Nick Papantonis, WFTV.com

Nick Papantonis, WFTV.com

Reporter

Nick Papantonis joined Eyewitness News as a reporter in June 2021, and primarily focuses on matters involving local governments and courts. Since arriving in Central Florida, Nick has uncovered investigations into elected leaders, unfair treatment in schools and illegal activity that contributed to multiple businesses shutting down. His coverage of the Disney vs. DeSantis battle earned international attention. Before moving to the Sunshine State, Papantonis spent four years reporting in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, where his background in data journalism helped him lead the state’s coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic. His reporting on disparities in the state’s education system won a Regional Murrow in 2020, the same year he was ranked by the National Press Photographer’s Association for his long-form visual storytelling. Papantonis grew up near Boston, attended Syracuse University and began his career in Binghamton, New York, covering snowstorms that influenced his move to warmer climates. In his spare time, he can usually be found in his back garden, biking the Cady Way Trail or baking a pie.

Latest Headlines by Nick Papantonis

Drone pilots ordered to stop flying over The Villages

Wiley said the Villages’ attorney sent him and other drone pilots a letter ordering them to stop flying over the district’s construction sites and demanding he take down his YouTube videos.


When will Starliner return to space? NASA provides hint

The now famous ill-fated attempt to get Boeing’s Starliner capsule to begin ferrying astronauts to and from the International Space Station was a setback, but not a fatal blow to the program, NASA leaders said Tuesday.


Longwood tornado clean-up to be finished within weeks, county says

Clean-up from the tornado that struck a wealthy area of Longwood should be complete by the beginning of April, the Seminole County Director of Emergency Management said, after crews take a second pass through picking up vegetation debris.