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The top stories near you
• WUFT News: GRACE Marketplace Continues To Address Recent COVID-19 Outbreak. "A total of 37 tested positive, with almost a dozen of these people caught at the gate before entering the shelter. Sixty-three percent of GRACE Marketplace’s population has been vaccinated, with the majority of recent positives coming from those who chose not to receive the vaccine."
• WUFT News: Alachua County Public Schools To Hire Additional Nurses To Help Mitigate COVID-19. "Thursday’s announcement specified that the health department has hired 30 nurses to work alongside the nurses who currently staff school’s throughout the district."
• Mainstreet Daily News: Alachua farm for rescue horses to reopen Saturday. "Mill Creek Farm reopens for the public this Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. after a 16-month closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic. ... Mill Creek Farm started in 1984 as a retirement home for horses. The founders, Peter and Mary Gregory, retired from the hotel business to start the farm, accepting only horses rescued by animal groups or retired from police forces around the United States."
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Around the state today
• Politico: DeSantis vows no lockdowns as Florida Covid cases surge. "Florida has seen its cases explode in July, primarily among the unvaccinated, and hospitals are grappling with a wave of new admissions that have forced some major hospitals across the state to bring back visitation limits and cut back on elective surgeries."
• News Service of Florida: Gov. DeSantis vows to fight school mask mandates. "Gov. Ron DeSantis doubled down Thursday on his opposition to mask mandates for public-school students during the COVID-19 pandemic, saying he would call for a special legislative session if the federal government moves toward requiring masks in schools."
• Florida Politics: Ron DeSantis lauds new book delivery program amid declining reading levels. "After a 12-year period of steady improvement six years ago, Florida’s literacy rates for elementary school children stagnated. Since then, 4th grade reading scores have regressed to where they were from 2007 to 2009, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Under the initiative, a book is delivered on a monthly basis to eligible students enrolled in a participating school district."
• WLRN: As Surfside Building Collapse Site Is Nearly Cleared, Debate Grows Over Property's Future. "Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Michael Hanzman wants the property sold, with money going to the survivors of the collapse and the families of those who died. Victims and families lost homes, personal things and in many cases, their home's primary breadwinner, in this collapse."
• Spectrum News: Census data delays threaten to tighten Florida redistricting timetable. "The street-level demographic data, originally expected to arrive last spring, is necessary for state legislators to begin the politically fraught work of tracing the boundaries of the state's legislative and congressional district boundaries."
• Florida Politics: Spurred by talks with Elon Musk, Miami-Dade officials OK study of underground transit tunnels. "On Thursday, the county’s transportation planning board approved a six-month, $88,000 study of tunneling technology created by Musk’s company, as well as similar technology designed by other companies, as a way to provide faster, cheaper travel options to residents."
• Tallahassee Democrat ($): FAMU puts up $1 million in cash, prizes to incentivize campus community to get vaccinated. "The $1 million pot comes from a portion of money the university received in CARES funding from the federal government. FAMU received millions of dollars, with a portion of the money earmarked specifically for students to cover COVID-related expenses."
From NPR News
• Health: The Delta Variant Will Drive A Steep Rise In U.S. COVID Deaths, A New Model Shows
• National: Small-Scale Farmers Don't Have To Wipe Out Forests To Grow These Crops
• National: The IRS Won't Be Calling, Emailing Or Texting. Don't Fall For Child Tax Credit Scams
• National: Meet The U.S. Olympic Flag Bearer You've Probably Never Heard Of
• Books: The Book 'Glory Days' Describes The 90 Days In 1984 That Shaped How We Watch Sports
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.