For many 25-year-olds, becoming a millionaire sounds like something reserved for entrepreneurs, professional athletes, celebrities or people fortunate enough to invest in the next great technology company. But becoming a millionaire by age 55 may require something far less exciting: consistent investing, an average 8 percent annual return and 30 years of patience. The most valuable financial asset a 25-year-old possesses isn't money. It's time. Consider someone who begins at

Long before Tampa Heights became one of Tampa's most desirable urban neighborhoods, and before investors began pouring money into the areas surrounding Ybor City, Edward “Eddie” Serralles saw something others often overlooked. He saw potential. For nearly three decades, Serralles has worked as a real estate broker, investor, developer and construction professional in Tampa. His companies remain headquartered on North Highland Avenue in Tampa Heights, placing him in the middle

Twenty years ago, podcasting was something people did in spare bedrooms with inexpensive microphones and tiny audiences. Today, some of the biggest personalities in entertainment sit behind microphones for hours—and the companies distributing those conversations can be worth enormous sums. Podcasting has quietly evolved from an internet hobby into a mainstream entertainment industry. Joe Rogan became the symbol of that transformation. When Spotify struck its original exclusiv

Few criminal defendants have inspired the kind of public following that surrounded Karen Read. Read was accused of killing her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, who was found unresponsive in the snow outside another police officer’s home in Canton, Massachusetts, in January 2022. Prosecutors alleged Read struck O’Keefe with her SUV after a night of drinking and left him outside. Read maintained that she did not kill him, while her attorneys argued that O’Keefe wa

Inside the bunkers and hidden command centers designed to keep the United States running after catastrophe WASHINGTON — If a catastrophic attack devastated Washington tomorrow, the United States government is not supposed to disappear with it. Behind the visible government of the White House, Pentagon and Capitol is another system—one built into mountains, protected by massive blast doors and connected through secure communications networks. Its purpose is straightforward but

Hollywood once decided which criminals became famous. Studios bought their stories. Television producers interviewed them. Journalists wrote books about them. Former prisoners were usually the subjects of entertainment rather than the people producing it. YouTube and podcasting have turned that arrangement upside down. Across social media, a new category of entertainer has emerged: the ex-con influencer. Former bank robbers, drug traffickers, gang members, organized-crime fig

For decades, Tampa Bay’s economic identity was built around tourism, real estate, health care, finance and the military. Technology existed in the region, but few people would have mentioned Tampa in the same conversation as Silicon Valley, Austin or Boston. That is beginning to change. Across Tampa Bay, a growing collection of technology companies, defense contractors, entrepreneurs, investors and startup accelerators is creating an economy that looks considerably different

For generations, Hollywood operated according to a simple formula: put a movie star's face on a poster and audiences would buy tickets. Names like Clint Eastwood, Julia Roberts, Denzel Washington, Harrison Ford, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Tom Cruise could once function almost like movie franchises themselves. Audiences didn't necessarily need to know much about the film. They went because of who was starring in it. That system is disappearing. Today, audiences increasingly app

After nearly two decades of failed stadium proposals, political battles and questions about whether Major League Baseball could survive long-term in Tampa Bay, the Tampa Bay Rays finally appear to have found their future home. And it is in Tampa. The Hillsborough County Commission voted 5-2 Friday to approve its portion of a proposed $2.36 billion stadium project on Hillsborough College's Dale Mabry campus. The vote came one day after the Tampa City Council narrowly approved

A Massachusetts courtroom is confronting one of the most difficult questions the criminal justice system can face: What happens when there is little dispute over who killed three children, but enormous disagreement over whether their mother was legally responsible for doing it? Lindsay Clancy, a 36-year-old former labor-and-delivery nurse from Duxbury, Massachusetts, is on trial for the January 2023 deaths of her three children — 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 8-month

Every American with a smartphone leaves behind a trail. Where you drive. Where you shop. The websites you visit. The applications installed on your phone. In some circumstances, even visits to medical facilities, religious institutions and other sensitive locations can become pieces of commercially collected information. For years, Americans have generally assumed that if the government wants detailed information about their private lives, investigators must obtain a warrant

Julia Stewart’s career in the restaurant industry reads almost like a Hollywood screenplay: a teenage waitress works her way through corporate America, is passed over for the job she believes she was promised, walks away — and years later returns as the CEO of the company buying her former employer. Long before she was one of the most powerful women in the restaurant business, Stewart was a 16-year-old waitress at IHOP. The experience gave her an early education in customer s

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has officially renamed Lake Ontario “Lake America” for U.S. federal purposes, turning one of North America’s most recognizable geographic landmarks into the latest symbol of his increasingly contentious relationship with Canada. Trump signed an executive order on Aug. 27 directing the Department of the Interior and the U.S. Board on Geographic Names to change the federal designation of Lake Ontario to Lake America. Federal maps, documents a

WASHINGTON — Immigration, foreign wars, President Donald Trump and control of Congress will dominate political advertising between now and November. But beneath virtually every major issue in the 2026 midterm elections sits a much simpler concern. How much does everything cost? With the November elections approaching, affordability is emerging as perhaps the most important political vulnerability facing Republicans as they attempt to maintain control of Congress. A July Pew R

In an entertainment industry crowded with influencers desperately trying to manufacture authenticity, Black Label has something that cannot be created in a studio. He has lived it. Known around St. Petersburg, Florida, simply as “Black” or “Black Label” has emerged from the city's streets, a lengthy federal prison sentence and an unlikely second act as a businessman to become an increasingly recognizable personality in the podcast world. And if the rumors surrounding his next

TAMPA, Fla. — In Florida, preparing for disaster has never seemed particularly unusual. Residents buy bottled water before hurricanes, fill gas cans when a storm enters the Gulf and keep flashlights tucked away for the inevitable power outage. But across Tampa Bay and Central Florida, another level of preparedness exists. These are residents preparing not simply for three days without electricity, but for the possibility that electricity, communications, banking, transportati

TAMPA — The cranes reshaping Tampa’s skyline are difficult to miss. New apartment towers, hotels and office buildings have become symbols of a city experiencing extraordinary growth. But one of the largest construction projects in Tampa’s history is taking place largely out of sight — beneath its streets. The City of Tampa is undertaking a nearly $3 billion overhaul of its aging water and wastewater infrastructure, replacing pipes, pumping stations and other systems that in s

TAMPA, Fla. — At a time when many of America's largest cities are experiencing a remarkable decline in killings, Tampa is moving in the opposite direction. Preliminary data released by the Major Cities Chiefs Association shows homicides across 66 reporting U.S. law-enforcement agencies fell 17.2 percent during the first six months of 2026, dropping from 2,611 killings during the same period last year to 2,162. Robberies declined 16.6 percent, while aggravated assaults fell 5.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — On a dark stretch of road in Jacksonville Beach, a tire sat directly in the path of Jared Bridegan’s SUV. It appeared to be an ordinary obstruction—something a driver might simply get out and move. Prosecutors say it was anything but accidental. On the evening of Feb. 16, 2022, Bridegan, a 33-year-old Microsoft senior design manager and father of four, had just dropped off the 9-year-old twins he shared with his former wife, Shanna Gardner. His 2-year-old

AUSTIN, Texas — For most of its history, Tesla has been described as an electric-car company. That description is becoming increasingly incomplete. Tesla's next major bet is not simply another automobile. It is an attempt to transform transportation into an automated service—combining electric vehicles, artificial intelligence, autonomous driving and, increasingly, SpaceX's Starlink satellite network. At the center of that strategy is the Cybercab, Tesla's purpose-built robot