The Point

The Point, Feb. 17, 2025: High Springs commission denies community development district

WUFT | By WUFT News

Published February 17, 2025 at 8:00 AM EST

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High Springs City Commissioner Katherine Weitz questions engineer Chris Potts on a proposed community development district on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (Logan McBride/WUFT News)

• WUFT News: High Springs Commission denies proposed community development district for Bridlewood property. "City commissioners addressed other issues, but the discussion on the proposed ordinance to allow developers to create a community development district for the 688-acre development took up nearly two hours of the two-and-a-half-hour meeting."

• WUFT News: UF students caught up in police chase of armed robber. "The suspect fled the scene towards UFORA Gainesville, a UF student apartment complex located at 1218 SW Fifth Ave. Students in the area were confused and panicked as the UF Alert System kept them updated."

• WUFT News: Photo gallery: Parkland shooting vigil held at UF's Plaza of the Americas. "Around 40 people came out for a vigil remembering the 7 year anniversary of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting at the Plaza of the Americas in Gainesville, Fla., on Friday, Feb. 14, 2025."

• Florida Storms: A surge in temperatures brings a jump start to hay fever season. "The increase in pollen levels is primarily due to the extended growing season that our warmer weather brings. Plants are blooming earlier and for longer periods, releasing more pollen into the air. Trees, grasses, and weeds all contribute to the pollen count, with oak and grass being the leading pollen producers in Florida."

• WUFT News: Scientists race to protect chocolate supply from devastating disease. "A disease called black pod rot is attacking cacao pods, damaging crops and putting the global chocolate supply at risk. The disease, caused by an organism that shrivels cacao pods and destroys the beans inside, is a growing concern for farmers. One strain, Phytophthora megakarya, has wiped out up to 80% of cacao crops in parts of Africa."

• WUFT News: Undefeated Newberry boys' basketball team chases perfection with season on the line. "The Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA), the governing body of Florida high school sports, released new state classifications for boys' high school basketball in June 2024. The Panthers were elevated from classification 1A to classification 3A, and despite the growth in competition, Newberry has shown that it can play with anyone in the state."

• WUFT News: Guests ‘swing’ into Santa Fe College dance on Valentine's Day. "Pink lights illuminated the dance floor in the lobby of the Jackson N. Sasser Fine Arts Hall at Santa Fe College on Friday night where about 50 lovers of swing dance turned out for a Valentine’s Day dance."

• The Alligator: The Pride Center Library reopens to promote frequently challenged LGBTQ+ books. "When the Pride Center Library reopened its doors at 11 a.m., it expected to welcome around 50 visitors. Once the headcount reached 70, employees stopped keeping track."

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Around the state

Emma Golub, an 18-year-old UF freshmen majoring in public relations, hands another student a candle during a vigil for the 7 year anniversary of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting at the Plaza of the Americas in Gainesville, Fla., on Friday, February 14, 2025. (Lee Ann Anderson/WUFT News)

• WUSF-Tampa: It's been seven years since the Parkland shootings. Here's where Florida stands on gun control. "Years after the shooting at the South Florida high school where a gunman killed 17 people and injured 17 more, lawmakers are still grappling with how far gun control laws should go to prevent these kinds of tragedies."

• News Service of Florida: 'Florida Farm Bill' includes proposal to ban fluoridation of public water systems. "Local governments in Florida and across the country recently have debated — and, in some cases, stopped — the longstanding practice of adding fluoride to water supplies."

• Central Florida Public Media: Mom of disabled son files complaint against Florida school. Now the feds are investigating. "The complaint alleges that her son, a 20-year-old student with disabilities at Lake Mary and Lake Brantley High Schools, was not supported in his use of his communication device. Bockleslaugh said without this device, which is the only way he can access instruction, her son was being denied a free appropriate public education under federal law."

• WUSF-Tampa: There are positive signs amid Florida's dismal performance on nursing exam. "The author of the report, Florida Center for Nursing executive director Rayna Letourneau, points to three reasons why Florida is lagging: time between tests, the number of students taking the tests, and student and faculty support."

• WGCU-Fort Myers: New Mote Marine study on red tide reveals potential link leading to increased ocean acidification. "Coastal residents of Florida are well aware of the harmful effects of red tide toxins — ranging from skin, eye, and throat irritation in humans to mass die-offs of marine life. However, these immediate problems aren’t the only issues that near-yearly red tides can bring."

• Associated Press: Fearful immigrants ask Florida activist to sign guardianship papers for their children. "In the past few weeks, Sandigo has received hundreds of calls from immigrant parents across the U.S. She said she has been in at least 15 houses where parents have filled out paperwork so Sandigo could sign documents on behalf of their children at schools, hospitals and courts if they are deported. The power of attorney also allows her to help the children travel to reunite with their families."

• WFSU-Tallahassee: Longtime Florida state senator Geraldine Thompson has died. "Sen. Geraldine Thompson, a long-serving legislator and 'trailblazing' civil-rights leader from Central Florida, died after complications from knee surgery, her family announced Thursday."

• WLRN-Miami: A piano was missing from Vizcaya for more than 100 years. It's been returned to its original home. "The 1916 piano was documented in archival photographs and in an inventory of the estate made after the death of Vizcaya’s patron James Deering. But the instrument was removed from the villa sometime in the 1920s."