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The Point, June 15, 2022: Remembering the rapid legislative changes that followed the Parkland shooting

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Today's Florida stories

• NPR News: Florida lawmakers united to support gun control measures after the Parkland shooting. "Seventeen students and adults were killed at the high school in Parkland in February of 2018. Almost immediately, students from the school and family members of those killed and wounded descended on the Capitol in Tallahassee, demanding action from lawmakers and the governor. In signing the bill, Florida's governor at the time, Rick Scott, said he wanted a measure that would make schools safer, provide funds to treat mental illness and, yes, impose restrictions on guns."

• News Service of Florida: Florida's insurer of last resort has seen its policies climb 45 percent in the last year. "The state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp. ended May with 883,333 policies, a nearly 45 percent increase from a year earlier, according to newly posted data. The insurer had 609,805 policies as of May 31, 2021, but it has continued to add thousands of policies a week as private insurers drop customers and seek hefty rate increases amid financial losses."

• Florida Times-Union ($): North Florida prison guard loses job, housing after guilty plea in U.S. Capitol riot. "Jonathan Daniel Carlton, who worked at Union Correctional Institution in Raiford, 'is now not only unemployed, but he will lose his subsidized housing that was provided as part of his employment,' defense attorney Richard Landes wrote in a memo to the judge in Washington scheduled to pass sentence June 29."

• WCJB: Marion County Commission says yes to swimming at Silver Springs State Park. "From boating to kayaking, to canoeing, to hiking, there are dozens of activities you can do at the state park but one Marion County commissioner said he wants to add one more activity to the list - swimming. Swimming in the spring stopped in the late sixties."

• City & State Florida: Cryptocurrency still on hold as payment for fees, taxes in Florida. "Those who need to pay money to the state will have to keep the blockchain at bay. Gov. Ron DeSantis had wanted Florida to be among the first states to take blockchain technology-based cryptocurrency for business tax payments, but legislative leaders decided to keep people’s virtual wallets in their pockets."

• WMFE: The state of black businesses in Florida 2 years after the shutdown. "It’s been two years since businesses had to shut down because of the pandemic, and that hit many black businesses pretty hard. WMFE’s Talia Blake spoke with Glen Gilzean, the president and CEO of the Central Florida Urban League, about how black businesses are doing now."

• News Service of Florida: FPL launches plan to eliminate carbon emissions. "Florida Power & Light plans to eliminate carbon emissions from its electricity generation by 2045 through expanding solar energy and other technology, company officials announced Tuesday. The plan, part of a broader decarbonization effort outlined by FPL's parent company, NextEra Energy, would lead to massive increases in the use of solar panels and battery-storage technology."

• Florida Today ($): Hurricane Hunter from Florida Tech flies NOAA planes into huge storms to improve forecasts. "Based at NOAA’s Aircraft Operations Center at Lakeland Linder International Airport, (Kevin) Doremus has racked up more than 3,000 hours of flight time in NOAA aircraft. The agency's Hurricane Hunters fly Miss Piggy and Kermit, the agency's Muppet-monikered WP-3D Orions."

• News4Jax: Council votes down resolution asking city to make plan, budget $500K to remove Confederate monuments. "The Jacksonville City Council on Tuesday voted against a resolution that asked Mayor Lenny Curry and the city to propose a plan that would budget $500,000 to remove remaining Confederate monuments."

• WFTS-Tampa Bay: FHP trooper returns to work after crash near Skyway 10K race. "Trooper Toni Schuck has been on the mend after she blocked the path of an impaired driver near the Skyway 10K race. In March, Schuck jumped into action when a driver broke through barricades for the Skyway 10K race."

• WUSF-Tampa: St. Petersburg’s Kerouac House is designated as a historic site. "Beat writer Jack Kerouac lived in the house with his mother and his third wife, Stella, from 1965 until his death in 1969."


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From NPR News

• Politics: McConnell says he'll support a gun reform bill if it matches the proposed framework

• Politics: U.S. House passes a major wildlife conservation spending bill

• World: Biden will visit Saudi Arabia in July, a nation he had once called a 'pariah'

• World: Ukrainians' discovery of a dead Russian soldier left for weeks stirs anguish and anger

• Science: A sighting reveals extinction and climate change in a single image

• Business: The cost of hopping on a plane to get away from it all is skyrocketing

• Business: Coinbase lays off 18% of its workforce. The CEO cites an upcoming crypto winter

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.

Contact WUFT News by calling 352-392-6397 or emailing news @wuft.org