The Point

The Point, Nov. 6, 2023: Police video shows chaos during UF Israel vigil last month

WUFT | By WUFT News,

WUFT News

Published November 6, 2023 at 1:00 PM EST

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The stories near you

• Fresh Take Florida: Panic in the plaza: New videos show chaos of stampede at UF peace vigil, reveal police secretly investigating suicide-bomb threat. "The first substantial videos to emerge from a panicked stampede at the University of Florida during a nighttime vigil for Israelis killed in the Hamas attacks show waves of terrified students sprinting out of their shoes, discarding phones and water bottles and colliding with startled and confused police officers who had drawn their pistols searching for a possible gunman through the melee."

• WUFT News: Horseshoe Beach still recovering two months after Hurricane Idalia. "Over two months ago, Hurricane Idalia ravaged through the Gulf Coast of Florida, including Horseshoe Beach. This town and its community of fewer than 200 residents have come together to rebuild their homes, but it’s going to be a long road back."

• The Alligator: Gainesville police officer arrested after breaking into his girlfriend’s home and strangling her. "Christopher Bivins, a 29-year-old GPD officer and Gainesville resident, was charged with unarmed burglary of an unoccupied dwelling, battery by strangulation, grand theft of $750 or more but less than $5,000 and criminal mischief, according to an Alachua County Sheriff’s Office arrest report."

• Mainstreet Daily News: UF opens $150 million Malachowsky Hall, largest building on campus. "It’s the largest building at the university. It’s the most expensive academic building. It’s the only building on campus without red brick."

• WUFT News: UF’s National Medal of Technology and Innovation recipient works to make society better. "After receiving the National Medal of Technology and Innovation from President Biden in a ceremony at the White House last week, Juan E. Gilbert, Ph.D., is reflecting on his career."

• WCJB: First surgery ‘successful’ as MCFR captain recovers from serious burns. "Fire Chief James Banta posted an update on the condition of Cpt. Chris Trubelhorn on Friday evening. The chief said Banta’s first surgery was successful and he is resting comfortably."

• The Alligator: Pro-Palestinian groups march downtown to call for ceasefire. "The Vigil for Palestine event, promoted by Gainesville’s new branch of Jewish Voice for Peace, began at Bo Diddley Plaza at 5 p.m."

• WUFT News: Neighbors tell police tenant beat Rottweiler puppy with belt. "After months of listening to a dog whining and yelping in distress from what they believed was physical abuse, neighbors banded together to call police on behalf of a vulnerable 10-month-old Rottweiler. Its owner was in jail Friday facing a felony charge of animal abuse."

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Around the state

• WFSU-Tallahassee: Florida pedestrians, bicyclists call for stronger protections against drivers. "According to data pulled from the state's Traffic Safety Dashboard, Florida has seen an uptick in the number of pedestrian-involved car crashes since the pandemic."

• News Service of Florida: Medical marijuana operator challenges license fee hike. "The state Department of Health in December adopted a rule creating a formula that set the license-renewal fee for medical-marijuana operators at $1.33 million every two years — more than 22 times the $60,000 biennial fee operators had been paying since the program started six years ago."

• News Service of Florida: Florida lawmakers tee up hurricane and home improvement aid for the special session. "The proposals, released Thursday in advance of Monday’s start of a special legislative session, would provide about $416 million to various efforts tied to the hurricane and to the My Safe Florida Home Program."

• WLRN-Miami: All Miami-Dade public schools now stock overdose reversal drugs. "A national movement to get naloxone in schools is gaining momentum, at a time when opioids account for 90% of drug overdose deaths among teenagers, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."

• Associated Press: Charlie Adelson says he was blackmailed in FSU professor Dan Markel's murder. "A Florida dentist on trial in a murder-for-hire case involving his ex-brother-in-law claimed Thursday that he was a victim of extortion by the killers, but wasn't actually involved in the plot to kill the prominent Florida State University professor."

• NPR: Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds tried to remain neutral. On Monday, she'll endorse Ron DeSantis. "The high profile endorsement in the first-in-the-nation voting contest for the Republican primary comes as DeSantis and former UN Ambassador and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley battle for second place in the polls."

• WUSF-Tampa: Rescued Florida corals are ready to return to the ocean. "Scientists are returning rescued coral into the Florida Keys Reef Tract. Earlier this summer, exceedingly warm water temperatures put many coral species in jeopardy."

• WGCU-Fort Myers: Hurricane? What Hurricane? Record year for Loggerheads may link to past conservation efforts. "The Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation counted more than a thousand loggerhead nests on the islands. SCCF analyzed data and found that Sanibel is averaging about five times more loggerhead nests compared to the 1970s and ‘80s."