Not here anymore! Find me on Bluesky! Deputy investigative editor @TB_Times. Contributor @LMattersNews. Past: @Oregonian, Vegas papers. [email protected].
St Pete, FL š| She/her
Joined August 2010
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NEW: After hundreds of manatees died, we wanted to understand how a tragedy like this happened.
We found a crisis across Florida. Hundreds of waterways have become dangerously polluted.
w/ @ZackSampson @shreyavut
project.tampabay.com/investiā¦
cc: @Longreads @sundaylongread
Bethany Barnes retweeted
I donāt have much to add to this thread except my experience as a former Miami Herald reporter.
During my six months there, I watched McClatchy put the Herald ā the 123-year-old paper whose staff broke the Jeffrey Epstein story, the Hope Florida scandal, and countless other investigations ā on a path to becoming an AI slop factory. By the end it felt like I was training a machine to replace me and my colleagues.
I cannot begin to fathom the damage these layoffs will do to Miami, to Florida, and to a country that desperately needs real local journalism.
Bethany Barnes retweeted
This will be a long thread. Please stick with it.
The Miami Herald, one of the premier legacy newspapers in America, laid off or wrote off more than 30 positions today ā well over one-third of its editorial staff. The cuts include crucial accountability beats. (1)
Bethany Barnes retweeted
New records obtained by @TheFloridaTrib show Florida officials burned more than $1.2 million per day on āAlligator Alcatrazā - sometimes substantially more - and originally sought $1.4 billion from the feds.
āļø @hellokatepayne
floridatrib.org/2026/03/01/nā¦
Bethany Barnes retweeted
If you are looking for a smart, kind and organized editor with investigative experience, you need to talk to @rwoolington. Working with Rebecca these past few months has been a dream. I am heartbroken that our partnership was cut short
Some personal news: After less than three months @washingtonpost, I was among those laid off today. Devastated for all my colleagues who were affected. Thank you to those who have reached out. I appreciate you so much. Please keep me in mind for any openings ā¤ļø
Bethany Barnes retweeted
Picked up my notebook this morning ā full of notes from a recent reporting trip āĀ and got hit with another wave of grief over all the stories that now won't be told. I'm looking for work, preferably in Kyiv, should anyone need a dogged, empathetic reporter. DM/email.
Bethany Barnes retweeted
I was just laid off by The Washington Post in the middle of a warzone. I have no words. I'm devastated.
Bethany Barnes retweeted
Some personal news: After less than three months @washingtonpost, I was among those laid off today. Devastated for all my colleagues who were affected. Thank you to those who have reached out. I appreciate you so much. Please keep me in mind for any openings ā¤ļø
Bethany Barnes retweeted
Regulators have been trying to tackle Florida's water pollution crisis since the 1970s, but the same problems of agricultural runoff and unchecked development continue to poison ecosystems and kill manatees.
Bethany Barnes retweeted
Congratulations to Zachary Sampson, Shreya Vuttaluru, Bethany Barnes and the whole team at the @TB_Times on winning this month's Sidney for their sweeping investigation of manatee deaths in Florida and the state's declining water quality.
Bethany Barnes retweeted
The @TB_Times wins the May Sidney for their first-of-its-kind investigation into the water quality crisis that is killing the stateās manatees: bit.ly/4jwpOQh
Bethany Barnes retweeted
š Weāre honored to have our journalistsā work recognized by @SidneyHillman. Read their investigation into Floridaās polluted waterways: project.tampabay.com/investiā¦
The @TB_Times wins the May Sidney for their first-of-its-kind investigation into the water quality crisis that is killing the stateās manatees: bit.ly/4jwpOQh
Bethany Barnes retweeted
The images in this piece will stay with me for a long time. It's so incredibly sad to read about what decades of environmental mismanagement have resulted in project.tampabay.com/investiā¦
Bethany Barnes retweeted
Manatees starved after poor water quality killed the seagrass they depended on. A Times investigation traced the tragedy to its roots and found itās a dire example of a runaway pollution crisis in Florida.
This project was supported by @pulitzercenter
project.tampabay.com/investiā¦
NEW: After a @TB_Times investigation found rising contamination, congressional leaders sound alarm tampabay.com/investigations/ā¦ w/ @ZackSampson @shreyavut
Bethany Barnes retweeted
"When researchers cut into her remains, they discovered much of her fat had wasted away. . . .She should have weighed at least 1,000 pounds but was just 650. Sheād starved." āZ. Sampson @shreyavut @BetsBarnes @TB_Times
longreads.com/2025/04/04/wasā¦
ALT Headline: Wasting Away Dek: Rampant pollution caused manatees to starve. Florida waters are getting worse. Tagline: Zachary T. Sampson, Shreya Vuttaluru, and Bethany Barnes for the Tampa Bay Times A logo in the bottom right reads āLongreads Editorās Pickā
Bethany Barnes retweeted
Using faulty algorithms and flawed processes, California's biggest insurance companies routinely underestimate what their clients will need to rebuild. For wildfire survivors, it's a gut punch at the worst possible time.
Read ā”ļø trib.al/SNmsgNW
š„: @BronteWittpenn
Bethany Barnes retweeted
We spent a lot of time thinking about the best way to track water quality statewide. Read about our data analysis here:
project.tampabay.com/investiā¦
The story provides a never-before-seen look at the horrors of the manatee die off. There are photos taken by people who were on the ground, responding to the overwhelming crisis.
We read 7,000+ emails to capture what scientists faced in real time "We have a 5-alarm fire here"
You can read more about the analysis and how we did the story here.
"Reporters analyzed millions of water sampling results that spanned more than two decades."
project.tampabay.com/investiā¦