New Alachua County Sheriff Emery Gainey has spent his first month combatting staff shortages and advocating for increased funding from the state and county.
When he’s not busy driving fire trucks for the Alachua County Fire Rescue, 54-year-old Patton, who goes by “JJ” with his friends, runs Wildlife Transitions Taxidermy, a company that grew from his passion for taxidermy.
Michael Duane Zack III woke up Tuesday morning at 5:30 a.m. and met with his first wife, Ann-Kristin. He declined a last meal, met with his spiritual advisor and died by lethal injection by 6:14 p.m. that same day.
Emery Gainey, a Republican veteran of sheriff’s duties across Florida, will ascend into the role of Alachua County Sheriff Monday following his appointment to the position by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Senate Bill 1718 took effect July 1 and is among the strictest immigration laws in the country. One of the controversial aspects of the law is the provision requiring any hospital that accepts Medicaid to ask about patients’ immigration status. Local advocacy organizations, health care workers and community members worry about the impacts the law could have on immigrant households across Alachua County.
Emery Gainey will take over the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office beginning Oct. 2, according to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ press release Thursday.
As Florida’s Big Bend communities recover from the devastating impacts of Hurricane Idalia, the Alachua County community is grateful to not have met the storm's eye. Alachua County suffered minor damages. Several trees and power lines came down across Gainesville, and some roadways were blocked.
In Alachua County, emergency services responded to 1,451 overdose calls in 2022. The previous year there were 1,405 overdose calls with 62 fatal overdoses. In an effort to combat overdoses, Alachua County and the city of Gainesville have implemented multiple services to assist people with addictions seeking help and recovering addicts like the now 51-year-old farmer who requested anonymity.
The food insecurity rate in Alachua County has remained higher than the overall rate in Florida since 2014. A 2021 report from the city based on USDA data identified 11 food deserts — low-income areas where a substantial number of residents have low access to a supermarket or large grocery store — in Gainesville.
Alachua County resident Catherine McGuire dreamed of living the ‘van life’ since van lifestyles videos started trending on TikTok during the COVID-19 pandemic.
NKwanda Jah never obtained a degree or had Black female role models throughout the majority of her life. Yet today, she leads the non-profit organization Cultural Arts Coalition, which serves disadvantaged Gainesville residents' needs through summer employment, cultural enrichment programs and after-school programs.
For the 12th consecutive year, local families have an opportunity to change their future trajectory and access affordable mortgages, largely due to Santa Fe College and Alachua County Habitat for Humanity.
Amy Van Scoik is driven by her passion for feeding people, but this mission grows harder each year as the climate becomes more unpredictable. It’s never clear what extreme weather to expect during the next season.
The Alachua County Commission voted 4-1 April 6 to provide free and unlimited prison phone calls by Oct. 1, an idea proposed by a UF student group. Only Commissioner Chuck Chestnut was in dissent.
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