Bethany BarnesDeputy Investigative Editor
I’m on the Tampa Bay Times investigations team, where we examine big problems in Florida. I’m particularly interested in labor issues. Also, the federal government. If you’ve got insight on these matters – or any trouble that Floridians need to know about – get in touch. I started at the Times in 2019. I moved here from Portland where I covered education for The Oregonian. Before that, I wrote about courts, prisons and corruption in Las Vegas. My reporting has won awards, but more importantly it’s brought wrongdoing to light. I grew up in Arizona in a town not far from the Mexico border and have a bachelor’s in creative writing and a master’s in journalism from the University of Arizona.
/s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/tbt/9a18d73a-ecb2-4c8a-ab68-51e03f70f04e.png "Bethany Barnes - Deputy Investigative Editor")
![People hold signs outside of the Hillsborough County School Board meeting in Tampa on Tuesday. They were there to demand an independent investigation in response to a Tampa Bay Times story.](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 562 316"/%3E "People hold signs outside of the Hillsborough County School Board meeting in Tampa on Tuesday. They were there to demand an independent investigation in response to a Tampa Bay Times story.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/6WW5LGXV2VH5DGAFZ3RWVPVVLQ.jpg "People hold signs outside of the Hillsborough County School Board meeting in Tampa on Tuesday. They were there to demand an independent investigation in response to a Tampa Bay Times story.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/AABYKCZ53FG2VGTRGMHKS3AMQI.jpg "Rufus del Valle, a former student at Blake High School, left, hugs his father, Gregory del Valle, moments after sharing memories from his time at the school during public comment at the Hillsborough County School Board meeting on Dec. 14.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/JHZMIPZ4FFC4RAG66TXPOOFTIY.jpg "Rufus del Valle, a former student at Blake High School, breaks down as he speaks about his experiences at the school during the public comment portion of the Hillsborough County School Board meeting Tuesday at the district offices in Tampa.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/QUUKYCW63VH2TGUEIQCQGFTYYU.JPG "Madisyn Slater.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/YURNGNYN7JFLHEECGB24CXKYOA.JPG "Madisyn Slater poses for a portrait at Julian B Lane Riverfront Park on Monday, June 21, 2021 in Tampa.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/POVUVKRNP5AUXP2OH5XGEB5QYM.JPG "Jimmie Keel a longtime assistant county administrator with Hillsborough County, pictured around the time of his retirement in 2001. That year Hillsborough County also named the Jimmie B. Keel Regional Library at 2902 W Bearss Ave. after the county's first Black social worker and assistant county administrator. Keel died on Saturday, April 16. He was 83.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/OKTPNRWIKII6TGNIIBWI6S7HAY.jpg "Police in Dade City are investigating a hit and run crash that severed a pedestrian in two, killing her; and another crash in which a truck hit part of the body and early hit deputies investigating the first incident.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/RRBNGP3BBZDVFCMRPY4VM53QJU.png "A shooting in the parking lot of a Tampa strip club early Sunday left one person dead, police said.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/6ZDESQ7TJJEGLHQEBS4F6FP3LU.JPG "“It’s just so crazy to see they are actually caring about stuff now,” Rebeca Braukman, a senior at Blake High School, said of the school’s recent efforts to address students’ concerns about sexual harassment. “I felt seen, heard.”")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/OJZVGQ4PFRESHPALZPA53EEDR4.jpg "Rufus del Valle says that during his time at Blake High School he saw friends suffer from what he understood to be sexual abuse. When de Valle tried to speak up during his freshman year of college, he says no action was taken by the administration.")
:format(webP)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/QUUKYCW63VH2TGUEIQCQGFTYYU.JPG "Madisyn Slater on a June day at Julian B Lane Riverfront Park in Tampa.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/2NR4PTAQSRGKLJUTBUYYNPPP3Q.jpg "A drone image shows a partially drained wastewater reservoir at Piney Point, with Tampa Bay visible in the distance.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/BKL6YOG4MVHPVHBKDWQFQOKYAQ.JPG "The GardaWorld armored truck where Johnathon Lue, 35, burned to death in May. The truck ignited after its driver lost control and went off a Phoenix highway.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/R2Q3ZGS7AZELXBWZI3NF2X2ZOM.jpg "A Times investigation has found that Garda lost track of millions of dollars inside its vaults, then concealed the missing money from the banks that were its clients.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/5KSHKTD72JCLRMKB2DYEN5TWQE.JPG "Protesters and local law enforcement clash at the University Mall Saturday in Tampa.")
/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-tbt.s3.amazonaws.com/public/ZQTG6S52PFGR7L7AXTKHN666AQ.jpg "New University of Florida graduates Dara Unger, left, Caitlin Dodd, center, and Emily Orey, right, participated in virtual commencement ceremonies this weekend.")
/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-tbt.s3.amazonaws.com/public/A52XUW47RJDBHLCHGK4BCCWJFU.JPG "A group of friends sit lawn chairs chatting as people behind them line dance to AM radio on March 26.")
:format(webP)/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-tbt.s3.amazonaws.com/public/LXUDYHVQOFDR7P6VPBG4QUWEPU.jpg "Bobbie Jean Phillips lost control of her Garda armored truck in Ohio in 2014 and slammed into a dump truck. She died. Two people in the dump truck were seriously injured.")
/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-tbt.s3.amazonaws.com/public/UAZFSHNNXREZLCBECZOLZ6ICRI.jpeg "Army veteran Brenda Jameson, 50, gets her nails painted with Dazzle Dry clear polish at the Trans Fashion & Health Expo, a joint event by Metro Inclusive Health and Tampa Bay Area Department of Veterans Affairs Agencies on Saturday, Nov. 23.")
![A charter plane carrying 143 people and traveling from Cuba to north Florida sits in a river at the end of a runway, Saturday, May 4, 2019 in Jacksonville, Fla. The Boeing 737 arriving at Naval Air Station Jacksonville from Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, with 136 passengers and seven aircrew slid off the runway Friday night into the St. Johns River, a NAS Jacksonville news release said. [Associated Press]](https://www.tampabay.com/resizer//JPVh7-AK55fqF2G3aq3xjyru7A8=/200x112/filters:format(webP)/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-tbt.s3.amazonaws.com/public/DQOCASWIKQI6TGNIIBWI6S7HAY.jpg "A charter plane carrying 143 people and traveling from Cuba to north Florida sits in a river at the end of a runway, Saturday, May 4, 2019 in Jacksonville, Fla. The Boeing 737 arriving at Naval Air Station Jacksonville from Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, with 136 passengers and seven aircrew slid off the runway Friday night into the St. Johns River, a NAS Jacksonville news release said. [Associated Press]")
