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Chris Tisch - Senior Editor/Environment, Breaking News and Justice

Senior Editor/Environment, Breaking News and Justice

I'm the editor of the Times' breaking news and criminal justice team, a group of about a dozen editors and reporters who bring you the Tampa Bay area's most urgent stories. I've lived in the Tampa Bay area since 1995 after growing up in a remote town of 2,500 in northern Wisconsin. After a childhood filled with things like ice fishing, Green Bay Packers worship and saying funny words like "bubbler" and "you betcha," I studied journalism at Northwestern University before landing a job covering the cops beat at the Bradenton Herald. I came to the Times five years later and have been in the thick of a number of big stories, including covering Florida's death penalty, riding out and reporting on Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, helping with the Terri Schiavo story and co-authoring a project about the mounting number of fatal prescription drug overdoses in Florida.

  1. A road  rage incident on West Brandon Boulevard Thursday afternoon resulted in people from two vehicles shooting at one another, Hillsborough deputies said.
  2. A Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office van is shown at the scene of a fatal stabbing on Sunday evening.
  3. A Largo man has been arrested in connection with the deaths of his parents.
  4. A former employee at the Gold & Diamond Source in Pinellas County has been arrested in connection with the theft of $650,000 worth of watches, the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office reported.
  5. The entrance to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office administration building at 10750 Ulmerton Road is shown in this 2019 photo. A shooting occurred outside the building during a custody exchange on Sunday, officials said.
  6. A look inside one of the Tampa Bay Times’ hurricane kits.
  7. St. Petersburg police have arrested a tow truck driver in connection with a crash last year that killed two people.
  8. A woman and her 6-year-old child were hit by a vehicle outside a Walmart on Thursday.
  9. A deadly home invasion robbery has led to a murder arrest in St. Petersburg.
  10. Police say a shooting at a Plant City gas station appears to be self-defense.
  11. Jeff Knight is seen on the phone while sitting in a boat that authorities say collided with the Clearwater Ferry on Sunday, resulting in one death and multiple injuries.
  12. Law enforcement investigate the wreckage of a Clearwater Ferry after a boat crashed into the ferry causing multiple injuries near the Clearwater Memorial Causeway Bridge Sunday.
  13. Investigators stand at the bow of a Clearwater Ferry in Clearwater Harbor, near the Clearwater Memorial Causeway Bridge, on Sunday, April 27, 2025, after a crash that caused multiple injuries at the site; police say the driver of the other boat fled the scene.
  14. Dozens of patrol vehicles, including a forensics van, are stationed outside of Florida State University’s student union building, the scene of a shooting, Thursday, April 17, 2025, in Tallahassee, Fla. (AP Photo/Kate Payne)
  15. Pinellas sheriff's officials said they arrested a state juvenile justice officer on a child abuse charge.
  16. Tampa firefighters are shown battling heavy smoke and flames at 5215 N. Lois Ave. early Wednesday morning.
  17. Michelle Ayleen Brandes, 36, is pictured in a Pinellas County booking photo taken after an arrest in August 2024. She faces a first-degree murder charge in connection to the death of a missing Gulfport teen.
  18. This was the Amber Alert issued for a missing girl from Pinellas Park. She was found safe in Greensboro, North Carolina, on Wednesday evening, authorities said.
  19. Tampa police are investigating the death of a teenage boy who was found with upper body trauma Wednesday evening.
  20. The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office is investigating the death of an inmate at its jail, which is shown in this 2023 file photo.
  21. This was the scene on Interstate 275 on Friday night in St. Petersburg after a man changing a fire was hit and killed by the driver of a Tesla who fled the scene.
  22. Heavy snow falls onto the Florida Welcome Center on Tuesday in Pensacola.
  23. This is the scene of the fatal shooting at a Circle K in Thonotosassa on Wednesday night.