Newsroom Hubs
The Education Hub
The Tampa Bay Times Education Hub focuses on every facet of education from kindergarten to higher education throughout Tampa Bay and beyond. We emphasize classroom performance and accountability journalism. We have assembled a top-notch team to cover education. The hub includes four primary Times reporters and an editor.
Primary Members
Jeffrey S. Solochek
Education Reporter
Divya Kumar
Education Reporter
Nakaylah Carter
Data Reporter
Lucy Marques
Higher Education Reporter
Jay Cridlin
Education Editor
Journalism that tells distinctive and meaningful stories to serve Floridians
Failure factories: How five once-average schools were remade into Florida’s worst
On Dec. 18, 2007, the Pinellas County School Board abandoned integration. They justified the vote with bold promises: Schools in poor, Black neighborhoods would get more money, more staff, more resources. They delivered none of that.
Florida schools got hundreds of book complaints – mostly from two people
A year’s worth of records suggests the state’s book banning movement is narrow in scope. Together, two individuals submitted more than 600 book complaints, accounting for more than half the statewide total.
Florida school vouchers can pay for TVs. Is that OK?
A new list of allowable expenses for the publicly funded program, including kayaks and visits to theme parks, is raising eyebrows.
She won Tampa Bay’s top spelling bee. Then the real battle began.
Heading into the Tampa Bay regional spelling bee, Manatee County student Amara Chepuri was seen as the leading contender. But a question about her eligibility arose during the spell-off, and she was later disqualified. The Chepuris have been fighting the decision ever since.
For more stories, visit tampabay.com/education.
To help support the roughly $500,000 annual budget of our core team, we are raising funds from local family foundations and large philanthropic organizations.
Join The Parallel Foundation as a founding partner for Florida’s Education Hub.
The Environment Hub
The Environment Hub is a dedicated reporting team comprised of four primary journalists and a coordinating editor. The hub focuses on critical and impactful coverage of the environment centered around Tampa Bay and beyond. The team examines a wide range of topics — from water quality to the broadening impacts of climate change. There is no shortage of stories to tell about environmental issues, regulation, harm and neglect.
Primary Members
Max Chesnes
Environment & Climate Reporter
Emily L. Mahoney
Energy Reporter
Michaela Mulligan
Environment & Climate Reporter
Jack Prator
Environment & Breaking News Reporter
Chris Tisch
Senior Editor/ Environment, Breaking News & Justice
Contributing Members
Zachary T. Sampson
Investigative Reporter
Bethany Barnes
Deputy Investigative Editor
Shreya Vuttaluru
Data & Investigative Reporter
Justine Griffin
Economy & Health Editor
Journalism that defends the future of our state – powered by you
“We believe that the Times, with its skilled journalists and commitment to local news, is a critical voice in protecting our fragile Florida environment,” said St. Petersburg resident Naomi Rutenberg, who along with her husband, Robert Burn, made a significant contribution. “That’s why we’re supporting the new Environment Hub.”
Piney Point’s impact on Tampa Bay
In 2021, approximately 215 million gallons of polluted water from the old Piney Point fertilizer plant property were released into Tampa Bay. We explored how it happened and the consequences.
Workers at a battery recycler were poisoned
A team of Times reporters showed how hundreds of workers at a Tampa lead smelter that recycles batteries were exposed to dangerous levels of the neurotoxin, which also contaminated the nearby community. Our reporting won the Pulitzer Prize.
Severe weather rears its head
Increasingly more powerful hurricanes are leaving a wider path of destruction across Florida. The Times is there to cover the impacts in real time as well as the aftermath.
Secret plans to reshape Florida’s state parks
Times journalists produced a series of stories detailing a secret plan inside the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis to turn vaunted parkland into golf courses, pickleball courts and hotels. Our reporting ignited a firestorm.
