Subscribe to The Point to invite us into your inbox with the most important Florida news from Monday through Friday at 8 a.m.

The top stories near you

• WUFT News: Gainesville Protests Show Solidarity With Cuban Citizens. "The protesters met at the corner of University Avenue and 13th Street Wednesday evening where they stayed to support large demonstrations that erupted in Cuba over the weekend calling for a more just government. The protest was the second to take place in Gainesville and will be followed by a third one July 28. Protests are rare in Cuba due to the fear citizens have of their authoritarian government. However, a hit to its economy last year led to severe food scarcity intensifying frustration among citizens."

• WUFT News: Alachua County Commissioners Give Final Approval To Celebration Pointe Sports Complex. "Planning and discussion of the complex has been ongoing since 2018. The complex will host a variety of sports, including track and field, soccer, and archery as well as act as a community center for events."

• WJCT: Agreements Reached For Pipeline System To Replenish Keystone Heights Lakes. "The St. Johns River Water Management District’s Governing Board approved partnership agreements Tuesday with four North Florida water supply utilities to participate in the Black Creek Water Resource Development Project, which will ultimately pump millions of gallons of water back into Brooklyn and Geneva lakes via a pipeline system that will be built to pull water from Black Creek."

• Mainstreet Daily News: UF plants blast off with astronaut Branson. "UF researchers and horticultural professors Anna-Lisa Paul and Rob Ferl began studying plant gene expression in microgravity more than two decades ago, and with the help of astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS), the two researchers have performed experiments on plants in space."

Do you appreciate local journalism?

WUFT is here for you with vital coverage during complex times. We exist to serve north central Florida and are committed to keeping you up to date with the latest news from your community, the state and the world. If you’re able to do so, please consider making a donation to WUFT to keep us going strong. Support WUFT and your trusted journalism source.

Around the state today

• Palm Beach Post ($): People across Florida are marching and holding protests in solidarity with Cuba. "The anti-government protests come as Cuba is experiencing its worst economic crisis in decades. Demonstrators in Florida took to the streets this week in solidarity with those under the island nation's communist regime and called for access to proper weapons, affordable food, medicine and easier access to coronavirus vaccines."

• NPR News: How Cuba Protests Reveal Biden's Political Challenges In South Florida. "...in Florida, which has the country's largest Cuban American population — a crucial voting bloc in the nation's largest swing state — many want more than words of support. Some want the U.S. to lead an international intervention against the communist regime."

• WUSF: FWC Report Finds Lingering High Concentrations Of Red Tide In Tampa Bay. "Fish kills continue to pollute the waters around downtown St. Petersburg and smaller die-offs were reported in Pasco, Hillsborough, Manatee and Sarasota counties."

• Miami Herald ($): Miami-Dade judge approves pursuing sale of Surfside property that is site of condo collapse. "Hundreds of victims of the deadly collapse of a Surfside condo building could expect to see compensation in the near future, as a Miami-Dade Circuit judge Wednesday approved the planned sale of the oceanfront property, valued at more than $100 million, as well as the disbursement of millions more in insurance payments for property and personal damages."

• CBS Miami: Surfside Collapse Day 21: Exhausted Crews Nearing End Of Their Search, Recovery Efforts. "The county’s medical examiner’s office said every individual that was found in the building collapse will have the same cause of death – blunt force injuries due to building collapse, manner of death: accident."

• News Service of Florida: Florida Education Board Approves New School Standards. "During an at-times heated meeting on Wednesday, the State Board of Education adopted new curriculum standards for civics, government and Holocaust education, along with updates to other subject areas."

• WFLA-Tampa: Tracking the Tropics – from space: How do astronauts help monitor weather from 250 miles above Earth? "While they aren’t on Earth physically, astronauts on the International Space Station help those who are on the ground by getting a view of tropical weather – and other natural events – from high above the planet."

• News4Jax: St. Johns County schools turn over documents in Title IX probe as dress code overhaul continues. "The probe was launched June 14 in response to a complaint filed in March, following months of backlash in the district, not only against the methods administrators used to implement the dress code policy but also the language contained within that policy." 

• WLRN: The Ringfinder: Southernmost Metal Detector Returns Coast Guard Academy Class Ring Lost Decades Ago. "Almost every day after work, Alex Corpion goes out to the beach in Key West to look for treasure. Recently, he was in the water just off Smathers Beach on the island's Atlantic shore. A friend who is also a metal detector told him about a woman who had inquired about a diamond ring she lost while snorkeling in the area."

From NPR News

• National: Drug Overdoses Killed A Record Number Of Americans In 2020, Jumping By Nearly 30%

• Politics: Biden Makes A Push For Democrats To Unite Around $3.5 Trillion Budget Plan

• Science: A Study Predicts Record Flooding In The 2030s, And It's Partly Because Of The Moon

• Health: Experimental Brain Implant Lets Man With Paralysis Turn His Thoughts Into Words

• World: A Pro Cyclist Rode An Unofficial, Solo Tour De France And Beat The Pack

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.