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Today's top Florida stories

• Fresh Take Florida: UF in political firestorm over decision to block professors’ testimony in voting rights lawsuit. "On Tuesday, Florida’s entire Democratic congressional delegation urged the university to lift its 'gag' on professors’ testimony. Their letter to the university’s president, Kent Fuchs, said the decision violates the professors’ First Amendment rights and contradicts the school’s own policies toward academic freedom, and said allowing them to testify against new voting restrictions would not be adverse to the university’s interests."

• Politico: University of Florida professors vow to resist school’s order in voting rights case. "University of Florida professors Daniel Smith, Sharon Austin and Michael McDonald said Tuesday in a statement that they won’t comply with the school’s order barring them from giving testimony. Their statement comes after the university softened its initial stance and said that the professors can provide expert testimony as long as they do it pro bono and on their own time."

• Miami Herald ($): UF restricted five other professors’ participation in legal cases against the state. "These actions show how the University of Florida has gradually moved toward suppressing the voices of its scholars who want to offer legal or subject-matter expertise in cases that challenge the policies advanced by the governor or Legislature. In addition to these eight professors, the Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times has learned of other faculty who are reluctant to come forward."

• CBS Miami: Miami Election Results: Mayor Francis Suarez Wins Another Term In Office. "Voters in the City of Miami also chose two commissioners. They are Joe Carollo for District 3 and Christine King for District 5."

• Tampa Bay Times ($): Ken Welch is victorious in St. Petersburg mayoral race. "Welch, 57, will succeed term-limited Mayor Rick Kriseman. Welch’s four-year term will start when he is inaugurated on Jan. 6, 2022."

• CBS4: Mask mandate extended to December for ACPS. "In a vote of 3-2, the Alachua County School Board voted to extend their mask mandate until December. The current mask mandate for Alachua County students Kindergarten through 8th grade, will be in effect until December 6th."

• Mainstreet Daily News: Gainesville opens redistricting process. "Although the commission will start examining map options and holding public meetings about the district map in January and February 2022, the commission can’t approve final maps until the state has set Congressional and state legislative districts and the Alachua County Supervisor of Elections has finalized voter precincts based on the state’s redistricting."

• WFLA-Tampa: Florida engineers call for mandatory building inspections 4 months after deadly Surfside condo collapse. "Florida’s leading engineering and architecture associations are calling for mandatory inspections of condos, offices and other buildings that are larger than 2,000 square feet with more than 10 occupants. Engineers want most buildings to be inspected within the first 30 years and then every 10 years after that."

• Florida Politics: After Gov. DeSantis’ veto, juvenile expungement bill clears first legislative hurdle. "Gainesville Republican Sen. Keith Perry is once again carrying the bill (SB 342) that would expand opportunities to expunge first-time arrests from juvenile records to felony charges. But this time Perry and the Representative carrying the House counterpart (HB 195), Winter Springs Republican Rep. David Smith, removed forcible felonies from the list after DeSantis’ concerns."

• News4Jax: With Florida special legislative session two weeks away, plenty of questions remain. "It was called to deal with mask policies, vaccine requirements and other coronavirus-related issues, but as of Tuesday, there was still no specific language for lawmakers to chew on."

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From NPR News

• Health: CDC recommends Pfizer's COVID vaccine for children ages 5 through 11

• Climate: How loss of historical lands makes Native Americans more vulnerable to climate change

• Politics: Republican Glenn Youngkin wins Virginia's governor race, dealing Democrats a blow

• Politics: Michelle Wu is Boston's first female and first person of color elected mayor

• Politics: Eric Adams elected as New York City's second Black mayor

• National: The question of self-defense is key in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial's opening arguments

• National: Potential jurors come with strong opinions in racially-charged Ahmaud Arbery killing

• Space: Astronauts grew green chile on the space station and made themselves space tacos

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.