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Today's top Florida stories
• WJCT: FL GOP, National Media: Jacksonville Front Runner For Republican National Convention. "Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry and Duval County GOP chair Dean Black have been publicly lobbying to bring the convention to Jacksonville since President Donald Trump threatened to move it Memorial Day weekend."
• NPR News: U.S. Hits 2 Million Coronavirus Cases As Many States See A Surge Of Patients. "Florida is seeing its own new surge, with more people testing positive for the coronavirus on Saturday than any day in the past two months. Since June 2, the state has reported more than 1,000 new cases every day, even as the number of COVID-19 deaths has dropped to double-digits."
• WUFT News: 'A Community That Can Get This Done': Gainesville Holds Telephone Town Hall To Hear Opinions About Local Policing Reforms. "(Mayor Lauren) Poe said he is excited about the conversation but is unsure about how long the process of creating a new policing model will take. He asked listeners who are particularly enthusiastic about this topic to bring their ideas and participate in the discussion but also be patient with the city."
• WUFT News: Alachua County Braces For Eventful Hurricane Season Amid Pandemic. "Last weekend, north central Florida was largely unscathed by Tropical Storm Cristobal. Still, the next few months are predicted to mark an eventful hurricane season. If a serious hurricane should develop, shelters might look a little different this year due to the coronavirus."
• Gainesville Sun ($): Sheriff’s race gets active. "Democratic Alachua County Sheriff Sadie Darnell has never had much of a challenge since she first won election in 2006, but this year could be more of a contest. Her Democratic opponent, state representative and one-time Alachua deputy police chief Clovis Watson Jr., has a considerable lead in donations — including one from the reddest Republican, soon-to-be retiring U.S. Rep. Ted Yoho."
• Ocala Star-Banner ($): Details on Ocala’s Amazon distribution center emerge. "On Wednesday, the Ocala/Marion County Chamber & Economic Partnership (CEP) officially confirmed that Amazon is coming to the Ocala/Marion County Commerce Park. Meanwhile, work progresses on an even larger distribution center for discount retailer Dollar Tree."
• News Service of Florida: DeSantis Signs Bills On Wrongful Incarceration, Broadband. "Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday signed 25 bills into law, including approving $2.15 million for a Jacksonville man wrongfully imprisoned for almost 43 years and two measures tied to a series of controversial highway plans."
• WJCT: Curry Marches With Jags Players, Says All Confederate Monuments In Jax Coming Down. "At an organized march Tuesday morning, Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry said the Confederate monument taken down at Hemming Park before sunrise will not be the only one."
• News Service of Florida: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis makes 'very, very unusual' request to appeal to voting rights decision. "Arguing that the case is of 'exceptional importance,' lawyers for Gov. Ron DeSantis have made a rare move of asking a full appellate court to consider a challenge to a voting-rights ruling that would pave the way for hundreds of thousands of felons to cast ballots in the November elections."
• WMFE/AP: Major League Soccer To Restart Season At Disney’s Wide World of Sports. "It’s official: Major League Soccer is set to resume its season with a tournament starting July 8 at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports... Separately, the NBA is expected to play a 22-team season at the Disney campus starting in late July."
• Orlando Weekly: Three UCF football players test positive for coronavirus a week after training resumes on campus. "Sixty students returned to campus last week to begin voluntary individual training regimens, as part of a first wave of student-athletes invited back to campus. And even under new cleaning and social regimes, UCF confirmed yesterday that three players have already tested positive."
• FLKeysNews ($): Florida again leads the nation in boating accidents and fatalities. "According to the Coast Guard’s 2019 Recreational Boating Statistics Report released Wednesday, there were 679 boat accidents in Florida last year. Of those, 55 were fatal, resulting in 62 deaths."
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From NPR News
• National: Protesters Topple Jefferson Davis Statue In Richmond, Va.
• National: Senate Unanimously Confirms 1st Black Chief Of A U.S. Military Service
• Race: George Floyd's Brother Testifies Before House Judiciary Committee
• Race: U.S. Soccer Lifts Ban On Kneeling During National Anthem
• Business: NASCAR Bans Confederate Flag
• Business: Amazon Halts Police Use Of Its Facial Recognition Technology
• Politics: 'Homage To Hate': Pelosi Calls For Confederate Statues Removed From U.S. Capitol
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.