Metro - The Independent Florida Alligator

METRO | POLITICS

Somewhat reluctantly getting ready to get ready for Hillary

Apr. 12, 2015

Are you ready for Hillary?

METRO | CRIMINAL JUSTICE

Gainesville student, 15, arrested in connection with six false bomb threats

By EMILY COCHRANE< | Apr. 10, 2015

Gainesville Police arrested a local student Friday afternoon after he reportedly called six Alachua County schools to make fake bomb threats.

METRO

Florida makes moves to ban sale of Palcohol

By Caitlin Ostroff | Apr. 9, 2015

State legislators are considering a new bill that would ban the sale of powdered alcohol in Florida.

Ashley Whitehead, 25, first year pursuing her DVM (doctor of veterinary medicine) at UF's College of Veterinary Medicine, Alex M. Sanchez,22, Graduated 2014 in Photojournalism from UF, Leah Sanchez,23, Graduated from FSU 2013 in Enviro Studies, Hannah Itzler, 23, Graduate Student, Masters in Urban and Regional Planning at UF, and Bridget Anderson, 22, Senior, public relations with a minor in disability at UF.

METRO

Cyclists prepare 20-Mile scavenger hunt to benefit affordable housing

By Brigitte Stambury | Apr. 9, 2015

Gainesville cyclists will host a bicycle scavenger hunt Sunday afternoon, and all proceeds will go toward affordable housing.

METRO | CRIMINAL JUSTICE

Body found, may belong to missing Gainesville woman

By EMILY COCHRANE< | Apr. 9, 2015

The Alachua County Sheriff’s Office found human remains Thursday, which they believe belong to a local mother who has been missing since February.

Chris Thompson waits to run drills during Friday Night Lights a Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.

METRO | CRIMINAL JUSTICE

Florida wide receiver charged with misdemeanor battery

By RICHARD JOHNSON | Apr. 9, 2015

Gainesville Police filed a sworn complaint charging Florida wide receiver Chris Thompson with misdemeanor simple battery after he reportedly scratched and bruised his former girlfriend during an argument.

METRO | CITY COUNTY COMMISSION

Gainesville parks to upgrade medical devices

By Carla Vianna | Apr. 8, 2015

An automated external defibrillator machine during cardiac arrest can be the difference between life and death.

METRO

Public Safety Committee talks underage drinking, crime prevention, safety

By Giuseppe Sabella | Apr. 7, 2015

Gainesville’s Public Safety Committee brainstormed solutions to fund a crime-prevention program, reduce underage drinking and improve the safety of Gainesville residents during Tuesday’s meeting.

METRO

Walk to honor survivors of child abuse to stop in Gainesville today

By Nicolette Hoffman | Apr. 7, 2015

Lauren Book will walk up and down the state of Florida in 39 days in honor of the 42 million survivors of child sexual and physical abuse in the U.S.

From left: Ellen Allen, 68, Shirley Roseman, 25, and Krys Davis, 28, hold signs outside of city hall on Monday morning protesting HB 583, which would require that single-sex public bathrooms only be used by persons of the biological sex the facility is intended for. "Everyone deserves to live their lives in a positive, equal way," Allen said.

METRO

Gainesville groups gather to protest state transgender bathroom bill

By Ariana Figueroa | Apr. 6, 2015

On Monday morning, a group of about 15 people called for Gainesville’s mayor and city commissioner to take a stand against a proposed bill that would affect the transgender community.

METRO

Free delivery service for people with disabilities raising funds

By Hunter Williamson | Apr. 6, 2015

A nonprofit is raising money to start its free delivery service for people with disabilities.

Pictured are solar panels outside ECS Solar Energy Systems Inc., the first licensed solar contractor in Florida, in February. The price of solar energy technology has dropped by 50 to 60 percent the past three years, according to Wendell Porter, lecturer and advisor in Agricultural and Biological Engineering at UF.

METRO

Renewable energy taking off worldwide, stalling in Gainesville

By Chris Watkins | Apr. 6, 2015

Investment in renewable energy resources is up as costs for renewable energy drop.

Abby Kirksy, 2, picks strawberries for the first time with her mother, Melissa Kirksy, on Brown’s Farm in Hawthorne on Wednesday. Kirsky, from Starke, said it was their first time on the farm.

METRO

Strawberry season given cold shoulder by weather conditions

By Aaron Albright | Apr. 6, 2015

For one Florida farmer, this year’s strawberry season will come a little later than expected.

Maria Coady, a UF education associate professor, presents the Thomas J. Coady Memorial Scholarship, which will award part of a $30,000 endowment every spring to a UF junior or senior studying health disparity, in memory of her son, Thomas Coady, in Emerson Hall on Monday. “Thomas was my inspiration,” she said. “My voice of reason and my teacher.”
Correction: The original caption stated that scholarship recipients receive the entire endowment, when really they just receive part of it.

METRO

UF student memorialized in scholarship endowment ceremony

By Ariana Figueroa | Apr. 6, 2015

Maria Coady said goodbye to her son four months ago after he died in a motorcycle accident, and now she has found a way to keep his memory alive.

METRO

Proposed Florida bill would apply religious freedom to adoption agencies

By Caitlin Ostroff | Apr. 6, 2015

A proposed House bill would allow private adoption agencies with written moral or religious policies to refuse adoption to couples who violate those policies.

METRO