sea level rise this century. [LUIS SANTANA | Times]