Subscribe to The Point, arriving in your inbox Monday through Friday at 8 a.m.
The stories near you
• News Service of Florida: Florida Supreme Court justices weigh case over fees during UF campus shutdown. "In one of numerous similar lawsuits in Florida and across the country, the state Supreme Court on Wednesday weighed whether a University of Florida graduate student could seek to require the school to refund money for services that were not provided during a COVID-19 campus shutdown in 2020."
• Storm Center: Record heat returns to Florida, followed by big rain. "Although temperatures have been hot this last week, they have at least remained closer to normal values for this time of year. This is all about to change starting Thursday as winds shift and mainly come from the south."
• USA Today ($): Biggest Buc-ee's in US will be in Texas... at least until the new Florida one opens in 2025. "As of next month, the biggest Buc-ee's anywhere will be in Luling, Texas, replacing the current biggest Buc-ee's in Sevierville, Tennessee. They may not have long to enjoy their title, though: an even bigger one is coming to Florida next year."
• Mainstreet Daily News: Alachua school board approves 10 principal appointments. "One attendee described the changes as a game of 'musical principals,' a concern several citizen attendees and at least one board member expressed."
• Mainstreet Daily News: 100 Black Men opens registration for annual Aviation Academy. "The 100 Black Men of Greater Florida GNV Chapter is preparing for its sixth annual Aviation Academy next month and is currently seeking 100 teen participants ages 12 through 18 who are considering aviation as a future career path."
• Ocala Gazette: County secures funding for next phase of NW 49th Street project for I-75 interchange. "The entire project, including extending and building county roads to connect to the interchange, is anticipated to cost $121,279,072 in federal, state and local funds, according to the Ocala Marion Transportation Planning Organization."
Today's sponsored message
Around the state
• WUSF-Tampa: Florida blames EPA, not inaccurate data submission, for high lead pipe estimates. "The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced last year that Florida had more lead pipes than any other state in the country with an estimated 1.16 million out of the 9.2 million nationally."
• Miami Herald ($): How opioid prescriptions to Medicaid patients in Florida stack up. "Within the past decade, policies aimed at controlling the dispensing of legal opioids and promoting alternative nonopioid pain treatments have been credited for slowing the number of prescriptions and overdose deaths."
• News4Jax: How student loan debt is affecting those who are ready to retire. "Student loan debt is typically viewed as an issue facing younger Americans, but new research finds that the struggles aren’t limited to Americans in their 20s."
• Central Florida Public Media: Unsheltered homeless population doubles in Central Florida’s annual count. "On a single night, the overall number of people experiencing homelessness across the three counties was found to be 2,883. Among those 1,201 were unsheltered."
• WFSU-Tallahassee: For the first time in years, the Monticello Watermelon Festival will feature locally grown melons. "The festival recalls the time when Jefferson County was one of the premier watermelon producers in the southeast."
• Central Florida Public Media: Disney plans to invest $17 billion into its Orlando theme parks. "With final approval later this month, the company will have the ability to expand its resources in Central Florida and possibly add a new theme park."
From NPR News
• World: They were there on D-Day, on the beaches and in the skies. This is what they saw
• National: More than 150 in U.S. became sick due to a possible salmonella outbreak in cucumbers
• Health: Broadband subsidies for rural Americans are ending, putting telehealth at risk
• National: A heat dome can bring dangerously high temperatures. What is it?
• Politics: Missouri joins other red states in trying to stamp out ranked choice voting
• Science: Joro spiders are big and colorful, but they shouldn't be nightmare fodder
Krista Jensen curated today's edition of The Point.