It was a shameful secret in Florida: A state whose leaders demonized undocumented migrants had built countless miles of roadways and bridges on the backs of illegal immigrant laborers.
And with tragic consequences.
The Tampa Bay Times meticulously detailed how road-building giant Archer Western exploited these workers and put them at risk. The reporting culminated in a powerful story, exposing how the state of Florida repeatedly contracted with a company whose workers died at an alarming rate, even after officials learned of some deaths.
The reporters hunted down thousands of pages of records from agencies throughout Florida and the country. They compared Archer Western’s safety record to industry peers — something no other news outlet had done. What they discovered was a spate of deaths that left construction safety experts aghast.
When we published our story in October 2025, it challenged narratives about undocumented immigrants and their place in our society.
In the fall of 2024, I moderated two Tampa Bay Times “Spotlight Tampa Bay” community event series, in which I led panel discussions about important topics affecting local residents.
In September, the Tampa Bay Times partnered with the AARP to host a series about family caregiving. In Florida, 2.7 million families grapple with the cost related to caring for aging parents and adults or children with disabilities.
In December, the Tampa Bay Times partnered with TECO Energy to host a panel discussion about hurricane hardening. Florida and Tampa Bay endured a historic hurricane season in 2024, weathering landfalls from a trio of storms — Debby, Helene and Milton. The storms brought record-breaking storm surge, heavy rainfall and powerful winds that wreaked havoc across the region. These events led to widespread power outages, overwhelmed wastewater systems and thousands of tons of contaminated debris.
You can learn more about the Tampa Bay Times Spotlight Tampa Bay series here.
Throughout 2024, I edited a series of investigative stories by Tampa Bay Times business reporters highlighting the growing influence of corporate ownership over Tampa Bay and Florida’s residential rental pool. Over seven installments, Buying Up The Bay explored how private equity firms are buying up single family housing in Florida at record breaking rates, raising prices on tenants and clogging up local courts with a high volume of evictions.
With less than 48 hours before Hurricane Milton would barrel toward my home as a major Category 4 hurricane, I sat in a rural gas station outside of Ocala, Florida, and bawled my eyes out.
My truck had just 22 miles of gas left in the tank when I pulled into a long line of cars and trucks filling their tanks, generators and gas cans in a frenzy that sadly felt too familiar to me as a lifelong Floridian. Emotions ran high less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene caused mass devastation through Florida on its way to North Carolina.
People were taking this one seriously.
The highways were gridlocked with cars heading north. The World Equestrian Center—Ocala was at capacity, with a waiting list for horses and their owners trying to get out of the path of a storm, which would reach catastrophic Category 5 status before it made landfall.
This was the third gas station I’d pulled into after dropping my horse off at a friend’s farm. The one before ran out of gas just three cars ahead of my turn at the pump. The first had no gas left at all. I had evacuated my Thoroughbred gelding Mikey here ahead of Milton’s arrival. None of the horses at my urban boarding barn in Tampa Bay were evacuated for Helene. But for Milton, few owners wanted them to stay.
As an editor at the Tampa Bay Times, Florida’s largest newspaper, covering hurricane season is a competitive sport. I’d learn in the days to come that Hurricane Milton was about to be the Super Bowl of the 2024 season.
For the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, I covered three-day eventing for the Horse Network. Here’s a list of stories I published in real time off the results and news of the competition:
Paris 2024 – Eventing Competition Michael Jung of Germany competes the Eventing during the Olympic Games, Olympische Spiele, Olympia, OS Paris 2024 at Ch‚teau de Versailles on July 28, 2024 in Paris, France. Photo by Laurent Zabulon/ABACAPRESS.COM Versailles PUBLICATIONxNOTxINxFRAxUK Copyright: xZabulonxLaurent/ABACAx
It’s Official: Michael Jung Is Super Human: After an exciting team finish with Great Britain securing gold and France with silver, two of the world’s best riders put it all on the line in the show jumping arena at Versailles.
PARIS – Olympische Sommer Spiele / Olympic Summer Games 2024, PARIS – Olympische Sommer Spiele / Olympic Summer Games 2024 MCEWEN Tom GBR, JL Dublin Teilpr¸fung Springen Team Entscheidung / Show Jumping Team cometition Paris, Schloss Versailles, Ch√teau de Versailles 29. July 2024 – *** PARIS Olympic Summer Games Olympic Summer Games 2024, PARIS Olympic Summer Games Olympic Summer Games 2024 MCEWEN Tom GBR , JL Dublin Partial Jumping Team Decision Show Jumping Team cometition Paris, Palace of Versailles, Ch‚teau de Versailles July 29, 2024
Britain Defends Team Gold, Japan Earns First Ever Olympic Medal In Eventing: Just one rail separated the No. 1 and No. 2 teams, Great Britain and France respectively, going into the final day of competition of three-day eventing at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
COLLETT Laura of Great Britain during the eventing, team and individual dressage, Olympic Games, Olympische Spiele, Olympia, OS Paris 2024 on 27 July 2024 at Chateau de Versailles in Versailles, France – Photo Matthieu Mirville / DPPI Media / Panoramic OLYMPIC GAMES PARIS 2024 – 27/07 DPPI/Panoramic PUBLICATIONxNOTxINxFRAxBEL MM1-0233
Collett Shatters Olympic Record, Britain Leads After Dressage in Paris: Even in the drizzling rain, the crowds at Versailles cooed in awe of Great Britain’s Laura Collett and London 52 after a spectacular dressage test on day one of three-day eventing competition at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
28th July 2024 Paris Olympic Games, Olympische Spiele, Olympia, OS Paris, France, Day 3 Equestrian team and individual cross country at Versailles palace, Michael Jung of Germany clears a fence during the Cross Country PUBLICATIONxNOTxINxUK ActionPlus12673342 SimonxWest
Jung Takes the Lead In Paris After Influential Olympic Cross-Country Day: Making the time proved to be a formidable challenge for the 64 three-day eventing competitors who braved Pierre le Goupil’s Paris Olympic Games cross-country course Sunday across the immaculate French gardens of the Château de Versailles.
Massive Attack Halts Trains Across France Before the Summer Olympics, Olympia Paris 2024, Olympia, Franck Dubourdieu M, Director TGV Atlantic, speaks to journalists. A few hours before the opening of the Olympic Games in Paris, unknown persons carried out arson attacks on several facilities on the French high-speed train network. Paris, France on July 26, 2024. Photo by Florian Poitout/ABACAPRESS.COM Paris France PUBLICATIONxNOTxINxFRAxUK Copyright: xPoitoutxFlorian/ABACAx
Attacks On French Railways Shake Paris Just Before Opening Ceremonies: On the morning of the Opening Ceremonies, signaling the start of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, arsonists attacked the country’s main high-speed railways.
Your Olympic Eventing Cheat Sheet: The big question going into the picturesque Versailles arena and surrounding French gardens ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games is, can anyone stop the Brits? ‘
The American Line Up: Who Is Representing USA Eventing In Paris & How They Earned Their Spot: U.S. Equestrian has selected the three riders and travelling reserve who will represent the United States in Eventing at the Paris Olympic Games this summer.
