The Point

The Point, Sept. 26, 2023: Alachua County school gyms struggle without A/C

WUFT | By WUFT News,

WUFT News

Published September 26, 2023 at 12:00 PM EDT

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The stories near you

• WUFT News: Not cool for school – Alachua County students struggle inside gyms without A/C, with no plans of installation. "At least four Alachua County public schools have no air conditioning units in their gyms—at a time when local temperatures are rising, linked to global warming and greenhouse gas emissions."

• WUFT News: Citrus County Animal Services receives multimillion-dollar funding for relocation. "According to the Citrus County public information officer, Veronica Kampschroer, the board of county commissioners accepted a $12.5 million budget to open a new facility in Lecanto."

• WUFT News: Columbia County Sheriff’s Office searches for missing K-9. "The sheriff’s office isn’t sure exactly what led Chaos to stray from his path, but Khachigan thinks the dense forest cover may have confused the K-9, he said."

• Mainstreet Daily News: Alachua County to vote on $751M budget, pulling public notices. "According to backup documents, Alachua County spends between $60,000 and $100,000 on public notices and now plans to bring the functions in house with existing staff."

• WCJB: Progress slowly being made on cleanup in Horseshoe Beach following Idalia. "Residents of Horseshoe Beach say things are finally beginning to look up nearly a month after Hurricane Idalia ravaged the town."

• Florida Storms: New app helps you prepare for the next hurricane. "Founder and Executive Director Heather Hackett had the idea for the program when Hurricane Irma caused widespread destruction across the Florida peninsula and she couldn’t find the supplies."

• WUFT News: Volunteers remove invasive species for Gainesville’s 30th National Public Lands Day. "For the first time, the 30th National Public Lands Day was open to volunteers from the public. West of the Bass Pro Shop in Celebration Pointe, 13 volunteers participated at Lake Kanapaha Park by pulling invasive coral ardisia, a non-native plant that displaces native trees and shrubs in the forest."

• WUFT News: North central Florida’s diversity of languages on display at the Matheson History Museum. "The Matheson History Museum is hosting a unique exhibition called 'We Are Here: Stories from Multilingual Speakers in North Central Florida' that aims to educate visitors on the lack of language access in north central Florida."

• The Alligator: Stuck in traffic: Gainesville roads and rush hour pose serious problems for students, locals. "Ongoing construction, irregular traffic lights, limited parking spaces and pedestrian pathways along certain roads raise questions of concern for Gainesville residents as they navigate the city."

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Around the state

• Associated Press: Fatal train crash near Plant City highlights dangers of private, unguarded crossings across US. "The weekend crash between a train and an SUV that killed six people in Florida happened at a private road crossing where little more than a sign or two is required — no crossing gates, no flashing lights, no warning sound."

• WMFE-Orlando: New Brightline train arrives in Orlando. "The train’s arrival in Orlando Friday was delayed partly because it made several stops to pick up VIPs along the way, Reininger said, but also because a different Brightline train struck and killed a pedestrian on the tracks in South Florida."

• WMFE-Orlando: 300% increase in ADHD medication user error, Central Florida expert weighs in. "Between 2000 and 2021, U.S. poison control centers across the nation saw a 300% increase in calls regarding children improperly taking ADHD medication outside of hospital settings, according to a study by the American Academy of Pediatrics."

• News Service of Florida: Bear hunts in Florida could be on the table again as interactions with humans increase. "It's been nearly eight years since the last state-sanctioned bear hunt, and Franklin County Sheriff A.J. Smith said Florida needs to find solutions as encounters between the animals and humans are increasing."

• WFSU-Tallahassee: Florida's dues deduction ban stays in place amid an ongoing lawsuit. "A Florida-based U.S. District judge has refused to put on hold a new law that removes the ability of some union members to automatically deduct their dues from their government paychecks. The case itself continues in the courts."

• WUSF-Tampa: August was the hottest ever for Florida as NOAA warns 2023 is headed for a record. "Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi all recorded their all-time high August average temperatures, and the heat is expected to persist until the end of October."

• WLRN-Miami: DeSantis suspends scholarships to Weston schools for 'ties to the Chinese Communist Party.' "The governor signed legislation into law last May that prohibits any school affiliated with 'a foreign country of concern' from participating in Florida’s school choice scholarship programs."

• WMFE-Orlando:Native Florida plants could be part of the solution to state's flooding, water quality problems. "Researchers at Stetson University have received one million dollars from the National Science Foundation to help stop flooding and improve water quality in Cape Canaveral."