Subscribe to The Point, arriving in your inbox Monday through Friday at 8 a.m.

The top stories near you

• WUFT News: Nearly Halfway Through Spring Semester, Some UF Faculty Remain Concerned With UF’s COVID-19 Testing Policy. "The concern consists of questions like: Why are students cleared for campus before receiving their COVID-19 test results? Why are some students cleared for campus even after being exposed to someone who has since tested positive for COVID-19? So far, their questions remain largely unanswered."

• WMFE: Dunnellon Couple, Indicted In Capitol Attack Conspiracy, Are Denied Release Pending Trial. "A federal terrorism charge is among the four counts against a Dunnellon couple accused of conspiring with other Oath Keepers in the U.S. Capitol attack. Because of that, a federal magistrate on Monday ordered them held until trial as a danger to the community."

• The Alligator: Gainesville’s first soil collection ceremony memorializes city’s lynching victims. "About 100 community members, Gainesville residents and local officials gathered Saturday for a soil collection ceremony planned by the Gainesville Subcommittee of the Alachua County Community Remembrance Project (ACCRP) and the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) at the Alachua County Administration Building."

• WUFT News: UF Health Surgeons Save ICU Nurse With COVID-19 Through Double-Lung Transplant. "As a front-line intensive care nurse, Jill Holker cared for COVID-19 patients in Utah. When she contracted COVID-19 last fall, Holker suddenly became the patient fighting for her life."

• Spotlight on Levy County Government: Bronson Investigating Grant to Establish Broadband Internet. "Bronson Town Manager Susan Beaudet was given permission this week to contact Fred Fox Enterprises to research a coronavirus-related Community Development Block Grant that possibly could fund broadband internet city-wide."

• WUFT News: Gigi Simmons Leads In Campaign Fundraising For Gainesville City Commission Race. "Simmons leads with $7,722 in the District 1 race. Opponent Desmon Duncan-Walker raised $3,815 in monetary contributions and $177.33 of in-kind contributions. Simmons was also elected to her seat in 2018."

• Main Street Daily News: ACPS increases attendance capacity for outdoor sports. "Alachua County Public Schools (ACPS) has updated its COVID-19 protocols for athletic events, increasing crowd capacity for outdoor games to 25 percent."

• Florida Storms: Dry and Pleasant Pattern in the Forecast Later This Week Across Florida. "The month of February has been very wet for much of the Sunshine State. Parts of North Florida and the Florida Panhandle have seen double the average of rain generally experienced during the second month of the year. However, drier conditions are finally on the way once a cold front tracks through the state beginning Monday morning."

Today's sponsored message

We focus our legal attention on these practice areas: • Family Law • Business law • Estate Planning • Probate • Guardianship

Visit  lawyergainesville.com or call 352-373-3334 today to learn more.

Around the state today

• Fresh Take Florida: Florida Black Man Shot By White Officer In 2001 Still Waiting On Payout From His City. "It’s been nearly 20 years, but Reginald Jackson thinks often about the night a police officer here fired a bullet into his neck after a traffic stop. A jury awarded him a large civil judgment, and he’s still waiting to see whether Florida’s Legislature might help him collect it."

• WUSF: New Coronavirus Cases Declining In Florida While Deaths Remain High. "The last time Florida recorded more than 10,000 cases in a single day was Feb. 5. But the number of deaths reported daily hasn't changed much since the holiday surge. The state added another 161 deaths to its COVID-19 toll on Monday."

• Spectrum News: Was the Super Bowl a Super Spreader? "'We are seeing no impact from the Super Bowl in the numbers,' says Dr. Thomas Unnasch of University of South Florida’s Center for Global Health Infectious Disease Research. 'We would have expected to have seen an uptick in cases last week, but we have seen nothing.'"

• WFTS-Tampa Bay: Rep. Crist calling for DOJ to investigate if DeSantis prioritized vaccine distribution sites for political gain. "'We’re all suffering for it, so we all should be helped from it by our leaders by our governor in this instance. That’s not happening so I think an appropriate investigation is more than warranted, it’s essential,' Crist said."

• WFSU: Tallahassee Push Is On To Vaccinate More Minority And Underserved Communities. "The latest dedicated clinic happened Saturday, Feb. 20 at Bethel Missionary Baptist Church's Family Life Center on North Bronough Street in Frenchtown. In a matter of hours, all 500 doses of vaccine had been distributed."

• CBS Miami: Florida Gas Prices Surge Due To Arctic Blast In Texas. "Much of Florida’s gasoline comes from refineries in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. So an interruption to the supply line there has a direct impact on prices here."

• WFSU: Conflicting Evidence, No Smoking Gun Has SCOTUS Weighing Florida-Georgia Water Fight. "The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case Monday, but as the two states await a decision, some key players say the issue won’t end with the ruling."

• WMFE: Space Politics: Rubio Urges Congress To Keep Florida As A Major Part In Space Exploration. "In Florida alone, NASA contracts in 2019 created over 33,000 jobs and generated more than $200 million in tax revenues for Florida state and local governments, according to Rubio’s office."

• WEAR-Pensacola: Families of 3 sailors killed in NAS Pensacola attack suing Saudi Arabia. "The families of the three U.S. service members killed during the Dec. 6, 2019 terrorist attack at NAS Pensacola — as well as the other wounded victims — are suing Saudi Arabia. The lawsuit, filed Monday, alleges that the government of Saudi Arabia facilitated the attack."

• WUSF: Tampa Cruises Probably Not Sailing Until Fall. "The possibility of a summer with no cruises is slowly starting to settle in at Port Tampa Bay. Officials had budgeted for at least one ship to set sail with 50 percent capacity by April. That would mean about $1.8 million in revenue."

• Florida Politics: New research shows that flood insurance is 4.5 times underpriced. "First Street Foundation, a nonprofit that quantifies flood risks for individual homes, found nearly 4.3 million American homes with substantial flood risk that would result in financial loss to the owner."

• News4Jax: Florida Agriculture commissioner won’t lower flags to honor Limbaugh despite DeSantis order. "The statement from the commissioner marks the latest in an ongoing back-and-forth between (Nikki) Fried, the only Democrat elected to a statewide office, and DeSantis, a Republican."

• WPTV-West Palm Beach: Can Gov. Ron DeSantis legally lower flags for Rush Limbaugh? Palm Beach County commissioner wants to know. "Section 256.015 of the Florida statutes states that the governor 'shall adopt a protocol on flag display' that provides guidelines for lowering the flag to half-staff 'upon the death of high-ranking state officials, uniformed law enforcement and fire service personnel, and prominent citizens.'"

From NPR News

• National: Illinois Becomes 1st State To Eliminate Cash Bail

• Health: President Biden Delivers Emotional Remembrance Of 500,000 COVID-19 Victims

• Health: 'To Me He's Not A Number': Families Reflect As U.S. Nears 500,000 COVID-19 Deaths

• Health: West Virginia's Vaccination Rate Ranks Among Highest In World

• Politics: Supreme Court Paves Way For N.Y. Grand Jury To Get Trump Financial Records

• Art: Happy Birthday To The Phillips Collection, America's First Museum Of Modern Art

• Art: The Met Considers Selling Its Art To Stave Off Financial Shortfall

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.