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The stories near you
• The Alligator: Newberry preacher and education board member charged with twelve counts of possession of child pornography. "The charges arose from an investigation that began after Joel Bruce Searby, 48, engaged in inappropriate conversations with a juvenile through Snapchat."
• WUFT News: Gainesville City Hall, GRU leaders continue sparring over ballot referendum. "Following Wednesday's Gainesville Regional Utilities Authority meeting, utility CEO Ed Bielarski said Friday he expects a legal fight in the coming weeks."
• WUFT News: Alachua County and Gainesville invest $2.3 million in Vision Zero Initiative to improve pedestrian and cyclist safety. "The initiative allocates $2.3 million to fund a series of improvements, including the installation of new crosswalks, traffic lights, and signage designed to increase pedestrian visibility and safety."
• WUFT News: Alachua County faces animal overpopulation crisis as shelters reach capacity. "For seven consecutive months, Alachua County Animal Resources has reported being over capacity, straining resources and making it difficult for animals who have been awaiting adoption."
• Mainstreet Daily News: Staffing shortages mark rocky start to school year. "Over the summer, the school district lost over 100 instructional staff members, mostly to resignations, though 16 did retire, according to personnel lists showing employee movements."
• Gainesville Sun ($): 'Bittersweet moment': Gainesville Fire Rescue Chief Joe Dixon stepping down. "Gainesville City Manager Cynthia Curry in a memorandum to commissioners on Thursday announced that Gainesville Fire Rescue Chief Joe Dixon has decided to resign from his position effective Sept. 20."
• Florida Storms: Buyer Beware: Lemon Car Sales On The Rise in Florida after hurricanes/floods. "So far the 2024 hurricane season has brought widespread flooding across the southeastern part of the country. And thousands of cars have been irreparably damaged from flood waters."
• WUFT News: Fire destroys family-owned Williston restaurant, though owner plans to rebuild. "Flames tore through Melanie’s Restaurant early Tuesday morning, leaving the family owners of the eatery devastated. A restaurant that has been open for more than 15 years in the town of Williston experienced a tragedy in the early morning hours (last) week."
• WUFT News: UF Health is warning of synthetic opioid that's stronger than fentanyl. "UF Health experts say the drug is being found in contaminated opioids and is spreading through the black market."
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Around the state
• NPR: A Florida high school football player died after collapsing during a game. "It’s the latest tragedy in a string of recent deaths of young football players. At least seven other athletes in middle school and high school programs died last month, at practices, games or after practice and many under hot weather conditions. Two of the deaths involved head injuries."
• Central Florida Public Media: As Florida faces water shortage, watchdog group urges state to use a more long-term planning process. "Right now, Florida’s way of approving such projects is largely 'catch-as-can,' lacking consistency and accountability, according to Florida TaxWatch President and CEO Dominic M. Calabro."
• WUSF-Tampa: Floridians saved hundreds of millions of dollars in renewable tax credits for 2023. "Not only are the same tax credits going to be available for the next decade or so, but Florida will start distributing home energy rebates from a $346 million Inflation Reduction Act pot Gov. Ron DeSantis recently accepted."
• WFSU-Tallahassee: Incarceration deaths are increasing across the country -- including in Florida. "Conditions in Florida’s prisons and jails are an ongoing problem, but the question of deaths behind bars isn’t studied enough. So far this year, the Leon County Detention Facility has seen six inmates die from a range of causes."
• WLRN-Miami: Florida muddies water on rule to protect coral. "Three years after Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed a move to limit cruise ships from crossing shallow waters to enter the Port of Key West near increasingly imperiled reefs, state environmental regulators are poised to deal another blow by ignoring their own recommendation to set stricter limits on the plumes of sediment that can smother coral."
• WUSF-Tampa: Do polls have any value this election season? Two polling experts break it down. "Mike Binder, faculty director of the Public Opinion Research Lab at the University of North Florida, said that at the risk of devaluing the work he does with polls, 'the horse-race polling that gets most of the attention is probably the least valuable for democracy.'"
• WUSF-Tampa: In search of bull sharks, where manatees roam. "Crystal River is famous for its manatees, when hundreds flock snout to snout in the warm waters of Three Sisters Spring during winter cold snaps. But there's also a key species hiding in its waters that most people never heard of."
• WUSF-Tampa: A 500-year-old map shows the first ever written reference to Florida. "If you visit the Touchton Map Library at the Tampa Bay History Center, you'll see lots of maps depicting Florida's history. And now, one on display there from 1524 ... yes, 500 years ago ... is the first to ever show Florida."
From NPR News
• Law: Trump gets criminal sentencing delayed till after presidential election
• Health: First case of bird flu not directly linked to sick animals is found in Missouri
• National: 'I lied.' A teacher describes protecting her students during Apalachee HS shooting
• World: Killed in her pink roller skates, a Palestinian girl’s photo in Gaza goes viral
• Business: Boeing reaches tentative deal with its production workers in hopes to avoid strike
• Business: U.K. is investigating Ticketmaster after Oasis tour prices surprised fans
• Space: With no crew aboard, spacecraft Starliner lands without a hitch
• Climate: Cabernet is the most popular red wine in the U.S. Can it endure climate change?
Kristin Moorehead curated today's edition of The Point.