The Historic Capitol, foreground, and Florida Capitol buildings. Photo, Colin Hackley
It was a whirlwind year.
The staff of the Florida Phoenix wrote a wide range of stories, from poignant and sometimes scary to compelling, explanatory and hard-hitting. All the stories were connected to these major topics: The environment, politics and law, health, working & the economy, education, Phoenix investigates, and culture & society.
The stories were written by Editor Diane Rado, Deputy editor Michael Moline, and reporters Lloyd Dunkelberger, Laura Cassels, and Issac Morgan. Former editor Julie Hauserman, and former reporter Mitch Perry, also wrote the stories — they worked at the Florida Phoenix in 2019.
In each topic area, we chose some of our most interesting work.
We also included the extraordinary columns by Lucy Morgan and Diane Roberts.
Environment
Legislature’s planned road project could benefit Florida’s richest man
Beloved, tiny FL Key deer would lose protection under new Trump administration recommendation
Florida’s wild cats are showing strange symptoms, state says, and asks for public’s help
Hurricane victims face growing fire threat from ravaged forests; 4,200 acres have burned
Climate talks open amid dire warnings about greenhouse gases; Florida paying the price of inaction
Rescue mission for Florida’s dying corals — a national treasure vanishing before our eyes
Politics & Law
Bringing home the bacon — to the extreme?
“Let’s not forget they’re children” — lawmaker pushes for minimum arrest age when it comes to kids
Tensions are high as FL Senate judges Broward sheriff accused of incompetence in mass shootings
Trial opens in legal challenge to Florida’s ex-felon voting rights restoration process
“This department is in crisis,” GOP lawmaker says about FL Corrections agency
Gov. DeSantis set to shape a crucial appeals court in Florida with conservative judges
FL Dept. of Corrections bans socialist newspaper for inmates; critics protest
Health
Facing mounting deaths and rising cases, Florida’s hepatitis A crisis is ravaging Central Florida
A secretive and scary drug-resistant fungus has landed in Florida and it can kill you fast
Gov. DeSantis on vaping: concurs with Trump on postponing ban on flavored e-cigarettes
Getting cheap and safe Canadian drugs to Floridians is a big unknown
Despite protests, a parental-consent law for minors seeking abortions could become a reality in 2020
Florida’s lack of dental care hurts low-income and rural residents
Jailing the mentally ill: Attorney General Moody looks for solutions
Health care and religion entwined: New Trump policies stoke fear in Florida’s transgender community
Advocates for Maine’s poor say Florida’s new health care chief slashed needed help
Working & the Economy
Hemp hype? Some observers fear the state is setting up small farmers for failure
Citrus growers’ new crisis: They’re producing fruit again but can’t sell it
Keeping Florida’s pension fund financially healthy won’t be cheap
Gov. DeSantis and the war against trial lawyers
Florida’s 27,000 ‘Dreamers’ are living their lives in fear and uncertainty
What’s next in the education world? “Adjunct teachers” on the rise in Florida’s K-12 classrooms
Voting rights for Florida felons? Floridians approved it last fall, but Legislature adds roadblocks
Paid family leave joins the agenda as FL Legislature prepares to convene next month
Raiding state housing funds hurts disabled Floridians who need homes
Education
When it comes to school safety, the question is: Where are all the school counselors?
What the stats reveal about teacher pay: Florida is cheap
Active shooter drills at school: “Some of the kids are scared to death.”
The Legislature inserted groups tied to right-wing donors into Florida’s new law on civics education
From a D to an A in one year, and other anomalies in Florida’s grading system for public schools
Only 30 percent of Florida’s 3rd graders can read proficiently, state exam results show
Republicans score victory in creating new voucher program: Dems call it unconstitutional
Phoenix Investigates
The Legislature inserted groups tied to right-wing donors into Florida’s new law on civics education
Legislature’s planned road project could benefit Florida’s richest man
Corrections officials investigating another severe inmate beating by prison guards
Don’t want antibiotics sprayed on your citrus? Sorry – it’s about to expand, big-time
Culture & Society
A “superhighway of hate:” Extremism is flourishing in Florida
Florida man collapses in tears, falls to the ground, after Gov. Ron DeSantis denies pardon
Momentum on Equal Rights Amendment? Some GOP female lawmakers side with Dems on ERA
The Florida Supreme Court: A male bastion with one woman and no African Americans
Public school demographics are changing: Minority students now dominate many school systems
Jailing the mentally ill: Attorney General Moody looks for solutions
Ag Commissioner Nikki Fried: She doesn’t walk in the “same boots” as her predecessors
Does the Legislature reflect the Florida populace? Nope. We crunched the demographic numbers
And here are some of our best columns, both hard-driving and hilarious.
By Lucy Morgan:
Sometimes living in Tallahassee seems like returning to the wild wild west
For the love and pride of libraries, and the stupidity of five commissioners in Citrus County
A newspaper helped victims get justice when it seemed impossible
Get the governor a state plane, already
The public’s right to know is threatened in the Florida Legislature
By Diane Roberts:
Wait, you’re not going to drink that, are you? (Or swim in it or even touch it?)
Outrages on the soul of Florida: Ordinary folks and tourists kicked off the public’s sugary sand
The whiney martyrdom of pale American males led by bellyacher-in-chief Donald Trump
Florida’s leaders love our environment, but they love money more
Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our web site. Please see our republishing guidelines for use of photos and graphics.
Related News
Diane Rado