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The stories near you

• WUFT News Special Report: Today WUFT News launches The Price of Plenty, a special report on the fertilizer industry by student journalists from the University of Florida and the University of Missouri. Funded by a grant from the Pulitzer Center’s nationwide Connected Coastlines reporting initiative, the team spent 16 weeks reporting on fertilizer from Florida’s farm fields and phosphate mining region to agrichemical plants along the Mississippi River and the communities that live in their shadow. In Part 1, Elemental, read the troubling history of phosphorus from Florida’s “Bone Valley,” and that of nitrogen, the life-giving nutrient that also launched chemical warfare. Like chemical fertilizers themselves, these elements feed the world -- and continue to harm it.

• WUFT News: Fisher House of Gainesville offers respite to caretakers of sick veterans. "The house, which the Fisher House Foundation donated in 2014 to the VA, keeps people in Klingler’s situation from spending hundreds of dollars on hotel rooms or leaving a loved one alone during their care."

• WRUF:Bryan Shelton Steps Down After 11 Years with Gators Men’s Tennis. "Shelton had a winning record during his coaching career with the Gators, winning the program its first national championship in 2021."

• WUFT News: LGBTQ advocates decry Florida legislation at pride month town hall. "June marks the celebration of National Pride Month, and on Thursday more than 200 people filled Gainesville’s only LGBTQ bar, The University Club, for a panel discussion."

• Mainstreet Daily News: ASCO searching for Big Daddy Guns burglar. "In a video posted to Facebook, ACSO Captain Chris Sims said the incident occurred at Big Daddy Guns (7600 NW Fifth Place) just before 3:30 a.m. Thursday morning, when a burglary alarm sounded."

• Mainstreet Daily News: Watson ends investigations after court ruling. "Watson directed the office’s chief investigator on Wednesday to void the investigations and rescind any imposed discipline. With the investigations dropped, Judge Donna Keim’s ruling becomes moot as well."

• WUFT News: Gainesville Regional Airport to build new 4-story garage. "According to CEO Allan Penksa, the garage will have approximately 420 spaces and will include a covered walkway to the terminal. It will also feature electric vehicle charging stations."

Around the state

• The Tributary: Florida opens investigation into Duval County jail’s medical provider. "The Florida Department of Management Services has opened an investigation into Armor Correctional Services after The Tributary notified the state that the company was convicted in the death of a Milwaukee inmate in October 2022."

• Florida Politics: Charges dropped against Nikki Fried, Lauren Book over abortion protest. "In a court filing, Campbell states there was probable cause for arrest for trespassing after a warning, but since Fried, Book and the other protesters wanted to get arrested, pursuing charges wouldn’t be useful."

• WLRN-Miami: PolitiFact FL: Amanda Gorman poem moved in one library, not banned in Miami-Dade County. "The poem "The Hill We Cimb," written by Amanda Gorman and read at President Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021, was challenged in March by a parent at a South Florida school, resulting in the school library reshelving the poem to a section for middle school students."

• Associated Press: Disney lawsuit judge removes himself from case but not for reasons cited by DeSantis. "Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker said in a court filing Thursday that it was because a relative owns 30 shares of Disney stock. Walker described the person as 'a third-degree relative,' which typically means a cousin, a great-aunt or great-uncle, or a great-niece or great-nephew."

• Miami Herald ($): Miami-Dade is even hotter than your weather app says it is, new study finds. "Yeah, it’s hot in Miami. But it’s likely even hotter, much hotter, than the temperature reported on your weather app or TV screen — a least in a lot of places."

• News Service of Florida: Recreational marijuana use is a step closer to Florida's 2024 ballot. "Backers of a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow recreational use of marijuana have surpassed a required number of petition signatures to place the initiative on the 2024 ballot, according to the state Division of Elections."

• WGCU-Fort Myers: Boaters caused fewer accidents in 2022 in Florida -- but deaths rose. "Boating accidents involving captains impaired by alcohol or drugs fell by nearly half in Florida, those killed while operating personal watercraft dropped by 70 percent, and the overall number of people injured while boating was down slightly."

From NPR News

• Politics: Biden signs bipartisan deal to avert debt default

• National: A federal judge rejects Tennessee's anti-drag law as too broad and vague

• National: Military F-16s intercepted a business jet, shocking D.C. residents with a sonic boom

• Education: A Utah school district has removed the Bible from some schools' shelves

• National: Dogs attacked more than 5,300 mail carriers last year, the Postal Service says

• Health: Picking the 'right' sunscreen isn't as important as avoiding these 6 mistakes

• Space: Here is the first livestream from Mars — a rare, almost real-time look into space
Kristin Moorehead curated today's edition of The Point.