The Florida Trib

06/03/2026

Throughout Gov. Ron DeSantis’ tenure, Florida’s Republican leaders have spent years, and many millions of taxpayer dollars, injecting conservative politics into the state’s top-ranked university system.

There is almost no facet of campus life this sea change has left untouched, according to interviews with more than a dozen faculty, staff and education officials across the state, as well as a review of budgets, internal university communications and policy documents.

These changes have quieted private conversations among professors, altered allowable speech at public forums, invited conservative think tanks and policy analysts to influence and sit on key governing boards, and eliminated courses that were once non-controversial.

The task of finding university and college presidents – once an academic exercise – is now a secretive, thorny project closely linked to Republican politics

05/29/2026

South of Lake Okeechobee, just beyond 400,000 acres of sugar fields, lie the Everglades’ last line of defense against the phosphorus pollution that is slowly smothering the River of Grass.

They’re an odd blend of nature and engineering: 64,000 acres of manmade marshes called stormwater treatment areas (STAs). They're a key piece of Florida’s plan to restore the Everglades, but the STAs aren’t on track to comply with clean water rules.

Flunking water quality standards means higher chances of noxious, toxic algae blooms along the coasts

05/18/2026

The initial installment of the long-awaited $608 million federal reimbursement for “Alligator Alcatraz” is expected to hit the state of Florida’s bank account in a matter of days, according to correspondence obtained by The Florida Trib.

The amount is a fraction of what Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration has spent to build the sprawling tent-and-trailer compound at a remote airstrip in the Florida Everglades

05/16/2026

Being on a Brady List does not preclude an officer from serving or testifying. It only requires that his or her background be disclosed to the judge and the defense.

That can affect the outcome of a case, giving leverage to the defense and prompting prosecutors to agree to reduced charges, especially when the officer’s testimony is central.

When you’ve finished watching this explainer by reporter Trinity Webster-Bass, go to floridatrib.org to read the story.

05/14/2026

The search to find out who was behind the mysterious South Florida Standard, which The Florida Trib undertook in partnership with the media and tech podcast Question Everything, also shows how easy it is for the real people behind these digital doppelgangers to remain in the shadows – evidence of the staggering capabilities of AI and the threat it can pose to an unsuspecting public in a damaged democracy.

The search to find out who was behind the South Florida Standard shows how easy it is for the real people behind digital doppelgangers to remain in the shadows

05/12/2026

The Brady List maintained by the Fourth Circuit, based in Jacksonville, includes the names of 89 officers across Duval, Clay, and Nassau counties. Most have long since resigned or been fired. Many are in prison. Only two officers on the Brady List remain employed – one by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, according to JSO, and the other by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

In collaboration with MuckRock.

Florida law does not explicitly require prosecutorial agencies to keep a Brady List – as evidenced by the fact that several don’t.

05/07/2026

A secret ICE directive is raising new questions about who controls public records when local law enforcement helps carry out immigration enforcement.

The directive tells local police not to release any information without ICE approval.

As street-level immigration arrests increase and deaths in detention draw scrutiny, access to records showing how people enter the enforcement pipeline may be narrowing.

The question at the center of the investigation: when local agencies carry out immigration-related duties, who controls access to the records?

Full investigation out now in The Florida Trib, in partnership with Monique O. Madan’s newsletter, Two Can Be True.

(Link in the comments)

05/06/2026

Florida law enforcement agencies are rapidly expanding their role in immigration enforcement — while ICE is moving to control what the public can know about it.

New records show ICE issued a directive telling local agencies in Florida and Texas — the two states with the most 287(g) agreements — not to release any information tied to the program without federal approval.

The directive comes as immigration arrests, detention, deportations, and deaths in custody have increased, making access to local records a key part of public accountability.

The question: can federal control limit public access to records held by local law enforcement?

Full investigation out now in Monique O. Madan’s newsletter, Two Can Be True, in partnership with The Florida Trib!

Comment ICE and we’ll send you the links.

04/29/2026

Four experts reviewed available detention and autopsy records for The Florida Trib and ProPublica. All four — two retired jail commanders and two medical doctors with extensive knowledge of jail treatment — determined that Brian Tracey should have been hospitalized based on the symptoms he showed at the jail, which were later determined by an autopsy to be caused by pneumonia with COVID-19.

Most of the state’s jails have stopped contracting with Armor Health companies, which have been sued repeatedly for subpar care. Only one jail, where Brian Tracey died, still uses a company affiliated with Armor.

04/28/2026

Brian Tracey died of pneumonia while being held at a Florida jail. The jail’s healthcare provider is affiliated with Armor Health companies, which have a history of delaying or denying care to inmates across the country, lawsuits allege.

Most of the state’s jails have stopped contracting with Armor Health companies, which have been sued repeatedly for subpar care. Only one jail, where Brian Tracey died, still uses a company affiliated with Armor.