The Point

The Point, July 13, 2023: Lawsuit judge allows reenactment of Parkland massacre

By WUFT News,

WUFT News

Published July 13, 2023 at 12:00 PM EDT

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The stories near you

• WUFT News: Agritourism conference tours north central Florida farms. "Sarah Harris, one of the association’s directors, said they were expecting around 100 to 150 people to sign up for the conference. Instead, they got over 250 people to attend, plus more who were put on a waitlist."

• News Service of Florida: Florida municipal utilities to get more solar power via sites in Levy, Putnam counties. "The Putnam County site is expected to be finished by the end of 2023, while the Levy County site is slated for 2024, according to the agency, which is an electricity wholesaler for municipal utilities."

• Mainstreet Daily News: Airline pricing debate descends on GNV. "A recent incident at Gainesville Regional Airport is making national headlines this week after American Airlines detained a North Carolina teen for using a travel hack intended to save on airfare."

• Florida Politics: Citrus County Tourism Director’s job at risk over Cincinnati Zoo manatee project. "Pricher is accused of approving a $50,000 contract with Madden Media, the county’s tourism advertising agency, for a manatee education program at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden."

• WCJB: Both lanes of Starke railroad overpass are open. "The overpass is intended to ease congestion and improve traffic flow within Starke, which was previously divided by the CSX railroad that runs parallel to US 301."

• Florida Politics: University of Florida report shows Florida lagging behind the nation in affordable housing recovery. "Nationally, rent growth is on the decline and the market is beginning to favor tenants. But that trend may be a ways off in Florida, according to research from the University of Florida (UF)."

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Around the state

• Associated Press: Reenactment of Parkland school massacre on campus will be allowed as part of lawsuit against deputy. "Peterson, the school's on-campus deputy, was acquitted last month of criminal charges accusing him of inaction, but the civil case against him, the Broward Sheriff's Office and others is governed by different laws and rules of evidence. It also has a lower standard of proof."

• News Service of Florida: Florida citrus growers end worst season in nearly a century. "Growers produced 15.85 million boxes of oranges during the 2022-2023 season, down from 41.2 million boxes during the 2021-2022 season, which itself marked a continued decrease in production."

• Jacksonville Today: Nearly 150,000 households on waitlist for Jax affordable housing. "'Just let that marinate for a minute,' said Alexander, adding that the number is merely heads of the household making between $12,000 and $14,000 a year, and doesn’t include family members."

• WUSF-Tampa: Experts shine a light on the invisible toll of informal evictions. "When landlords push renters out without using the court — in what’s called an informal eviction — there’s often no way to track it."

• Tallahassee Democrat ($): Are your children's vaccines up to date before school starts? 9 things parents should know. "Florida requires certain vaccines to be administered before children may enroll and attend childcare and school."

• WMFE-Orlando: Before mission to the moon, NASA astronauts will hitch a ride in this van. "Electric vehicle company Canoo delivered three, all electric, zero-emission vans that will fit the four astronauts aboard the upcoming Artemis II mission, as well as equipment and technicians that will assist the crew in final preparations ahead of their launch from Kennedy Space Center."

• Fort Myers News-Press ($): 'It was insane': Hunters capture longest Burmese python ever recorded near Naples, Florida. "The 19-foot python was caught in the Big Cypress National Preserve in eastern Collier County early Monday morning."