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Rampant pollution caused manatees to starve. Florida waters are getting worse.
Part 1: The Die-off
Rampant pollution caused manatees to starve. Florida waters are getting worse.
Florida lets big companies pollute with impunity. Waterways suffer.
Part 2: Protecting polluters
Florida lets big companies pollute with impunity. Waterways suffer.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has said undocumented immigrants pose threats. But prominent state highway projects relied on them.
Undocumented workers built Florida’s roads — and died in the process
Gov. Ron DeSantis has said undocumented immigrants pose threats. But prominent state highway projects relied on them.

DEADLY DOSE

As companies sell increasingly potent products, a Tampa Bay Times investigation reveals the herb's toll.
Part 1: Hundreds died using kratom in Florida. It was touted as safe.
As companies sell increasingly potent products, a Tampa Bay Times investigation reveals the herb's toll.
As companies sell increasingly potent products, a Tampa Bay Times investigation reveals the herb's toll.
Part 2: As dangerous kratom products go unregulated, lobbyists write the laws
As companies sell increasingly potent products, a Tampa Bay Times investigation reveals the herb's toll.
A Tampa Bay Times investigation reveals a popular kratom brand’s supply chain, from Indonesia to Florida.
Part 3: Kratom’s path across the US is marked by deception and secrets
A Tampa Bay Times investigation reveals a popular kratom brand’s supply chain, from Indonesia to Florida.

POISONED

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.
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.

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.
Pasco’s sheriff created a futuristic program to stop crime before it happens. It monitors and harasses families across the county.
Targeted
Pasco’s sheriff created a futuristic program to stop crime before it happens. It monitors and harasses families across the county.
The kids and their parents don’t know.
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 data-driven approach to policing. He also built a wide circle of powerful friends who don’t question his tactics.
The man behind the machine
Pasco Sheriff Chris Nocco built a controversial data-driven 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.

LATEST

  1. Florida politicians call for action after Times report on deadly road contractor
    • Investigations
    A green flag with the company logo for Archer Western Construction hangs from a crane near another flag for the Florida Department of Transportation, next to the new lanes of the new Howard Frankland Bridge on March 24, 2025. A Tampa Bay Times investigation about Archer Western has prompted Florida politicians to call for state officials to hold the company accountable.
    Lawmakers of both parties called the state’s handling of the company ‘unacceptable.’
  2. Florida lets big companies pollute with impunity. Waterways suffer
    • Investigations
    Florida is supposed to police the state’s biggest sources of water pollution: agriculture and development. Instead, regulators and lawmakers have protected the major industries at nearly every turn, a Tampa Bay Times investigation has found.
    For decades, Florida has failed to cut contamination — at the benefit of businesses that cause it.
  3. Undocumented workers built Florida’s roads — and died in the process
    • Investigations
    Original design.
    Gov. Ron DeSantis has said undocumented immigrants pose threats. But prominent state highway projects relied on them.
  4. 5 things to know about GardaWorld, one of the contractors behind Alligator Alcatraz
    • Politics
    Florida has tapped GardaWorld, a private security company that operates armored trucks all over America, to help run the Alligator Alcatraz immigration detention center.
    GardaWorld was the subject of a 2020 Tampa Bay Times investigation.
  5. Florida makes a bust of its immigration roundup | Column
    • Opinion
    People congregate outside the Department of Homeland Security offices on May 23 in Tampa, where area immigration enforcement operations are based.
    Did you really expect anything else?
  6. A judge blocked Florida’s immigration law. Police arrested 25 anyway
    • Investigations
    A guard checks the identification of a man outside the U.S. Department of Homeland Security offices in Tampa. Florida lawmakers this year passed an immigration law that gave state officials unprecedented power.
    Most were arrested after being stopped by Florida Highway Patrol for minor traffic violations. Some ended up in ICE custody.
  7. Tampa Bay Times to host ‘Inside the Investigation’ event at Good Intentions
    • Investigations
    Hundreds of manatees starved in the Indian River Lagoon after the animals' main food source, seagrass, disappeared following decades of pollution. To trace the manatee die-off to its roots, Times reporters conducted a first-of-its-kind statewide analysis, pinpointing alarming levels of chemicals in nearly 1 in 4 waterways.
    Journalists will discuss rampant pollution harming Florida’s waters at the St. Pete restaurant.
  8. Florida waters are getting more polluted. Here’s what the Times found
    • Investigations
    A Times journalist surveys algae at Shell Key Preserve in Pinellas County in 2022. Tangles of seaweed coat the water and surrounding mangroves.
    Contamination fuels algae blooms and wreaks havoc. Our investigation pinpointed alarming chemical levels in nearly 1 in 4 waters.
  9. Which polluted Florida waters are getting worse? Find out here
    • Investigations
    Screenshot of a Tampa Bay Times interactive tool.
    A Times investigation found hundreds of waterways have shown rising contamination over 25 years.
  10. Florida must act quickly to stop water pollution, federal lawmakers urge
    • Investigations
    A devastating red tide bloom hit Tampa Bay in 2021, causing dead fish to float ashore in downtown St. Perersburg. Niko Price, center, used a net to collect carcasses while working with a contracted crew around a marina.
    After a Times investigation found rising contamination, congressional leaders sound alarm.

Send us a confidential tip.

Learn how to securely call, message or email us at tampabay.com/tips.

Our team

Rebecca Woolington, Investigative Editor

Bethany Barnes, Deputy Investigative Editor

Zachary T. Sampson, Investigative Reporter

Hannah Critchfield, Investigative Reporter

Shreya Vuttaluru, Data Reporter, Investigative

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