Our journalism had an impact in 2022. Here is a small sample of those stories and projects that made a difference
There are any number reasons to want to say good riddance to 2022. Hurricanes Ian and Nicole. Seven bucks for a dozen eggs. A November election result that didn't go your way.
But at The Palm Beach Post, 2022 was memorable; because it was yet another year in which our journalism made a difference in our community. We held the powerful to account, exposed injustices, shared lifesaving information, celebrated the best of our communities and partnered with you — our readers — to make a difference.
Our team of reporters, photojournalists, videographers and editors set out to provide news and information that mattered to you. We produced in-depth investigations that influenced state and local policies, kept you up to date on the doings of our biggest institutions, and led a reader-donation campaign that will help feed, clothe and house some of our neediest neighbors struggling through tough times.
Our journalism lifted the voices of those who’ve felt powerless and added fresh perspectives to the news.
We dug through public records and pressed decision-makers for answers. We interviewed and photographed people who shared stories of loss and triumph, and inspired change. Here are just a handful of examples:
Woman who cares for surrendered farm animals able to pay mortgage and buy food, medicine
LOXAHATCHEE — In June, Claudia Campbell worried the 60 surrendered farm animals that she cares for at her sanctuary would end up in county shelters or be put to sleep by the end of the year.
Already six months behind on the mortgage payments for Delmar Farm, she knew an eviction notice would have come in the mail before Christmas if donations did not come in.
But by October, she was able to pay the $25,000 she owes on the property’s mortgage and fill the supply cabinet with hay, food and medicines for the animals.
Campbell received donations of almost $70,000 from the community to keep the sanctuary open after The Palm Beach Post published a story about her farm and its financial struggles last month.
“This has been a long time coming”
Deputies in Palm Beach County on (Oct. 26) started carrying Narcan, a nasal spray that can help revive people who overdose on opioids. The sheriff's office now has more than 2,000 deputies equipped with the life-saving tool.
“This has been a long time coming,” said Maureen Kielian of Southeast Florida Recovery Advocates, who has been urging Sheriff Ric Bradshaw for the past seven years to equip his deputies with Narcan, as most other sheriffs do throughout Florida.
“I’m elated that he has decided to do this, but sad at the same time, because there are those who overdosed whose lives might have been saved if this had been done earlier,” said Kielian.
Bradshaw has resisted efforts by drug recovery advocates to equip deputies with Narcan. His reversal came after a County Commission meeting in July when a top aide, representing him, said the sheriff felt it was not necessary to have law enforcement personnel carry Narcan, arguing that deputies “are not paramedics.”
Donations help save Mothers Against Murderers group: 'We're safe for now'
WEST PALM BEACH — Angela Williams worried about the number of lights she flicked on at the Mothers Against Murderers Association headquarters in June. Too few, and you couldn’t see the portraits of parents and their slain children hanging on the walls. Too many, and the electricity bill ran high.
By August, she was able to turn them on and leave them on.
Williams, who in early July was four months behind on rent and checking daily for an eviction notice, received donations of more than $60,000 to help keep her footing in Palm Beach County. The outpouring of support came after Williams disclosed her financial predicament in a Palm Beach Post profile.
"I'm just so happy right now," Williams, 63, said Thursday. "We don't have to worry about someone putting locks on our doors. We don't have to worry about closing no time soon."
Williams founded MAMA in 2003 after her nephew, Torrey Manuel, was killed outside his West Palm Beach apartment. The nonprofit began as a two-person support group in Williams' living room but now supports nearly 500 mothers, all of whom have lost a child to murder.
'I've got children living in the backs of 40-year-old cars or a tent'
Each year the hopeful apply by the dozens: teachers, firefighters, county government workers.
Squeezed by rising housing costs, they queue up online for an increasingly rare opportunity — buying a new Palm Beach County home at a moderate, discounted price.
But most emerge from the county program empty-handed. There are simply too few homes to buy or apartments to rent.
The shortage is no accident. It’s the result of years of decisions by Palm Beach County commissioners to weaken a program designed to provide affordable places to live for working, middle-class residents.
'It sure as hell will give me pause to fill it out with my kid'
Seizures. Fainting spells. Allergies.
Florida student athletes have to report all these medical conditions when they register to play for the season.
But all female athletes in the state also are asked to report their history of menstrual periods: When they got their first period, how many weeks pass between periods and when they had their last one, to name a few.
The information is reported on athletes' annual physical form, which they are required to fill out with a physician and turn in to their school's athletic director.
The questions — marked as optional — have been put to students across the state for two decades, most often on a written form on paper, but this fall when some districts took the form to a digital platform kept by a third party, parents and doctors began raising red flags.
Their concerns have been heightened both by a shifting political landscape criminalizing abortions and scrutinizing transgender athletes and the growing threat to medical privacy in a digital age.
All of the forms — whether paper or digital — are subject to subpoena.
More than $566,000 raised, and counting
The "home for the holidays" clichés don't apply to a growing number of local families who find the concept of home to be elusive in a year when rental prices have continued to soar.
The search for an affordable home is a theme that runs through the stories that make up The Palm Beach Post's Season to Share campaign this year. And in many cases, looming eviction and possible homelessness are just part of the heartbreaking scenarios.
In Palm Springs, a family of six facing eviction has been devastated by a rare genetic disease that produces tumors in the nervous system. Their 15-year-old niece, one of three household members with the disorder, prepares to undergo brain surgery as the family teeters on homelessness.
In West Palm Beach, a 5-year-old boy born with a heart defect, Down syndrome and chronic lung disease faces a double lung transplant as his parents scramble to keep up with his care and to keep his world afloat.
Also in that city, a single mother caring for her sick mom is herself ailing. She is undergoing aggressive treatments for high-grade breast cancer as she tries to find work and a steady home.
In South Bay, a farmworker and single father, who has suffered his share of labor-related injuries that have caused rent bills to pile up, struggles to care for a teenage daughter with special needs and find a semblance of stability.
This is just a small sample of the impactful journalism produced by The Palm Beach Post staff in 2022. We could go on about our All-County high school sports lists, our wall-to-wall coverage of real estate, growth and development, our in-depth, insightful breakdown of moves in Palm Beach County schools, and our essential political candidate endorsements.
But don't worry, we'll do more in 2023.
Rick Christie is executive editor of The Palm Beach Post and Deputy Regional Editor/Southeast Florida for the USA TODAY Florida-Georgia Network. You can reach him at RChristie@pbpost.com.
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This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Post journalism with impact: How we made a difference in the county.
