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• WUFT News Special Report: Behind the bet: consequences. “Because illegal sportsbooks are run on credit, bettors are less inclined to bet responsibly. ‘Sometimes, people will bet with money they don’t even have,’ said one student at the University of Florida who bets illegally often. ‘And then at the end of the week, they can’t pay.’”
• WUFT News: Putnam County School District’s Novice Teacher Retention Program rebounds after a pandemic. “The program allows teachers new to the district an opportunity to integrate into their new role. Former highly experienced teachers mentor those in the program.”
• Mainstreet Daily News: Karen Kearney named ACPS Teacher of the Year. “During her remarks for the 2023 Robert W. Hughes Teacher of the Year Program, Buchholz High School teacher Karen Kearney reflected on her love of teaching, which began when she was child and taught her first class to a small group of stuffed animals.”
• Fresh Take Florida: Year starts with high numbers of manatee deaths across Florida. “Already, state officials reported late Wednesday at least 56 manatees dead so far during 2023 – compared to 39 during the same period last year, which was the second-deadliest year on record.”
• WCJB: ‘It’s so tragic:’ 13-year-old boy hospitalized after being struck by SUV while riding bicycle. “A teenage boy is in the hospital with life-threatening injuries after being hit by a vehicle while riding his bike in Gainesville. It comes as the city initiates a pedestrian and cyclist safety study following recent deadly crashes.”
• WUFT News: Do you have what it takes to join the Alachua County Crisis Center? “The crisis center is now seeking new volunteers to join its first training session of the year on Saturday.”
• Gainesville Sun ($): City officials, residents aim to eliminate unnecessary trash during ‘Zero Waste Week.’ “The Gainesville City Commission at its Jan. 19 meeting announced the proclamation declaring Jan. 22-29 as Zero Waste Week, where city officials host a series of events and education initiatives highlighting an effort to divert 90% of waste from landfills by 2040.”
• WUFT News: Levy County couple give abused animals another chance at life. “Cindy Kingsley Frazier’s two-bedroom house sits on 5 acres of land at the end of a long dirt road in Chiefland, Florida. It’s guarded by a locked gate, security cameras and a dog that sees everything.”
• WLRN-Miami: DeSantis team aims to ‘curb’ DEI at universities. But a top official says some programs have value. “Florida’s public universities recently had to report to Gov. Ron Desantis’ office any DEI-related efforts on campus and what the initiatives cost. According to public records, the programs account for a fraction of the universities’ overall budgets but total in the millions statewide.”
• Florida Politics: Rick Scott bill would block Joe Biden from forgiving student loans. “Scott’s bill comes as the previous Biden plan to write off $10,000 in federal student loan debt and $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients awaits Supreme Court review.”
• WFSU-Tallahassee: Florida’s school choice bill clears first hurdle on its way to passage. “HB 1 — ‘School Choice’ — passed its first committee stop on Thursday. It passed the House Subcommittee on Choice and Innovation (13 – 4) along party lines.”
• WJCT-Jacksonville: State law would combat antisemitic acts like Jacksonville’s. “Under the bill (HB 269), people who take actions such as defacing or damaging religious cemeteries, projecting images of religious ‘animus’ on property without permission or harassing others because of religious-based garments could be charged with third-degree felonies.”
• News Service of Florida: Florida’s secretary of state wants more money to probe election crimes. “In his budget request for the legislative session that will start March 7, Byrd proposed $3.15 million for the Office of Election Crimes and Security, which was created last year and is staffed by five people.”
• Florida Politics: Florida law enforcement seeks $20M to replace, expand biometrics system. “Florida’s aging fingerprint-searching system could be headed to an overdue replacement capable of handling future upgrades to manage other biometrics, including facial recognition and iris scans, if lawmakers decide to finance the overhaul.”
• WMFE-Orlando: Florida gets an ‘F’ on tobacco control report card, Lung Association says. “Florida was given failing grades on nearly all groupings of tobacco control in the 2023 report card, including pouring more money into Prevention Funding, enforcing more taxes, and restricting flavored products.”
• WUFT News: NBA teams travel to Paris to showcase the game internationally. “The Chicago Bulls faced off against the Detroit Pistons on Jan. 19 at Accor Arena in Paris, France, for the second international NBA game since 2020.”
• Health: An FDA committee votes to roll out a new COVID vaccination strategy
• National: 5 Memphis ex-police are charged with murder and jailed over the death of Tyre Nichols
• Politics: Friction within the GOP causes some Republicans to question what their philosophy is
• Race: New ‘Latino’ and ‘Middle Eastern or North African’ checkboxes proposed for U.S. forms
• Law: There’s no whiskey in mini bottles of Fireball, so customers are suing for fraud
• Space: A recently discovered asteroid had ‘a very close encounter’ with Earth
• Health: Why inventing a vaccine for AIDS is tougher than for COVID
• Climate: We need native seeds in order to respond to climate change, but there aren’t enough
