The Point

The Point, June 15, 2023: 10-year-old injured in 18-wheeler crash

WUFT | By WUFT News,

WUFT News

Published June 15, 2023 at 12:00 PM EDT

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The stories near you

• WUFT News:Gainesville business builds homes out of shipping containers. "Alachua County Commissioner Mary Alford met with Alfonzo earlier this year to discuss using these container homes for affordable housing for people transitioning out of homelessness."

• WUFT News: Double 18-wheeler collision on I-75 causes fatality in Alachua County. "Two tractor-trailers crashed into each other around 2:30 a.m. Wednesday morning on the interstate in Alachua County. The wreck caused the death of one of the drivers and injured passengers — one of whom was a 10-year-old girl."

• Mainstreet Daily News: Gainesville trims more from its budget. "However, that deficit rose again at the end of the meeting as the City Commission voted unanimously to direct staff to restore $475,000 in funding, including money trimmed from grants to arts and culture organizations, senior transportation services and the Early Learning Coalition and from a GRACE Marketplace program for homeless services."

• WCJB: Governor Ron DeSantis receives GRU bill. "The bill would create a five-member board to regulate the utility. The members would be appointed by the governor."

• Florida Politics: Joe Harding requests sentencing delay in COVID-19 fraud case. "Former Rep. Joe Harding, who pleaded guilty in March to wire fraud, money laundering and making false statements about COVID-19 relief funds he received, is asking for his sentencing date to be punted to September."

• Ocala Gazette: Defying the odds: Ocala-based trainer Jena Antonucci makes history in the Belmont Stakes. "In Arcangelo’s remarkable 1 ½-length triumph in the June 10 $1.5 million Belmont Stakes (G1), the third leg of racing’s Triple Crown, history was rewritten as his trailblazing trainer Jena Antonucci shattered the glass ceiling, becoming the first female trainer to win the coveted Belmont Stakes in its 155-year history."

• Mainstreet Daily News: GNV plans food waste program expansion. "Everyday kitchen scraps often make their way to the landfill, but the city of Gainesville looks to change that with the residential food waste composting program."

• WFTS-Tampa Bay: Report: UF in top 10 of athletic department revenue, leads all Florida schools. "The Florida Gators finished eighth nationally, making over $190 million in 2022. That put them ahead of other schools in the state, like Florida State University ($161 million), the University of Central Florida ($89 million), and the University of South Florida ($56 million)."

Around the state

• NPR: Republican Mayor of Miami Francis Suarez files paperwork to run for president. "In a filing with the Federal Election Commission, Suarez officially declared his intention to enter the crowded GOP field ahead of the primary elections."

• News Service of Florida: US Supreme Court gives go-ahead for a Florida execution. "Without explanation, the Supreme Court issued an order rejecting requests by inmate Duane Owen's lawyers to halt Thursday's planned execution. The Florida Supreme Court also issued two opinions last week refusing to block the execution."

• Tampa Bay Times ($): Piney Point pollution spread farther than first thought, new study shows. "The study sheds new light on the vast environmental toll of the wastewater emergency and adds more weight to the evidence that red tide and other algal blooms flaring in and around Tampa Bay during summer 2021 were linked to the nutrient-laden discharges from Piney Point, according to the study’s authors."

• News4Jax: 2 more property insurance companies scaling back in Florida just 2 weeks into hurricane season. "Over the past 18 months in Florida, 16 property insurance companies have decided to stop writing new business to new homeowners in one form or the other."

• WUSF-Tampa: Want free, healthy lunches for your kids this summer? This tool can help. "The interactive map and texting hotline is provided by No Kid Hungry in partnership with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. This year, the resource is also available via WhatsApp."

• News Service of Florida: Judges question a public records case involving Florida-funded migrant flights. "An appeals court Tuesday appeared to question a circuit judge’s ruling that said Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration violated Florida’s public-records law last year by not properly providing documents about controversial flights of migrants from Texas to Massachusetts."