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After hurricanes Helene and Milton hit Florida’s west coast, rebuilding businesses across Pinellas county before peak tourism months loomed. ‘Pinellas County tourism rebuilds after 2024’s major hurricanes’ reports on recovery of the county’s tourism industry as snowbirds and vacation-seeking visitors make way to Florida’s west coast to escape frigid colds.
The stories near you
• WUFT News: Safety concerns drive some Gainesville homeless people away from shelters. "'I don’t go to those shelters, people get stupid, and then I wanna get stupid,' Debrule said, referring to violence he says he has experienced in low-barrier shelters. He says shelter violence can make his path to recovery, and away from homelessness and prison, more difficult."
• WUFT News: Neighbors turn to city leaders over trash-filled Gainesville property. "A Gainesville home has been overflowing with trash and debris for nearly a decade, frustrating neighbors and violating city ordinances. Homeowner Doug Englert has been accruing $100 in daily code enforcement fines, yet the issue remains unresolved."
• WUFT News: 'My most sacred place': scholars, activists celebrate the human element of Florida springs. "Earl is part of a growing group of Florida nature-lovers and advocates encouraging springs conservation through human connection. They bring personal stories to a science and policy-dominated space, framing water as a relationship, not a resource."
• Fresh Take Florida: Judge agrees to hold accused gunman in drive-by, gang-related shootings in jail indefinitely. "Investigators said they tied Jeremiah Charles White, 25, of Alachua to shootings in the summer of 2022 by matching bullet cases at the state police crime lab and surveillance video from the gunfire. In all the shootings, no one was hit by bullets, police said."
• WUFT News: UF report details ongoing struggle for affordable housing. "The report found median home prices range from $250,000 in rural areas to over $500,000 in coastal cities. Renters are also struggling, according to the study, with almost 900 thousand low income renters paying more than 40% of their earnings on rent."
• WUFT News: Eastern Alachua County residents call for action as an economic development initiative takes shape. "Krienke, a longtime Hawthorne resident, volunteered at the Hawthorne Area Resource Center, where she encountered widespread challenges such as food insecurity, lack of internet access, and scarce employment opportunities."
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Around the state
• Fresh Take Florida: Florida's abortion ban: What the latest data show. "Florida’s ban on abortion beyond six weeks of pregnancy has led to the first decline in abortions since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, a result supporters of the ban hoped for."
• Fresh Take Florida: DeSantis wants to ban marine officers stopping boaters without suspicion of wrongdoing. "During an appearance at a boat show in Miami Beach, the governor said he was announcing a 'boater freedom initiative' that would change Florida’s existing laws permitting inspections and searches of boats under the justification of safety checks."
• Fresh Take Florida: Florida to execute first prisoner of 2025 on Thursday. "James D. Ford, 64, has spent nearly every moment of the last 25 years in a 6-by-9-foot cell on Florida’s Death Row at the Florida State Prison in rural Bradford County. From the moment a judge in Charlotte County in southwest Florida handed down his death sentence in 1999, Ford’s only option was to wait."
• Florida Storms: February promises nearly 40 additional minutes of daylight. "After an unusually cold January, February has been a welcome break from the frosty Florida forecast. And the timing is just about perfect. You’ve probably noticed the days are getting longer with more time to soak up the sun as we approach Spring. This month alone, Florida will gain almost 40 minutes of more daylight."
• WUSF-Tampa: Genetically modified trees offer hope for the future of Florida's embattled citrus industry. "They have successfully killed the insect behind the greening disease in the lab, but the real test will come over the next three years to see if they survive in citrus groves."
• WUSF-Tampa: Local law officers must cooperate with ICE. What that may mean for the public. "State leaders are seeking greater cooperation between local law enforcement and immigration agencies. Immigrant advocates warn that trust between police and the communities they protect will erode."
• News Service of Florida: Florida legislators tell condo owners not to expect bailouts. "Laws passed after the Surfside collapse require 'milestone inspections' of older buildings and 'structural integrity reserve' studies to determine how much money condo associations should set aside for future major repairs. Any 'substantial structural deterioration' found by engineers or architects requires more-detailed inspections."
From NPR News
• Politics: What happens if Trump starts ignoring court rulings? We break it down
• Politics: The public lost access to Census Bureau data for days after a Trump order
• Economy: No relief: Inflation unexpectedly heated up last month
• Education: What National Institutes of Health funding cuts could mean for U.S. universities
• Politics: Judge declines to block Trump administration's resignation offer to federal employees
• Climate: January wasn't expected to break global temperature records. But it did
• World: Trump says he will meet Putin to start talks to end the war in Ukraine
• Animals: Photos: See what happened at the Westminster Dog Show
Kristin Moorehead curated today's edition of The Point.