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• WUFT News: Settlement agreement reached with victims of lawsuits against Gainesville church and its parent organization. "Plaintiffs, who were minors at the time of the alleged abuse, claimed they were sexually assaulted by a former volunteer and member, Gabriel Hemenez, at the Ignite Life Center Summer Camp in Gainesville. The lawsuits alleged both the center and the district council were negligent in their responsibility to protect the victims and failed to intervene despite knowledge of the abuse."
• WUFT News: Jacksonville cemetery reveals forgotten history. "Once the final resting place for hundreds of Black men, women, and children, the cemetery's existence has been largely erased, its graves paved over during city development in the 1950s. Ennis Davis, a sixth-generation Jacksonville native, is leading efforts to restore Mount Herman’s history."
• WCJB: ‘I’m in disbelief’: Adam Rosenthal now being investigated for sexual battery in Gainesville. "Rosenthal, a 2022 mayoral candidate, disappeared in April and was reported missing in May. He was then charged with multiple violent crimes including two homicides in Tennessee and Georgia."
• Mainstreet Daily News: Dixie County Public Schools introduces 23 electric buses. "Up until a week ago, Dixie County Public Schools (DCPS) buses did not have air conditioning. Now students and bus drivers are rejoicing over a brand-new fleet of 23 electric school buses that run near-silently, with the option of air conditioning."
• The Alligator: Alachua County School Board introduces new board policies, adopts legislative platform. "The introduced board policies change the way instructional, library or reading materials are challenged within ACPS. They aim to streamline the process for challenging, while implementing stricter controls on objections to ensure a more efficient review process."
• WCJB: ‘I didn’t even know my name had been put in’: Dixie County veteran gifted new roof. "The roofing organization, based out of Old Town, offers high-quality metal roofing and gives discounts to veterans. Each year, the company selects one veteran to gift a roof to."
• Mainstreet Daily News: High Springs firefighters rescue puppy in sinkhole. "At 3:12 p.m., an HSFD crew was diverted to a second call involving a puppy that had descended into a 40-foot sinkhole. Within 12 minutes, firefighters were able to rescue the unharmed puppy using HSFD’s new light rescue truck, which had gone into service hours earlier."
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Around the state
• Central Florida Public Media: Rule finally proposed for pumping Florida freshwater springs. "The move comes just in time to meet the state agency’s deadline to respond to a recent lawsuit filed by the Florida Springs Council. The nonprofit had urged FDEP to finally issue a proposed rule for better protecting Florida springs, nearly nine years after the passage of a state law requiring the state agency to do so: the 2016 Florida Springs and Aquifer Protection Act."
• Central Florida Public Media: State Attorney Bain tells staff he won’t help transition to Worrell, then backtracks. "In a memo, Andrew Bain said the governor’s order suspending Monique Worrell as the previous state attorney still stands. He told staff they're living through an 'unprecedented legal event without clear answers.'"
• The Marshall Project: New Florida prison policy on trans health care 'like conversion therapy'. "With new restrictions on gender-affirming care, prisons confiscate underwear from trans people and compel them to cut their hair."
• News Service of Florida: A video chat platform is being shielded in a Florida child porn case. "While saying the facts of the case are 'nothing short of horrific,' a federal appeals court Monday upheld a Florida judge’s decision dismissing a lawsuit filed by parents of a child who was sexually exploited by a stranger she met in an online chatroom."
• Central Florida Public Media: Charges dropped after Carolina Amesty completes diversion program. "The grand jury alleged Amesty knowingly notarized a document with a forged signature in 2021 when she was an administrator at Central Christian University, an Orlando-area nonprofit run by her family."
• Associated Press: Monarch butterflies will get federal protections as a threatened species. "U.S. officials decided to extend protections to monarch butterflies after warnings from environmentalists that populations are shrinking and the beloved pollinator may not survive climate change."
• News Service of Florida: Hurricane Milton dealt a huge blow to Florida's citrus industry. "Damage from Hurricane Milton is driving down citrus production from what was already expected to be a historic low in the current growing season, according to a federal report released Tuesday."
• WFSU-Tallahassee: Berman files a bill that would allow childcare as a campaign expense. "Boynton Beach Democratic Senator Lori Berman waited to run for public office until her children were in high school. Now she says she has some regrets. So, Berman has filed a bill she hopes will encourage young parents to run -- by helping to cover their childcare costs."
From NPR News
• Climate: Arctic tundra now emits planet-warming pollution, federal report finds
• National: Police say UnitedHealthcare's CEO was likely killed with a ghost gun. What are they?
• Business: Kroger and Albertsons grocery megamerger halted by two courts
• National: Bankruptcy judge rejects The Onion's bid for Infowars
• World: One family thought they had left Syria forever. After Assad's fall, they plan to return
• World: An Afghan museum, that buried its artifacts after Taliban takeover, is reborn online
Kristin Moorehead curated today's edition of The Point.