The Point, June 27, 2023: Susan Lorincz to face manslaughter, not murder, charges
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The stories near you
• WUFT News: White woman who killed Black neighbor will face manslaughter charges, state attorney confirms. "The prosecutor on Monday announced he also dropped charges of misdemeanor assault, misdemeanor battery and misdemeanor culpable negligence."
• WUFT News: Gators lose College World Series to LSU Tigers. "After a dominant 2023 regular and postseason performance, the Florida Gators baseball team fell short of winning their second national championship in a sudden-death College World Series championship game against the Louisiana State Tigers."
• WUFT News: UF President Ben Sasse on Gators’ at College World Series: ‘The team has a lot of character.' "University of Florida President Ben Sasse made his first appearance on WRUF’s “SportsScene with Steve Russell” on Monday to discuss the Gators’ championship chase in Omaha."
• Gainesville Sun ($): GRU reduces electric fuel rates ahead of summer heat; average customer to save $12 a month. "Gainesville Regional Utilities announced Monday it will reduce electric fuel rates on July 1, saving the average residential GRU customer $12 a month."
• News4Jax: 2 firefighters injured while battling fire at firewood plant in Alachua County. "When trying to gain entry into the building, a door weighing hundreds of pounds fell off its hinges and struck a Newberry firefighter and an Alachua County firefighter."
• WUFT News: How a summer camp for transgender teens is planting roots in North Central Florida. "Transcending Adolescence is the first sleepaway summer camp for transgender and nonbinary teens in the nation."
• Mainstreet Daily News: City of Alachua approves solar contract. "The agreement is expected to result in a solar plant of up to 30 acres, producing around 10,000,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) per year for the next 30 years."
• WUFT News: Killer whale carcass at UF to be transferred to nation’s capital by end of summer. "After spending months at an undisclosed location at the University of Florida, the remains of a killer whale will be transported nearly 800 miles north to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., by the end of this summer."
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Around the state
• NPR: Malaria cases in Texas and Florida are the first U.S. spread since 2003, the CDC says. "Five cases of the mosquito-borne infection malaria have been detected in the United States in the past two months, marking the first local spread in the country in 20 years."
• Associated Press: DeSantis unveils an aggressive immigration and border security policy that largely mirrors Trump's. "Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis is promising to end birthright citizenship, finish building the U.S.-Mexico border wall and send U.S. forces into Mexico to combat drug cartels."
• WLRN-Miami: Jury hears closing arguments in closely-watched Scot Peterson trial. "The fate of former school resource officer Scot Peterson is in the hands of a Broward County jury who must decide if he failed to do his job as a police officer during the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School."
• News Service of Florida: From affordable housing to guns, new laws take effect in Florida this week. "More than 200 laws passed during the 2023 legislative session, including a record $116.5 billion budget, will take effect Saturday."
• Palm Beach Post ($): Jeffrey Epstein: Judge receives 2006 grand jury materials in Palm Beach Post lawsuit. "The very first prosecutor to consider criminal charges against Jeffrey Epstein, arguably the world's most prolific sexual predator with an estimated 500 victims, mysteriously weakened his own case before a 2006 grand jury, a 2019 Palm Beach Post investigation found, and now the public and victims may be on the verge of finding out why Epstein was able to molest, rape and traffic underage girls for 13 more years."
• NPR: How Florida came to be so politically important. "Florida finds itself in the headlines of political stories often — recently at the center of the indictment of former President Trump. But how did the Sunshine State end up so politically important?"
• WUSF-Tampa: Zephyrhills votes to halt new development for a year, citing water woes. "The city council voted unanimously on a year-long moratorium on new housing developments, as it nears maxing out the amount of water it is allowed to withdraw from the underground aquifer."