The Point

The Point, July 11, 2024: Protester lied about suspension from Santa Fe College

WUFT | By WUFT News

Published July 11, 2024 at 8:00 AM EDT

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Charly Keanu Pringle, 21, of Jacksonville, Florida, is seen in this image moments before her arrest April 29, 2024, during a pro-Palestinian protest at the University of Florida. Pringle said Tuesday, July 9, 2024, that she had been suspended as a result of her arrest for three years from nearby Santa Fe College, where she said she was a student. Pringle provided emails purportedly from a senior college administrator describing such a suspension. Santa Fe officials said she was never suspended. Pringle separately faces a misdemeanor criminal charge of resisting an officer without violence with a trial scheduled for August. She has pleaded not guilty to the criminal charge. (Screenshot courtesy of Florida Highway Patrol video)

• Fresh Take Florida: Florida college student lied about being suspended 3 years over pro-Palestinian protest arrest. "Before her hoax was uncovered, Pringle shared with a reporter copies of fraudulent emails and an AI-generated voicemail she said came from Rodkin, a top Santa Fe administrator, to support her claims that she had been suspended."

• WCJB: Columbia County Republican Party chair accused of altering candidate documents, supervisor of elections says. "TV20 has obtained candidate oath documents for precinct committeemen and committeewomen that were edited to add the word 'alternate' after being notarized and filed."

• Mainstreet Daily News: Gainesville’s RTS wins $26.4 million federal grant to help buy hybrid buses. "The largest portion of the grant — $21.9 million — will go to help RTS buy full-sized hybrid electric buses. The $4.5 million remainder of the grant will be used to build a solar-generating facility at the RTS administration complex, according to a press release from the City of Gainesville."

• Mainstreet Daily News: Alachua County sets tentative tax rates and assessments. "Alachua County is proposing to shave its general county tax rate for fiscal year 2025, and to keep the tax rate for law enforcement the same as last year. If finalized, it will be the eighth year in a row the county has dropped its general fund tax rate."

• WCJB: The city of Ocala receives a new restaurant by crane. "The Atlanta-based brand is known to serve their sandwiches out of 750 square foot orange-colored shipping containers, known as ‘Cans’."

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Around the state

FILE - David Moimeme loads prepared meals into a vehicle as United Way of Broward County partners with the Miami Dolphins football team to distribute backpacks and meals to military families in need during the coronavirus pandemic, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2020, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sludgy)

• WLRN-Miami: Half the households in Florida struggle to make financial ends meet, major report shows. "The nonprofit charity fundraiser organization produces the annual ALICE report — which stands for 'Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed' — to track the number of households that fall above the federal poverty level but make less than what it takes to live comfortably in a local community’s economy."

• USA Today ($): Americans bought 5.5 million guns to start 2024. See where Florida ranks among the states. "Together, Florida, Texas and California accounted for 22% of all firearms sold through April 2024, the analysis showed."

• News Service of Florida: Request to hold DeSantis’ administration in contempt is denied in a records case. "A Leon County circuit judge rejected a request to hold Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration in contempt for not providing personal cell-phone records of Chief of Staff James Uthmeier that could relate to a controversial 2022 decision to fly migrants from Texas to Massachusetts."

• WUSF-Tampa: Andrew Warren files motion to expedite a decision on him being reinstated as state attorney. "The motion with the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta comes half a year after an appeals court ruled that U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle - who is overseeing the case - has the power to reinstate Warren."

• WUSF-Tampa: USF launches a remotely operated vehicle for deep-sea exploration. "Taurus will take its first deep-sea mission in late July. It will be able to take tissue samples from deep-water sharks and help restore and repair coral communities."

• WLRN-Miami: Shark teeth fossils are hard to find in South Florida — but not impossible. "Florida's Venice Beach is known as the 'Shark Tooth Capital of the World,' but residents in Broward and Palm Beach counties are scouring the shore line and finding a fair share of shark teeth."

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• Health: How to prepare for power outages if your health depends on home medical devices

• Science: These monkeys were 'notoriously competitive' until Hurricane Maria wrecked their home

• History: This portrait of Dolley Madison might be the first photo of a first lady

Kristin Moorehead curated today's edition of The Point.