Got Dirt? Above the Fold Wants Your Tips
Ted Lund asks Key West and Monroe County readers to become sources as the Florida Keys’ last watchdog outlet fights to keep local government honest.
KEY WEST, Fla. — Monroe County, you know something I don’t.
One thing they always taught us at J-school… check your mailbox.
That was before email, Facebook, Threads, X, et al.
Maybe it’s a commission vote that got buried before the cameras rolled. Maybe it’s a permit that sailed through without the paperwork it needed, or a contract that smells like it was written by the guy who’s about to cash it. Maybe it’s just a feeling that something in this town isn’t adding up — and you’re right, because in a place this small, it rarely does.
Above the Fold runs on tips as much as it runs on records requests. I can pull the databases, cross-reference the filings, and file the FOIA requests until my fingers cramp — but I can’t be in every commission meeting, every bar, every dock conversation where the real story actually starts. That’s where you come in.
Send me what you’ve got.
A document, a photo, a rumor you can’t shake, a name that keeps coming up — all of it matters, and all of it stays confidential unless you say otherwise. I run it down the same way I’d run down anything else: hard, fair, and without fear of who it makes uncomfortable.
The Keys don’t have room for a press corps anymore. They’ve got me, and now they’ve got you too.