Steve Friedman, 52, always thought he’d spend his days in a cubicle surrounded by buttoned up shirts and staplers. Instead, he passes the time in a rash guard and polarized sunglasses on the waters of the Florida Keys. After growing up in what he calls “John Hughes-Landia,” or Chicago, Illinois, …
Read More »The Point: Your 2022 news year in review
Take a walk back through all of the Florida storylines we covered for you this year.
Read More »The Point, Dec. 28, 2022: In Marion County, there’s talk of a development moratorium after a years-long surge
Residents say they're fed up with the pace of new building.
Read More »Growing, growing, gone: Marion County residents bemoan development surge
The air in McPherson Complex Auditorium in Ocala, once stale with bureaucracy, surged with something much more urgent upon the introduction of Item 7. Items 1-6 on the Marion County Commission planning and zoning agenda – ensnared in traps of technical jargon and dusted with mundane details – didn’t hold …
Read More »Large-scale alligator farming affects Florida tanneries and small businesses
Alligator farming has become a critical source of skins for the leather industry. The skins are more pristine and can be raised in the most optimal conditions and many more of them can be supplied. Alligator farming has also played a role in conservation efforts for the species. But a consequence of the advent of farming has been an oversupply of skins that has made their value plummet. This oversupply has mainly come from large-scale industrial farms that can slaughter thousands of animals every week and have chomped smaller operations out of business.
Read More »Report: Florida’s new insurance changes will help, but it’s going to take time
TALLAHASSEE — Florida lawmakers last week made changes that will provide “much needed relief” in the troubled property-insurance system, but effects of the legislation won’t be immediate, the AM Best financial-rating agency said in a new report. The report pointed to parts of the new law designed to curb litigation, …
Read More »The Point, Dec. 21, 2022: Events mark 100th anniversary of Rosewood destruction
Subscribe to The Point, arriving in your inbox Monday through Friday at 8 a.m. The stories near you • WUFT News: Mark your calendar for Remembering Rosewood centennial events. “The Remembering Rosewood Centennial Committee curated a week of events to mark the 100th anniversary of the destruction of Rosewood – what …
Read More »After Hurricane Ian, sowing hope
Editor’s note: Katie Delk is a 2022-2023 Florida Climate Institute Fellow reporting a series of articles about the impact of climate change on Florida’s farmers—and how they are adapting. Robert McMahon, in his faded denim jeans and straw hat, edged to the roof in a boom lift, three cows shuffling …
Read More »‘The red suit picks you’: Santa Clauses prepare for the renewed holiday crush
Seven-year-old Ranessamae Rinehart could not contain her excitement after sitting on Santa’s lap at the Ocala Town Square gazebo recently. She asked Santa for Legos bricks and sparkly shoes with bows on them. As several other families waited in line for their turn to meet the old man with the …
Read More »No monkey business in Levy County: Primate research lab plans get nixed
There apparently will not be any monkey business in Levy County. Plans for a primate research lab in this rural north central Florida county have been shelved. And many residents, still harboring anxieties about the idea, say good riddance. “It’s bad enough that it’s gonna be a monkey lab, and …
Read More »