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Today's top stories
• The sister of a U.S. Marine Corps member killed in a training exercise five years ago designed a new decal for Gainesville's city street signs. The red, white, and blue star will be affixed to street signs where the road is named after a fallen soldier or public safety officer. (WUFT News)
• Remember that record heat and near-drought Florida had last month? Soon you won't. This area could see as much as four inches of rain through Tuesday. (Palm Beach Post, Florida Storms)
• Gainesville now needs a new city auditor after the City Commission last night voted to fire Carlos Holt. (WCJB)
• Here's how Florida Democrats are approaching the next statewide election cycle with hopes of losing more than half a decade of key losses. (Politico)
• NPR News reports from the areas hardest hit during Hurricane Michael about what emergency managers would have done differently. "Had we known it was going to be a Category 4 before we did," one mayor says, "then everyone would have left," including the fire and police departments.
• Vaping is now happening even in high school restrooms, one principal says. The state attorney general visited Nassau County yesterday to hear school officials' insights and start generating possible solutions. (Florida Times-Union)
• An Iraq War veteran who's now a Brevard County sheriff's deputy survived a deadly shootout with a suspect this week, despite taking rifle rounds to his femur, leg bones and shoulder. (Florida Today)
• A judge lowered the bond for Scot Peterson, the former Parkland school resource officer facing 11 criminal charges, and he's now out of jail. (Miami Herald)
• Authorities in Tallahassee are investigating a suspected arson at a Catholic church. (Tallahassee Democrat)
• Fish Island, which we reported on extensively in our project "Peak Florida," could soon be a state-owned and city-managed reactional park. (St. Augustine Record)
• The Trump administration's decision to cut funding for migrant childhood detention facilities will have an impact onthe children living at the one in Homestead. (WLRN)
• The boardwalk at Devil's Millhopper Geological State Park is open again for the first time since Hurricane Irma in 2017. (Gainesville Sun)
• Weird Florida story to end the week: These Okaloosa County blowtorch-wielding burglars were better at further securing an ATM than busting it open. (Northwest Florida Daily News)
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From NPR News
• Business: Carmakers To White House: Work With California On Rules For Greenhouse Gases
• Business: Here's Why You May Start Receiving Fewer Robocalls
• World: Xi And Putin Meet In Moscow
• Politics: Americans Hold Complex Views On Abortion, Poll Finds
• Politics: Biden Reverses Position, Rejects Hyde Amendment, Cites Attacks On Abortion Access
• Books: David Barrie Explores The Science Behind How Animals Find Their Way In 'Supernavigators'
• National: Spotted: A Swarm Of Ladybugs So Huge, It Showed Up On National Weather Service Radar
• Health: You May Be Stressing Out Your Dog
About today's curator
I'm Ethan Magoc, a news editor at WUFT. Originally from Pennsylvania, I've found a home telling Florida stories. I’m part of a team searching each morning for local and state stories that are important to you; please send feedback about today's edition or ideas for stories we may have missed to emagoc@wuft.org.