The Point

The Point, June 4, 2025: Ono rejected for UF presidency

WUFT | By WUFT News

Published June 4, 2025 at 8:00 AM EDT

Subscribe to The Point, arriving in your inbox Monday through Friday at 8 a.m.

The stories near you

Dr. Santa Ono, the sole finalist to become the next president at the University of Florida, speaks Tuesday during a public forum for faculty at Emerson Hall regarding his plans for the university. (Juan Carlos Chaoui/WUFT News) — The Florida Board of Governors, which oversees the state's universities, voted 10-6 on Tuesday against Santa Ono, who was the sole finalist to become UF's next president. (Juan Carlos Chaoui/WUFT News)

• Associated Press: Santa Ono rejected for University of Florida presidency amid conservative backlash. "The University of Florida Board of Trustees had voted unanimously in May to approve Ono as the school's 14th president, and it is unprecedented for the governors to reverse such an action."

• WUFT News: Between pressure and hope: How an English class can help Gainesville immigrants bridge a cultural divide. "For many immigrants in Gainesville and the U.S, the pressure to assimilate and create a home is overwhelming. The hope for this future, however, begins in an English class."

• WCJB: Salvation Army in Ocala faces funding challenges, seeks community support ahead of Labor Day. "The nonprofit is currently facing significant financial hurdles, with records indicating a budget shortfall exceeding $2 million in 2023."

• Mainstreet Daily News: Gainesville commission to vote on special election, potential 14-story development. "The Gainesville City Commission will meet Thursday for its first regular meeting in June, voting to establish a special election for November, to set a summer schedule for RTS routes, to redevelop Morningside Nature Center and to approve new zoning near UF."

• WCJB: ‘Deceitful scheme’: Celebration Pointe investor sues developer, financial advisor following bankruptcy. "Patricia Shively, 74, claims she was misled into investing and guaranteeing loans worth hundreds of millions of dollars for the project. With Celebration Pointe filing for bankruptcy protections, Shively faces 'financial ruin.'"

Today's sponsored message

Around the state

FILE: An old tractor sits along County Road 234 in Windsor, Florida, as a reminder of the area’s roots as an agricultural hub. (Savannah Austin/WUFT News)

• News Service of Florida: The Florida Senate's rural renaissance priority bill will have to wait. "Lawmakers aren't expected to approve Albritton's 'rural renaissance' plan, which seeks to bolster health care, education, transportation and economic development in rural areas, or Perez's push to reduce the state's overall sales-tax rate."

• Associated Press: Trump pardons South Florida divers who freed 19 sharks from fishing line. "The two men avoided prison time, but they were ordered to pay $3,343.72 in restitution, and the felony convictions prevented them from voting in Florida, owning firearms and traveling freely outside the U.S."

• WFTS-Tampa Bay: Florida woman finally secures proof of U.S. citizenship 60 years after arriving in the U.S. "Cynthia lives on a hobby farm just outside of Tallahassee with her husband of 50 years. For Cynthia, it’s the perfect small-town American life. That is, until a few years ago, when she went to renew her driver license at her local DMV office and discovered she didn’t have the paperwork to prove she was—well, American."

• Jacksonville Today: Jax Pride Month celebration altered amid drawbridge confusion. "Pride in our Freedoms – Community Bridge lighting was slated to feature about 120 people holding flashlights Sunday along the western sidewalk of the Main Street Bridge to celebrate Northeast Florida’s LGBTQ community. Instead, the drawbridge was raised at about 8 p.m., just as organizers and demonstrators marched toward the foot of the Main Street Bridge."

• Tampa Bay Times ($): She reviewed a Tampa restaurant on Yelp. Then came a lawsuit. "Though a judge eventually dismissed the lawsuit, the legal row illustrates the fragile, sometimes contentious, relationship between chefs, restaurant owners and the people they serve."

• Associated Press: Wild chickens take over Miami while some embrace roosters as a cultural symbol. "Not only found in residential neighborhoods like Little Havana, Little Haiti and Wynwood, the fowl families are also making their home among the high-rises and government buildings downtown. And while some people find the crowing to be a nuisance, many have adopted the rooster as an unofficial mascot for the city."