The Point

The Point, Sept. 8, 2023: DeSantis appoints new Alachua County sheriff

WUFT | By WUFT News,

WUFT News

Published September 8, 2023 at 12:00 PM EDT

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

The stories near you

• Mainstreet Daily News: DeSantis appoints new sheriff of Alachua County. "Watson announced his last day in office will be on Oct. 1 after he sent a letter to DeSantis on July 31 declaring that he would step down from his elected term early due to health reasons."

• WUFT News: Steinhatchee scalloping to suffer. "Steinchatchee: a small, quiet riverside town known for its scalloping. It’s now flooded, muddy and littered with debris. Sludge normally trapped on the river’s bottom has muddied the crystal-clear water, now spotted with dead fish, furniture and vegetation."

• WUFT News: Students, experts question Wall Street Journal’s UF ranking. "Some students have concerns about how the schools were ranked, but associate professor of Data Journalism Norm Lewis said there are both positives and shortcomings to the study."

• WUFT News: DeSantis requests aid for Big Bend fishing industries. "He wrote a letter on Wednesday to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce to issue a federal fisheries declaration providing federal funding for offshore, nearshore and inshore fisheries to rebuild."

• Ocala Gazette: Thousands of utility customers can soon expect a second round of fire fee refund checks. "The case stems from a long-running class-action suit filed in 2014 over fees that averaged about $15 a month that more than 89,000 Ocala residents and businesses paid for fire services as an add-on to their utility bills."

• WCJB: GRU power bills may spike after Gainesville City officials vote 5-2 to increase rates. "The decision will increase electric rates by 3% and wastewater rates by 5%. GRU officials say this rate increase is a part of their debt-reduction plan."

• Mainstreet Daily News: ACPS enacts clear bag policy for football games. "The announcement comes after Columbia County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested two armed teenagers on Aug. 25 in Lake City when the suspects jumped the stadium fence during a Buchholz at Columbia High School football game."

• Ocala Star-Banner ($): Dunnellon Police Department is running on its own; city council needs a new member. "Police Chief Chris Scaglione told the Ocala Star-Banner on Thursday that officers hired by the department are out patrolling the city without assistance from the Marion County Sheriff's Office, which had been doing the job for the past several months while the police department rebuilt itself."

Today's sponsored message

Around the state

• WMFE-Orlando: Central Florida group takes abortion argument to state Supreme Court. "On Friday, the Florida Supreme Court will listen to arguments presented by the State and Planned Parenthood regarding the constitutionality of a 15-week abortion ban, also known as the Heartbeat Bill, signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2022."

• Associated Press: Man struck by tree while cleaning hurricane debris is third Florida death from Hurricane Idalia. "The Florida Department of Law Enforcement says the 90-year-old man died Tuesday in Dixie County after a tree fell on a tractor he was operating."

• WMFE-Orlando:Bunnell Elementary principal resigns after controversial assembly. "Bunnell Elementary School Principal Donelle Evensen has resigned following an assembly at the school that singled out Black students."

• NPR:Federal investigators zero in on deadly condo collapse cause in Surfside, Fla. "Structural engineers with the National Institute of Standards and Technology say it's one of the most complex investigations ever undertaken. It began days after the 2021 collapse of the Champlain Towers South building in Surfside."

• Associated Press: Gov. DeSantis and Florida surgeon general warn against new COVID-19 restrictions and vaccine. "Gov. Ron DeSantis is criticizing efforts across the U.S. to tamp down a recent jump in COVID-19 cases through temporary restrictions or masking."

• WMFE-Orlando: An asteroid could explain the formation of our own planet. "A spacecraft will launch from the Kennedy Space Center to explore a building block asteroid named Psyche."

• NPR: Coast Guard arrests a man trying to run a giant hamster wheel across the Atlantic. "Baluchi, who lives in Florida after being granted asylum from Iran, was taken in by the Coast Guard last week aboard his vessel, following several days of back and forth with the authorities."