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Today's top Florida stories
• News Service of Florida: Florida Bars Cook Up Ways To Reopen. "Tavern owners throughout the state hurriedly are rehabbing behind-the-counter operations, adding triple sinks, carving out prep areas and signing up for food-handling training so they can get the go-ahead from state regulators to turn the lights back on."
• Sun Sentinel ($): Nursing home visits can resume — but many turn away families because they are not ready. "Family members began calling and showing up at nursing homes and assisted living facilities in Florida on Wednesday to see loved ones who had been isolated for six months. The problem? Most of the facilities weren’t ready and didn’t allow anybody in."
• Tampa Bay Times ($): Pasco’s sheriff uses data to guess who will commit a crime. Then deputies ‘hunt down’ and harass them. "Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco took office in 2011 with a bold plan: to create a cutting-edge intelligence program that could stop crime before it happened. What he actually built was a system to continuously monitor and harass Pasco County residents, a Tampa Bay Times investigation has found."
• Associated Press: Miami-Dade County Schools Virtual Learning System Hit By Cyberattack. "Florida’s largest school district is still under siege by cyberattacks that began Monday as students returned to school remotely due to the coronavirus pandemic."
• Florida Politics: Gov. Ron DeSantis suggests Florida may be inching toward Phase 3 reopening. "State health officials reported 2,402 COVID-19 cases and 128 resident deaths on Wednesday, a significant improvement from weeks past. Additionally, Florida’s daily positive tests and daily positivity rate are also declining. Wednesday’s rate was 5.6%, down slightly from Monday’s 5.7%. The average seven-day positivity rate is 5.5%"
• Citrus County Chronicle: Sen. Rubio addresses Citrus County needs during virtual chamber meeting. "He responded to five questions and assured meeting attendees he would see about advancing the cause of at least two important economic initiatives for Citrus County: extending the Crystal River Airport runway and seek more funding for the PACE Center for Girls and similar education providers."
• Associated Press: Dane Eagle Will Lead The Florida Department Of Economic Opportunity. "Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Eagle two days after Ken Lawson announced he was resigning as the head of the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity."
• WUSF: University Of South Florida Sees Strong Fall Enrollment, Record Freshman Class. "While the number of students enrolled at USF is down slightly in Fall 2020 compared to a year earlier, it's a record freshman class in terms of their academic credentials."
• St. Augustine Record ($): St. Johns County surfers rescue man from ocean. "Because of the efforts of Al Angyalfy, 34, and Pat Conner, 32, (Jon) Simone survived. He returned to the beach on Wednesday to talk with The Record about what happened and to meet with the men who rescued him."
• Tallahassee Democrat ($): Edible marijuana now available in Florida as Trulieve offers TruGels at dispensaries. "Upon approval from (the Department of Health), Florida dispensaries are allowed to offer five different kinds of edible products made with marijuana. The rules prohibit edibles from coming in bright colors or resembling commercially available candy to prevent children from mistaking the marijuana-laced product with candy."
• Miami Herald ($): Miami says it didn’t know he lived there before demolishing his home. Is the city lying? "After the city of Miami demolished Liberty City resident Michael Hamilton’s home last week, he slept in his yard for two days."
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• National: U.S. To Owe More Than The Size Of Its Economy For The 1st Time In 75 Years
• Race: Americans Increasingly Polarized When It Comes To Racial Justice Protests, Poll Finds
• Politics: A Half-Century History Of Debates Over Postal Service Funding
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• Health: CDC Asks States To Plan For Potential Vaccine Distribution Starting In Late October
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.