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The top stories near you

• Citrus County Chronicle: FDOT chief: Parkway plans on hold pending task force outcome. "The Legislature last year created the M-CORES — Multi-use Corridors of Regional Economic Significance — program to build three new toll roads by 2030. Two of the three directly affect Citrus County: extending the Suncoast Parkway north to Georgia, and extending Florida’s Turnpike from Wildwood to an unknown point at the Suncoast."

• Gainesville Sun ($): GRU pauses deal with Florida Power & Light. "The agreement with Florida Power & Light would have committed the municipal utility over 30 years for high-capacity access to the nation’s electrical grid through FPL. Bielarski had estimated the initial cost at about $9 million a year."

• Spotlight On Levy County Government: Bronson Closes Historic Cemetery, Contributes Funds for Marker. "The cemetery is the final resting place for a number of Confederate soldiers. It is also the final resting place for Mary Glenn Shands, mother of Dr. James Jackson, Jr., who founded Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. Shands Hospital in Gainesville takes its name from the same family."

• WFSU: Florida Proposal Blocks Gender Confirmation Care For Minors. "Sen. Dennis Baxley (R-Lady Lake) wants to ban health practitioners from offering gender confirmation care to minors. He’s sponsoring the 'Vulnerable Child Protection Act.'"

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Around the state today

• WJCT: City Council Committees Pass Sea Level Rise Task Force Recommendations. "Shannon Blankinship, Advocacy Director for the St. Johns Riverkeeper, who was a working group member for AAA, said of the three recommendations, adding a Chief Resiliency Officer is most essential to helping the city become more prepared for rising sea levels."

• WLRN: Miami Rolls Out A Resiliency Plan. It Will Include Overhauling The Aging Stormwater System. "The plan follows a yearlong effort focused on five critical areas that included flooding, increasing heat and the goal of cutting carbon emissions."

• News Service of Florida: Nikki Fried looks to lawmakers for citrus tree payments. "The brief is the latest move in nearly two decades of litigation about whether the state should compensate residents for destroying healthy citrus trees."

• Palm Beach Post ($): All those sharks heading our way? Many aren’t coming ... and why that’s a concern. "Florida Atlantic University scientists believe warmer coastal waters — 1.8 degrees in the past decade — between Boca Raton and Jupiter have thrown the sharks off course, halting their journey north of the area or pushing them farther out to sea."

• Florida Phoenix: A century ago, black residents of Ocoee were killed or forced from their homes for trying to vote. "'This is considered the bloodiest day in American political history, and it happened right in central Florida. On presidential election day, an entire city was eliminated. They were killed, maimed or run out of town,' (state Sen. Randolph) Bracy said."

• New York Times ($): Tears for the Magnificent and Shrinking Everglades, a ‘River of Grass’. "I’ve traveled far but never found a place where the Garden of Eden and the Fall of Man are so palpable in one place. I am not alone. I know by the way eyes fill with tears when people get to talking about the glades."

• AP: Super Bowl-inspired snake hunters capture 80 pythons in Everglades competition. "Over the past few years, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the South Florida Water Management District have paid hunters to remove the snakes — the bigger the snake, the more money — with bonuses for egg-bearing females."

From NPR News

• National: Basketball Legend Kobe Bryant And Daughter Gianna Die In Helicopter Crash

• Health: 5 Confirmed Cases Of The Coronavirus In The U.S.

• Politics: After Contentious Interview, Pompeo Publicly Accuses NPR Journalist Of Lying To Him

• Politics: 'Take Her Out.' In New Recording, Trump Heard Discussing Firing Ambassador To Ukraine

• Politics: Trump Tries To Hold On To Spotlight As Impeachment Enters Week 2

• Books: Author Interview: Dennis Baron On 'What's Your Pronoun?'

• Books: 'Franchise' Tracks The Rise And Role Of Fast Food In Black America

• World: Several Mortars Hit The U.S. Embassy Compound In Baghdad

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.