Jenny Staletovich

Environment Reporter

Jenny Staletovich has been a journalist working in Florida for nearly 20 years.

She’s reported on some of the region’s major environment stories, including the 2018 devastating red tide and blue-green algae blooms, impacts from climate change and Everglades restoration, the nation’s largest water restoration project. She’s also written about disappearing rare forests, invasive pythons, diseased coral and a host of other critical issues around the state.

She covered the environment, climate change and hurricanes for the Miami Herald for five years and previously freelanced for the paper. She worked at the Palm Beach Post from 1989 to 2000, covering crime, government and general assignment stories.

She has won several state and national awards including the Scripps Howard National Journalism Award for Distinguished Service to the First Amendment, the Green Eyeshades and the Sunshine State Awards.

Staletovich graduated from Smith College and lives in Miami, with her husband and their three children.

Ways to Connect

Scientists Discover Remote Vast Breeding Grounds For Disappearing Bahamian Conchs

By • Jul 8, 2020
Joletta Silver / Shedd Aquarium

On a vast, wind-battered bank wedged between Florida, Cuba and the Bahamas, scientists studying the troubling decline of queen conchs have discovered some rare happy news: a thriving conch republic.

Among the highest ever documented in the Caribbean, researchers believe the herds grazing on Cay Sal Bank provide a lifeline to overfished Bahamian waters miles away.

Beaches May Be Closed But Waters Expected To Be Busy For The Fourth

By , , & • Jul 2, 2020
Nancy Klingener / WLRN

Beaches will be closed in South Florida for the Fourth of July weekend but people are still going to be on the water — on boats. From Palm Beach County to the Keys, law enforcement is gearing up to handle  crowds and to try enforcing social distancing, and other rules, on the water.

Can A Computer Dashboard Calculate Risks From COVID-19? FAU Is Building One

By • Jul 2, 2020
Florida GIS screenshot

Imagine how much easier life would be if a computer dashboard could predict when a trip to the local supermarket, or hair salon, increased the risk of COVID-19?

A new computer dashboard being designed by Florida Atlantic University intends to do just that, sorting through vasts amount of data and using algorithms — just like Google and Netflix— to predict outcomes.

WLRN Connects: Parenting During The Pandemic

By & • Jun 30, 2020
AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee

First, parents had to deal with at-home learning, or college kids heading home coming from campuses early. Now it's summer. Should the kids be together with their friends? How about taking care of grandparents, or other family members?

 

Have you been able to spend more time together as a family? If you have to go to work, how do you cope with the risk of bringing the virus home?

 

Here's Some Of The South Florida Programs And Groups Cut In DeSantis' Budget Vetoes

By , , & • Jun 29, 2020
Al Diaz / Miami Herald

In the midst of a historic economic downturn due to COVID-19, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a state budget on Monday that included over $1 billion in vetoes.

The full list of vetoed items can be found here. WLRN’s reporters have dug through the itemized list to identify some of the most notable programs and organizations that have had state revenues cut in South Florida. 

Saharan Dust Made An Early, Dramatic Arrival This Year

By • Jun 26, 2020
NASA

This year’s Saharan dust season made an early, dramatic arrival with a cloud believed to be the largest on record.

As COVID Cases Surged, Florida Shut Down Its Business Complaint Portal

By • Jun 23, 2020
Wilfredo Lee / AP

Florida business regulators shut down a web portal launched to make it easier for the public to file complaints about businesses that violate COVID-19 guidelines last month, just as cases statewide started to surge.

The Department of Business and Professional Regulation created the online form in mid March, but removed it May 29.

Biscayne National Park Is Getting New Fishing Rules July 1

By • Jun 23, 2020
Jenny Staletovich / WLRN

New fishing rules intended to help revive grouper, snapper and other popular fish in Biscayne National Park start July 1.

The rules represent a five-year struggle to tighten fishing in the busy park next to urban, bustling Miami, but are far less strict than a management plan first proposed by national park officials. That 2015 plan called for a 10,500-acre preserve around fragile reefs that outlawed fishing, except for invasive lionfish.

Florida Residents Are Getting More and More Antibody Tests. Do They Know What The Tests Mean?

By • Jun 23, 2020
AP

The day of her 38th birthday in April, Jane Castro decided it was time to finally find out if she’d contracted COVID-19 during a January trip to Arizona State University.

Hurricane Season Started Early For The Last Six Years. Is It Time To Extend The Season?

By • Jun 21, 2020
NOAA / AP

The early start to the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season — the sixth in a row and the first with three named storms by June 1— has rekindled calls to move up the season’s official start.

COVID-19 Showing Signs of Expanding In South Florida

By • Jun 16, 2020
Wayne K. Roustan / Sun Sentinel

As South Florida swings into its third week of reopening amid the COVID-19 outbreak and testing expands, the virus is showing signs of increasing.

Feds To Designate 1.5 Million Acres As Habitat For Rare Florida Bat

By • Jun 9, 2020
Zoo Miami

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plans to designate an area three times the size of Lake Okeechobee as critical habitat for Florida’s rare bonneted bat.

Army Corps Unveils $4.6 Billion Plan To Protect Miami-Dade From Storm Surge

By • Jun 5, 2020
Wilfredo Lee / AP

A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plan to protect Miami-Dade County from hurricane storm surges over the next 50 years with flood gates across rivers, and a mile-long flood wall along its upscale waterfront, could cost nearly $4.6 billion.

The tentative plan, which is now open for public comment, is the latest and most fully detailed. The plan also calls for elevating about 2,300 flood-prone structures.

Heavy Rains And Flooding Test Miami's Old Tamiami Canal

By • Jun 3, 2020
Ian Linder Sheldon

The rain that pounded South Florida last week, and dumped a half foot on Miami International Airport in just two hours, also tested the limits of the old Tamiami Canal.

We Had Fewer Hurricanes in the '70s and '80s. Researchers Say That Slow Phase Won't Likely Return

By • Jun 2, 2020
NASA Earth Observatory

Monday kicked off the start of another busy hurricane season, forecast to be the fifth in a row with an above average number of storms.

Pages