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The top stories near you

• WUFT News: Alachua County Fire Rescue Delivers At-Home Vaccinations To Elderly Through New Program. "The initiative launched on Jan. 19 and entails the Alachua County Fire Rescue working with the Florida Department of Health in Alachua County to deliver vaccinations to elderly people in their homes. Through the program, 30 people have been fully vaccinated with two doses, 121 people have received the first dose, 27 people are scheduled to receive the second dose, and 20 people are scheduled to receive the first dose."

• WUFT News: Tiny Houses Bring Big Opportunities For Growth In Williston. "Williston has a population of less than 3,000. But Homestead Tiny House Co. chose it as the location for a new tiny house resort that opened in July. Sales and marketing manager Chase Crandell said the 'goal from the start was to pick a place that was going to become the new tiny house center of the Southeast.'"

• WUFT News: UF Student Charged With Grand Theft From His Job At Walgreens. "Matthew Lamperski, 21, of Ocala, was arrested on Saturday afternoon on 710 charges of grand theft of controlled substance at the Walgreens located at 7520 W. Newberry Road. Each charge corresponds to a single pill stolen from the pharmacy within the past year."

• WUFT News: New Alachua County Sculpture Budget Draws Criticism. "A new sculpture will be placed in the spot where a Confederate statue once stood. The sculpture design will be chosen from local artists’ submissions to the Alachua County Arts Council."

• Main Street Daily News: Newberry Commission excuses (Ricky) Coleman indefinitely amid COVID battle. "Commissioner Coleman was absent from the regular meeting on Jan. 11. In a Jan. 3 post on his Facebook page, Commissioner Coleman wrote that he had contracted COVID-19, along with many of his family members: 'This crap is bad and real!! At least social distance.' No posts or updates have been added to his page since that date."

• WMFE: 5th Circuit State Attorney Creates Team To Review Deaths Tied To Elder Abuse. "Newly elected State Attorney Bill Gladson is creating the Elder Abuse Fatality Review Team under a Florida law approved last year."

• Florida Politics: Keith Perry bill to raise booster seat age passes Senate panel. "Florida could soon require children to use booster seats until they turn 7."

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Around the state today

• News Service of Florida: Business Liability Bill Heads To Florida House Floor. "A high-profile bill that would provide COVID-19 liability protections to businesses moved through its final House committee Tuesday in a 14-7 vote, after heated partisan debate and procedural maneuvering."

• WFSU: Bill To Expand Police Use Of Drones Passes Its Second Committee Stop. "A bill to allow law enforcement to use drones for collecting evidence at crime scenes and traffic crashes passed its second committee stop (on Tuesday). It would also open the door for police to manage traffic with drones. But officers could not use any images or video collected from the device to give out a traffic ticket."

• Florida Politics: Baby box bill sails through first House panel despite Senate struggles. "Proponents of baby boxes say it would create a fully anonymous option for mothers of newborns to surrender unwanted infants they can’t care for."

• Associated Press: Florida bill would add gender, gender ID to hate crime law. "Florida’s hate crime law could be expanded to create enhanced penalties for people who commit offenses against someone based on their gender or gender identity under a bill approved by a Senate committee Tuesday."

• NBC-2: Some Florida lawmakers consider capping amount of THC in medical marijuana. "As it stands, THC ranges 15% to 25% in medical marijuana. But some Florida lawmakers want to reduce the amount of THC to just 10%."

• WFSU: Alcoholic Beverages To-Go May Be Here To Stay. "The executive order allowing restaurants to serve alcoholic beverages to-go could become law. The bill is sponsored by Sen. Jennifer Bradley (R-Orange Park)."

• WUWF: State OKs Wentworth Museum Name Change. "The change comes after records were uncovered revealing T.T. Wentworth was a former cyclops of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s."

• News Service of Florida: Florida Records Lowest Tourism Numbers In A Decade Due To COVID-19. "COVID-19 ended a decade of record-setting tourism numbers in Florida, with the industry seeing a 34% drop in visitors in 2020 compared to the prior year."

• Politico: Covid wars launch DeSantis into GOP ‘top tier.’ "Ron DeSantis once drew national scorn for his stewardship of Florida’s Covid-19 response — critics took to referring to the governor as 'DeathSantis' for his resistance to restrictive measures. But that very blowback — marked by predictions of doom and widespread criticism for being divorced from science — has made DeSantis ascendant in the GOP."

• Associated Press: Nikki Fried Criticizes DeSantis Ahead Of Gubernatorial Election. "In a possible prelude to Florida’s upcoming gubernatorial campaign, the state’s only Democrat holding statewide office took a shot at Gov. Ron DeSantis in a campaign-style video released Tuesday that cast the Republican as unempathetic amid a deadly pandemic and a loyalist to former President Donald Trump."

• WFLA: Church to pay off $38K in lunch debts for Hillsborough and Pasco school districts. "A church in Lutz is giving local families some peace of mind by wiping out lunch debt for students in Hillsborough and Pasco County."

• Florida Times-Union ($): Judge keeps Clay County man jailed over charges from U.S. Capitol riot. "'I have to take into consideration the nature and circumstances of the offense,' U.S. Magistrate Monte C. Richardson said before ordering Adam Avery Honeycutt, 39, held without bail."

From NPR News

• Health: Biden Administration Says It Has Increased Vaccine Supply

• Health: Virologist: WHO Team Found No 'Credible Link' Between Wuhan Labs, COVID-19

• National: Amy Cooper, White Woman Who Called Police On Black Bird-Watcher, Has Charge Dismissed

• National: Winter Storm Not Over Yet For Much Of The Country

• World: The U.S. Dependence On GPS Has Created A New Vulnerability

• Politics: Trump Blasts McConnell And His Leadership In Lengthy Response To Recent Criticism

• Business: How A Project To Get Humans To Mars Could Solve The Rural Internet Problem

• Education: Biden Says He Wants Most K-8 Schools Open 5 Days A Week By His First 100 Days

About today's curator

I'm Ethan Magoc, a news editor at WUFT. Originally from Pennsylvania, I've found a home telling Florida stories. I’m part of a team searching each morning for local and state stories that are important to you; please send feedback about today's edition or ideas for stories we may have missed to emagoc@wuft.org.