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The stories near you
• WUFT News: A Gainesville artist is shining a light on abandoned African American cemeteries. "Queenchiku Ngozi, a Gainesville artist, scholar and author, travels to historic and sometimes neglected or abandoned African-American cemeteries in Alachua County to take photos. Afterward, she brings those buried back to life through placing painted characters over her photos."
• The Gainesville Sun ($): Alachua County judge sides with Gov. DeSantis on removal of former school board member. "McGraw was removed from her seat in June 2021 — almost a year after winning the District 2 seat on the Alachua County School Board — once it was discovered she lived outside of the district boundaries."
• Ocala Star-Banner ($): Operation April Fools nets 22 Marion County men accused of soliciting sex from kids online. "Those detained and booked into the Marion County Jail were ages 21 to 61. The charges included traveling to meet a minor, soliciting a person believed by the defendant to be a child for unlawful sexual contact, transmission of material harmful to minors by electronic device or equipment, and unlawful use of a two-way communications device."
• WCJB: “I actually got into a car accident on this road”: Alachua County residents await traffic light at Parker Rd intersection. "The project still needs a blueprint and a contractor to get started."
• WUFT News: Report in election fraud investigation says jailhouse sign-ups could compromise Florida’s voter system. "The lead investigator for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s sweeping criminal probe into jailhouse voter sign-ups by this county’s Democratic elections supervisor concluded that the effort represented a “haphazard registration of inmates” that could compromise the integrity of the state’s voter registrations, according to her summary notes in the case."
• WCJB: Lake City council members increase fine costs for panhandling ordinance. "Only ‘arterial’ roads are included in the ordinance and are defined as US Highway 90, US Highway 41 and US 4-41 in Lake City. The ordinance bans pedestrian and driver interactions on these roads within a 200-yard distance."
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Around the state
• NPR: What Florida's Parental Rights in Education Law Means for Teachers. "Florida's Parental Rights in Education law, which prohibits classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity for students in kindergarten through third grade, was signed into law at the end of March by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis."
• WJCT: Jacksonville Starbucks may be unionizing. Here's what's next. "Organizers at the two locations, San Marco Square and Ricky Drive in Mandarin, won a victory against Starbucks earlier this year when the National Labor Relations Board ruled that employees could vote for unions on a store-by-store basis."
• The Associated Press: NYC mayor to Floridians: Come here where you can say gay. "Billboards supporting LGBTQ visibility will be displayed in five major markets in Florida for eight weeks starting Monday, said New York City Mayor Eric Adam."
• WUSF: Official looks to the future of Piney Point after its closure. "Manatee County officials are looking forward to the next chapter in the saga."
• The Miami Herald ($): JetBlue makes cash bid to buy Spirit Airlines for $3.6B, aiming to thwart Frontier merger. "JetBlue’s bid is worth $33 per share of Spirit’s stock, the Broward County airline said in a statement late Tuesday, which would make the offer roughly $3.6 billion."
• WLRN: FIU presidential search committee seems open to 'nontraditional' candidate. "Whoever the next president ends up being, the chair of FIU’s Board of Trustees Dean Colson says one quality is a must: they have to love Miami."
• Florida Politics: More than 20 Mayors urge Gov. DeSantis to veto ‘Local Business Protection Act.’ "The bill in question (SB 620), named the “Local Business Protection Act,” creates a cause of action for businesses to seek damages from local governments if they can prove a new ordinance caused a 15% income loss in one year."
From NPR News
• National: With little discussion, Oklahoma passes a bill to make most abortions illegal.
• National: After the Sacramento shooting, the state with the most gun laws may soon get more.
• World: Families were split up during Afghanistan evacuations — and are still not reunited.
• World: Zelenskyy urges U.N. Security Council to boot Russia or dissolve for the world's sake.
• Politics: Former President Obama visits the White House for the first time in 5 years.
• Business: How Russia rescued the ruble.
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.