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Today's top Florida stories

• WUFT News: Cynthia Chestnut wins Gainesville’s special election run-off. "Cynthia Chestnut on Tuesday won Gainesville’s special runoff election for City Commission At-Large Seat B with 244 more votes than her competitor Matt Howland. In total, Chestnut received 6,256 (51%) votes, while Howland received 6,012 (49%), according to unofficial results from the Alachua County Supervisor of Elections."

• WUSF: Florida is missing many ‘optimal’ traffic safety laws, according to a new study. "The group, 'Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety,' lists what it calls 16 “optimal” laws for traffic safety, including regulations focusing on seat belts, booster seats, motorcycle helmets, young drivers, and impaired or distracted driving."

• WJCT: Antibody treatment centers shut down. Now what? "The federal government has pulled the plug on two ineffective treatments for COVID-19, prompting outrage by Gov. Ron DeSantis and yet more confusion among the public."

• NPR News: Shark bites surged in 2021, rebounding from a drop earlier in the pandemic. "Last year, there were 73 unprovoked incidents between sharks and humans, up from just 52 confirmed bites in 2020. It was the first year the number ticked up after three years of declines."

• Associated Press: Osceola Co. Schools cancels seminar over race theory concerns. "School administrators in Osceola County canceled a seminar for history teachers on the U.S. civil rights movement, in part, because it had not been screened to make sure it was free of critical race theory, which the college professor planning the presentation says it didn’t have."

• USA Today Network ($): Senate Democrats expect ‘fiery’ debate at Florida Surgeon General Ladapo's confirmation hearing. "Four months after Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed his new controversial surgeon general, the Florida Senate will finally get to question Dr. Joseph Ladapo about his qualifications for handling a pandemic and running the state’s public health agency."

• Associated Press: Florida Senator Lauren Book Fighting Back Over Nude Images Stolen From Her. "Book, who has often spoken about being sexually abused as a child by her nanny, has channeled the pain into a lifetime of helping other abuse survivors. Now after years of working hard to heal herself and restore her life, she’s been victimized again."

• Miami Herald ($): Rosenberg could return to classroom after resigning as FIU president. His pay? $377K. "Rosenberg forfeited his half-a-million-dollar salary as well as bonus and pension supplements when he stepped down Friday, but a close look at his contract revealed that he retained his job as a tenured faculty member."

• WUFT News: This ‘science bus’ is visiting Alachua County schools. "Dozens of students lined up outside Shell Elementary School in Hawthorne Monday afternoon, waiting for their turn to climb aboard what looks like an ordinary school bus. But on the inside, it’s a science wonderland filled with lasers, a water cyclone and a levitating Ping-Pong ball."

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From NPR News

• Health: Free N95 masks are arriving at pharmacies and grocery stores. Here's how to get yours

• Health: Elton John postpones Texas concerts after testing positive for COVID-19

• Science: Pfizer and BioNTech begin testing an omicron-specific COVID-19 vaccine

• World: President Biden says a Russian invasion of Ukraine 'would change the world'

• Race: Want to understand the U.S.? This historian says the South holds the key

• Business: The Great Resignation? More like The Great Renegotiation

• Politics: Federal court says Alabama's congressional map disadvantages Black voters

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.