#Alachua county

[iww-gnv]

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) - A tentative salary agreement has been reached between Alachua County school leaders and the teacher’s union. Teachers and other school employees would get a 3-and-a-half percent pay raise. School employees still need to vote on the agreement. If approved, the increase would be retroactive to July of this year. School board members are hoping to pass the agreement at a meeting on January 16th.

[todaysdocument]

Tobacco Growing in Alachua County

Record Group 30: Records of the Bureau of Public RoadsSeries: Historical Photograph FilesFile Unit: States - Florida

Original caption: Tobacco growing in Alachua County - Yields 1260 per acre - Sold for $0.34 average - near Gainesville, Florida - Photographed June 5, 1919. - by H.J. Morrow - Gainesville, Florida.

This black and white photograph is posted on a yellow card.  It shows a field of tobacco plants.  A group of men in white shirts and neckties stand among the plants.

[adayephoto]

Dr. Mike Lauzardo Photo Feature

I had the pleasure of shadowing pulmonologist and deputy director of the Emerging Pathogens Institute Dr. Mike Lauzardo who is also the director of the UF Health Screen, Test & Protect initiative which educates and oversees Covid-19 vaccinations to students, faculty and staff at the University of Florida and in the Gainesville community. 

Over the course of a few weeks, I was able to shadow Dr. Lauzardo who has held more than 70 town hall meetings for UF faculty and staff, went on a press tour conducting interviews to educate and update people on the Covid-19 pandemic and encourage vaccinations and has helped Alachua County vaccinate more than 11,000 individuals. 

In an audacious push to vaccinate 20,000 people a week for six weeks in Alachua County, more than 5,200 University of Florida students and Alachua County residents received a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium within the first week.

More than 80,000 people in Alachua County have received at least one vaccine shot as of the beginning of April, according to health department officials, but this initiative aims to spread the protection provided by the vaccines to a broader segment of the population in Alachua County.

“Even though we all don’t necessarily have the same risk of the same consequences, the way out of this is through immunity, and the safest and best way to get immunity is to get a vaccine.” said Lauzardo. Immunized college students can be “dead ends” for the virus’ spread, enabling them to play a key role in protecting their communities and helping everyone return to pre-pandemic life.”

For more information on Covid-19 please visit the UF Health Screen, Test & Protect website.

[conandaily2022]

University of Florida scientists Dustin Huff, Yurui Xie accused of keeping their 2 kids in makeshift cages

Dustin Huff, 35, and Yurui Xie, 31, are employees of the University of Florida in Gainesville, Alachua County, Florida, United States. They have two children born in 2017 and in 2021.

[petnews2day]

Fire in Gainesville destroyed a family’s home, left one dog dead

New Post has been published on https://petn.ws/0t2aF

Fire in Gainesville destroyed a family’s home, left one dog dead

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) – The Red Cross is helping a family in Gainesville after their home was destroyed in a fire on Monday. Gainesville Fire Rescue got the call around 4 p.m. TRENDING: Animal rescuers feel they’re being attacked after zoning change in Levy County The fire at the home off Northwest 21st Street was […]

See full article at https://petn.ws/0t2aF #DogNews #AlachuaCounty, #Family, #Fire, #Gainesville, #House, #RedCross

[jolenes-book-journey]

Richard Gartee Author From Alachua County Florida

Richard Gartee Author is from Alachua County Florida. He recently agreed to participate in the Jolene’s Book and Writer’s Talk Podcast where we talked about his latest book – Orgone Gizmo. Here is a quick summary from the transcript of the podcast. Richard Gartee, an experienced author, discusses his latest novel, “Orgone Gizmo,” which spans the latter half of the 20th century. The protagonist,…

[snototter]

A pink sundew (Drosera capillaris) in Alachua County, Florida, USA

by Noah Mueller

[renthony]

From the article:

Alachua County Public Schools released a statement on Friday in response to a "misleading" social media post about the decision to keep a book in school libraries. An account called "Libs of TikTok" on Friday posted a 50-second clip from an Alachua County Public Schools book banning hearing held last month, with the caption, "UNBELIEVABLE. Garrett Jones, assistant principal for an elementary school in @AlachuaSchools says he thinks it’s appropriate for 8-year-old kids to be reading p*rnogr*phy and dirty magazines in school." The clip, however, is just a snippet of a longer video from a hearing held Jan. 23 regarding the book "Melissa" — formerly titled "George" — by author Alex Gino. In the clip, community member Crystal Marull, who petitioned to have the book removed from Terwilliger Elementary School's library, is seen questioning Jones. The ACPS statement on Friday said the "video was taken out of context and was misleading." "The parent (Marull) asked the ACPS witness (Jones) several questions, including whether he felt it was appropriate for an 8-year-old to read 'about pornography and dirty magazines.' However, the witness did not intend to convey that this book was, in fact, about pornography and dirty magazines. He certainly does not agree that it is appropriate for an elementary school student or any student to read pornographic materials. It is rather his belief that this particular book is not pornographic, does not violate state statutes and can therefore be read by elementary school students in grades 3-5," the statement said. "The parent (Marull) never actually asked the ACPS witness (Jones) if he believed this book is pornographic. The witness did clarify later in the hearing that he did not believe this book is pornographic." The shortened video has received nearly 2 million views, 12,000 shares and 3,500 comments on X. The post also was shared on the Libs of TikTok Facebook and Instagram accounts.

[evilvillain123456789]

Due to a catastrophic and irreversible clerical error on the part of the Alachua County Family and Civil Justice Center, I am ordered to make child support payments to my ex-wife so long as my son is a dependent living under her roof. He is 25 years old, and he is currently recovering from a tibial fracture--an injury which, based on a phone call I had with him shortly before the incident, suspiciously coincided with an increased interest in apartment-hunting. With each passing week, my bank account drains further and further as my son becomes increasingly listless and resigned to his life in the nest.

[somethingusefulfromflorida]

I just got a rejection email from a grocery store I applied to a month ago, so Aldi's is officially more professional than the Alachua County Library District which has ghosted me since my interview on September 28th. I emailed them 3 weeks after my interview, and they said they would get back to me eventually, but it's been radio silence ever since. Bastards don't even have the courtesy to send a form rejection. Professionalism is a one way street; they expect it from you, but they are under no obligation to pay it back. Fuck the library, and fuck Aldi's too for that matter, because I have 5 years experience working at grocery stores and 3 years in hospitality/customer service, so what more could they possibly want?!?

[fuckyeahmarxismleninism]

Transgender activists staged die-ins at driver’s license offices statewide, with crowds disrupting business in many lobbies. The demonstrations follow a controversial decision to stop allowing gender changes on state ID.

After 10 a.m., protesters arrived in lobbies for tax collectors in Alachua, Hillsborough, Miami-Dade and Orange counties and collapsed on the ground, feigning death in the offices. Some held gravestones reading “Killed By the DMV” or “Killed by Ron DeSantis.”

The protests were organized in large part by PRISM, an LGBTQ advocacy group leading the “Let Trans People Drive” campaign.

[offender42085]

Post 1000

The judge said he entered the day with the idea of sentencing to a term in the “double digits.”

Colton Fears, Florida inmate W70362, born 1989, incarceration intake in 2019 at age 30, released 01/24/2022

Accessory after the Fact

Colton Fears, the getaway driver for the man who shot at a protester after a Gainesville speech by white nationalist Richard Spencer, was poised to get out of jail with credit for time served.

At a March 2019 hearing, the prosecutor and defense attorney both wanted it. Fears, 30, had only a minor part in the crime and no longer expressed white nationalist views, they said, and his willingness to testify against the shooter, Texas white nationalist Tyler Tenbrink, also merited consideration.

But that morning in Gainesville, Circuit Judge James Colaw just couldn't get past Fears' participation in a crime "intended to scare, threaten or harm." Colaw sentenced him to the full five years in prison.

The Texas native was sentenced for his role in an Oct. 19, 2017, shooting, in which no one was injured, following Spencer's speaking event at the University of Florida.

Fears, who pleaded guilty in earlier, received credit for 515 days in county jail. He was charged initially with attempted first-degree murder, but that was reduced to accessory after the fact to attempted first-degree murder after he agreed to testify against Tenbrink.

Police say Tenbrink (Florida inmate G50325) was the one who shot at the protester. He pleaded no contest to charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and was sentenced on Feb. 27 to 15 years in prison.

Fears was the getaway driver after his brother, William, riled up a crowd of protesters by cheering Adolf Hitler and Tenbrink fired the shot. Fears drove a Jeep from the crime scene, for which he showed remorse in court Monday.

“I am embarrassed to be entangled in your court system, your Honor,” Fears said. “I wish I would have never came to Gainesville. Everything that happened that day is a regret.”

Prosecution and defense attorneys agreed that a time-served sentence of 17 month would be appropriate. Assistant State Attorney George Wright and Fears’ attorney, Lucas Taylor, said they believed Fears no longer expressed the white nationalist views of his brother and Tenbrink. The lawyers said witness testimony corroborated a claim by Fears that he never got out of the vehicle during the shooting and noted that, as the driver, he was a “minor participant” in the crime.

His participation as a witness also led prosecutors to recommend the sentence of time served.

However, Colaw said he couldn’t get past Fears’ participation as the driver, stating Fears was “not a young man” when the shooting happened and knew it was a crime to leave the scene.

The judge said he entered the day with the idea of sentencing Fears a term in the “double digits.” But after hearing both both sides argue for a 17-month sentence and hearing Fears’ statement to the court, Colaw said, he decided on a sentence of five years in prison — two years more than the minimum sentence of three years for accessory to first-degree murder.

“(The Fears brothers and Tenbrink) intended to scare, threaten or harm people,” Colaw said. “I am persuaded in part that (a double-digit sentence) is not appropriate. But I just can’t get there.”

As Fears was sentenced, his mother cried. Later, after leaving the courtroom, she collapsed, sobbing, on a bench. Fears showed little emotion as he left the courtroom.

He had hoped, according to his statement to the court, to be released from jail and return to Texas to work in the oil fields, as he had done for the 10 years prior to being arrested.

Fears said he no longer expressed white nationalist views held by Tenbrink and his brother and that his 17 months in the Alachua County jail had changed him. He apologized to the victim in the case and “the entire city of Gainesville.

“This has destroyed my life. It’s time to put this in my past and move forward,” Fears said. “I am not the monster the media has labeled me.”

Instead of being released, he will serve at least three more years in prison.

3l

[iww-gnv]

The union representing Alachua County Fire Rescue employees wants county commissioners to hire more supervisors to oversee firefighters. James Clifford is the management unit representative for Local 3852 of the International Association of Fire Fighters. He said the number of district chiefs with direct supervision has not kept up with firefighter hiring. “Compared to other county firefighting departments across the state, we are dead last. Not in the lower half, not in the lower third – dead last in the number of supervisors per station, per area served, and per personnel supervised,” Clifford told commissioners at a recent meeting where the budget was discussed. Clifford said requests for more district chiefs have been denied the past three budget cycles.

[Read the rest]

[conandaily2022]

University of Florida employee Cameron Rios posts $37k bond; Why did he use OneDrive and DropBox?

Cameron Rios, 25, is employed with the janitorial services department of the University of Florida in Gainesville, Alachua County, Florida, United States. He was recently arrested.