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Today's Florida stories
• News Service of Florida: Florida wants court to uphold an elections law that groups say discriminates against Black voters. "Disputing that the Legislature acted in 'bad faith,' attorneys for the state, elections supervisors and national Republican groups urged a federal appeals court this week to overturn a ruling that said a 2021 elections law was unconstitutionally intended to discriminate against Black Floridians."
• WFSU-Tallahassee: A bomb threat at Florida State University follows those at other schools in recent days and months. "Nearly a dozen Florida schools received similar threats between Wednesday and Thursday of this week. Two of Santa Fe College’s satellite campuses in Alachua and Starke had to evacuate."
• Ocala Star-Banner ($): Cannabis company, bullish on Florida, will build huge cultivation facility in south Marion. "Planet 13, a cannabis company that owns the world’s largest dispensary, in Las Vegas, has big expansion plans for Florida, which will be fueled by its new cultivation facility in south Marion County. The company recently closed on 23 acres in Summerfield, where it will build a 63,000-square-foot building that will supply at least 13 dispensaries planned throughout the state."
• Florida Politics: Federal mandate could force massive Florida fishery closures. "The effects of extensive red snapper bycatch in federal South Atlantic waters, and attempts to rein it in within existing regulations, may lead to a massive economy-twisting fishery closure for bottom fishing off Florida’s Atlantic Coast."
• Associated Press: Cubans detained after landing in Florida as migration soars. "Between last October and May, Customs and Border Protection officials have found and detained about 1,000 Cubans arriving in Florida."
• Florida Today ($): Federal judge rules Brevard School Board speaker policies don't violate First Amendment. "An Orlando judge dismissed a lawsuit by the Brevard chapter of Moms for Liberty and four Brevard parents who said the School Board and Brevard Public Schools discriminated against conservative parents who criticized the board with its public speaker policy."
• Miami Herald ($): 3 stole millions of PPE from Florida company as pandemic surged. They’re headed to prison. "Three men who stole thousands of N-95 masks and millions of medical gloves from a Broward County supply company — one of the largest known thefts of personal protective equipment in the U.S. — will be going to prison."
• City & State Florida: What they do for fun: Hobbies of Florida lawmakers include poker, extreme sports, 'wolf spider husbandry.' "What a lawmaker includes in their 'recreational interests' section – and whether they fill it out at all – can provide an insight into them away from the legislative session."
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From NPR News
• Health: The omicron subvariant dominating U.S. COVID-19 cases is more vaccine-resistant
• World: Members of Brittney Griner's Russian team defend her character, on and off the court
• Politics: Ivana Trump, first wife of Donald Trump, is dead at 73
• Politics: Secret Service erased texts from two-day period spanning Jan. 6 attack, watchdog says
• National: Suspect in the Buffalo mass shooting has been indicted on federal hate crime charges
• Science: Why don't woodpecker brains get damaged from pecking? They're tiny, scientists say
• Space: Scientists have picked up a radio signal 'heartbeat' billions of light-years away
• Arts: A hidden self-portrait of Van Gogh has been discovered. Here's what you can see so far
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.