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Lane DeGregory - Enterprise Reporter/Hope and Humanity
Lane DeGregory

Enterprise Reporter/Hope and Humanity

As an enterprise writer, I seek stories about people in the shadows. Some put a face on news events and current issues. Others shine a light on people’s private struggles and triumphs. Many are narratives, focusing on helpers and hope. I grew up in Washington, D.C. during the Watergate era and decided I wanted to be a journalist when I was six years old. I have worked at newspapers across the East Coast and have written for the Times for more than 20 years. In 2009, I won the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing for a story about a feral child. I teach around the world and host WriteLane, a podcast about non-fiction storytelling. In 2023, the University of Chicago Press published an annotated anthology of my Times stories: “The Girl in the Window” and Other True Tales. I’m married to my college crush, a drummer, and we raised our two sons in the tiny waterfront town of Gulfport. When I’m not talking to strangers, I enjoy camping at music festivals, going to the beach at sunset and playing with our two energetic puppies. I’d love to hear your story, or someone’s you think I should share.

  1. Oxygen Network to air true crime story of Florida Marine who “mercy” killed his wife
    • Narratives
    Stephen Kruspe is escorted out of the courtroom in the Palm Beach County Courthouse in West Palm Beach on Aug. 7, 2023, after being sentenced to 20 years in prison, with credit for the six he had served since his arrest.
  2. Tampa’s sea turtle hospital, pushed to the limit, fights to save a record number of rescues
    • Environment
    Ashley Riese, director of the Florida Aquarium's Sea Turtle Conservation Program, lifts a green sea turtle named Pink during a checkup at the aquarium's rehabilitation center in Apollo Beach on April 29.
  3. 10 ways Floridians can help protect sea turtles and their habitat
    • Environment
    Freed from its nest, a tiny three-day-old loggerhead sea turtle hatchling makes for the open gulf in 2014.
  5. A ban on “van life”? Car campers stir debate in a changing Gulfport
    • Pinellas
    Mark Mayhew, 63, settles in for the night in his 1996 Mercury Sable. For months, he and others have been living in their cars near Gulfport Beach.
  6. After hurricanes, people asked Treasure Island chaplain ‘Why did God do this?’
    • Pinellas
    Chaplain Andy Ellis, of Treasure Island, in the Vasilevskiy No. 88 shirt, prays with community members after Hurricane Helene swept through the Tampa Bay region in fall 2024.
  7. At Tampa Bay’s Victory High, newly sober students get a second chance
    • The Education Gradebook
    When a new campus of Victory High opened in Tampa last fall, Evan, 16, enrolled as the first student. He had tried virtual school but hated being alone.
  8. Do Florida storms scare your dog? A new drug could help.
    • Pets
    Piper, a Shetland Sheepdog, wears a dog's life vest which helps calm him during thunderstorms.
  9. She spent 50 years in a perfect pink house — then came Hurricane Helene
    • Pinellas
    Carol Mathis bought her pink house in 1975, a couple years after moving to Florida. It sits on the edge of a canal off Boca Ciega Bay.
  10. In Tampa’s busy port, a chaplain brings sailors offerings from land
    • Tampa
    Chaplain Fritz Goltermann climbs aboard about 20 cargo ships each month at Port Tampa Bay, the state's busiest port. He has learned to navigate Google Translate so he can communicate with sailors from around the world.
  11. A Florida orphan’s plea for a family went viral 12 years ago. Where is he now?
    • St. Petersburg
    Wearing his only suit and with Bible in hand, Davion Only, 15, gets some last-minute help with his tie before walking into St. Mark Missionary Baptist church with Connie Going, his Eckerd case worker. Davion, who has been in the foster care system since he was born, recently started going to area churches and taking the pulpit to tell them that he's a good kid that just wants a family. MELISSA LYTTLE | Times (09/22/13 St. Petersburg, Fla.)
  12. For Ukrainian sisters in Gulfport, Trump sparks fears of deportation
    • Pinellas
    Sisters Alina Hamota, 13, and Yulia Hamota, 15, seen here on March 14, 2025, have settled into their new hometown of Gulfport. When they were 10 and 12 years old, they fled their home in Ukraine as Russian attacks intensified and managed to make it to safety in Florida.
  13. Success goes beyond statistics at St. Petersburg’s housing experiment
    • St. Petersburg
    Kalin Stokes smiles while watching her son play in his room at their Innovare apartment in St. Petersburg after walking home from school together in February 2025.
  14. Tampa Bay’s Guinness World Record holders juggle flames, spin doughnuts
    • Entertainment
    Aidan Webster juggles flaming torches at Eckerd College's South Beach, where he set multiple records for the Guinness Book of World Records on Dec. 3 in St. Petersburg.
  15. Stanley, a very good boy, saves other dogs’ lives as a blood donor
    • Community News
    Stanley, an American Pit Bull, perks up his ears for a treat after he finishes donating blood at BluePearl Pet Hospital on Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, in Clearwater.
  16. For kids of foster care ‘house parents,’ there’s no place like home for the holidays
    • Community News
    Norm Cookson helps nine-year-old Lexi place an ornament onto a Christmas tree at A Kid's Place group foster home on Wednesday, Dec 11, 2024, in Brandon.
  17. Nearly a year into the housing experiment, residents feel transformed
    • St. Petersburg
    Amanda Moral, in center, in background, raises her hands to the sky as she harmonizes with fellow residents as they sing songs of praise and worship during a Thanksgiving celebration at the Innovare apartments in downtown St. Petersburg on Nov. 25. On left is Walter Sloan, and on right is Kalin Stokes.
  18. At the housing experiment, tension grows between formerly homeless and ‘regulars’
    • St. Petersburg
    Marie Morey, lead property specialist, left, shows Laquida Carter and her friend George Weeks the view from the living room window as Laquida becomes a new resident on the affordable housing side at the Innovare apartments on Oct. 1 in St. Petersburg. Laquida, who is moving from Lakeland, has been on the waiting list for Innovare for over nine months.
  19. Post-hurricanes, Pinellas voters amass at defunct polling places
    • Elections
    The line going around the building as people wait to vote on Election Day at Boyd Hill Hammock Hall, 3010 31 St. S, on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in St. Petersburg. Boyd Hill served as a relocation polling location. Damage from the hurricanes on the barrier islands and low-lying areas was so extensive that the county has relocated 25 polling places on election day.
  20. After hurricanes, a Gulfport counselor gathers a group to process traumas
    • Hurricane
    Gulfport's first hurricane trauma support group met in a little building between the dog parks. Ten people came to Monday's session to talk about trauma they had experienced during the storms.
  21. After one disaster, a small-town mayor braces for another in Hurricane Milton
    • Hurricane
    Sam Henderson, 53, has served as Gulport's mayor for more than 12 years. When he saw what Hurricane Helene had done to his waterfront town, he felt sick. Since then, he has barely slept. This week he's been preparing for another storm as Hurricane Milton spins toward the town's shores.
  22. From a homeless shelter to college, a Florida teen makes a new start
    • Narratives
    Malesa Chance, the house staff supervisor, left, gives Kenneisah Cummings, 18, a big goodbye hug after packing her mentor's car. Cummings' mentor, Kimberley McDaniel, right, was driving her to her new dorm at Florida SouthWestern State College.
  23. Gulfport, like so many Tampa Bay communities, picks up Helene’s pieces
    • Hurricane
    The Tiki Bar & Grill looked over Shore Boulevard S., across from Gulfport’s beach volleyball courts. It featured daily seafood specials, live music and hosted a popular open mic night. It was one of dozens of Gulfport businesses destroyed by Hurricane Helene, which caused the worst damage the little waterfront town has seen in more than a century.
  24. Hurricane Helene wasn’t a direct hit in Tampa Bay but it sure felt like it
    • Hurricane
    An airboat transports residents rescued from floodwaters in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene early Friday morning in Crystal River.