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The stories near you

• WUFT News: Photos: Low-Lying Streets In Gainesville Experience Flooding. "Alachua County spokesperson Mark Sexton stated in a Wednesday press release that residents reported flooding, downed power lines and downed trees throughout the Gainesville area. Northwest Gainesville was particularly inundated with rainfall from tropical storm Elsa, and several streets flooded after storm runoff overwhelmed irrigation ditches."

• CBS4: Elsa flooding leads to water rescue of elderly couple. "Multiple families are stuck in their homes across the impassable road but neighbors with boats were on standby to ferry anybody who absolutely needed to get across."

• WCJB: POTUS issues emergency declaration for NCFL following Elsa. "Federal Emergency Management Agency resources and funding are now available to Alachua, Columbia, Dixie, Gilchrist, Levy, Marion and Suwannee counties."

• The Alligator: International Students Watch Restrictions Loosen In Gainesville As COVID-19 Rages At Home. "Almost 6,000 international students from 140 countries, more than half of them graduate students, attended UF in Fall 2020, according to the UF International Center. Students witnessed inequality, civil unrest and vaccine shortages while in their home countries. Others read about their country’s pandemic in the news and listened to their loved ones overseas."

•  The Villages Daily Sun: New state law authorizes use of more drones. "All three sheriff’s offices serving The Villages operate drones for various missions. While officials from two of them say their agencies will likely broaden operations under the new law, which took effect July 1,  the third said it likely won’t change anything at the moment."

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Around the state today

• ProPublica/Palm Beach Post: The Smoke Comes Every Year. Sugar Companies Say the Air Is Safe.  "To harvest more than half of America’s cane sugar, billion-dollar companies set fire to fields, a money-saving practice that’s being banned by other countries. Some residents say they struggle to breathe, so we started tracking air quality."

• NPR News: Surfside Building Collapse Sparks Scrutiny Over Power Of Condo Association Boards. "Made up of residents, condo association boards take care of the mundane but also important and costly repairs. Local governments are cracking down on ones that are behind on required inspections."

• WLRN:'Every Step Is A Nightmare': Miami Beach Condo Board Makes Plea For Help Maintaining Its Property.  "Most unpaid, volunteer condo board members are not engineers or architects. Yet, they are charged with keeping fellow residents safe and navigating the red tape of local government. Now some are asking for help."

• Naples Daily News ($): Delta variant of COVID-19 expected to take over in Florida as dominant strain. "The highly contagious Delta variant will become the dominant strain of COVID-19 to circulate in Florida and potentially cause a new outbreak among unvaccinated young people and others who are not inoculated, experts say."

• CNN: DOJ charges 5 Floridians accused of attacking 7 police officers during Capitol insurrection. "Prosecutors say the defendants, all from the Tampa Bay area, repeatedly attacked members of Washington, DC's police force. They allegedly used stolen riot shields and flagpoles to assault officers in the head and neck, and later resorted to punching, kicking, and elbowing the officers."

• NPR News: Zaila Avant-garde Becomes First African American To Win Scripps Spelling Bee. "Avant-garde was among 11 finalists who emerged from a group of 209 contestants, ranging in age from 9-15. The competition began virtually in June with preliminaries, followed by quarterfinals and semifinals. The final round Thursday night was held in-person at Disney World Resort in Orlando, Fla."

• Pensacola News Journal ($): The KKK in Pensacola: What's in the UWF Historic Trust Wentworth Ku Klux Klan report released today? "The University of West Florida Historic Trust has released today the first preliminary report detailing the history of the Pensacola KKK based on documents discovered in the personal files of T.T. Wentworth Jr. that were donated to the Historic Trust."

• Associated Press: Officials: 7 penguins die at Florida Aquarium. "Initial necropsy results were inconclusive, but the Tampa facility’s veterinary team is conducting further medical tests and evaluations to determine a possible cause, according to a news release. The Florida Aquarium’s remaining penguins are receiving around-the-clock observation and care, officials said."

• The Daytona Beach News-Journal ($): Realtors pour millions into effort to put affordable-housing initiative on 2022 ballot. "The proposed constitutional amendment comes after years of frustration in the real-estate industry and among other groups about decisions by lawmakers to use money from a state affordable-housing trust fund, known as the Sadowski trust fund, for other purposes."

• WUSF: (Another) Boat Parade Set For Stanley Cup Champion Lightning. "A celebratory boat parade is set for Monday along the Tampa Riverwalk, this time for the Tampa Bay Lightning’s second consecutive Stanley Cup victory."

From NPR News

• Science: The Delta Variant Isn't Just Hyper-Contagious. It Also Grows More Rapidly Inside You

• Business: Barry Diller Headed 2 Hollywood Studios. He Now Says The Movie Business Is Dead

• National: Biden Defends Decision To Pull U.S. Troops From Afghanistan Despite Resurgent Taliban

• World: What We Know About The Assassination Of Haiti's President

• Sports: The Tokyo Olympics Will Take Place Under A State Of Emergency And Without Spectators

• Health: 15 States Drop Opposition To Controversial Purdue Pharma OxyContin Bankruptcy

About today's curator

I'm Melissa Feito, a journalist at WUFT. Originally from Miami, I got my start in public radio covering religion stories like the spiritual roots of Afro-Brazilian music and modern communities of pagans. I'm a graduate student getting my master's degree in mass communication and am part of a team searching for local and state news each week that's important to you. Please send feedback about today's edition of The Point or ideas for stories we may have missed to mfeito2@ufl.edu.