Government and politics

(Photo credit: Rainer Hungershausen/Flickr) Last month, sixteen animal protection organizations sent a letter to the Florida House and Senate Gaming Committees, calling for the passage of two greyhound protection measures. The letter asked lawmakers to pass a greyhound injury reporting law and to eliminate a state mandate requiring gaming facilities to hold live dog races.

A vote on sales tax will determine whether or not Ocala will begin construction for the proposed Tampa Yankees baseball stadium. The commission will meet again on Dec. 17 to discuss a proposed ordinance for voting methods.

With about half of Florida legislators supporting the controversial “stand your ground” law as it is written, the possibility of a repeal in the 2014 session seems slim. WUFT News conducted statewide research to determine which way the legislature might act in the spring.

Not all counties are complying with a recent Florida law that requires animal shelter adoption, intake and euthanasia information to be accessible to the public. Under the current law, there are no penalties for not making the information public.

All five commissioners voiced concerns over the looming March special election, which would present voters with the option to build a $38 million stadium for the Yankee’s AAA minor league team to relocate to from its current home in Tampa.

Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Cabinet approved Tuesday a proposal to buy former Gainesville Correctional Institution for nearly $1.4 million. The prison will be converted into a homeless shelter and the Morningside Nature Center will be expanded.

The City of Archer will install new touch read water meters after misreadings and miscalculations of their former analog meters led to complaints about over-billing.

Rep. Keith Perry fights to pass a bill that will require Florida to keep children between 4 and 7 years old and shorter than 4 feet and 9 inches in a booster seat while in a moving car. Florida is one of two states without a safety seat law for children older than 3.

The idea of a homeless center was born eight years ago alongside an ambitious plan to end homelessness in Gainesville. In the years since, the city's plan to construct a permanent shelter has taken many twists and turns, all of them captured in this timeline.

(Photo credit: wonderlandforever/Flickr) The effects of the Florida Legislature's recent "bong ban" on Gainesville are still unclear. There have not been any tangible changes in arrests for illegal drug use or the public image of marijuana.