Government and politics

Voters going to the polls for the District 3 Gainesville City Commission runoff last night elected Susan Bottcher over Rob Zeller. WUFT FM’s Natalie Beigel talked with both candidates to get some insight on the voter turn out from both Bottcher and Rob Zeller. [audio:http://www.wuft.org/media/audio/District3Wrap.mp3]

A bill that would exempt footage of killings from the public was approved yesterday (Tuesday). As Florida’s 89.1 WUFT-FM’s Stephanie Jones reports, the bill would prevent the media from requesting footage. [audio:http://www.wuft.org/media/audio/PublicDisclosureWrap.mp3]

The polls have closed on the runoff elections for the District 2 and District 3 City Commission seats. District 2 voters chose between incumbent Lauren Poe and Todd Chase, while District 3 voters named either Susan Bottcher or Rob Zeller the new Commissioner. We will update the results live throughout …

Includes early or absentee ballots, with 100 percent of precincts reporting. 16.50% of eligible voter participated District 2 Todd Chase 54.65% Lauren Poe 45.35% —— District 3 Susan Bottcher 57.64% Rob Zeller 42.36%

Governor Rick Scott’s team is continuing to fight the press in a Twitter War. The public is following the argument between Scott’s Communications director Brian Burgess and St. Pete Times reporter Michael Bender. But University of Florida Social Media Expert Mike Foley says Scott’s image should not be affected. “I …

Florida lawmakers are getting closer to adopting a final budget, and the University of Florida could face significant changes. U-F spokeswoman Janine Sikes says both the House and Senate are looking at funding cuts which would hurt university services and employees. “We’re concerned that our employees would basically be facing …

Gainesville Regional Utilities posted the full contract detailing their purchase agreement to buy biomass energy from American Renewables. Florida’s 89.1 WUFT-FM’s Olivia Link has more on the previously-censored contract. [audio:http://www.wuft.org/media/audio/GRUBiomassWrap.mp3]

Legislators seeking to discourage the hiring of illegal immigrants are now one step closer to reaching Florida’s employment law. The state senate’s judiciary committee approved a bill on Monday requiring companies to use the electronic verification program for new hires. The bill must go through two more committees before reaching …

Early voting for Gainesville’s run-off elections began today. Lauren Poe and Todd Chase are up for the district two seat, and Susan Bottcher faces Rob Zeller in district three. Alachua County Supervisor of Elections Pam Carpenter says she anticipates about 15% of registered voters will participate in the run-off. Carpenter …

Alachua County Commissioners and Alachua County Sheriff, Sadie Darnell met last night to discuss next year’s budget and the pending budget appeal she plans on taking to Tallahassee. Florida’s 89.1, WUFT FM’s Natalie Beigel reports on the outcome of the meeting. [audio:http://www.wuft.org/media/audio/sheriffbudget.mp3]