Identifying Local Opportunities

1. District could lose $53 million in federal funding over transgender bathroom issue

http://www.ocala.com/article/20160519/ARTICLES/160519776/1412?Title=District-could-lose-53M-in-federal-funding-over-transgender-bathroom-issue

Marion County Public Schools have made a rule that students must use the bathroom of their birth gender. This keeps transgender students from using the bathroom of their gender identity. Because of this, the school district could possibly lose $53 million of federal funding. The Obama administration said that schools must allow students to use the bathroom of their gender identity or else they would lose federal funding. If Marion County Public Schools do not change, they will lose this funding. They really have no choice but to change, but their fight is that telling them what they have to do is an abuse of the federal governments power.

2. Direct flights to NYC, DC not likely, but Midwest and Texas? Maybe

http://infoweb.newsbank.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/resources/doc/nb/news/15CF441D08BB0FC8?p=AWNB

Gainesville Regional Airport is adding new destinations to their list of flights. Two of the more wanted flight paths were to New York City and Washington D.C., but these are not very likely destinations. This is because they are already so full, they would have to get rid of some planes in order to accommodate flights from Gainesville. Instead, they are adding flights to Chicago, Dallas, and Houston. The problem is that most people want the flights to go to NYC. In order to do this, Gainesville Regional Airport would have to convince the New York airports that they would be a profitable investment.

3. ASO: Another skimmer found at gas station near I-75

http://infoweb.newsbank.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/resources/doc/nb/news/15CF18D94E685EA8?p=AWNB

A gas pump skimmer was found at the Circle K near Exit 382 in Gainesville. A skimmer is a device designed to steal your credit card information when it is swiped. They are put on the inside of the machines. One way to keep this from happening is to look and see if the pump looks tampered with, however, the best way is to pay for gas inside the store using cash.

4. Lane Ranger: Traffic jams common in once-rural area

http://infoweb.newsbank.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/resources/doc/nb/news/15CE71BE5E0A6E00?p=AWNB

The intersection of 39th Avenue and CR 241 has become a real problem. The traffic backs up for over a mile with people waiting to turn south onto CR241. This is because the road was built when that part of the county was still rural. Now, there are two new schools there along with other growth. The fix to this is to conduct a traffic count and find out what needs to be fixed. Weather it be the traffic light, or the road itself. It will be up to the county on what is done.

5. County looks for flexibility on bike lanes in repaving projects

http://infoweb.newsbank.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/resources/doc/nb/news/15CDC7F74EBBA310?p=AWNB

The problem is that Alachua County does not have enough money in the budget to fix all of the roads that need repairing. the county’s policy is that all roads that are resurfaced must have bike lanes added to them. This is a problem because adding bike lanes more than doubles the cost of resurfacing a road. The County Commission is in the process of changing this policy so that they can resurface roads without fixing or adding bike lanes. The fear is that once roads start getting fixed, there will never be enough money again to add more bike lanes.