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The Point, Jan. 3, 2020: 'What Used To Work Isn’t Working Anymore': The Power Of A Local Seed-Saving Program

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New format, more Florida stories

The Point begins today its fifth year of working to help you become a smarter and more informed Floridian, and our team is making a few slight changes to what you'll see in this space. We remain focused on bringing to your attention the most impactful journalism in this state from a wide range of news sources.

More emphasis, though, will go into producing and showcasing our original reporting — particularly on the questions you want to have answered — as well as that of our public media partners around the state. We are going to let others' headlines speak for themselves in the stories curated here. It's a format that received positive feedback during preparations for Hurricane Dorian last summer. See it below in our holiday roundup. We are also making a change to respond to a frequent reader complaint about being unable to read certain stories behind commercial publications' paywalls. Referrals to such publications now have a transparent disclosure ($) before links to their stories.

Thank you for continuing to join us for what promises to be a momentous and newsworthy 2020.


The top stories near you from WUFT

• How much impact can one gardener have in the fight against climate change? Melissa DeSa intends to find out in Gainesville. Nine years ago she started a seed saving program out of her home and has since expanded it to help a few farmers. "What we’re hearing over and over again is that what used to work isn’t working anymore," she says.

• Our Florida Good series kicks off in 2020 with a spotlight on the Gainesville Opportunity Center, a local nonprofit organization. A woman named Susan Thomas shared with our reporter the ways in which the center has helped her schizoaffective disorder.


Today's sponsored message

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Around the state over the holidays

• News Service of Florida: Florida moves forward with plan to import drugs from Canada

• WLRN: Steamy Miami Ties With 2015 And 2017 For Hottest Year On Record

• Miami Herald ($): Trump picks Miami megachurch with pastor who speaks in tongues for evangelicals event

• WEAR: Florida drivers caught texting will get ticketed starting 2020

• Gainesville Sun ($): Alachua County airboat curfew ruled unconstitutional

• Orlando Weekly: Boaters in Florida broke the all-time record for killing manatees this year

• WMFE: Multiple deaths and few arrests: how one county works to protect the transgender community

• The Alligator: Protesters didn’t use anti-Semitic language against campus speaker, UF says

• Fort Myers News-Press ($): 'Feline leukomyelopathy' causing neurological issue in Florida panthers

• The Guardian: Furry, cute and drooling herpes: what to do with Florida's invasive monkeys?

• WTSP: Faces of Robles: How living on a forgotten cemetery changed their lives

• Florida Times-Union ($): 2019 was Jacksonville’s deadliest year in decades. These charts show just how bad the year got.

• Florida Politics: Florida’s insane number of license plates is costing FDOT millions

• News Service of Florida: Duke Energy sends Florida a $171 million utility bill for Hurricane Dorian

• WMFE: Amazon gets $2.5M tax break for ‘Project Normandy’, a massive Deltona warehouse

• Florida Today ($): Florida still in the running for Space Force Command headquarters

• Florida Phoenix: Harnessing sun power: Florida and California taking different paths to solar


From NPR News this week

• World: U.S. Kills Top Iranian Military Leader In Airstrike

• World: Carlos Ghosn Arrives In Lebanon, Escaping Trial In Japan

• Politics: Trump Will Win Again. No Way He'll Win. Be Wary Of 2020 Election Predictions

• National: Will Statehouses Be More Productive Than Congress In 2020?

• National: Efforts To Stop Suicide Will Get A Boost In 2020

• Business: Report: Many Returned Products Thrown Out Instead Of Resold

• Business: A Decade After A Fearful Market Hit Bottom, Stock Bulls Continue Historic Run

• Health: For Healthy New Year's Habits, Learn From The World's Longest-Lived Peoples

• Science: The Year In Science News

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.

Contact WUFT News by calling 352-392-6397 or emailing news @wuft.org