Ocala dramatically blocked its newly elected councilman from taking office Tuesday night over a 33-year-old felony cocaine conviction. The case is believed to be the first time a Florida politician has been disqualified after an election because of serious crimes.
Read More »Ocala Council Election Thrown Into Turmoil Over Winning Candidate’s Felony Arrests
Councilman-elect, Tyrone E. Oliver, 63, acknowledged that he had been charged with drug felonies in 1986 but said the cases had been "handled."
Read More »Nobody Noticed An Ex-Felon In Florida Ran For Office; Now There Are Questions Whether It Was Legal
A retired handyman who served 16 months in prison quietly ran for public office earlier this month in a small town.
Read More »United Methodist General Counsel’s Vote On Sexuality Can’t Shake The Faith
The General Conference of The United Methodist Church upheld its long-standing ban on LGBTQ clergy and same-sex marriage during a special session in February.
Read More »Uncertain Future: A County’s Road To Recovery Amid Little Assistance
Bay County officials are frustrated with recovery efforts after Hurricane Michael. The National and state government have been slow to allocate resources to the devastated areas.
Read More »Recovering Hope: The Upward Climb To Normalcy Six Months After Hurricane Michael
Bay County residents still face massive struggles, including homelessness, six months after Hurricane Michael.
Read More »Tech City Climbing Tower Draws Interest, Skepticism From Rock Climbing Community
Business partners Mitch Glaeser and Rich Blaser plan to build a 175-foot tower home to businesses, meeting rooms and rock climbing walls – including a 130-foot indoor climbing wall. This would be the biggest climbing wall in the world.
Read More »City, County Commissioners Agree To Change Gainesville’s Community Redevelopment Agency Over A Decade
Alachua County and Gainesville City commissioners voted 9-2 Monday to begin restructuring the local agency responsible for community redevelopment.
Read More »Alachua County School Board Election: Gunnar Paulson Retains Seat
After an indecisive primary race resulted in Tuesday’s run-off election, Gunnar Paulson can rest easy having retained his school board seat for another four years.
Read More »The Youth Vote: What’s Happening In Alachua County Schools to Heighten Election Knowledge?
As of Monday, more than 5 million Floridians voted by mail or cast a ballot during the state’s early voting period – exceeding the 3.19 million voters who voted before Election Day in 2014. Among those voters, 70,426 were in Alachua County.
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