The Point

The Point, Feb. 19, 2020: Teacher's Use Of A Racial Slur In Alachua County High School Sparks District Investigation

WUFT | By Jasmine Dahlby

Published February 19, 2020 at 1:00 PM EST

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The top stories near you

• WUFT News: School District Investigating After Buchholz High Teacher Uses Racial Slurs In Classroom. (Editor’s note: Offensive language is contained within this story.) "The exchange occurred Feb. 12. The video spread across Buchholz the next day and Friday, according to students and community members upset about the incident. It comes after a University of Oklahoma professor likened the phrase “OK Boomer” to a racial slur on Feb. 11."

• WUFT News: Race And Equity Subcommittee Members Say They Need More Time To Achieve Equity In Gainesville. "The Gainesville City Commission's Race and Equity Subcommittee had a meeting Tuesday where its members decided that an extension of its sunset date is necessary to bridge equity gaps within the city, especially those involving minority-owned and women-owned businesses."

• WMFE: Ocala OKs change allowing landfill to seek expansion in black neighborhood. "The landfill is down the street from a historically African-American subdivision. It’s also near the future sites of a community center and a one-thousand-home development. Residents packed the meeting room and urged the four councilmen not to make the code change. They approved it unanimously."

• WCJB: Domestic violence shelters worried about funding amid state intervention. "A state investigation into potentially mismanaged funds by the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence is creating a change in how local shelters are funded. That has some shelter leaders concerned about a gap in finances."

• Tallahassee Democrat ($): State, Tallahassee, Gainesville doctors tangle over pot complaints. "The complaints appear to be the first major actions taken by the state against doctors who order cannabis for patients they deem eligible."

• Miami Herald ($): Jars of tongues under a Gainesville home? A former UF professor forgot them, cops say. "Who has jars of tongues stored underneath their home? Apparently, a former University of Florida researcher. At least six jars of preserved human remains, mainly tongues, were found under a home in the 1600 block of 25th way in Gainesville Monday afternoon, according to police."

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Around the state today

• WLRN: State Fines Fort Lauderdale $1.8 Million For Sewage Spills. "In the past two months, Fort Lauderdale’s breaking sewer pipes have spilled 211.6 million gallons of sewage into waterways and streets, killing fish and fouling the air in neighborhoods from Rio Vista to Coral Ridge."

• Florida Politics: Activists call for for pregnant inmate protections. "Pregnant women in DOC are at a particularly high risk of complications, as their health is often compromised by a lack of prenatal care, poor nutrition, and untreated chronic medical and psychiatric conditions. Advocates are urging lawmakers to pass legislation giving pregnant inmates more protections."

• WUSF: Ground Search For Lost African American Cemetery On MacDill Air Force Base Begins. "It's the latest effort to find an unmarked, mainly African American burial ground, a number of which have been discovered recently throughout Florida. A group of specially-trained dogs, including an 11-year-old Belgian Malinois named Shiraz, will spend the week searching for the scent of decaying human remains."

• Sun Sentinel ($): Sexting on duty, a misfired gun and an unsecured firearm: Notifications reveal Florida’s safe-school officer mishaps. "Safe-school officer mishaps were revealed in the first batch of notifications school districts provided under a new state requirement and reviewed by the South Florida Sun Sentinel. Since May, school systems have been required to notify the state’s Office of Safe Schools whenever a safe-school officer is fired or disciplined for misconduct or discharges a weapon outside of training."

• Northwest Florida Daily News ($): Leprosy exists in Florida? Here's what you should know. "Leprosy patients in Brevard all started with a rash that wouldn't go away, then they got a surprising diagnosis."

• Bay News 9 ($): School Supervisor Charged With Failure to Report Child Neglect. "A supervisor at AMI Kids, a school for troubled youth, is facing charges in a child abuse case that occurred on campus."

• WTSP: Life-saving app connects neighbors in need. "Pasco County Fire Rescue launched an app that notifies people, who have CPR training, if there's a cardiac emergency nearby."

• Fort Myers News-Press ($): Hundreds of bikers escort replica of Vietnam Veterans Memorial through Southwest Florida. "Over 500 bikers escorted on Tuesday a three-quarter scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall from Fort Myers to Marco Island."