The Point

The Point, Feb. 11, 2025: Newberry picks mayor for city manager

WUFT | By WUFT News

Published February 11, 2025 at 8:00 AM EST

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The stories near you

Mayor Jordan Marlowe reading from the city commission meeting packet at Monday’s meeting. (Michael Orlando/WUFT News)

• WUFT News: Two weeks after search starts, Newberry commissioners find new city manager in current mayor. "At the tail end of Monday’s meeting, commissioners voted unanimously to take the first steps in hiring Mayor Jordan Marlowe as the next city manager. The motion allows commissioner and mayor pro tempore Mark Clark to begin contract negotiations with Marlowe for the position, which he would not fill until the end of the school year."

• Fresh Take Florida: Across US, state lawmakers lining up to join immigration battle. "Proposals include prohibitions on cities adopting so-called sanctuary policies and new laws allowing authorities in states to arrest people they suspect are in the country illegally."

• Mainstreet Daily News: Lender files foreclosure complaint against Oaks Mall, $80M owed. "U.S. Bank said in its filings that Oaks Mall failed to pay the full amount of a 2012 loan for $118 million despite two extensions. The loan matured on Oct. 1, 2024, with legal filings following."

• WUFT News: Gainesville sorority, domestic abuse shelter host free dating violence seminar. "Joanne Karagnara never imagined she’d be sharing her story of domestic violence, but at Springhill Baptist Church Saturday afternoon, she was a living inspiration to a room full of women."

• WUFT News: Mapping Tom Petty’s legacy: How one fan is keeping Petty’s hometown ties alive. "Petty’s roots still run deep in the city, and now, thanks to Shawn Murphy, a longtime fan of Petty, fellow fans can trace those roots through the Tom Petty Trail, a digital guide mapping out key locations tied to the musician’s early years in his hometown."

• WUFT News: Photo gallery: New UFPD chief sworn in. "Chief Bart Knowles is sworn into his new role of Chief of the UF Police Department by UF President Kent Fuchs at UF Division of Public Safety on University of Florida campus in Gainesville, Fla., on Monday, Feb. 10, 2025."

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Around the state

• WLRN-Miami: Former Republican politician Adam Hasner chosen to lead FAU, despite protests. "Hasner, a former Republican Majority Leader in the Florida House of Representatives, is one of the latest in a trend in Florida: Presidential candidates for public universities are increasingly politically connected leaders with little experience in higher education."

• News Service of Florida: An effort to halt a Florida execution goes to the U.S. Supreme Court. "The attorneys filed documents Saturday seeking a stay of execution and additional legal proceedings as Ford is poised to be put to death by lethal injection in the 1997 murders of a couple at a Charlotte County sod farm."

• WUSF-Tampa: Invasive species cost the state millions. Here's what to know about them. "The state has been called 'ground zero' for these plants and animals because of its warm, welcoming environment, especially in South Florida."

• WGCU-Fort Myers: Florida ranks lowest among states in nursing exam pass rate. "The test that a nurse needs to pass to get a license is called the National Council Licensure Examination, or N-CLEX. There are separate tests for registered nurses, or RNs, and practical nurse, or PNs."

Members of the Manasota chapter of the Florida Young Birders Club watch birds through binoculars at Red Bug Slough in Sarasota. Jan. 25, 2025. (Kerry Sheridan/WUSF)

• WUSF-Tampa: COVID pushed a lot of kids outdoors. Now teens have taken to birdwatching. "Sophia Haakman says she's been birding 'more than half of my life.' That's saying something, considering she's only 15 and became interested in birds around age 7."

• WUSF-Tampa: Clearwater Marine Aquarium releases six rehabilitated sea turtles into Florida waters. "While you were braving Florida's chilly weather a few weeks ago, a group of sea turtles were being warmed up at Clearwater Marine Aquarium. The nonprofit announced that it released four Kemp's ridley sea turtles off the state's east coast on Jan. 29 after treating them for several weeks."