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The stories near you
• WUSF-Tampa: University of Florida is looking for public photos to analyze hurricane recovery. "Through August, University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences researchers are collecting photos to show how Floridians are recovering from recent hurricanes."
• WUFT News: Community workshop gathers input on county road safety overhaul. "The open-house-style workshop aimed to present two significant master-planning efforts and open them up to critique. One is the first countywide Safe Streets and Roads for All action plan — developed in coordination with the city of Gainesville and UF. The other is the Bicycle and Pedestrian master plan, which hasn’t been updated in over 20 years."
• Associated Press: Former Arkansas standout Boogie Fland commits to national champion Florida, AP source says. "Fland committed to coach Todd Golden following a two-day visit to Gainesville, according to a person familiar with his decision. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because neither side has announced Fland's decision publicly."
• Florida Storms: Florida's hot! Where & when will rain and storms return? "Florida continues to be a hot spot in the nation with many cities across the Peninsula reaching new record hot temperatures, or at the very least tying old records."
• WCJB: Ocala City Council approves settlement after decade-long legal battle regarding prayer vigil. "In a unanimous vote, the city council agreed to drop its appeal and allow the lower court ruling against the city to stand. In exchange, the plaintiffs won’t ask the city to pay their attorneys’ fees or court costs."
• Mainstreet Daily News: Alachua to revisit external counsel for city planner exodus investigation. "The commission canceled pursuing the investigation later in February following a recommendation of an attorney from Rush, and also voted against staff’s recommendations in March to hire Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc., to help fill the gap left in the planning department."
• WCJB: Students protest Santa Fe College board members’ decision allowing Santa Fe police to act as immigration officers under ICE supervision. "During their meeting Tuesday afternoon, board members voted in favor of signing the agreement without further discussion. This would allow Santa Fe police to act as immigration officers under ICE supervision."
• Mainstreet Daily News: Flag raising kicks off month-long ‘Journey to Juneteenth’ celebration. "Gainesville’s month-long commemoration of emancipated enslaved African Americans started with the celebration of Florida Emancipation Day when over 61,000 enslaved Floridians were freed on May 20, 1865, nearly two years after former president Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation."
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Around the state
• Associated Press: New salmonella outbreak tied to same Florida grower with tainted cucumbers last year. "Cucumbers grown by Florida-based Bedner Growers and distributed by Fresh Start Produce Sales have been linked to illnesses in at least 26 people in 15 states, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration reported late Monday. At least nine people have been hospitalized; no deaths have been reported."
• NPR: In Florida, an immigrant pastor's detention sends a community reeling. "In one weekend alone this month, ICE says over 1100 immigrants were detained throughout Florida, touted as the 'largest joint immigration operation in Florida history.' Sixty-three percent of those detained that weekend had existing criminal convictions or arrests. There is, however, another way to read that number: 415 people were arrested that weekend who had no existing criminal conviction or arrest."
• News Service of Florida: Attorneys battling over shielding 2 plaintiffs' names in case over Florida's immigration law. "Attorneys for the plaintiffs, a 40-year-old woman from Honduras and a 35-year-old woman from Guatemala, said they fear physical harm, harassment and arrest if their names are made public."
• Associated Press: Prosecutors open investigation related to Hope Florida Foundation. "Questioned by reporters at an event Tuesday in Tampa highlighting the work of Hope Florida, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis defended the initiative, which uses state employees to help connect Floridians in need with faith institutions and community-based nonprofits and wean them off government assistance."
• WFSU-Tallahassee: Boycott threats abound as FAMU ponders what's next after a controversial presidential pick. "Johnson is a controversial candidate for her ties to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, as he works to remake higher education in the state. Now, the school’s interim president is urging calm amid backlash and boycott threats in response to Johnson’s appointment by the FAMU Board of Trustees."
• News Service of Florida: A judge has ordered more help for Florida's ailing manatees. "A federal judge Monday ordered the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to take a series of steps aimed at protecting manatees in the northern Indian River Lagoon, including requiring it to go through a federal permitting process and temporarily preventing new septic tanks in the area."
• WFTS-Tampa Bay: Tampa Bay woman competing in international Mermaid Olympics. "'Mermaiding is generally depicted as a pretty, graceful entity where we are beautiful with long hair, posing underwater, performing for our friends, and splashing around,' she said. 'This is an entirely different entity of mermaiding. This is a mermaid competition.'"
From NPR News
• Health: A stricter FDA policy for COVID vaccines could limit future access
• Climate: Large tornado outbreaks are becoming more common. But it's unclear why
• National: A maintenance worker was arrested after a New Orleans jailbreak. Here's what to know
• World: The world now has its first ever pandemic treaty. Will it make a difference?
• Politics: Musk to slow down political spending: 'I think I've done enough'
• Law: DHS secretary misstates meaning of habeas corpus under Senate scrutiny
• National: 'Nihilism' is in the news. What's behind this 'nothing' philosophy?
• Books: How an AI-generated summer reading list got published in major newspapers
Kristin Moorehead curated today's edition of The Point.