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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.
Flooding will get worse in Tampa Bay. Tropical Storm Eta showed how.
Jan. 20• Hurricane
Water splashes against the seawall along Pass A Grille Way as squalls from Eta move through Pinellas County on Nov. 11, 2020. Though Eta wasn’t hurricane strength when it passed by, it gave an indication of the kind of damage the region could face.
Hundreds of workers are exposed to poisons inside Florida’s only lead factory
Mar. 24, 2021• Investigations
A worker inside Gopher Resource passes through a cloud of dust laced with the neurotoxin lead. The factory recycles 50,000 used car batteries a day. It is the only factory of its kind in Florida.
South St. Pete neighbors confront decades-old mystery: What’s that smell?
Apr. 28• St. Petersburg
Kayla Benning, 27, with her son Jarvis Maynor, 4, and daughter Khaliah Maynor, 2, in the front of their yard on the corner of Ninth Avenue S and 43rd Street in St. Petersburg. Pictured across the street is Howco Environmental Services, an oil recycling operation with tall black tanks that rise above the Childs Park neighborhood.
A jailhouse informant helps Tampa prosecutors. But can he be trusted?
May 10• Hillsborough
Paul Means has been a witness in several Hillsborough cases, including murders, and his efforts have won him lighter sentences -- including one that left him out of jail on the night authorities say he caused a fatal traffic crash.
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. Tampa Bay Times launches weeklong fundraising campaign to help sustain local news
    May 23• News
    From front row left, Tampa Bay Times reporters Rebecca Woolington, Eli Murray and Corey G. Johnson celebrate with newsroom staff and guests as Times editor and vice president Mark Katches talks about the trio winning the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting earlier this month. The newsroom estimates the project cost about $750,000 to produce.
    The newsroom sets a target of $50,000 for its annual effort to raise money from the community.
  2. Reporting team that won Pulitzer did work regulators should have done in Tampa years ago
    May 10• Investigations
    Tampa Bay Times reporters Corey G. Johnson, right, Rebecca Woolington, center, and Eli Murray, left, are announced as the winners of the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting on Monday, May 9, 2022. The winning series, "Poisoned," exposed dangers at Florida’s only lead smelter. This marked the 14th Pulitzer Prize awarded to the Times.
    Tampa Bay Times journalists filled the void left by regulators to tell the story of Florida’s lone lead smelter.
  5. Tampa Bay Times reporters win Pulitzer Prize for ‘Poisoned’ series
    May 9• Investigations
    Tampa Bay Times reporters Eli Murray, left, Rebecca Woolington, center, and Corey G. Johnson, right, are announced as the winners of the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting on Monday. The winning series, "Poisoned," exposed dangers at Florida’s only lead smelter. This marked the 14th Pulitzer Prize awarded to the Times.
    For exposing dangers at a local lead smelter, they earn journalism’s top prize — the newsroom’s third for investigative reporting and its 14th overall.
  6. Photos: Tampa Bay Times reporters win Pulitzer Prize for 'Poisoned' series
    May 9• Investigations & Narratives
    From left, Tampa Bay Times reporters Eli Murray, Rebecca Woolington and Corey G. Johnson are announced as the winners of the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting on Monday, May 9, 2022. The winning series, "Poisoned," exposed dangers at Florida’s only lead smelter. This marked the 14th Pulitzer Prize awarded to the Times.
    16 Images | View Slideshow
    Times reporters Corey G. Johnson, Rebecca Woolington and Eli Murray were awarded the Pulitzer Prize in investigative reporting Monday. They won for their "Poisoned" series, which exposed dangers at a...
  7. Tampa clinic where lead workers received flawed care to close
    Apr. 29• Investigations
    Anil Eglais, who was a veteran worker at the Tampa lead factory, had lab tests that indicated signs of possible kidney damage for two years straight. Federal rules required that he receive additional medical care. But Dr. Bruce Bohnker, the medical director at COMBI, did not provide the follow up. After leaving Gopher, Eglais worried about his declining health. He died in an automobile crash in July 2021.
    The medical director did not warn Gopher Resource employees that the amount of lead in their blood put them in danger.
  8. Tampa Bay Times ‘Poisoned’ series wins 2021 Worth Bingham prize
    Apr. 25• Investigations
    From left, Corey G. Johnson, Rebecca Woolington and Eli Murray documented severe safety risks at Gopher Resource’s Tampa factory while reporting the Poisoned series.
    The series revealed dangerous conditions at Florida’s lone lead smelter.
  9. Hillsborough schools’ handling of sexual harassment under federal scrutiny
    Apr. 21• Investigations
    Madisyn Slater poses for a portrait at Julian B Lane Riverfront Park on Monday, June 21, 2021 in Tampa.
    The development comes after a Title IX complaint by a student featured in a Tampa Bay Times investigation.
  10. Tampa Bay Times wins prominent national award for Poisoned investigation
    Apr. 13• Investigations
    Tampa Bay Times reporters Eli Murray and Corey Johnson take soil samples near the Gopher Resource factory in Tampa on Jan. 27, 2021. Samples were sent to a lab and tested for lead.
    A second Times project, “Arrests and Evictions” was also recognized by the News Leaders Association.
  11. Hillsborough County ends pollution alert around Tampa lead factory
    Mar. 11• Investigations
    Smoke from the Gopher Resource factory can been seen from the playground at Kenly Elementary School in Tampa.
    But Gopher Resource remains under increased scrutiny over the company’s emissions.
  12. Tampa Bay Times reporting team named finalists for Goldsmith Prize
    Mar. 9• Investigations
    Tampa Bay Times reporters, from left, Corey G. Johnson, Rebecca Woolington and Eli Murray are among the six teams of finalists for the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting, administered at Harvard University. The winner will be announced April 5.
    Their series exposed dangerous conditions inside Florida’s lone lead smelter. The winner will be announced in April.
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