Alachua County | featured news

The sudden opening of a three-foot-deep hole at one of the busiest intersections in Gainesville — at one of the busiest times — showed how vulnerable tons of asphalt can be to weather or to the network of infrastructure that lies under the road.

Pleas from Orlando for blood donations were answered Sunday by dozens of residents who rushed to the LifeSouth Community Blood Center on 13th Street.
By mid-afternoon, the wait to donate blood was two hours long, and the local U.S. Army reserve medical unit had been called to the scene to help deal with the influx of donors.

According to a Facebook page created for the event, residents plan to meet at 8 p.m. at Innovation Plaza at 720 SW Second Ave. and march down University Avenue to downtown Gainesville.

The Pride Community Center of North Central Florida is holding a community gathering from 2-6 p.m. today, where Alachua County Crisis Center counselors will be on hand to offer support and crisis counseling for those in need.

The Alachua County Democratic Executive Committee is hosting a Voter Education Series to highlight each candidate in each race and a family-friendly Candidates Fair — all to provide information to help voters make their voices be heard at the ballot box.

The mere thought of sex offenders going to a center in a Gainesville neighborhood for counseling was enough last month to make residents irate and send a city commissioner on a fact-finding mission.

A Gainesville man was arrested Friday on allegations he stole a classmate’s credit card and ran up charges at several stores.

A powerful thunderstorm over parts of Gainesville Friday evening knocked out power to 8,870 Gainesville Regional Utilities customers, some of whom remained without power late Saturday afternoon.

As customers sitting in barber chairs and waiting seats at Fades & Fros Barbershop watched the funeral for the late Muhammad Ali on a flat screen TV tuned into CNN, 32-year-old Latosha Ross summed up what many in the barbershop felt.

All three employees of the Matheson History Museum have submitted letters of resignation over the past two weeks over what one said was mistreatment and unfounded accusations of financial mismanagement from Dr. Mark Barrow, the museum’s co-founder and main benefactor.