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The top stories near you

• WUFT News: Parking Garage Outside Your Bedroom? It’s Possible For This Gainesville Neighbor. "A proposed luxury student apartment complex is the catalyst of contention. It’s slated for the intersection of Northwest Fifth Avenue and 12th Street. People already living in the surrounding neighborhood have in the past five months argued the development would further gentrify the area, while proponents of the project argue it would jumpstart affordable housing."

• WUFT News: 'It’s a Move We’ve Got to Make': Priest Theatre In High Springs About To Be Sold. "The Priest Theatre, a mainstay of downtown High Springs since around 1910, will soon close – another victim of both the changing habits of moviegoers and the coronavirus pandemic."

• Associated Press: Florida’s Mullen Joins Players In Testing Positive For Virus. "Florida coach Dan Mullen, who last week wanted 90,000 fans packed inside the stadium amid a pandemic, says he has tested positive for COVID-19."

• Gainesville Sun ($): University of Florida continues push for in-person classes. "(UF Provost Joseph) Glover said epidemiologists have been 'extremely clear' that most of the virus transmission is not on campus, such as classrooms, but instead at bars and off-campus apartments."

• Spotlight on Levy County Government: Nov. 3 Election Setting Records in Levy County. "Levy County Supervisor of Elections Tammy Jones is predicting a record 85 percent voter turnout for the Nov. 3 election."

• WUFT News: 'A Guiding Light': Trailblazer Cora P. Roberson Leaves Behind an Impactful Legacy. "Her loved ones remember her as a devoted icon of the Gainesville educational community, a pioneer of integration and a prominent local civil rights activist. She died on Sept. 24 in her home at the age of 96."

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Around the state today

• USA Today Network: Florida took thousands of kids from families, then failed to keep them safe. "Using a state database, USA TODAY reporters examined more than 1 million foster home placements going back a decade. They collected police reports, court records and government documents and ran background checks on every foster parent who had been assigned a child."

• Miami Herald ($): Here comes the Florida GOP: In-person voting will launch a wave of Republican ballots. "The start of in-person voting Monday is expected to trigger a conservative wave that will build over the next two weeks and crest on Election Day. Around two-thirds of participating Florida GOP voters are likely to cast a ballot in person this fall, raising the question of whether Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee, will be able to hold off a Trump comeback by the time the polls close at 7 p.m. on Nov. 3."

• Bay News 9: Elections Supervisors Say State's Letter Won’t Affect Mail Ballot Drop Boxes. "A 'guidance' letter sent out this week by the Florida Department of State’s office regarding the use of mail drop boxes is creating come concerns, but local elections officials in the Tampa Bay area say it won’t affect their operations at all as the general election grows closer."

• WLRN: Florida's COVID-19 Calculations Questioned As Possible Fall Surge Looms. "As concerns about a fall surge increase, there are new questions about the reliability of the official COVID-19 data reported by the state’s health department."

• News Service of Florida: Florida men prove that indoor sports and other 'intense physical activity' can be superspreader events. "A recreational hockey game this summer in the Tampa Bay region resulted in 15 cases of COVID-19 in men between the ages of 19 and 53, and provided scientists with evidence that the virus can spread at indoor sporting activities."

• WPTV: Palm Beach County School Board will reconsider vote to rehire former Spanish River Community High School principal. "School board members voted 4-3 earlier this month to reinstate William Latson, who was the former principal at Spanish River Community High School. But school board Chairman Frank Barbieri has proposed rescinding the vote. The agenda item will be discussed during next Wednesday's school board meeting."

• Tampa Bay Times ($): Big banks entrusted money to GardaWorld. It secretly lost track of millions. "A Times investigation found that the Florida-based armored truck company concealed the missing money from the banks."

• WFSU: Decreased Water Flow In The Apalachicola River Could Threaten The Future Of Tupelo Honey. "What some might not realize is oysters aren’t the only industry depending on that water. The trees that make Florida’s famous tupelo honey also need water flowing through the Apalachicola River to survive."

• Pensacola News Journal ($): 3,750 pounds of sand and oil removed from Johnson Beach after Hurricane Sally. "Cleanup crews led by the U.S. Coast Guard removed 3,750 pounds of oil-laced sand from Johnson Beach on Perdido Key this week after the oil washed up along a half-mile stretch of beach during Hurricane Sally."

• Sun Sentinel ($): 10 garbage trucks burned overnight in Pompano Beach; arson eyed. "Arson is suspected in an early morning fire that engulfed three garbage trucks and burned seven others in Pompano Beach, the city said Sunday. ... All 10 trucks — valued at $380,000 each — were 'a total loss,' said city spokeswoman Sandra King."

From NPR News

• Health: Coronavirus Cases Rise To Highest Level Since Late July

• Health: COVID-19 Test Results Get Faster, But Still Too Slow To Help Slow Disease Spread

• National: $3.1 Trillion: Pandemic Spending Drives The Federal Budget Deficit To A Record

• National: Black Man Serving Life Sentence For Stealing Hedge Clippers Granted Parole

• National: A Pastor Rescues A Cemetery For Enslaved People, Then Buries Her Son In It

• Science: Foiled Again: Murder Hornet Eludes Washington State Scientists

• Business: Furniture Industry Booms Despite The Pandemic

• Business: Don't Censor! Stop The Hoaxes! Facebook, Twitter Face A Catch-22

• Business: TikTok Tightens Crackdown On QAnon, Will Ban Accounts That Promote Disinformation

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.