u/ShakyBooty

>Eliminating property taxes would reduce Newberry's budget by $2.2 to $2.5 million, about 20% of its general fund, according to Mayor Tim Marden.

>Alachua County's budget could drop by $24 million, leaving $21 million for mandatory services like Medicaid and elections, said Manager Michele Lieberman.

>Harvest Singularity will break ground on $66 million hydroponic greenhouses in Newberry's AgFoodTech Park on May 26, creating 90 jobs each.

>Alachua County elected officials are at odds over a proposal to improve access to housing for students who are homeless.

>Data from the Florida Department of Education indicates there are 920 homeless unaccompanied youth in Alachua County. Cornell and leaders with the Children’s Trust of Alachua County believe that number is higher.

>Cornell sent a letter to Alachua County School Board members asking for three things: a convening of leadership from several stakeholders to develop a coordinated response to homelessness, a review of underutilized and vacant facilities owned by the school board to review ways to help serve homeless students and families, and a request that schools work collaboratively with the city and county to improve access to services.

>Thomas Vu, chair of the Alachua County School Board, said he is opposed to the idea of homeless shelters or temporary housing in Alachua County schools. He said that is not the central mission of the school district.

>Vu defended the district’s handling of supporting homeless students.

>“The Commissioner brought up McKinney-Vento and our responsibilities under that, almost implying somehow we’re not meeting them, which again I find really insulting to the school district and for our staff who work hard for something like this,” Vu said.

>The McKinney-Vento Act seeks to ensure educational rights and protections for youth experiencing homelessness.

>Millions of gallons of water may not be filtered into north central Florida from Jacksonville after all.

>State Sen. Corey Simon wants stakeholders in the Water First North Florida Project to go back to the drawing board. Commissioners in both Columbia and Union counties say they are happy to hear the project is canceled in its current form.

>The project would have filtered millions of gallons of reclaimed water through an aquifer system. The project would have returned more than 40 million gallons of reclaimed water a day to the Floridan Aquifer from Jacksonville.

>
“I’m pleased. Really kind of astonished that it happened,” Johns said.

>This includes not knowing exactly where the project would be going and what chemicals would not be cleaned out.

>“You know, you say trust the science, well we put trust in science all the time and a lot of times it backfires on us, so I’m real pleased with this news,” Johns said.

>In February, a spokesperson for the Suwannee River Water Management District said this project would allow them to not cut back the amount of water people are using. They say they are aware of the letter sent by Simon and did not have any additional comments, as Simon wants developers to come up with a better long-term solution.

>
“It’s great news for us. There was a lot of people opposed to it, and not really opposed to the whole project, the entirety, just the way the project was done,” Johns said.

>State Rep. Chuck Brannan sent a statement that says, in part, this project was never a part of the legislative budget and now has no funding.

>Johns said this makes Union County commissioners feel better because maybe some of their questions will now be answered.

​​The Alachua County Commission will hold two meetings on Tuesday, May 12, 2026. The first is a special meeting/open discussion that begins at 9:30 a.m. in the Grace Knight Conference Room. The second is a regular meeting at 11:30 a.m. in the Jack Durrance Auditorium. There is no evening portion to this meeting.

Both locations are on the second floor of the Alachua County Administration Building (12 SE 1st St., Gainesville).

The special meeting agenda item:

• ​Downtown Master Plan

View the special meeting agenda and backup items.

The regular meeting agenda items includes:

• Presentation of a proclamation recognizing May 12th, 2026, as Latoya Gainey Day in Alachua County, Florida
• Presentation of Alachua County Land Conservation Board FY 2025 Annual Accomplishment Report and FY 2026 Workplan
• Discussion of Neighborhood Workshop for Major Amendments to the Weseman/EcoLoop Planned Development
• Broadband Deployment Assistance to Deliver Reliable Internet to Unserved and Underserved Areas in Alachua County Update

View the full regular meeting agenda and backup items.

During the regular meeting, the public can make comments at the meeting in person or call in during the 12 p.m. (noon) comment period. Callers will have three minutes to comment on anything not on the agenda and three minutes to discuss anything on the agenda. Callers can choose either or both. Those commenting on items on the agenda will not be allowed to comment again on agenda items if attending the meeting in person later in the day.

The call-in number is 1-929-205-6099. When prompted, enter meeting ID 873 5974 1977. Callers can hear the meeting while on hold and can use the system to listen. If you wish to comment, “raise your hand” by dialing *9 (star nine). Once you are called on by the last four digits of your phone number, unmute your phone by dialing *6 (star six).

The meetings can be viewed on Cox Channel 12, the AC TV app (Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Roku), the county’s Facebook and YouTube sites, and the county’s Video on Demand website.

Residents are encouraged to stay informed by following the county on Facebook, X (Twitter), Nextdoor, Instagram and subscribing to the county’s newsletter/press release group.

For more information, contact Alachua County Communications Director Mark Sexton at 352-264-6979 or msexton@alachuacounty.us.

The Alachua County Victim Services & Rape Crisis Center is looking for volunteers to serve in the Community Ambassador Program.

This opportunity allows volunteers to play an active role in raising awareness and engaging the community on important topics. Ambassadors receive 15 hours of training, followed by a shadowing period. The center asks for a six-month commitment to join the program. Applications are due by May 18, 2026. View the application. Training starts May 20. 

As a community ambassador, volunteers support public health initiatives by:

• Creating educational table displays for outreach events
• Table at events to increase awareness about the Center’s services
• Participate in presentations addressing interpersonal violence prevention and awareness

“Our Community Ambassadors help us show up in the community in meaningful ways,” said Bethan O’Connor, supervisor of the Community Ambassador Program. "They bring the energy and connection that allows us to better support and serve others.”

Learn more about volunteering with the Alachua County Victim Services & Rape Crisis Center.

For more information, contact Bethan O’Connor at 352-264-6765 or boconnor@alachuacounty.us.

>But it could still be several weeks until the bipartisan ethics tribunal publishes the results of its probe, in which investigators are examining accusations that the Republican congressman assaulted a woman at his Washington, D.C., apartment last year — an incident which led to a police investigation.

>The House Ethics Committee in November opened an investigation into Mills, 45, stemming from the reported February 2025 assault. D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department conducted its own inquiry into the matter but declined to charge the lawmaker.

>Mills was also the target of an October 2025 restraining order levied by an ex-girlfriend, which restricted him from contacting her or going within 500 feet of her home or place of work.

>The lower chamber’s ethics panel rarely issues public statements on its investigations. But in a statement published Monday afternoon, the committee said it was devoting “significant resources” to its Mills probe and that the accusations against him were “serious and complex.”

>The House Ethics Committee said in a rare public statement Monday that it continues to conduct a “full and thorough investigation” of Florida Representative Cory Mills which has so far seen the panel authorize nearly two dozen subpoenas and collect thousands of documents.

The Ethics Committee’s investigative subcommittee, the statement said, has so far authorized more than 20 subpoenas, received thousands of documents and contacted dozens of witnesses.

>And the panel reiterated that it was investigating the circumstances surrounding the February 2025 domestic assault police probe and the court-ordered restraining order issued later that year.

>“The ISC expects to receive additional relevant documents and testimony in the coming weeks and will take all necessary steps to conduct a full and thorough investigation,” the House ethics czars wrote. “The committee takes these and the other allegations very seriously and will continue to review them in a manner that ensures due process and prioritizes witness confidentiality and safety.”

>Mills has long denied the accusations against him and resisted calls, including from some members of his own party, to step down from his position representing Florida’s 7th Congressional District.

>But amid the ethical reckoning that has gripped the House in recent weeks, the Republican congressman has faced fresh calls to resign — and even threats of an expulsion resolution authored by a fellow Republican, Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina.

>Mace has said that the accusations against Mills make him unfit to serve and has further accused the lawmaker of “stolen valor,” suggesting that he exaggerated his military record and that he was a U.S. Army Ranger and was awarded a Bronze Star.

>Mills, meanwhile, has responded to Mace’s accusations by threatening to bring up his own resolution to expel the South Carolina congresswoman from the House. So far, neither lawmaker has acted on their threats.

Columbia County judge grants dating violence injunction against US Rep. Cory Mills

>Judge Marlon Weiss, going beyond what is typically required in such a case, suggested in his order that surrogacy may be unconstitutional. His ruling holds that if unborn children are entitled to personhood — which he implies is correct, citing legal articles in favor of that view — those children cannot be subject to an ownership contract.

>In November, roughly 24 hours after the fathers told the court about the baby’s birth, Attorney General James Uthmeier began pushing to intervene in the case.

>His office is arguing that surrogacy is akin to slavery, saying it violates the 13th Amendment and should be deemed unconstitutional, according to a lawyer representing the family.

>A case is now pending in front of the Fourth District Court of Appeal. The child has been with the fathers since birth and is not likely to be removed from their care.

>This is not the first time Uthmeier, who was appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis a little over a year ago, has injected himself into a normally uncontested court case. His office’s involvement in a 17-year-old’s request for an abortion last spring further whittled down Florida’s abortion access.

>The fact that his office got wind of the surrogacy case is remarkable. The court didn’t ask him to intervene.

>Surrogacy cases are confidential under Florida law. But when Weiss published his order, he wrote that his ruling was not confidential because it didn’t share identifying information about the child or parents. A month later, he submitted it as part of his application to be on Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal. And in December, the order was published in a law trade journal.

>It’s not clear how Uthmeier’s office heard about the case. Uthmeier’s office declined to confirm or clarify its arguments to the Times/Herald, saying the case is confidential.

>Katie Jay, an appellate and adoption attorney representing the fathers, said that she’s not accusing Weiss of sharing the case with Uthmeier’s office, saying she has no proof of that. But she added that trial judges don’t have the authority to unilaterally decide to publish opinions from confidential cases.

>“What I am saying is that the conduct I can document — using a confidential parentage order as a writing sample for personal promotion — is troubling,” Jay said.

>

>Weiss was appointed to the Broward County court by DeSantis in May 2025. About five months later, Weiss, 46, applied for a spot on the Fourth District Court of Appeal. He attached the surrogacy order he’d written, highlighting it as one of the most significant cases he’s heard.

>Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday signed into law a new congressional map that could help Republicans pick up four more seats in the House — a move that swiftly drew a lawsuit.

>DeSantis, who is scheduled to be in Los Angeles later in the day to speak at the Milken Institute Global Conference, announced in a social media post that he had approved the map. The post merely stated “signed, sealed and delivered,” along with a photo of Florida’s redrawn districts. He followed it with another brief post that said “promise made, promise kept.” The Florida Senate confirmed DeSantis had signed the new map.

>The new map was approved just days ago by the GOP-controlled Legislature and was put into place one week after the governor’s office delivered it to state legislators. Democrats have repeatedly called the map “illegal” and a power grab designed to help Republicans keep hold of Congress in the upcoming midterm elections.

>The civil rights group Equal Ground Education Fund — along with a group of 19 Florida voters living in congressional districts across the state — asked a state judge to block the new map and reinstate the one that had been approved by the Legislature back in 2022. The lawsuit contends that the governor and Legislature violated voter-approved anti-gerrymandering standards. Those standards maintain that districts cannot be redrawn for partisan or to hurt or help incumbents.

>‘The 2026 plan is, by traditional measures of partisan gerrymandering, one of the most extreme gerrymanders in American history,” the lawsuit states. “Statistics like this do not occur by accident. They are the product of deliberate choices, made by professionals with sophisticated tools and a clear partisan goal: to pack and crack Democratic voters with surgical precision and deprive Florida voters of a fair map guaranteed to them by the Florida Constitution.”

>The lawsuit relies on testimony during last week’s special session as well as from statements from state Republicans talking about how they hoped to pick up seats.