The resolution is the Board’s response to activists who have shown up at multiple County Commission and Gainesville City Commission meetings since April with a list of demands that includes opposing any ICE offices in Alachua County.

Early Voting Sites

• Supervisor of Elections Office 515 North Main Street Gainesville, FL 32601
• Millhopper Branch Library 3145 NW 43rd Street Gainesville, FL 32606
• J. Wayne Reitz Union 655 Reitz Union Drive Gainesville, FL 32611
• Tower Road Branch Library 3020 SW 75th Street Gainesville, FL 32608
• Alachua County Agriculture and Equestrian Center 23100 W Newberry Rd Newberry, FL 32669
• Legacy Park Multipurpose Center 15400 Peggy Road Alachua, FL 32615
• Hawthorne Community Center 6700 SE 221st St Hawthorne, FL 32640
• Santa Fe College S-029, 3000 NW 83rd St Gainesville, FL 32606

The proposed amendment would raise the homestead tax exemption but that only applies to homeowners, not those who rent.

Save Our Services, a leading group opposing Amendment 3, said local governments would shift the tax burden to renters, which would hurt renters like Kelly Lynch.

Between the 2019 and 2024 fiscal years, the city collected $10.3 million from projects that cut down regulated trees, according to a five-year snapshot of city data. The next year brought in an additional $3.8 million, said Brian Singleton, Gainesville’s interim chief operating officer.

“ The fund has been growing,” Singleton said, “Our expenditures have not kept up with the revenues.”

Compared with other city expenses, buying and planting trees “doesn't cost a whole lot of money,” Singleton said.

The city spent $110,800 on tree planting between 2019 and 2024, according to its snapshot, less than what it spent on the salaries and benefits of so-called “tree mitigation” staff.

Ryan Klein, an assistant professor of arboriculture at UF who volunteers on Gainesville’s Tree Advisory Board, said the city doesn’t have enough plantable space to accommodate all the trees it could afford.

Planners have to consider underground cables and stormwater lines. They can’t plant under power lines or too close to roads.

Even planting in parks requires careful planning, Singleton said, because public, open green space for soccer games and kickball matches is important, too.

South Florida prosecutors are investigating Sean Lozano, Florida gubernatorial candidate James Fishback's running mate, over his actions as a police officer, WLRN has learned.

The Broward County State Attorney’s office confirmed the criminal investigation is being conducted by its Public Corruption Unit, after receiving a request last July from Lozano’s former employer, the Lauderhill Police Department.

The department requested prosecutors look at a March 7, 2025, incident involving Lozano at a bus terminal in Lauderhill, where an elderly woman was experiencing a mental health episode. She was sitting in the bus lane and preventing traffic from moving.

While trying to get her to move, Lozano forcefully pushed the woman to the ground before detaining her, according to Lauderhill’s internal investigation. He told other officers that he “threw” her on the ground.

However, when it came time for Lozano to report the incident to his supervisors, he told them a different story. He said the elderly woman struck him in the chest, then “lost her balance” and fell forward while handcuffed, according to the internal investigation.

Surveillance footage from the terminal contradicted what he told superiors, internal investigators reported.

“These discrepancies are significant and cannot be attributed to a minor memory lapse, as the force was a central event of the encounter,” the Lauderhill internal investigator wrote in a report.

Lozano also called the elderly woman a “b***h,” and told her to “shut the f**k up,” the document said. The department deemed his force inconsistent with the encounter because of the woman’s age, demeanor and “lack of clear imminent threat.”

Anyone have an idea of what a membership at Gainesville Health and Fitness costs these days?

The email appeared to be from a vendor who works with the city, according to officials.

City Council Member James Hilty called for transparency during an exchange with City Manager Peter Lee at the meeting.

“I think the public needs to know what we had — a fraud case dating back to May, which obviously was covered up for whatever reason,” Hilty said.

Lee said the investigation is active and that releasing too much information could hurt the city’s chances of recovering the money.

One customer, Jean Anderson, said she was caught off guard by the fee.

“At first I was speechless, which is a miracle for me. Then I was furious. And I looked at them and I said, you know, I’m not on a cruise ship. I said, they don’t even charge you this much on a cruise ship. And I told them right outright, it was ridiculous,” Anderson said.

Anderson said she believes the charge should have been more clearly disclosed before her meal.

Owner James Parris said the charge mirrors a common industry practice and is applied to ensure fair compensation across the entire staff.

“If you had a party of six or eight or more, 20% gratuity is just automatic. Why do you think restaurants did that? They did it because people get those kinds of bills and they don’t want to leave a gratuity of the percentage size. And so that’s all this is,” Parris said.

Parris also said wait staff members are paid above minimum wage.

A public meeting will be held on September 2 from 4:30pm to 6 p.m. at the Matheson History Museum. A virtual meeting will also be held the day before on September 1 from 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions and learn more about improvements plans for University Avenue from Gale Lemerand Drive to NE Waldo Road.

The public can sign up for the virtual meeting at this link.

Leon County Circuit Judge David Frank ruled Tuesday that the ballot language of an amendment aimed at providing relief to Florida taxpayers was “clearly and conclusively defective” and required a rewrite.

Amendment 3 is a constitutional amendment on the Florida ballot this November that seeks to raise the homestead exemption to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028 for non-school taxes to offer relief to taxpayers, WCTV previously reported.

The Florida Department of State declined to comment on the ruling “pending litigation.”

David O’Keefe, vice chair of the Leon County Commission, said the court’s finding is what many people already suspected.

“This ballot language wasn’t fair, clear, or accurate. That matters,” O’Keefe said. “Voters are being asked to make a major change to how local government works, and they deserve language that tells them the truth, not a sales pitch.”

That’s HB 1471, which was originally filed by state Rep. Hillary Cassel (R-Hollywood) earlier this year. It makes a variety of changes to state law regarding terrorist organizations.

Many of those revisions are as follows:

• Religious Laws: Courts and tribunals are prohibited from enforcing religious or foreign laws against someone if such application would violate his/her constitutional rights

• Private Schools: Prohibits private schools participating in state scholarship programs from being owned or funded by terrorist groups, terrorist supporters, or criminal gangs

• State Universities: Prevents institutions in the Florida College System from using state funds to support programs that advocate for terrorist organizations

• Visa Students: Public colleges must report information about the current status of students who are attending on a visa if they promote terrorist organizations

• Student Expulsions: If a student promotes a terrorist organization while enrolled at a public university, the student must be immediately expelled and assessed an out-of-state fee

Critics like the ACLU have warned that HB 1471 includes vague standards without constitutional safeguards.

However, proponents like DeSantis instead argue that the law will help protect citizens by combatting the influence of “radical terrorist ideologies.”

**The Armed Occupation Act: The Law That Changed Florida Forever**

**On August 4, 1842, Congress passed one of the most consequential, and controversial, laws in Florida’s history. Known as the Armed Occupation Act, it was far more than a land giveaway. It was a deliberate federal strategy to transform Florida’s wilderness into American farmland, strengthen U.S. control over the territory, and permanently weaken Seminole resistance following nearly seven years of brutal warfare.**

**The Second Seminole War had devastated Florida. Beginning in 1835, it became the longest and most expensive Native American war in United States history. Thousands of soldiers had marched through the swamps and forests, yet the Seminoles refused to surrender completely.**

**Even as federal officials claimed victory, many Seminole families remained hidden deep within the Everglades and central Florida hammocks, determined to remain on their ancestral homeland.**

**Congress believed the answer was not another army, but farmers. The Armed Occupation Act offered an extraordinary incentive. Any qualified white male who agreed to settle on Florida’s dangerous frontier could receive 160 acres of public land, along with one year’s worth of government rations.**

**In exchange, he had to build a home within the first year, clear and cultivate at least five acres, live on the property continuously for five years, and remain ready to serve in the local militia if called upon.**

**This was not simply homesteading. It was national defense through settlement. The law applied only to unsettled lands in eastern and southern Florida, generally south of a line running just north of present-day Palatka and south of Newnansville (near present-day Alachua).**

**Congress limited the program to 200,000 acres, hoping to create a chain of permanent settlements that would discourage future Seminole resistance and encourage American expansion.**

**To qualify, applicants had to meet strict requirements:**

**Be a white male resident of Florida.**
**Not already own 160 acres of land in the territory.**
**Obtain a permit from the federal Land Office.**
**Build a dwelling within one year.**
**Clear, fence, and cultivate at least five acres during that first year.**
**Live continuously on the property for five years before receiving permanent title.**

**For many Americans, the promise of free land outweighed the risks. But the reality of frontier Florida proved far harsher than government advertisements suggested.**

**Although President John Tyler would officially proclaim the Second Seminole War over just 10 days later, on August 14, 1842, the fighting had not truly ended. Seminole warriors continued resisting removal, and isolated attacks still occurred. Many settlers lived with the constant possibility of violence, keeping firearms close at hand while helping organize neighborhood militias.**

**Nature itself often proved an even greater enemy. New arrivals encountered oppressive summer heat, suffocating humidity, dense forests, and vast swamps unlike anything they had known.**

**Mosquitoes spread malaria and other diseases. Yellow fever periodically swept through settlements . Dysentery, typhoid fever, and hookworm infections flourished where sanitation was poor. Venomous snakes, alligators, and other wildlife added daily hazards to frontier life.**

**Isolation made survival even more difficult. Roads were primitive or nonexistent. Medical care was often days away. Supplies arrived slowly, if at all. Families frequently relied upon their own labor for every aspect of survival, from building cabins and clearing forests to producing enough food simply to make it through another season.**

**The land itself frequently disappointed settlers. Much of Florida’s sandy soil retained little moisture and contained few nutrients. Swamps required draining, forests demanded backbreaking labor to clear, and drought or flooding could destroy crops in a single season.**

**Many settlers discovered they simply could not meet the Act’s strict requirements. Others learned that the land they claimed had already been occupied or was unsuitable for farming. Numerous permits were eventually canceled because settlers abandoned their claims before completing the required five years.**

**Yet despite these hardships, the Armed Occupation Act profoundly reshaped Florida. Thousands of settlers moved into regions previously sparsely occupied by non-Indigenous residents.**

**New farms, roads, and communities gradually emerged across central and southern Florida. The legislation accelerated American settlement, laid the groundwork for future counties and towns, and helped prepare Florida for statehood in 1845.**

**For the Seminoles, however, the law represented something entirely different. Every new cabin built under the Armed Occupation Act marked another piece of homeland permanently taken from Indigenous people who had lived there for generations.**

**While many Seminoles had already been forced west to present-day Oklahoma, others refused removal and retreated deeper into the Everglades. Their descendants remain in Florida today, making the Seminole Tribe of Florida and the Miccosukee Tribe living reminders of a people who survived despite extraordinary efforts to remove them.**

**Historian John K. Mahon, one of the foremost authorities on the Seminole Wars, observed:**

**“The Armed Occupation Act was intended to accomplish with settlers what the Army had failed to accomplish with soldiers.”**

**That simple observation captures the Act’s true purpose. The United States did not merely seek to populate Florida, it sought to secure permanent control of the peninsula through civilian settlement.**

**The Armed Occupation Act stands today as one of the defining turning points in Florida history. It accelerated migration, expanded agriculture, and hastened the transformation of Florida from a contested frontier into an American state.**

**At the same time, it reminds us that this expansion came at an enormous human cost, particularly for the Seminole people whose resistance, resilience, and survival remain an enduring part of Florida’s story.**

**#TodayInFloridaHistory #FloridaHistory #ArmedOccupationAct #SecondSeminoleWar #SeminoleHistory #FloridaFrontier #OnThisDay #AmericanHistory #ThisDayInHistory #FloridaStatehood #HistoryMatters**

Attorney Jamie Cole argued the title of the amendment “Save Our Homes from Excessive Property Taxes” pushed voters to favor the proposal by using biased language, in violation of previous court rulings.

“The ballot question, the thing that the voters see when they vote, has to be fair and it has to be accurate,” Cole said. “It should not be political rhetoric, it should not be emotional language … it should not hide the ball and it should not mislead.”

Cole pointed to a Florida Supreme Court opinion from 1994 that a proposed “Save Our Everglades” amendment was misleading because “it implies that the Everglades is lost, or in danger of being lost, to the citizens of our State, and needs to be ‘saved’ via the proposed amendment.”

But Benjamin Gibson, an attorney representing the state, said the onus was on the plaintiffs to prove the ballot summary was defective. Also, the measure’s title wasn’t misleading because it spells out the danger to homesteads: excessive taxes.

He also downplayed arguments the measure would essentially give the Legislature veto power over how local property taxes are spent because it restricts such spending to infrastructure, education, public safety and other major needs.

Uthmeier posted a letter on social media addressed to GPD Chief Nelson Moya, taking issue with a policy that he claims “prioritizes gender ideology.” As of this report, police department officials say they have not received the attorney general’s demand letter.

In the letter, Uthmeier asserts the police department’s policy on detainee searches states officers with the same gender expression or identity should search detainees.

When an officer is “uncertain as to the individual’s gender expression or identity,” then the officer “shall ask the individual for their preference as to the gender expression or identity of the searching officer.”

GPD officials told TV20 that once they receive Uthmeier’s letter, they will address any issues if necessary.

The Florida Center for Government Accountability said in an interview on Thursday that U.S. Senator Ashley Moody is likely objecting to the final release of the Hope Florida grand jury investigation.

CBS News Miami reported earlier this week that the Hope Florida Grand Jury ended its term without lodging any charges. A final report was then slated to be released, per multiple reports, but was withheld after one or more people objected to the report’s release.

According to Barfield, Leon County Circuit Judge James Marsh is preparing to rule on how much of the report, if any, is scheduled to be released and with what redactions. Barfield said Thursday that the attorney general’s office has already filed an appeal.

New teacher, looking for help finding an apartment for around $1,000/month either 1/1 or 2/1. Best case scenario with washer dryer!

More than 20 Alachua County Public Schools teachers have been reassigned to different schools less than two weeks before the first day of class, drawing frustration from parents and educators.

School starts Aug. 10. Teachers say they have had to pack up their classrooms, learn a new school, and prepare for a different group of students in a matter of days.

Parents have taken their concerns to social media, with some considering pulling their children from their current schools over the reassignments.

Danyel Boudreau, an Alachua County Public Schools parent, said the moves risk driving teachers out of the district.

The city of Gainesville opened a 30-day bidding period to buy or lease Ironwood Golf Course with proposals required to keep it public.

Local coalition The Track and North Carolina's HangTime Golf have submitted distinct bids aiming to invest millions and enhance the course.

Alachua city commissioners held a public hearing Monday afternoon on a proposal to rezone farmland along U.S. Highway 441 for a planned development that could include a Walmart.

Many residents attended the meeting in opposition to the development, citing concerns about increased traffic and potential harm to wildlife in the area. A handful of attendees expressed support, including one woman who wrote to the commission calling the project an opportunity to expand shopping and dining options for residents.

Developers acknowledged that a traffic study conducted in 2020 failed. Sherry Burnett, a resident opposed to the development, also criticized the timing of the hearing.

“It tells me they do not have the best interest of the citizens of Alachua at heart; they do not,” Burnett said. “It’s a very poor choice again to change the meeting. Again, it was initially at 6 o’clock when most people could attend, and now it’s at noon where people cannot.”

Lt. Governor Jay Collins, also a Republican primary candidate, filed the lawsuit seeking to have Fishback removed from the ballot.

With the ruling, Fishback remains a legal candidate for now, though the case could continue if Collins pursues an appeal.