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The stories near you

• Associated Press: Ex-Florida QB Jalen Kitna agrees to plea deal that drops 5 felony child porn charges. "Eighth Judicial Circuit Judge Susan Miller-Jones placed Kitna on six months’ probation for each count but did not levy a fine or require the 20-year-old to register as a sex offender."

• WUFT News: Police respond to a hoax call of an active shooter at Library West. "The university sent UF Alerts shortly after the officers entered the building, warning students to stay away from the library."

• Ocala Star-Banner ($): 4th of July tragedy: Homeless man hit and killed by CSX train in Ocala. "Ocala police officers are investigating the death of a man who was hit by a CSX train on the 4th of July. Here's what we know."

• WCJB: Alachua County searching for phone service contractors for the jail. "The county issued a request for proposals from any vendor that can install, operate, and maintain equipment at the jail."

• Mainstreet Daily News: Clay Electric lowers fuel cost for customers. "The utility reports 5.3% lower bills, saving the average household $7 a month. The savings will come from the power cost adjustment."

• Gainesville Sun ($): Feeding Northeast Florida merges with Gainesville's Bread of the Mighty food bank. "The merger is expected to provide additional resources and support services across North and Central Florida."

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Around the state

• Associated Press: Victims' families walk though Parkland school shooting site, untouched for 5 years. "For more than five years, the bloodstained halls and classrooms where 17 people died in the Parkland school shooting has remained locked away and mostly untouched — not even the victims' families were allowed inside."

• Florida Politics: State warns undocumented immigrants from 5 states of penalties for driving with special licenses. "The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FLHSMV) put out an 'in case you missed it' announcement that the state’s new law (SB 1718) cracking down on illegal immigration that went into effect July 1 means special drivers licenses for the undocumented from those states are invalid."

• WMFE-Orlando: Thousands of educators protest Florida book ban outside of convention center. "The protesters consisted of educators from all over the country, who have been in town for the National Education Association’s Annual Meeting and Representative Assembly, which was inside the Convention Center."

• WLRN-Miami: Florida's economy outpaces U.S. with jobs, growth - and, yes, higher inflation. "It hasn't meant gangbuster economic growth, and plenty of Americans continue struggling. Yet the U.S. economy has kept growing during the first half of 2023, and Florida's economy has outpaced the national economy in several important economic gauges."

• News Service of Florida: Florida says its law restricting Chinese land ownership is not discriminatory. "The state is pushing back against a challenge to a new law that restricts people from China and six other countries from owning property in Florida, disputing arguments that it is unconstitutional and discriminates based on 'race and national origin.'"

• Florida Politics: State releases emergency rules on mandatory masking in health care settings. "Doctors’ offices and hospitals can no longer require all visitors, patients or employees to wear masks under a pair of emergency rules published by the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis."

• WMFE-Orlando: Winter isn't coming: Game of Thrones con, three others pull out of Orlando. "A handful of conventions that were scheduled to take place in Orlando have either been canceled or moved to other states."

• Community News Collaborative:Sarasota Bay dolphin researchers dig deep to find family ties. "But it’s also a multigenerational sanctuary for bottlenose dolphins, many of which exhibit human-like tendencies that form the basis of scientific study by the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program, the longest continuously running examination of a dolphin population in the United States."

From NPR News

• Law: U.S. is barred from combating disinformation on social media. Here's what it means

• National: Politicians want cop crackdowns on drug dealers. Experts say tough tactics cost lives

• Climate: Georgia's new nuclear plant is expected to make a dent in state's carbon emissions

• Politics: Lin Wood, a pro-Trump attorney who challenged 2020 election, retires his law license

• Environment: Joshua trees are dying. This new legislation hopes to tackle that

• National: Why parents, daycare owners and daycare workers are trapped in a broken market

• National: Roller coaster riders were trapped upside down for hours after mechanical failure
Kristin Moorehead curated today's edition of The Point.