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The stories near you
• WCJB: Commissioners approve plan for Thelma A. Boltin Center in split vote. "In a 4 to 3 vote, the Gainesville City Commission approved a $1.5 million plan to renovate the Thelma A. Boltin Center. Mayor Harvey Ward and commissioners Reina Saco and Casey Willits voted in dissent."
• Mainstreet Daily News: Hawthorne overcomes mistakes, turnovers to win second straight state title. "The defending FHSAA Class 1R state champions overcame three interceptions and a blocked punt in the first half to defeat 2021 state champion Madison County, 22-13, to win their second straight state title."
• Ocala Gazette: Horizon Academy hoax 911 caller arrested. "An 11-year-old boy has been arrested following a false 911 call reporting an active shooter at Horizon Academy on Tuesday."
• Mainstreet Daily News: Gainesville commission picks Mhere as new city auditor. "Mayor Harvey Ward will now negotiate a contract with Mhere to bring back to the commission for approval. Ward said he hopes to return with the contract at the Dec. 14 meeting. The commission also set a maximum salary for Ward to use in negotiations."
• Ocala Gazette: Marion County HCA hospitals receive national accreditation. "The HCA Florida Ocala Hospital and the HCA Florida West Marion Hospital have both received national accreditation from the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer."
• WUFT News: UF student business competition deadline nears, $25,000 prize at stake. "University of Florida students have until Dec. 15 to sign up for the opportunity to win $25,000 in the 2024 Big Idea Gator Business Plan Competition."
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Around the state
• Florida Trident: Police have recovered video of Florida GOP chair and alleged victim in rape investigation. "Sarasota police have recovered a cell phone video taken by Florida GOP chairman Christian Ziegler of his sexual encounter with a woman who has alleged he raped her, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the criminal investigation."
• Politico: College Board’s updated African American studies course nods to Colin Kaepernick and Black feminism. "But it’s not clear how a new course framework set to launch nationwide in the 2024-25 school year will quell political controversy in states that restrict school lessons on race and gender, or among liberals who criticized the education giant after it excluded lessons on Black queer studies in an earlier version this year."
• WUSF-Tampa: Teen, 14, faces adult murder charges in connection with Ybor City shooting. "A teenager being held on gun charges in relation to the Oct. 29 shooting that killed two and injured 16 now faces an adult count of second-degree murder."
• PolitiFact: Fact-checking the fourth 2024 Republican presidential primary debate. "The candidates squabbled over electability, corruption and support for Israel. They also discussed former President Donald Trump’s recent comments on immigration, inflation and how he’d handle a second presidency. Trump, the GOP front-runner, skipped this debate, as he had the previous three."
• News Service of Florida: Professors association criticizes 'political interference' by Florida government at universities. "The 53-page report by the American Association of University Professors focused on measures approved by the Legislature and Gov. Ron DeSantis during the past several years, actions taken by higher-education officials and an effort by conservatives to remake New College of Florida."
• Associated Press: Juanita Castro, anti-communist sister of Cuban leaders Fidel and Raul, dies at 90 in Miami. "In her book, Juanita Castro, a staunch anti-communist, wrote that she began collaborating with the CIA shortly after the United States botched the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961."
• NPR: They're not cute and fuzzy — but this book makes the case for Florida's alligators. "A nonfiction narrative that deals with the history of the Everglades and the state of Florida, as well as poaching and the ways law enforcement battles against it, this book simultaneously focuses on the lives of two men on very different sides of the poaching issue."
From NPR News
• National: 3 UNLV faculty members were killed in the Las Vegas campus shooting
• Politics: Hunter Biden is indicted on federal tax charges
• World: Reuters releases investigation finding Israeli tank fire killed 1 of its journalists
• Health: White House proposes to 'march in' on patents for costly drugs
• National: This year's Hanukkah celebrations are tempered by Israel's war with Hamas
• World: It's one of the biggest experiments in fighting global poverty. Now the results are in
Kristin Moorehead curated today's edition of The Point.