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This week's Florida stories

• WLRN: 'I Felt The Entire Room Shake.' Partial Building Collapse In Surfside Leaves One Dead, Many Injured. "The partial collapse of the Champlain Towers South building in Surfside early Thursday morning sounded at first like thunder, like a low-flying military plane or like a sudden rush of wind. Two, or even three, sounds boomed through the late-night sky as the building collapsed — according to nearby witnesses and people in the building. As the smoke cleared, at least one death has been confirmed by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue with several injured, and many more expected, due to the collapse. At least 99 people are believed to be missing following the tragic incident."

• WLRN: Here Are Some Ways To Help The Victims Of The Surfside Condo Collapse. "Several groups are now organizing efforts to collect donations and funds to support the victims of the collapse at the Champlain Towers South condo building."

• Miami Herald ($): ‘You don’t see buildings falling down in America.’ So why did Surfside tower crumble? "There are no official answers yet. Those could take days — or much longer — to emerge. As of Thursday evening, Surfside town officials had not yet released any public records that could shed light on potential problems at the building."

• USA Today ($): Collapsed Miami condo had been sinking into Earth as early as the 1990s, researchers say. "A Florida high-rise that collapsed early Thursday was determined to be unstable a year ago, according to a researcher at Florida International University. The building, which was constructed in 1981, has been sinking at an alarming rate since the 1990s, according to a study in 2020 by Shimon Wdowinski, a professor in the Department of Earth and Environment."

• News4Jax: Young, rural residents to keep Florida from reaching president’s 70% vaccination goal. "The Florida Department of Health’s latest report -- from last Friday -- shows 56% of residents 12 and above have had received at least one shot. Nearly 64% of Floridians 30 and above are now vaccinated. The age group that’s not meeting the administration’s expectations are younger adults -- the age group affected most by the Delta variant of COVID-19."

• Fort Myers News-Press ($): Florida hospitals don't require, and often aren't even aware of, staff COVID-19 vaccinations. "Florida's largest public and private hospitals have no immediate plans to require employees to get vaccinated for COVID-19 and, in many cases, can't or won't say how many of their front-line staffers have been inoculated against the deadly virus."

• WJCT: Coal Ash Barge Had Minimal Impact On Jax Coastal Environment, Report Finds. "Some three months after a barge ran aground off the Jacksonville coast, spilling thousands of tons of a coal waste product, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection has released its report on the environmental damage."

• WFSU: Board of Governors Confirms Richard McCullough As Next Florida State University President. "Richard McCullough, former vice provost of research at Harvard, will take over for outgoing President John Thrasher starting August 16. McCullough says what attracted him most to FSU was the culture."

• WTSP: 'A career in the skilled trades is admirable': Gov. DeSantis signs bill supporting vocational programs. "The bill, HB 1507, creates the office of Reimagining Education and Career Help (REACH) to provide coordination and alignment in Florida’s workforce development system. Part of that program includes an online portal giving Floridians access to tools to help with career planning, employment, and getting connected to different vocational education opportunities."

• WMFE: Feds Charge Two QAnon Followers From Ocala In Capitol Breach Case. "An Ocala bartender and her husband have been arrested on federal charges for taking part in the January 6th raid on the U.S. Capitol."

• WUFT News: Sustaining the Suwannee. "Flowing 246 miles from southern Georgia to the Gulf of Mexico, the Suwannee River is one of Florida’s most culturally iconic and geologically unique waterways. Humans have lived along the Suwannee’s sandy banks and limestone bluffs for thousands of years and rely on the river and its surrounding basin for drinking water, agriculture and recreation. The Suwannee, however, is showing signs of stress from intensifying agricultural production, pollution and global climate change. 'Sustaining the Suwannee' is a multimedia expedition through time down Florida’s wild blackwater river, highlighting the past, present and future of its vital natural resources."

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• Politics: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Launches Select Committee To Probe Jan. 6 Insurrection

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.