Tom Bayles
WGCU Environmental ReporterTom Bayles is WGCU's Senior Environmental Reporter and a 35-year veteran journalist in Florida. Prior to his tenure at WGCU Public Media, he worked for The New York Times Co. in Sarasota, The Associated Press in Miami and Tallahassee, and the Tampa Bay Times in Clearwater. He earned a master's degree in journalism and a bachelors in education, both from the University of South Florida. The proud father of three sons, Bayles spends his free time fishing along the Southwest Florida coast in his 20-foot Aquasport with his Whippet pup, Spencer.
Bayles is a recipient of the Gold Medal for Public Service from the Florida Association of News Editors, the Waldo Proffitt Award for Excellence in Environmental Reporting, was named top environmental journalist in Florida by the Florida Press Club, and received a Gold Charley Award for public service long-form feature writing from the Florida Magazine Association. Bayles has been nominated four times for a Pulitzer Prize.
Email: tbayles@wgcu.org
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An important point for politicos on the entire spectrum, and we speak to them all, is how often DeSantis sends taxpayer dollars to the Everglades restoration, in this case $750 million a year -
Governor DeSantis has directed $750 million a year to the state’s environmental needs; critics say his is misspending — but supporters say it's money well spent -
Millions of tons of yellow-brown algae that have been swirling about in a region of the tropical Atlantic known as the Sargasso Sea are now breaking loose and landing on Florida shores -
The year’s fourth warning for pollutants in or near the Caloosahatchee River has been issued for the presence of blue-green algae near the Alva Boat Ramp -
Controversy surrounds the Army Corps’ decisions when to release how much water from Lake Okeechobee, slowly, quickly, during the wet season or dry -
There is no better word than “blistering” to describe the reaction of local water-quality nonprofits to how the Army Corps has managed the level in Lake Okeechobee. But Col. James Booth has a tough job. -
There has been a change of heart that releases of polluted water from Lake Okeechobee into the Caloosahatchee River are no longer a near-apocalypse happening but rather a beneficial event -
The Army Corps of Engineers has stopped releasing 3.5 million gallons of water every day from Lake Okeechobee into the Caloosahatchee River for two weeks to allow the environment to recover -
“The Everglades has not seen this type of funding at these levels, ever,” said Eric Eikenberg, chief executive of the Everglades Foundation. Eikenberg said that billion-dollar-plus annual funding will now be needed to get the job done -
Climate change is made clearer by the fact that environmental conditions are becoming more confusing, VoLo Foundation’s fledgling annual climate correction conference is coming into its own at just the right time.
