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The stories near you
• WUFT News: Forum turns into protest: Sen. Ben Sasse’s visit to UF spurs student unrest. "About 300 protesters took over a campus auditorium where U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse was being introduced to students and faculty Monday as the presumptive University of Florida president. Floors shook inside Emerson Hall as protesters entered the building at 2:53 p.m., stomping and banging on walls, chanting 'Hey, hey! Ho, ho! Ben Sasse has got to go.'"
• WUFT News: Before the protest, here’s what Ben Sasse said at UF forum. "During his chance to speak before he had to flee from protestors, U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse tried to assure faculty that he is the right person to become president of the University of Florida. The faculty senate forum in Emerson Hall at Monday was a chance for Sasse to correct his record in his own words under the skepticism by students and faculty surrounding his pick as UF’s sole presidential candidate.. Sasse was also supposed to meet with UF staff at 3:45 p.m., but he was forced to go virtual because protestors occupied the Emerson Hall ballroom, where the first forum was hosted."
• WCJB: Gainesville Country Club shows no signs of reopening. "The golf course was closed back in July to 'perform maintenance on the course and surrounding facility.' The target date to reopen is this month."
• WUFT News: Reading program that includes therapy dogs returns to Alachua County libraries. "Children ages 5-11 are provided with the unique opportunity to read with a registered therapy dog. These service animals are all volunteered by their owners who enlisted in the program. Each library typically welcomes two dogs per event."
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Around the state
• Fresh Take Florida: Sanibel residents return to hurricane-ravaged island by boat, await bridge repair. "The barrier island of about 6,000 remains severed from the mainland after 150 mph winds drove a storm surge that collapsed Sanibel’s causeway bridge nearly two weeks ago. But more than 500 workers arrived on the island this weekend, reaching as far as the causeway’s third spoil island – more than two miles from the mainland."
• Sarasota Herald-Tribune ($): Gov. DeSantis: Florida shifts to 'rebuild and recover mode' 12 days after Hurricane Ian. "Immediate efforts focused on search and rescue, power restoration, emergency housing assistance, and supply distribution. More than 2,5000 rescue operations have taken place in Hurricane Ian's wake and DeSantis said that over 1,000 searches and rescue personnel have checked over 108,000 structures in that time."
• New York Times ($): ‘Our Bubble Has Been Burst’: Older Storm Victims Face an Uncertain Future. "Retirees displaced by Hurricane Ian confront a wrenching situation: At their age, remaking the lives they loved so much in Florida may not be possible."
• WUSF-Tampa: 'It was pretty much everybody holding on for their lives' during Hurricane Ian, a boat captain says. "As Hurricane Ian pounded Southwest Florida a week and a half ago, some sailors were on the water, steering their boats and fighting for their lives. Eric Rakstis, a yacht captain from the East Coast, struggled for hours to save his new 27-foot Watkins sailboat that he had purchased just three days before the Category 4 storm hit."
• WLRN-Miami: Reinventing Florida after Hurricane Ian. "...in the wake of the massive destruction caused by Hurricane Ian in parts of southwest and central Florida, experts say we have to rethink the way we build in Florida — and if we should even rebuild in certain areas."
• Palm Beach Post ($): Forecasters still struggle to warn people of hurricane storm surge dangers. "Wind and surf are the twin dangers in a hurricane. But how to measure them, and warn people, remains a challenge for forecasters. The conundrum that persists is that the public views both phenomena from the same lens, the hurricane category plus the projected path, despite efforts by meteorologists and others to decouple them."
• WUSF-Tampa: World Central Kitchen serves hundreds of thousands of free meals to those impacted by Hurricane Ian. "Founded in 2010 following the Haiti earthquake, WCK was also on the ground in Puerto Rico, providing meals after Hurricane Maria in 2017 and in Florida’s Panhandle following Hurricane Michael in 2018."
• USA Today Network ($): TV debate between Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Charlie Crist is back on. "The only TV debate between Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and Democrat Charlie Crist has been rescheduled for Oct. 24 — after being postponed in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian."
• Politico: Lawsuit accuses DeSantis of withholding records over migrant flights. "An open government group on Monday asserted in a lawsuit that the DeSantis administration is improperly withholding public records associated with the two charter flights that brought nearly 50 Venezuelan migrants to the resort island in Massachusetts."
• News4Jax: St. Johns County commissioner proposes buying out homes in eroding Summer Haven area along ocean. "Officials are still trying to figure out how to deal with coastal damage caused by Ian. One of the areas hit hardest is Summer Haven. It’s an area locals know well where ocean water has pushed underneath some homes and toward the Matanzas River on the other side."
From NPR News
• National: Biden's pot pardon will help reverse War on Drugs harm to Black people, advocates say
• National: Harvey Weinstein faces up to 135 years to life if convicted in LA trial
• National: Which Indigenous lands are you on? This map will show you
• World: Russia says it retaliated against Ukraine in response to an attack on a key bridge
• Politics: Alabama Sen. Tuberville equates descendants of enslaved people to criminals
• Health: The mental health crisis and shortage of providers is creating big debt for Americans
• Health: Artificial intelligence could soon diagnose illness based on the sound of your voice
Ethan Magoc curated today's edition of The Point.