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During the NCAA men’s basketball championship, the Florida Gators performed below their season averages in almost every metric — putting up the second-lowest total score of any game they’ve played this season. They won anyway.
Millions of viewers will tune in tonight to watch a matchup few expected.
UF Student Government overall election turnout dipped slightly compared to last Spring, based on results announced Wednesday from the Supervisor of Elections.
This story was updated on Feb. 13 to further clarify how general education impacts student degrees.
With temperatures dipping into the 20s and freeze-watches issued in Florida this winter, some are feeling the effect of gray skies on their mental health.
The business of collecting blood for money is growing nationwide, and Gainesville is no exception.
Republican candidate Stan McClain won the Florida State Senate District 9 seat after earning a majority in Levy County and his home county, Marion.District 9, newly drawn in 2022, includes all of Levy and Marion and part of Alachua. Although Democratic candidate Sylvain Doré won the majority of votes in Alachua, the margin was not enough to make up for his loss elsewhere.Doré’s campaign manager said they had no statement to make until every vote was counted when The Alligator called them Tuesday night. The New York Times called the race in McClain’s favor after he received a 63% majority with 91% of votes counted at about 9:30 p.m.McClain has spent the past eight years as a Florida House Representative for District 27, which encompasses parts of Lake County, Marion County and Volusia County. The 63-year-old residential contractor lives in Summerfield, an unincorporated area south of Ocala. Prior to his time in the House, he served as a Marion County Commissioner beginning in 2004.During his time in the House, he championed conservative legislation such as the bill allowing chaplains, or members of the clergy, to volunteer in Florida schools, which he co-sponsored in the 2024 session.McClain also co-sponsored the Florida bill banning abortions after 15 weeks and then voted to pass the subsequent six-week abortion ban in 2023.McClain did not respond to a questionnaire from The Alligator about legislative priorities. Issues listed on his campaign website include limiting federal overreach, broadening education choice through voucher and charter schools and protecting faith and family by building a culture that “respects life and honors values like traditional marriage.”Sylvain Doré, a former UF neuroscience professor who has lived in Gainesville for 13 years, ran against McClain. This marked Doré’s first venture into public elections after he served as UF Faculty Senate President and as a member of the Board of Trustees. Doré told The Alligator in a questionnaire he decided to run after his experience as a doctor and educator showed him the “heartbreaking” issues, such as high cost of living and lack of protection for reproductive rights, preventing Floridians from achieving their dreams.“The current Republican supermajority seems to be ignoring these needs and makes no effort to reach out and listen to what we really want,” he wrote. Doré’s loss came at the end of a financially outstrapped campaign. McClain’s expenditures totalled about $145,000, a sum over two times larger than Doré’s $54,000, according to the Division of Elections campaign finance database. McClain’s donations, about 40% of which came from political action committees, also far exceeded Doré’s. Just 23% of the total amount donated to his campaign came from within District 9. By comparison, Doré received no donations from PACs and 84% of his donations came from within his district.McClain received more donations from Tallahassee than from any other city. His largest political action committee contributors were Duke Energy and Florida’s Electric Cooperatives, both of which donated $2,000.This election marked the second-ever for the District 9 seat since legislators redrew Senate boundaries in 2022. Formerly, Gainesville was part of District 8, which included counties Alachua and Putman, as well as part of Marion. District 9 now spans three counties in North Central Florida. It includes all of Levy and Marion and the southern part of Alachua.The district division line splits Gainesville itself. Most of the city south of University Avenue falls in District 9, except a small triangle south of University containing the UF main campus. The northern part of the city, including the university, falls in District 6.Republican Keith Perry served three terms as senator for the former District 8. In 2022, he was elected to serve as senator of the newly drawn District 9. After representing Alachua County for eight years, he did not run for reelection this cycle due to term limits.In 2022, the first election held for the seat after District 9 was redrawn to its current form, Keith Perry defeated Democratic candidate Rodney Long after securing 65.5% of the slightly over 200,000 total votes cast.Without an incumbent, the race began wide open before narrowing to Doré and McClain, both of whom won their primary elections unopposed.Contact Zoey Thomas at zthomas@alligator.org. Follow her on X @zoeythomas39
As a high school freshman, Alexa Larson’s every thought was occupied by her weight.
About 20 people gathered under umbrellas outside the Gainesville Regional Utility headquarters Monday afternoon with signs reading, “Vote yes for local public utilities.”
Nearly 56,000 residents, or about 40% of Gainesville, lost power during the peak of Hurricane Helene.It was an unusual occurrence for a city far enough inland to typically miss widespread storm impact. For reference, about 12,000 lost power during Hurricane Debby, the last to hit Gainesville, in August.The storm slammed Florida’s west coast late Thursday as a major Category 4 hurricane, bringing 140 mph winds and storm surges of up to 9 feet in coastal areas, including Cedar Key.Gainesville faced 60 mph winds that damaged power lines and toppled trees, but there were no major injuries reported. Over 50 deaths were recorded from Hurricane Helene as of Friday afternoon, 11 of which were in Florida. The city saw just 0.58 inches of rain Thursday. By comparison, the city saw over 6 inches of rain when Hurricane Irma hit the state as a Category 5 storm in August 2017.Power outages across cityGainesville Regional Utility outages decreased to about 46,500, or about one-third of all Gainesville residents, by 6:15 a.m. Friday. About 10,000 people in the city still don’t have power as of 11 a.m. Saturday. Ninety-two people spent Thursday night in shelters, the city reported. Alachua County opened two pet-friendly general population shelters and a special needs shelter in anticipation of the storm.GRU crews are working to restore power to those who lost it, the company said in an email Friday morning. “We are still assessing the full extent of the damage,” the email said. “We’re working on restoring power to those lines in addition to several wires down and multiple other outages.” Hurricane Helene took out two transmission lines, which GRU called “unusual” in social media posts. A transmission line carries electricity from a power source to homes and businesses.The company reported one of the lines had been repaired Friday afternoon. The other is still being addressed.Once both are repaired, lineworkers can focus on neighborhoods and businesses, GRU said.Mary Kate Hitpas and Abby Rindt, 22-year old UF physical therapy Ph.D. students and roommates, said their power went out around 9 p.m. Thursday night and returned by the following evening.The two live in an apartment off Southwest 13th Street but spent the day bouncing between various Gainesville coffee shops, where they used WiFi to study for an upcoming exam.“We were studying by candlelight last night,” said Hitpas from a Starbucks table strewn with empty coffee cups and sandwich wrappers.Lines for the Starbucks off the corner of 13th Street and University Avenue, as well as the deli at the adjacent Publix, extended out the door the majority of the day Friday as Gainesville residents clamored for access to charging outlets and hot food.Many of the apartments that lost power, including Looking Glass Apartments, The Quad and College Park Apartments, were located in Midtown. The lights for all local bars in that area, including JJ’s Tavern and Salty Dog Saloon, also went dark Thursday.Outages also stretched across Gainesville, from Hidden Village Apartments in the southwest corner of the city to the Santa Fe Oaks complex near the community college in the northwest.GRU also asked Gainesville residents to cut back on water use after several wastewater lift stations lost power. These stations pump wastewater through treatment plants, re-supplying local waterways.The company is unsure when full power and running water will be restored. Other than some damaged vehicles and trees, the city wasn’t affected too badly, said Lauren Sultemeier, a 43-year-old American Medical Response employee from Buffalo, New York.“Gainesville was very lucky and spared,” Sultemeier said.Sultemeier and fellow responder Lauren Stubblefield, 48, who works for Vicksburg Fire Department in Vicksburg, Mississippi, found out Monday they were being deployed cross-country by FEMA to assist in hurricane relief. They expect to be relocated soon from their base in Gainesville off Eighth Street to elsewhere in the state or region where more damage was reported, Sultemeier said. Fallen trees impact roadways, UF campusFallen trees caused much of the power line damage in a city designated as a “Tree City” for over 40 years. Norman Education Library's beloved grand oak tree was among the fallen. The oak, which had been growing in the courtyard of the UF College of Education at Norman Hall since 1932, split in three as a result of Helene’s strong winds. “This is truly a huge loss for the EduGator community,” the College of Education said in a statement Friday.Over 50 roadways were also reported blocked by downed trees following the storm Thursday night. Road blockages and outed traffic lights combined for dangerous driving conditions throughout Friday. In Alachua County, 169 traffic lights went out following the storm.While the hurricane has passed, its effects haven’t. GRU urges residents to continue to practice hurricane safety measures. “Do NOT approach downed power lines or trees on wires, safely leave the area and report it immediately,” GRU wrote Friday on X.Gainesville Regional Airport closed Thursday evening but reopened Friday. Six departing flights were canceled Thursday, 37% of the total scheduled for that day.Some students say UF delayed closureUF said in an email to students midday Wednesday that classes would be canceled on Thursday but resume Friday at 7 a.m.The university waited until 5 p.m. Thursday to cancel classes and close campus on Friday. Some families said the announcement came too late for students to travel to be with their parents elsewhere in Florida during the storm. Many had exams or assignments scheduled for Friday they didn’t think would be canceled.While he didn’t lose power at his East Hall dorm, Dylan Byerly, a 22-year-old UF electrical engineering senior, extended sympathies for students who wished to evacuate but couldn’t due to UF’s late announcement.“It really hurt a lot of students’ chances to evacuate,” he said. “If they had just canceled the day before, like all the other colleges in the state, it would have probably helped students who did plan on evacuating to leave earlier.”Florida State University announced on Tuesday that campus would close Wednesday through Friday after the storm was originally forecast to slam Tallahassee. The city ended up avoiding the worst of the storm’s winds as its path veered east.Also in Gainesville, both Santa Fe College and the Alachua County Public School System announced Wednesday they would remain closed Thursday and Friday. They plan to resume normal operations Monday.However, PK Yonge, the K-12 developmental school run by the university, and Baby Gator, the preschool serving children of staff, followed the UF main campus’ lead in canceling Thursday.Following Hurricane Helene’s path through Florida, UF President Kent Fuchs sent his warm regards to students and all those affected in an email Friday afternoon. He also said the university would resume normal operations Saturday in the announcement, signed simply as from “Kent.”“It is clear that our neighbors across the state are enduring significant damage and hardships,” he wrote. “My prayers and deepest sympathies are with them.”Contact Kairi Lowery at klowery@alligator.org. Follow her on X @kairiloweryy.Contact Zoey Thomas at zthomas@alligator.org. Follow her on X @zoeythomas39.
When Nadia Shahin walks near campus at night, she gets on the phone with a friend so they can call the police if something happens to her. As a female college student, she’s aware her demographic puts her at risk, she said.
About 80,000 people across Florida received letters Sept. 1 informing them their healthcare could be disrupted.
Grabbing a handle of Tito’s vodka, one-third full, and chugging it straight at The Range bar. That’s the last thing Bennett remembers before waking up in the hospital with a wristband reading “rescue peanut.”
Several months of negotiations fell flat today as UF Health’s contract with UnitedHealthcare expired.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Of the nine people arrested at a UF pro-Palestinian protest Monday evening, eight were released from Alachua County Jail early Tuesday without having to pay bail.
The UF Police Department and Florida Highway Patrol arrested nine protestors on UF’s campus Monday evening following a five-day occupation in the campus’s Plaza of the Americas by pro-Palestinian groups.
UF students and faculty joined members of the Gainesville community Friday for a protest against the university’s proposed cut in funding for the Gainesville Regional Transit System, or RTS.
Almost one year after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law changing certification requirements for Florida public employee unions, one UF union is gone, and two are struggling to survive.
If there was a better place than the UF football stadium to hear the lyrics, “in my mind, they sink into the swamp” for the first time, Gator Swifties say it has yet to be found.
Solutions by The State News
