Interactive Narratives

Since it opened in 2007, Pinellas Hope has grown into Pinellas County's primary way station for the homeless. Spread out on 13 acres in an isolated, industrial area near Pinellas Park, it is run by Catholic Charities and receives more than $1 million in public funding each year. It holds about 300 people at capacity and roughly 800 pass through a year. That's large by shelter standards,but only puts a dent in Pinellas County's overall homeless population, estimated at 7,000. Nicknamed "Tent City" by residents, it offers centralized services: Laundry, computers, telephones, GED classes, medical check ups and caseworkers who guide residents through the ropes. But admission comes with a price. No alcohol, no drugs, no families, though couples are allowed. More…

In the early 1900s, at a time when most waterfront cities had ports and industrial plants, a crusading editor named W.L. Straub pressed this city to make its waterfront a public park. Today, 100 years later, St. Petersburg has the third largest waterfront park in North America behind only Chicago and Vancouver. A spiky skyline has taken shape with six new condo towers rising in the last decade alone. So we wondered, with so many new skyscrapers and such varied architectural styles, did we do a good job of framing the unique waterfront park that Straub and other city pioneers left us? More…

The Florida panther is in worse shape than ever. Although there are now 100 of them, thanks to a bold genetic experiment in 1995, the panthers are crowded into a smaller area than ever. Officials from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have never blocked any development that wipes out panther habitat, even manipulating numbers and using flawed science to justify saying yes to projects. As a result, genetic defects and other problems are now cropping up, leading to predictions that the state animal is just a dead cat walking. More…

After four decades, St. Petersburg's All Children's Hospital has a new home with 259 beds and all the latest technology, as well as impressive amenities for children and their families. Take a tour of the highlights using our interactive map. More…

Kids have been abused throughout the 100-year history of the state's oldest reform school, through cycle after cycle of investigation and reform. But what is the school like today? Documents reveal underpaid staff, bloody noses and broken bones. How much has the Dozier School for Boys really changed? More…

Jeff Klinkenberg writes about Florida culture and the people, places and wildlife that makes our state unique. In work that has taken him from Pensacola to Key West, he has written about Florida panthers, key lime pies, grits, worm grunters, smoked mullet, skinny-dippers, fish camps, the Corkscrew Swamp, manatees, ghost orchids, barefooted swamp boys, shark attacks, landscape painters, landscape photographers, orange juice, and Florida icons. With videos by Maurice Rivenbark. More…

In its investigation of Hillsborough Elections Supervisor Buddy Johnson's elections office, the FBI has seized audit papers, financial records and records pertaining to an ambitious ad campaign created by the South Tampa firm Schifino Lee. The St. Petersburg Times undertook a comprehensive review of the ad campaign and found that Johnson approved spending $643,016 -- 16 times greater than the original contract amount -- on materials that promoted his own re-election efforts as much as its intended purpose of educating voters. More…

Tampa Bay Mugs Shots features mug shots of people booked in Pinellas, Hillsborough and Pasco counties in Florida. The information presented is gathered from sheriff's Web sites around the Tampa Bay area and is presented here as a public service. The booking mug shots and related information are from arrest records in the order and at the time the data was collected. Those appearing here have not been convicted of the arrest charge and are presumed innocent. More…

The Floridan Hotel, built in 1926, last housed guests in the 1980s, is being brought back to its grandeur. View and hear some of the the building's history through a Vuvox timeline. More…

The worst day for police in Tampa Bay history happened 10 years ago. It began in an old apartment with no telephone, as the rising sun warmed Sulphur Springs, when a fugitive with a fake name shot his girlfriend's son in the face. Hank Earl Carr killed 4 people in 1998, but many lives were wounded in the wake. More…