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• WUFT News: In 1960s Gainesville, interracial blues bands helped bridge the gap in the city's music scene. "Charles Steadham is no stranger to blues music. He has been playing the blues for years, performing in venues across the South. Not once was he afraid to play onstage in front of a crowd or even to walk into a prison where he was performing. But when it came to the Ku Klux Klan, that was another story."

• Florida Storms: Drought worsens in Florida; long-term outlook doesn't look good. "For most of Florida, the dry season started in late October, and by Christmas, most of the state is dealing with at least abnormally dry conditions that seem to be worsening as rain continues to be absent."

• WUFT News: Anniversary of the Rosewood massacre draws near. "In 1923, a white mob descended upon the Levy County town and burned it to the ground. At least seven people were killed, although some descendants of the families who lived there say that number is much higher."

• Florida Storms: Is the Ho Ho Ho holiday travel weather, naughty or nice this year? "If you’re staying in Florida for the holidays, here’s generally what you can expect: a cold front pushed through the State early on Saturday so mainly dry conditions are expected state wide. The coldest weather will (of course) be in north Florida with parts of the state under a freeze warning tonight with some patchy frost expected by Sunday morning."

• WUFT News: More than a game: UF Club Golf helps students find camaraderie, sense of community. "Once you look further, though, you realize it’s much more. It’s a community, a place for students - whether seniors or freshmen, guys or girls, British or American - to come together and bond over a game they love."

• Gainesville Sun ($): Gun-related homicides in Gainesville down in 2024 as prevention measures continue. "The Gainesville Police Department released data earlier this month that shows a decrease in gun-related crimes over the course over 2024, including no gun-related homicides within the city limits since May. Seven homicides were recorded during the first few months of the year."

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Around the state

• WUSF-Tampa: Approval given to allow a test road using phosphate waste to be built. "The ruling will allow Mosaic company to test a roughly one-mile road using phosphogypsum at its New Wales Mine in Mulberry, in Polk County. The roughly one-mile long road would use up to 1,200 tons of the material. It's a byproduct of fertilizer production that produces radioactive gas that may cause lung cancer."

• Associated Press: Florida requires teaching Black history. Some don't trust schools to do it justice. "Thirty years after Florida required schools to teach African American history, how the subject is taught remains inconsistent across Florida classrooms, a review by The Associated Press has found."

• Central Florida Public Media: Florida's undocumented and their families face fear, uncertainty as 2025 looms. "As the new year approaches, President-elect Donald Trump's promise of mass deportations is creating stress and fear for the estimated 5% of Floridians who are undocumented immigrants -- and for their families."

• Associated Press: Florida agriculture hit with $190M losses from Hurricane Milton. "When all the data is in, the university's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) estimates the losses from Milton could reach over $642 million. That compares with farm-related damages of $170 million from Hurricane Debby in August and up to $162 million caused by Hurricane Helene in September."

• Associated Press: A million taxpayers will soon receive up to $1,400 from the IRS. "The IRS said it's distributing about $2.4 billion to taxpayers who failed to claim a Recovery Rebate Credit on their 2021 tax returns. People who missed one of the COVID stimulus payments or had received less than the full amount were able to claim the credit. But the IRS on Friday said it discovered many eligible taxpayers hadn't done so."

• News Service of Florida: The ACC won't get a rehearing in its fight with Florida State University. "The ACC filed a lawsuit in North Carolina one day before the university filed a lawsuit in Leon County circuit court. The conference has argued that because its lawsuit was filed first, the Florida case should be put on hold until the North Carolina lawsuit is resolved."

• Central Florida Public Media: Radioing an astronaut at the ISS: An out of this world experience at Sally Ride Elementary. "Sally Ride Elementary is famously named after the first woman in the U.S. to journey into space in 1983 on the Space Shuttle Challenger. Now, over four decades since Sally Ride’s trip to space, students are being encouraged to reach for the stars at Sally Ride elementary school."

From NPR News

• National: What a government shutdown could mean for your holiday travel plans

• Climate: Climate-warming gas leaks must be fixed by utilities in a new proposed rule

• Health: HIV is spiking in new hot spots. Here's what's being done to control it

• Health: The popular 'hospital-at-home' effort is at stake in the federal spending battle

• World: Malaysia plans to restart a private search for the missing Flight MH370

• National: The carjacking rate has started to drop after a disturbing jump in previous years

• Health: The FDA restricts a psychoactive mushroom used in some edibles

• Business: Party City files for bankruptcy and plans to shutter nationwide

Kristin Moorehead curated today's edition of The Point.