Scripps Names Lagrone Fla. Investigative Reporter

Katie LaGrone, an award-winning investigative journalist, is expanding her role for E.W. Scripps to support all three Scripps stations in Florida with original investigative reports, beginning in September.

LaGrone, whose title will be Florida investigative correspondent, will continue her investigative work exposing a wide range of consumer injustices, questionable government spending and consumer safety concerns. She will work out of WFTS Tampa.

Audiences of WPTV, the Scripps NBC affiliate in West Palm Beach, Fla., already are very familiar with her work. LaGrone has received local, state and regional awards for her work at NewsChannel 5 since 2010. Her reporting will now expand to the other Scripps Florida outlets:  WFTS Tampa (ABC) and WFTX Ft. Myers (Fox).

“Investigative journalism is fundamentally important to Scripps,” said Sean McLaughlin, Scripps VP of news. “Katie has served the WPTV market well with her investigations and we recognize that the scope of her work has far-reaching benefits for all of Florida. With her new focus she has greater latitude to delve into stories that will get Floridians talking. Katie LaGrone will be the watchdog looking out for those communities.” 

She was the first broadcast journalist to expose restaurants that served substitute fish when the menu promised grouper. The 2007 investigation by WBBH Ft. Myers spawned an international investigation by the Food and Drug Administration. The report also won LaGrone a national Edward R. Murrow Award.

In 2011, she did an in-depth investigation at WPTV into the dangers of keyless cars. Shortly after her reports aired, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced it would propose new rules to protect consumers and to help prevent more keyless deaths around the country.

In 2015, LaGrone and the Contact 5 Investigators partnered with the Palm Beach Post for an examination into deputy-involved shootings in Palm Beach County. The Line of Fire series attracted national attention, inspired countywide community meetings and prompted local authorities to adopt a number of new use of force policies. Since the debut of the series, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Department has had the fewest number of deputy-involved shootings in 15 years.

Before joining Scripps, LaGrone worked as an investigative reporter at WBBH and at WRAL in Raleigh, N.C., as a promotions producer.

She graduated with a Bachelor of Science in telecommunications from the University of Florida.