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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.
When will the Rays build their new stadium? A construction timeline.
Sept. 20• St. Petersburg
This animation shows the three phases of development expected for the Rays and Hines' redevelopment of St. Petersburg's 86-acre Tropicana Field site. First, between 2024 and 2029, a new stadium and other buildings will go up east of Tropicana Field. After Tropicana Field is demolished, from 2030 to 2035, new office, residential and retail buildings will go up on the land where it once stood. Finally, from 2036 to 2043, developers will build out the southwest corner of the site with additional office, retail and residential space.
On campus with UF President Ben Sasse as he seeks a ‘north star’ beyond rankings
Sept. 21• Education
Erica McCray, left, an associate dean in the College of Education, meets University of Florida President Ben Sasse moments before Sasse shared his strategic vision for UF during a meeting with faculty on Aug. 25 in Gainesville.
For the Rays, St. Petersburg never seemed like the answer. What changed?
Sept. 24• St. Petersburg
Raymond wears a “We are St. Pete” shirt before St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch throws the ceremonial first pitch before the Tampa Bay Rays-Los Angeles Angels game at Tropicana Field on Wednesday.
Dunedin guide: Explore the Pinellas Trail and beyond, by bike or on foot
Sept. 21• Life & Culture
Canadian Maurice Harquail of Ottawa gets a couple of pecks on his cheeks from friends Heidi Watson, left, and Kerry Kinsalla, both of Port Richey, while attending Flanagan's Irish Pub's 2015 St. Patrick's Day Street Festival on Tuesday in downtown Dunedin. The annual party is celebrated with live music, bagpipers, Irish step dancers, traditional Irish food and beer.
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
Sept. 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.
Sept. 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. Hillsborough school district probes Wharton High teacher allegations
    May 24• Investigations & Narratives
    Melanie Copeland reported Wharton High teacher Todd Harvey for racial harassment in 2017. Years later, after a Times story brought to light that the district didn't retain her complaint, an investigator is asking about the allegations.
    The inquiry follows a Times story that showed Todd Harvey bullied students for decades.
  2. School district faces calls for investigation as more accuse Tampa teacher of bullying
    March 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.
  5. Records show Tampa teacher’s troubled history
    March 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.
  6. A Tampa teen was racially harassed by her teacher. He’s bullied students for years.
    March 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.
  7. 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.
  8. 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.
  9. 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.
  10. 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.
  11. 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.
  12. 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.
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