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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.

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. Hundreds died using kratom in Florida. It was touted as safe.
    Yesterday• Investigations
    As companies sell increasingly potent products, a Tampa Bay Times investigation reveals the herb’s toll.
  2. How the Tampa Bay Times investigated the kratom industry
    Yesterday• Investigations
    A Times investigation found more than 580 fatal kratom-related overdoses in Florida.
    Reporters built a first-of-its-kind database of deaths, tested potent products and traveled across Florida.
  5. Hillsborough reprimands Wharton High teacher accused of decades of bullying
    Nov. 4• Investigations
    A yearbook photo of Wharton High School teacher Todd Harvey.
    The school district launched an investigation after a Times story. It has kept educator Todd Harvey in the classroom.
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. 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.
  9. 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.
  10. 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.
  11. 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.
  12. 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.

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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