Subscribe to The Point, arriving in your inbox Monday through Friday at 8 a.m.

The top stories near you

• NPR News: Florida’s Governor Lifts All COVID-19 Restrictions On Businesses Statewide. "Most significantly, that means restaurants and bars in the state can now operate at full capacity. Up to now, restaurants and bars in Florida could serve customers indoors at 50% of legal occupancy. DeSantis said his new executive order lifts that restriction statewide, though local governments can keep additional limits in place if they’re justified for health or economic reasons."

• WUFT News: ‘People Are Under Pressure’: Depression, Mental Illness Increase During Pandemic. "The pandemic has exacerbated pre-existing cases of mental illness, and it is causing an influx of new patients and crisis calls, area mental health providers and advocates say."

• WUFT News: Alachua County Commission Lowers Property Tax Rate For 2020-21. "Alachua County’s General Fund millage rate this year will drop below 8 mills for only the third time in the last three decades."

• Gainesville Sun ($): Gatornationals return after COVID-19 postponement. "The popular stop on the National Hot Rod Association circuit was postponed from its usual March run because of COVID-19 and rescheduled for this weekend with a limited number of tickets available."

• WUFT News: Gainesville Fire Rescue Chief Lane To Retire. "After 30 years of service, Gainesville Fire Rescue Chief Jeffrey Lane will retire on Sept. 30."

• WCJB: Alachua County Library District opening for browsing hours starting Monday. "Starting Monday, Headquarters library, Millhopper, Tower Road, and Alachua branches will open for limited capacity browsing hours. They will be open from 3-5 p.m. on Mondays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Then on Tuesday through Thursday, they will be open from 3-7 p.m."

• WMFE: Nightly concerts, live shows, club activity set to resume in The Villages. "Social life in The Villages reopens next month, after being largely shut down since mid-March due to the COVID-19 pandemic."

Today's sponsored message

We focus our legal attention on these practice areas: • Family Law • Business law • Estate Planning • Probate • Guardianship

Visit  lawyergainesville.com or call 352-373-3334 today to learn more.

Around the state today

• News Service of Florida: Corrections Worker COVID-19 Cases Top 3,100. "Another 16 worker cases were added Friday, bringing the overall total to 3,106. The number of reported worker cases increased by 133 during the past week."

• Bay News 9: DeSantis Order Would Allow Florida Theme Parks to Operate at Normal Capacity. "Universal Orlando, SeaWorld and Walt Disney World have been open for months, but are currently limiting the number of guests that come through their gates."

• Florida Politics: Gov. DeSantis says Mike Bloomberg felon fine payoff effort racially discriminates. "Gov. Ron DeSantis is the latest high-ranking Florida official to offer sharp criticisms of Mike Bloomberg‘s effort to pay off the fines of 32,000 reformed felons, which would offer them a pathway to regaining the right to vote."

• Miami Herald ($): State education commissioner tells Miami schools to open by Oct. 5 or prove exceptions. "The School Board unanimously voted to delay the district’s timeline of reopening schools to ensure schools and its workforce were prepared and safe. That vote came at the end of what is considered to be a record-breaking 29 hour School Board meeting that began Monday and ended Tuesday. The board had to listen to almost 800 public comments, many from parents and teachers against prematurely reopening schools, which played overnight before holding a vote."

• New York Times ($): The President's Taxes: Long-Concealed Records Show Trump's Chronic Losses and Years of Tax Avoidance. "Consider the results at his largest golf resort, Trump National Doral, near Miami. Mr. Trump bought the resort for $150 million in 2012; through 2018, his losses have totaled $162.3 million. He has pumped $213 million of fresh cash into Doral, tax records show, and has a $125 million mortgage balance coming due in three years."

• Pensacola News Journal ($): Removals of Skanska barges underway, but no timeline for completion yet. "Contractors have begun the process of retrieving the 22 Skanska barges that were dispersed across area shorelines during Hurricane Sally. The vessels were dislodged from their moorings during the hurricane and have washed up around the Pensacola and Escambia bays."

From NPR News

• World: Sobering Milestone: Global Coronavirus Deaths Near 1 Million

• Politics: Trump Dismisses 'New York Times' Report That He Paid Little In Federal Income Taxes

• Business: Nearly Two-Thirds Of U.S. Households Struck By COVID-19 Face Financial Trouble

• National: Woman Charged With Attempted Murder After Driving Into Pro-Trump Protesters

• Education: In Internet Dead Zones, Rural Schools Struggle With Distanced Learning

• National: The Air Force Struggles With Diversity. Can The Space Force Do Any Better?

• Books: In The Era Of Hygiene, 'Clean' Author Makes The Case For Showering Less

• National: Ginsburg's Trainer Honors Late Justice With Pushups At Capitol Hill Memorial

• Health: Why The Pandemic Could Change The Way We Record Deaths

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.