Tampa Bay Times

Reporter Lane DeGregory and photographer John Pendygraft follow a recent cohort of recruits at the St. Petersburg College’s Law Enforcement Academy.

“Madisyn didn’t know it, but Hillsborough County Public Schools has a troubled history when it comes to protecting students from sexual misconduct.”

“Hundreds of workers at a Tampa lead smelter have been exposed to dangerous levels of the neurotoxin. The consequences have been profound.”

A local singer with big dreams keeps getting close to stardom. Then her body and mind start to fail her.

It’s 2020, and law enforcement still thinks that scared, reluctant, or uncooperative victims are lying.

Jomari DeLeon, a mother of three, is serving the third year of a 15-year sentence for selling 48 prescription tablets to an undercover cop — a severe penalty that’s a result of Florida’s “tough on crime” laws passed in the 1990s. Lawmakers now view those old drug sentencing laws as going too far, and have passed new legislation to give lighter sentences for those selling prescription drugs. Unfortunately for DeLeon, the new laws do not retroactively apply to her case.

Diaper companies have poured billions of dollars into research and development to make their products better, but not cheaper, which can be hard on low-income families living on a tight budget.

Journalism teacher Melissa Falkowski survived the shooting that claimed 17 peoples’ lives, but the aftermath is just as challenging. She returned to the classroom where she and her students huddled for safety, but now her son worries he isn’t safe at elementary school. How can she tell him otherwise?

Evelyn Robinson was gang raped in 1969 by four men. She’s been dealing with the trauma ever since.

“When it comes to calling the cops, Walmart is such an outlier compared with its competitors that experts criticized the corporate giant for shifting too much of its security burden onto taxpayers.”