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The Point, April 18, 2023: Activists decry Florida plan to use mining waste in roads

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The stories near you

• WUFT News: Two people hospitalized following collision on West University Avenue. "Two people were taken to the hospital around 6 p.m. Monday after the driver of a red Ford F-150 truck lost control of the vehicle on West University Avenue and Northwest 24th Street, crashing into a red Nissan Altima and sending the car into a ditch, according to witnesses at the scene."

• The Alligator: Gainesville solar plans in Archer shed light on nuances of renewable energy. "After over a year of contract negotiations, the Gainesville City Commission has decided to temporarily halt plans to build a solar plant, called the Sand Bluff Solar Project, until it receives approval from a state committee."

• Mainstreet Daily News: GNV spring book sale readies for opening weekend. "The Friends of the Library will open its door on Saturday and allow customers to peruse more than half a million items—from 25 cent books to one worth $900 along with artwork, music, movies, puzzles, games and a crocheted angel."

• WUFT News: Gainesville Police Department says noise is the No. 1 complaint. "Gainesville has a sound ordinance with quiet hours between 10 p.m. to 8 a.m., meaning you are not permitted to disrupt the peace of any reasonable person during this time. In the last month, GPD received 360 noise complaints. An officer was dispatched to 253."

• WUFT News: LGBTQ+ student DJs are redefining the music scene at their Florida college towns. "Post-COVID-19, several LGBTQ+ student DJs from the University of Florida and Florida State University have successfully organized various queer-friendly parties and infiltrated the DJ booths of popular local nightclubs."

• WUFT News: Grammy Award-Winning Musician Angélique Kidjo Shares Insights on Life and Music Prior to Gainesville Appearance. "WUFT Morning Edition host, Glenn Richards, spoke with five-time Grammy Award-winning musician Angélique Kidjo. NPR has called her 'Africa’s greatest living diva.'"

• Mainstreet Daily News: Driver of stolen hearse causes 5-vehicle collision. "A 54-year-old man was arrested Sunday when he stole a Cadillac hearse and caused a five-vehicle crash in Gainesville."


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Around the state

• Fresh Take Florida: ‘Radioactive roads’? Environmentalists want brakes on Florida plan to reuse toxic mining waste. "With much less notice than the Florida abortion, guns and education culture wars, a battle between environmentalists and a Fortune 500 mining giant is playing out in Tallahassee that critics fear could have devastating long-term health consequences."

• WFSU-Tallahassee: Legislation would exempt Florida Gov. DeSantis' movements from public records. "A bill is poised for passage in both chambers of the Legislature that would exempt the travel of top state officials from public records requests. It would erase all public records of Gov. Ron DeSantis’s movements -- including in his office at the Capitol and his home in the Governor’s Mansion."

• WMFE-Orlando: DeSantis wants development agreements nullified between Disney, Reedy Creek. "Gov. Ron DeSantis says a bill is in the works that would revoke the previous agreement made between the Reedy Creek Improvement Board and Disney before being taken over by the state."

• Florida Politics: Bill banning citizen’s arrests in Florida goes unheard for second straight year. "The bipartisan legislation (SB 812, HB 25) has yet to receive a single hearing during the 2023 Legislative Session. Now 41 days in, subcommittees are no longer meeting and bills that have yet to be introduced typically won’t be."

• WLRN-Miami: The 'bias' behind higher death rates for Black pregnant women - and how to tackle it. "Regardless of education level or income, CDC data shows that Black women are more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than white, Asian or Latina women."

• News Service of Florida: Property-insurer insolvencies are going to hit Florida policyholders in the wallet. "State insurance regulators last week signed off on a plan that will lead to policyholders throughout Florida paying extra on their bills because of property-insurer insolvencies."

• WUSF-Tampa: AI is the future of Florida's agriculture, says an industry leader ahead of an Orlando conference. "Agriculture lags behind most other major industries in terms of integrating data management through artificial intelligence, but it's catching up very quickly, according to J. Scott Angle, the senior vice president at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences."

• WLRN-Miami: Will Gov. DeSantis win his battle to dismantle DEI programs at state universities? "Widely viewed as a potential 2024 Republican presidential candidate, DeSantis has been on a path to dismantle university DEI programs as part of his plan to overhaul publicly funded higher education."


From NPR News

• National: After days of outrage over the shooting of a Black teen, officials charge the gunman

• National: Officials have identified the 4 people who died in the Alabama shooting

• Politics: Congress returns from recess with a big to-do list

• Politics: Speaker McCarthy outlines GOP debt limit plan, Democrats pan demands as extreme

• Business: Tax deadline arrives as the IRS embarks on a 10-year, $80 billion makeover

• National: Sewage often becomes fertilizer, but the issue is it's tainted with PFAS

• Economy: Where Are Interest Rates Going?

• World: A Spanish athlete spent 500 days alone in a cave — for science
Kristin Moorehead curated today's edition of The Point.

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