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Investigations & Narratives

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POISONED

Gopher Resource promised changes at Tampa's old lead factory. It kept polluting.
Part 3: The fallout
Gopher Resource promised changes at Tampa's old lead factory. It kept polluting.
At Gopher Resource in Tampa, workers recycle 50,000 used car batteries a day. Their safety equipment doesn’t always protect them, an 18-month Tampa Bay Times investigation found.
Part 1: Hundreds of workers are exposed to poisons inside Florida’s only lead factory
At Gopher Resource in Tampa, workers recycle 50,000 used car batteries a day. Their safety equipment doesn’t always protect them, an 18-month Tampa Bay Times investigation found.
OSHA inspectors haven’t been inside Gopher Resource in five years, even as mechanical breakdowns plagued the Tampa plant and made conditions worse for workers.
Part 2: Federal regulators have been missing in action at Florida’s only lead factory
OSHA inspectors haven’t been inside Gopher Resource in five years, even as mechanical breakdowns plagued the Tampa plant and made conditions worse for workers.

UNPROTECTED

Tampa teens reported a teacher’s sexual comments. Then a student’s life was upended.
Part 1: Lesson learned?
Tampa teens reported a teacher’s sexual comments. Then a student’s life was upended.
Tampa teens wanted their school to protect them. Instead, they say, it got worse.
Part 2: 'Students shouldn't be scared'
Tampa teens wanted their school to protect them. Instead, they say, it got worse.
Officers sent notices to landlords detailing arrests and encounters with their tenants that put families at risk of eviction even when charges were later dropped.
Tampa police called for hundreds to be evicted. Entire families lost their homes.
Officers sent notices to landlords detailing arrests and encounters with their tenants that put families at risk of eviction even when charges were later dropped.

TARGETED

Pasco’s sheriff created a futuristic program to stop crime before it happens. It monitors and harasses families across the county.
Pasco’s sheriff uses grades and abuse histories to label schoolchildren potential criminals. The kids and their parents don’t know.
Pasco Sheriff Chris Nocco built a controversial approach to policing. He also built a wide circle of powerful friends who don’t question his tactics.
From its headquarters in Boca Raton, GardaWorld has put unsafe trucks on the road, and its workers and unsuspecting motorists have suffered the consequences.
This major armored truck company took dangerous shortcuts. Mayhem followed.
From its headquarters in Boca Raton, GardaWorld has put unsafe trucks on the road, and its workers and unsuspecting motorists have suffered the consequences.
Big banks entrusted money to GardaWorld. It secretly lost track of millions.
Federal agency knew Garda was “really bad” at safety. It took little action.
Hillsborough woman aims for Paralympics after pellet gun, knife attack
Mar. 30• Tampa
Tracy Otto pauses during an archery practice session at All People's Life Center in Tampa in January. Otto, 27, was paralyzed from the chest down when an ex-boyfriend attacked her in 2019. She got into archery after the attack and is now aiming to compete in the 2024 Paralympics in Paris.
Here are the Top 100 Tampa Bay Workplaces of 2023
Mar. 24• Business
Tampa Bay Times Top Workplaces 2023.
9 unexpected things to check out from Hillsborough and Pinellas libraries
Mar. 21• Life & Culture
You'll find more than books at the Clearwater Main Library. At the library's "Thingamabrary," people can check out board games, tools, telescopes, technical kits, art kits, jumper cables, video games and enjoy Wi-Fi hot spots.
What happened when a St. Petersburg mom saw violence at her son’s middle school
Mar. 22• Education
Treia Martin, left, and her son, Siam Sinchat, a sixth grade student at Bay Point Middle, get ready to drive to school from their St. Petersburg home on Feb. 28.
How did coronavirus overwhelm this nursing home so quickly?
Dec. 3, 2020• Long Reads
An outbreak. Evacuations. Forty families shattered.
An energy efficiency finance program is trapping Florida homeowners in debt
Sep. 10, 2020• Investigations
Solar panels on Ruskin homes purchased with PACE loans.
How Scientology doubled its downtown Clearwater footprint in 3 years
Oct. 20, 2019• Investigations
Scientology’s international spiritual headquarters in downtown Clearwater is anchored by the Flag Building, on left. An elevated walkway connects the building to the Fort Harrison Hotel, the church’s first purchase in the city in 1975.
You’re trapped. This Florida hospital is cashing in.
Sep. 18, 2019• Investigations
Michael Jenkins spent seven days at North Tampa Behavioral Health last July. Since then, he says his three children have been afraid he’ll leave and not come home.

LATEST

  1. School district faces calls for investigation as more accuse Tampa teacher of bullying
    Mar. 25• News
    Austen Peffley is speaking out about disturbing comments made by a Wharton High teacher after a Tampa Bay Times investigation into similar complaints.
    Former students, parents and the NAACP ask for scrutiny on how Hillsborough schools document complaints.
  2. Records show Tampa teacher’s troubled history
    Mar. 12• Investigations
    A yearbook photo of Wharton High School teacher Todd Harvey.
    Hillsborough records show that school officials documented at least 23 allegations against Todd Harvey since he started in the late 1990s.
  5. A Tampa teen was racially harassed by her teacher. He’s bullied students for years.
    Mar. 12• Investigations
    Melanie Copeland felt unheard as a freshman at Wharton High after she reported a racist incident involving her teacher.
    Hillsborough records show allegations ranged from performing a Nazi salute to calling a transgender student a slur.
  6. Storm surge is deadly. We built a computer model to show how
    Dec. 18, 2022• Hurricane
    The Tampa Bay Times built a model in partnership with researchers at the University of South Florida to help explain the power – and danger – of storm surge.
    Understanding the threat of storm surge can make the difference between life and death. The Times’ tool shows why.
  7. The worst of Hurricane Ian missed Tampa Bay. What if it hadn’t?
    Dec. 18, 2022• Hurricane
    Part 4 of our Rising Threat series looks at how a hurricane like Ian could affect Tampa Bay. This photo shows the remains of Times Square near the Fort Myers Fishing Pier on Thursday, Sep. 29, 2022, after Hurricane Ian's landfall.
    Thousands more people, homes and businesses would have been at risk. The storm should be a wake-up call.
  8. Audits reveal millions in Medicare Advantage overcharges
    Nov. 22, 2022• Health
    A page from the 2019 U.S. Medicare Handbook in Washington. Newly released federal audits reveal widespread overcharges and other errors in payments to Medicare Advantage health plans for seniors, Kaiser Health News found, with some plans overbilling the government more than $1,000 per patient a year on average.
    The records, hidden until now, reveal widespread overcharges and other errors in payments.
  9. Poisons killed beloved owls in Tampa Bay. Can their defenders save others?
    Nov. 22, 2022• News
    A great horned owlet, left, and its mother share a rat on March 2 in Philippe Park in Safety Harbor. Within days, both would die.
    The birds died one by one in a local park. Admirers blame rat poison. Now they’re trying to get chemicals off the street.
  10. Think you have a rodent problem, Tampa Bay? Here’s what to do.
    Nov. 22, 2022• Investigations
    Joe Rufin with Creepy Creatures Termite and Pest Control, of Palm Harbor, organizes blocks of rodenticide while preparing a bait station as he worked to exterminate rodents from a condominium complex on Aug. 18 in Clearwater. The rodenticide is made with cholecalciferol, which is not among the anticoagulants that local wildlife advocates are trying to get off the street.
    Roof rats are common here. Environmental officials and wildlife advocates say poisons should be a last resort.
  11. Dozens of workers file suit against Tampa lead factory
    Nov. 4, 2022• Investigations
    Looking east at the Gopher Resource lead smelter, Sunday, Nov. 7, 2021 in Tampa.
    Sixty-four workers allege they were exposed to dangerous levels of lead and other toxic chemicals at Gopher Resource.
  12. ‘An excuse to racially profile’: How Florida trains police on bias
    Sep. 8, 2022• Investigations
    A screenshot, taken by a Tampa Bay Times reporter, shows a slide from Florida's discriminatory traffic stops training.
    A course designed to teach officers about discrimination in traffic stops instead has significant flaws, eight experts told the Times.
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