The Point

The Point, Dec. 4, 2023: School district returns LGBTQ book to library shelf

WUFT | By WUFT News,

WUFT News

Published December 4, 2023 at 1:00 PM EST

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The stories near you

• WUFT News: School district reverses decision, putting LGBTQ book back on library shelf. "The district said it now deems the complaint about the book invalid after concluding the woman who challenged it was not legally a resident of the county."

• WUFT News: Police: Gainesville man vandalized Jewish centers, wrote ‘burn in hell.' "Police said Friday they arrested a 50-year-old Gainesville man accused of vandalizing the Chabad Jewish Student Center on the University of Florida campus with hate speech such as 'burn in hell' and leaving disturbed messages with other Jewish organizations."

• WUFT News: A perfect storm leaves Perry residents fearing the future. "After a hurricane rolls through, a city’s usual worries are cleaning up and rebuilding. Perry wasn’t so lucky. Less than three weeks after Hurricane Idalia hit the town of less than 7,000 people, Perry’s biggest employer announced it would permanently close on Nov. 16."

• WUFT News: Wildlife rehabbers may be in jeopardy with new rules from Florida Fish and Wildlife. "The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) plans to consider proposed changes to the rules governing wildlife rehabilitation at its next meeting, Dec. 5-6 in Orlando. Some wildlife rehabbers oppose the rule changes, saying they may force them to call it quits."

• Mainstreet Daily News: Gainesville Regional Utilities lowers fuel cost rate by 5 mills. "Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) announced a December reduction in its fuel adjustment rate for electric and gas customers, marking the fourth reduction this year."

• WUFT News: East Gainesville residents make their mark on UF Health history. "UF Health and public officials gathered at a signing event Thursday for the Eastside Urgent Care Center currently under construction."

• WUFT News: Gainesville remembers civil rights activist Rosa Parks. "Members of the Gainesville community gathered Friday at the Rosa Parks Transfer station to remember the courage Rosa Parks had when she refused to give up her seat in a Montgomery, Alabama, bus. Friday marked 68 years since Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat."

• The Alligator: ‘It’s a start’: Gainesville drag community celebrates temporary lift on Florida ban of children at shows. "On Nov. 16, the United States Supreme Court refused the state of Florida’s request to re-enact a law punishing businesses for allowing children into drag shows. Artists like Garrepy are taking the opportunity to celebrate the rare legal victory, which follows a flurry of Florida anti-LGBTQ laws passed over recent legislative terms."

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Around the state

• Associated Press: Florida Republican chairman won’t resign over rape allegation, saying he is innocent. "The chair of Florida’s Republican Party says he will not resign over a woman’s allegation that he raped her, saying in an email to supporters that he is innocent. He did not address any specifics of the accusation that has roiled the state’s conservative politics."

• News Service of Florida: Whistleblower alleges retaliation over DeSantis records. "Friday’s dismissal of Patricia Carpenter came amid a shake-up of high-level staff following a contentious November meeting over the governor’s travel records."

• WFSU-Tallahassee: A Florida appeals court upholds DeSantis' congressional map. "A state appeals court has upheld Gov. Ron DeSantis’ removal of North Florida’s only congressional district where Black voters could elect their candidate of choice. The decision reversed a lower court ruling that found the map unconstitutional."

• PolitiFact: Fact-checking Newsom-DeSantis debate: Immigration, abortion, book bans and a poop map. "The governors cherry-picked favorable data and talked over each other as moderator Sean Hannity flipped through topics. Newsom was telling 'a lot of whoppers,' said DeSantis, whose props included a purported map of feces in San Francisco. (We fact-checked it at the end.)"

• NPR: Undefeated Florida State is left out of 4-team College Football Playoff. "Michigan, Washington, Texas and Alabama were picked on Sunday. Notably, Florida State was excluded, becoming the first undefeated power conference champion to ever miss out on the field."

• WUSF-Tampa: Florida leads the nation for two kinds of pollution from gas-powered lawn and garden equipment. "In 2020, equipment like lawn mowers and leaf blowers emitted 2,116 tons of 'fine particulates' in Florida — that amount is equivalent to the pollution left behind by 22,709,915 cars over the course of a year."

• WGCU-Fort Myers: Drought and related water restrictions expand in Southwest Florida. "The City of Sanibel on Thursday sent reminders to residents to pay attention to the drought unfolding in coastal Southwest Florida and to stick to the water restrictions already imposed on the island’s 5,300 water users."