“After decades of unchecked hazardous waste pollution, a Florida hamlet fights the developers eager to build homes there anyway.”
Florida
The Most Feared and Least Known Political Operative in America
“Susie Wiles helped dismantle Ron DeSantis and salvaged Donald Trump’s campaign. Is she a MAGA hero or an enemy of democracy?”
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Featuring stories from Blake Ellis, Melanie Hicken, Yahya Abou-Ghazala, Audrey Ash, Kyung Lah, Anna-Maja Rappard, Casey Tolan, Lou Robinson, and Byron Manley; Lindsey Liles; David Gauvey Herbert; Laura Trethewey; and Abe Beame.
She’s One of Florida’s Most Lethal Python Hunters
“Donna Kalil has plunged into canals in the dead of night, straddled two-hundred-pound serpents, and been bitten more times than she can count—all in the name of killing a thing she loves and playing a game she can’t win.”
At the Great Florida Bigfoot Conference
“As a thirty-six-year-old progressive, I was an outlier in this crowd. But, like many, I was a believer.”
Four Lost Pregnancies. Five Weeks of IVF Injections. One Storm.
“A couple spent years and tens of thousands of dollars trying to have a baby. Then Hurricane Ian hit.”
A Racial Slur and a Fort Myers High Baseball Team Torn Apart
“The avalanche of broken relationships within this baseball community at Fort Myers High . . . served as a microcosm for a polarized country.”
When the Coast Guard Intercepts Unaccompanied Kids
“A Haitian boy arrived on Florida’s maritime border. His next five days detained at sea illuminate the crisis facing children traveling to the U.S. alone and the crews forced to send them back.”
The Librarian Who Couldn’t Take It Anymore
“She loved books. And in a time of spreading book bans in public schools, that’s why this Florida librarian had to quit.”
