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The top stories near you
• Prepare for this year's primary elections by following our candidate coverage. Today, we focus on Citrus County and Columbia County. (WUFT News)
• WUFT News: How To Request A 2020 Vote-By-Mail Ballot In Alachua County. "TJ Pyche, the director of communications and outreach in the Alachua County Supervisor of Elections Office, explains the new dates for early voting, concerns about COVID-19 and how to request a vote-by-mail ballot."
• WUFT News: Pandemic’s Bicycle Boom Leaves Gainesville’s Bike Shops Reeling. "With gyms closed and stay-at-home orders in place, many people were desperate for any excuse to get outside, which made independent forms of exercise and outdoor recreation all the more desirable, leading to a boom in bicycle sales."
• Gainesville Sun ($): Teen pageant winner starts dance-gear nonprofit. "Alexandra de Roos, Miss Gainesville Outstanding Teen, has started a nonprofit organization that collects gently used dance gear to help make the discipline less of a financial hardship on families."
• WUFT News; North Central Florida Humane Society Exceeds Adoption Expectations During Quarantine. "Adoptions from mid-March to the end of May numbering 300 exceeded the Humane Society’s expectations."
• The Alligator: Sheriff candidates go head-to-head in online forum. "Current Alachua County Sheriff Sadie Darnell and Florida State Rep. Clovis Watson Jr. are both vying to be the county’s sheriff and will go head-to-head in the upcoming Aug. 18 primary election. Florida has closed primaries, which means that voters can only vote for candidates running with the political party the voter is registered with. Darnell and Watson, both Democrats, discussed police accountability, criminal justice reform and sentencing reform and policy at a Tuesday evening forum."
• Citrus County Chronicle: $50,000 Community Food Bank of Citrus County challenge match met and exceeded. "In May 2020, Suncoast Credit Union donated $50,000 toward the Community Food Bank of Citrus County’s (CFBCC) COVID-19 relief efforts and encouraged the community to match their donation."
• Gainesville Sun ($): Sheriff's employee suspended for Facebook posts. "Ashley Mauger, who works in the Combined Communications Center, responded Monday night to two women who had posted comments about an allegation of abusive policing by criticizing their grammar."
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Around the state today
• Florida Politics: ‘We’re not rolling back’: Ron DeSantis defends reopening amid rising COVID cases. "Florida is seeing a rise in the number of COVID-19 cases, but Gov. Ron DeSantis says the majority of those cases are in agriculture and correction facilities or attributable to the increase in testing."
• Politico: Florida GOP goes into ‘full ostrich mode' as budget burns. "This strategy is a political move designed to duck public scrutiny of what one Republican legislator called the 'firestorm' of Covid-19, police brutality and the state’s troubled unemployment system. With President Donald Trump and dozens of state lawmakers on the November ballot, waiting until after campaign season to address the state’s mounting fiscal crisis might make political sense but lawmakers risk sending the state into a deficit."
• WJCT: Florida Employers Must Now Consider Ramifications of Supreme Court LGBTQ Ruling. "As the U.S. Supreme Court this week affirms landmark legal protections for LGBTQ Americans, Florida employers will have to adjust to the new ban on discrimination."
• Florida Phoenix: National climate-action group names FL co-chairs to lead campaign. "Climate Power 2020, a climate action project created by the Center for American Progress Action Fund, the League of Conservation Voters, and the Sierra Club, announced the co-chairs Tuesday."
• Tallahassee Democrat ($): Suspect in killings of Victoria Sims and Oluwatoyin Salau arrested in Orlando area. "Aaron Glee Jr., the prime suspect in the killings of Victoria Sims and Oluwatoyin Salau, was arrested in the Orlando area on a warrant for murder."
• Fort Myers News-Press ($): Saltwater mosquitoes active along the coast, still waiting on freshwater variety. "Ravenous swarms of saltwater mosquitoes are blanketing parts of coastal Southwest Florida just as the freshwater species are starting their season."
• Florida Politics: After long legislative road, E-Verify awaits Gov. DeSantis’ signature. "Legislation increasing requirements for employers to check the immigration status for new workers has been sent to the Governor’s desk."
• Miami Herald ($): Florida sees a record 2,783 daily coronavirus cases as state total hits 80,000. "Florida’s Department of Health on Tuesday morning confirmed 2,783 additional cases of COVID-19, setting another daily total record high since the start of the pandemic."
• Florida Times-Union ($): Mandarin's historic Civil War shipwreck leads National Geographic episode. "More than 300 million viewers worldwide learned about Jacksonville’s 156-year-old wreck of the Maple Leaf during the first 12 minutes of a recent National Geographic’s “Drain the Ocean” episode."
From NPR News
• National: Study Exposes Russia Disinformation Campaign That Operated In The Shadows For 6 Years
• World: North Korea Destroys Liaison Office It Shared With South Korea
• Health: Navy Calls 1,629 Reservists To Shipyards Left Shorthanded By COVID-19 Pandemic
• Business: Retail Sales Bounce Up 17.7% After Record Drop As States Reopen
• Politics: President Trump Signs Executive Order On Policing
• Race: University Of Virginia Changes Athletics Logo Due To Reference To Slavery