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The stories near you
• WUFT News: Florida real estate professionals react to national Realtor lawsuit settlement. "The National Association of Realtors last week reached a settlement agreement in a national lawsuit. Professionals involved in the real estate market have been processing how this change will affect the industry in Florida."
• WUFT News: Construction begins on new fire station in Alachua. "The station is the second of four fire stations in Alachua County being built to relocate fire rescue crews closer to areas with growing populations."
• Mainstreet Daily News: Santa Fe High School coach, school employee put on administrative leave. "The announcement came after the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) recently started investigating alleged crimes against children at the school."
• Ocala Star-Banner ($): Pilots accused of embezzling nearly $800,000 from John Travolta-led company. "A St. Cloud pilot accused of scamming a local aviation company out of nearly $800,000 is being held without bail at the Marion County Jail as detectives search for his alleged accomplice, also a pilot."
• WCJB: ACEA teachers union members concerned with potential abolishment. "A new state law requires unions to sign up 60% of a workforce to keep their charter. The teachers unit currently has 65% membership but only 49% for ESPs. Union members say they need about 180 ESPs to meet their member threshold."
• WCJB: Newberry High football coach accused of misusing booster club funds. "The Alachua County School District is confirming why a high school football coach was initially removed from the team. After public outcry, the principal reinstated the coach."
• Ocala Gazette: “Marion County Day” to be held for county’s 180th anniversary. "As Marion County celebrates its 180th birthday this year, the county is hosting a day full of fun, games and food to honor nearly two centuries of history."
• The Point Podcast: A Limiting PAW-licy. Wednesday’s host, Ailee Shanes, speaks with Eddie Leedy, the executive director of the Humane Society of Marion County, on an ordinance passed by the city of Dunnellon limiting the number of dogs and cats one can own and what concerns arise because of it.
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Around the state
• Associated Press: Trump wins Florida's primary as he and Biden secure other wins across the US. "Donald Trump has won the Republican presidential primary in Florida, a vote that the former president was expected to carry easily after all his major challengers dropped out."
• PolitiFact FL: Four years after shelter-in-place, COVID-19 misinformation persists. "Four years later, people’s lives are largely free of the extreme public health measures that restricted them early in the pandemic. But COVID-19 misinformation persists, although it’s now centered mostly on vaccines and vaccine-related conspiracy theories."
• WMFE-Orlando: How the ongoing air traffic controller shortage is affecting Florida’s airspace, and how to fix it. "Although the FAA met its goal in 2023 of hiring 1,500 new air traffic controllers, there continues to be a shortage of controllers, according to Jim Gregory, Dean of the College of Engineering at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University."
• WFSU-Tallahassee: Florida State vs ACC: Clemson is joining FSU in its push to leave the conference. "The school broke the news Tuesday afternoon when it filed a 28-page complaint against the league in Pickens County, South Carolina."
• Associated Press: Arsonist sets fire to South Florida Jewish center, but police do not believe it was a hate crime. "Rabbi Chaim Slavaticki said Monday that the man accused of setting the fire sat down in front of his family's car on Friday evening in the alley behind the Las Olas Jewish Center, raised his middle finger and would not let them pass as they arrived for a Shabbat dinner with the community."
• WUSF-Tampa: Painted buntings are in decline. Citizen scientists with backyard feeders are helping track them. "State and federal surveys of the birds showed some information on their whereabouts and habits, that their numbers were falling at least 3.2% annually from 1966 to 1995, which triggered additional conservation efforts, including Rotenberg's work starting in 2006."
From NPR News
• Law: Here's what happens if Trump can't pay his $454 million bond
• Politics: Negotiators reach spending deal but timeline is tight to avoid shutdown
• Politics: Young conservatives have grown up in Trump's Republican Party. Now, it's time to vote
• World: Famine in northern Gaza is 'imminent,' warns the world's leading authority on hunger
• National: So long, Stumpy. More than 150 of D.C.'s cherry trees have to go as water rises
• Law: Reddit and YouTube must face a lawsuit over the radicalization of the Buffalo shooter
• Health: U.S. drops in new global happiness ranking. One age group bucks the trend
• World: Can a picture make you happy? We asked photographers and here's what they sent us
Kristin Moorehead curated today's edition of The Point.