Mark Schreiner

The Polk County Sheriff's Office has arrested 124 people in an operation that targeted human trafficking, prostitution, and the sexual abuse of children.

The six-day effort, dubbed “Operation Santa's Naughty List,” sought to help victims of human trafficking who may have been forced into prostitution.

Michael Kelly got his man.

Speaking at an event formally introducing Jeff Scott as the new head coach of the University of South Florida football team, the Vice President of Athletics said that Scott was “unequivocally our first and only choice.”

A 10-2 start in 2017, his first season as head coach, had University of South Florida football fans thinking that Charlie Strong was the answer. But a 7-6 second season followed by a 4-8 record this year led athletic director Michael Kelly to fire Strong Sunday afternoon.

What once was Zion Cemetery - believed to be Tampa's first African American cemetery - now sits on two-and-a-half acres divided among three owners.

Scans of the section owned by the Tampa Housing Authority have found 144 coffins so far. Now Tampa restauranteur Richard Gonzmart is clarifying what he thinks might be on the portion of property two of his warehouses occupy.

The Citrus County Board of Commissioners made their final decision Tuesday, rejecting a request by the county’s public library system for an online subscription of the New York Times by a 3-2 vote.

The issue attracted national attention after one commissioner called the newspaper “fake news" during its meeting a month ago.

WUSF 89.7 News took both honors in the radio division at the Tampa Bay Association of Black Journalists 2019 Griot Drum Awards and Scholarship Banquet.

Groups and organizations around the Tampa Bay region have planned events to commemorate Veterans Day. The events, which include parades, job fairs, festivals, and ceremonies, will honor those who have served or are now serving in the U.S. Armed Forces, and are open to the public.

Here’s a list of local events, with national events listed at the bottom:

Two Tampa area leaders in education and technology are teaming up, as the University of South Florida Jabil Innovation Institute was unveiled Thursday.

WUSF News is once again seeking student journalists who want to work and learn in a professional newsroom. We're taking applications for a number of internships for the Spring 2020 semester, including the Stephen Noble/WUSF News Internship - a semester-long chance to develop into a public radio reporter.

UPDATE: All internships now taking applications through midnight, Nov. 7.

Hillsborough County School officials are looking into the possibility that some grounds of King High School rest on what was a cemetery for indigent African Americans.

Under legislation passed last year, the University of South Florida has until next summer to bring the accreditation of its three campuses under one umbrella.

But when System President Steven Currall presented a consolidation plan to the USF Board of Trustees last month, it drew criticism from some students and faculty, as well as lawmakers, who blasted it for giving too much control over USF St. Petersburg and USF Sarasota-Manatee to leaders on the Tampa campus.

While the University of South Florida football team celebrated its Homecoming with a come-from-behind 27-23 victory over BYU Saturday, the USF Athletics program also marked $2.5 million in donor gifts, including $2 million for an on-campus practice facility.

From a distance, the bright fluorescent figures under the Boot Ranch overpass in Palm Harbor may look like another wall covered in graffiti; but, take a closer look and you will find a common theme- a shark on a skateboard, a kid on a tricycle, an old turtle on a scooter.

These images are all part of a mural titled Be Right Back by artist Stephen Palladino, the first step in Pinellas County’s attempts to minimize vandalism and increase public art.

A tropical depression has formed near the Bahamas and is likely to bring heavy winds and rain to islands already hit hard by Hurricane Dorian.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center says Tropical Depression Nine formed Friday afternoon and could become a tropical storm by Saturday. The storm is expected to have some impact on portions of Florida.

Gov. Ron DeSantis, state lawmakers and university officials are bragging about the University of South Florida, Florida State University and the University of Florida moving up in the rankings of an annual report that grades the country's top public colleges and universities.

USF Distinguished Professor of Jazz Studies Chuck Owen has taken his multiple Grammy-nominated big band, The Jazz Surge, and turned it into a sextet named ReSurgence.

And as nervous as he is about the band's debut Wednesday night in Ybor City, Owen is more anxious about the new role he'll play in it: piano player, as opposed to conductor.

A prosecutor told jurors Wednesday that a white Florida man who fatally shot an unarmed black man during a dispute over a parking space in a Clearwater parking lot had initiated a similar confrontation just months before, while his defense attorney said the shooting was in self-defense.

Steven Currall will oversee his first commencement exercises as the President of the University of South Florida this weekend.

More than 3,200 degrees will be conferred during three ceremonies in Tampa and St. Petersburg.