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POISONED

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.
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.

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. Hillsborough County ends pollution alert around Tampa lead factory
    Mar. 11• Investigations
    Smoke from the Gopher Resource factory can been seen from the playground at Kenly Elementary School in Tampa.
    But Gopher Resource remains under increased scrutiny over the company’s emissions.
  2. Tampa Bay Times reporting team named finalists for Goldsmith Prize
    Mar. 9• Investigations
    Tampa Bay Times reporters, from left, Corey G. Johnson, Rebecca Woolington and Eli Murray are among the six teams of finalists for the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting, administered at Harvard University. The winner will be announced April 5.
    Their series exposed dangerous conditions inside Florida’s lone lead smelter. The winner will be announced in April.
  5. Blake High students spoke out about sexual harassment. Now they’re seeing action
    Feb. 26• Investigations
    “It’s just so crazy to see they are actually caring about stuff now,” Rebeca Braukman, a senior at Blake High School, said of the school’s recent efforts to address students’ concerns about sexual harassment. “I felt seen, heard.”
    The school held sexual harassment training and a student forum after a Tampa Bay Times investigation.
  6. Tampa Bay Times wins prestigious Polk award for Poisoned series
    Feb. 21• Breaking News
    Tampa Bay Times reporters Eli Murray, left, and Corey G. Johnson collected soil samples near the Gopher Resource factory in Tampa as part of their investigation. The two teamed with Rebecca Woolington on the reporting project, which on Monday was recognized with a George Polk Award. The reporters all became certified lead inspectors during the course of the project. Some of the soil samples they collected had elevated levels of lead.
    The initial series took 18 months to report and sparked change at Florida’s only lead smelter.
  7. Hillsborough County cautions public about high lead around Tampa factory
    Feb. 19• Investigations
    The Gopher Resource lead smelter is pictured at the end of the street where a single house sits, Sunday, Nov. 7, 2021 in Tampa.
    Government monitoring devices around Gopher Resource measured lead levels well above federal air-quality standards.
  8. Tampa lead factory faces $518,000 in more fines for environmental violations
    Jan. 22• Breaking News
    The County Environmental Protection Commission began its probe of Gopher Resource after a Tampa Bay Times investigation. The commission is proposing a $518,000 fine, after confirming many of the Times' findings.
    The proposed penalty would be the largest in the history of the Hillsborough County Environmental Protection Commission.
  9. A Tampa lead factory hurt workers. Here’s how to avoid a repeat.
    Dec. 24, 2021• Investigations
    Experts say regulators could take steps to protect workers from the kinds of issues they faced at Gopher Resource.
    Experts say the solutions could include adding new reporting requirements and increasing the frequency of inspections.
  10. Join us on Twitter Spaces for a look inside Florida’s only lead smelter
    Dec. 15, 2021• Tampa
    A smoke stack is seen Nov. 7 at the Gopher Resource lead smelter. The Tampa factory is the subject of a Tampa Bay Times investigation, Poisoned.
    Tampa Bay Times journalists will discuss their Poisoned investigation and take questions on the social media platform.
  11. Tampa teens wanted their school to protect them. Instead, they say, it got worse.
    Dec. 12, 2021• Tampa
    Rufus del Valle says that during his time at Blake High School he saw friends suffer from what he understood to be sexual abuse. When de Valle tried to speak up during his freshman year of college, he says no action was taken by the administration.
    Anguished and furious about sexually inappropriate behavior, they tried to help each other.
  12. Regulators to step up monitoring of Tampa lead factory
    Dec. 11, 2021• Investigations
    The county announced this week that it would run the air-quality monitors around Gopher Resource's Tampa plant on a randomized schedule.
    The county plans to increase testing around Gopher Resource’s facility and use a new, randomized schedule following a Tampa Bay Times report.

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Our team

Rebecca Woolington, Investigative Editor

Bethany Barnes, Deputy Investigative Editor

Corey G. Johnson, Investigative Reporter

Eli Murray, Investigative Reporter

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