Alexa is a second-year journalism and international studies student and The Alligator's Spring 2026 Enterprise Politics Reporter. She previously served as the Fall 2025 Criminal Justice Reporter. In her free time, she enjoys running, traveling and going on random side quests.
The state of Florida executed 70-year-old James Hitchcock at 6:12 p.m. Thursday for the 1976 murder of his 13-year-old stepniece.
Alachua County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to a traffic crash on the 4900 block of US Highway 441 near Micanopy around 12:45 p.m. Thursday.
The state of Florida executed 58-year-old Chadwick Willacy at 6:15 p.m. Tuesday for the 1990 murder of his then-56-year-old next-door neighbor Marlys Sather, according to the Florida Department of Corrections.
Jackson Youmas, a store manager of a CVS, beat incumbent Dayna Williams in Alachua’s City Commission election Tuesday.
Garcia’s 14-year-old son, Sewell Setzer III, died by suicide in February 2024 after corresponding with an AI-companion chatbot, according to her testimony and a later lawsuit against Character Technologies, Character.AI’s parent company.
This comes after the commission decided in January to close the Cleather Hatchcock Center, where Precinct 53 typically votes. The change sparked allegations of voter suppression from local Democratic groups.
Candidates planning to run for city offices in Gainesville must qualify for the election by paying the fee or collecting enough petition signatures prior to the August election day.
Florida’s legislative session ended March 13 with under 250 bills passing both chambers, a historic low. Several bills affecting Gainesville still have a chance to be signed at the governor’s desk, including a measure aiming to eliminate property taxes.
The State University System’s Board of Governors voted March 26 to remove Introduction to Sociology from general education across Florida’s 12 public universities. The change will go into effect for the 2026-27 school year. Students will still be able to take the course as an elective or as part of their individual degrees.
Uthmeier teaches a two-credit upper-level course on federalism and the separation of powers on Mondays from 5 to 7 p.m., for which he makes an over two-hour drive from his home in Tallahassee.
Opponents of the execution sit outside the Florida State Prison, Thursday, April 30, 2026, in Raiford, Fla.
Protesters sit outside praying before the execution of Michael King, Tuesday, March 17, 2026, at Florida State Prison in Raiford, Fla.
A festival attendee checks out vintage automobiles at the Newberry’s Fabulous Fifties Festival on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2025.
Solutions by The State News
