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HIGH SPRINGS ‒ Louis Bryan Bass, 19, was arrested on Saturday, July 2, and charged with aggravated child abuse and child neglect with great bodily harm after his three-month-old son was transported to the emergency room with a brain bleed and a bruise on his torso.

First responders at the scene reported that they found the baby unresponsive and that he had signs of a traumatic brain injury.

Bass had been caring for the baby in the hours preceding the 911 call. When deputies told him that the injuries were consistent with shaking a baby, Bass reportedly said he was stressed and that the baby cried a lot, but he denied shaking him.

Bass is being held on $400,000 bond.

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alachuatoday.com

ALACHUA ‒ People shopping at Alachua’s Hitchcock’s grocery store may be in for a surprise. The store’s parking lot may appear typical with its marked off parking spots and cart corrals. But for those taking a closer look, an array of shiny almost sci-fi-like white structures dotting the perimeter of the store’s property along U.S. Highway 441 says otherwise.

Blame it on rising gas prices or concerns about climate change, but there is undoubtedly an increasing demand for hybrid and electric cars. With An average EV car getting about 250 miles on a full charge, and with the burgeoning sales of EV cars, a growing problem is the limited number and availability of public charging stations.

And that’s where Hitchcock’s, Tesla and the parking lot sentries enter the picture. As the largest manufacture of EV cars, Tesla has created a network of 35,000 Supercharger stations to support their vehicles. The stations are located on major routes near convenient amenities and gas stations to create a network to support longer travel and road trips.

Tesla had already built stations in Gainesville and Jacksonville, but not to the north in rural Florida, leaving drivers in North Central Florida with the only option of driving to major hubs when not charging at home.

Hitchcock’s owner Carlos Alvarez is also a Tesla owner, and he saw a need for a supercharging station in the Alachua/ High Springs area and the surrounding rural communities. Alvarez believed the location of the store, close to I-75 and along U.S. Highway 441, offered an ideal spot for a station. It took over a year of negotiations, but Tesla finally agreed to build a station at Hitchcock’s and cover all costs. The City of Alachua provided access to the City's power supply, and two months ago, 12 stations of Supercharger stalls were installed along the north perimeter of the Alachua Hitchcock's parking lot.

Daughter of Carlos Alvarez, Giselle Alvarez says, “We saw a need for the station for the community and travelers, so we made the offer to Tesla. In our opinion this was a good concept and has proven to be very successful with multiple cars there every day.”

Using the Tesla app, Tesla owners can view Supercharger stall availability, monitor their charge status or get notified when you’re ready to go after charging. For trips, they can enter a destination on the car's touchscreen and the Trip Planner app will automatically calculate the route with Superchargers along the way. However, the key to the whole system is providing stations along the way.

While Tesla provides the station for their car owners, the charging stations are not free, but offer a much lower cost than gas, especially with this year’s surge in prices. Electric vehicles are less expensive to fuel than gasoline powered vehicles. The average person drives between 10,000 and 15,000 miles and spends between $1,400 and $2,100 on gasoline per year. In comparison, the cost of electricity to power a Tesla over the same distance is up to four times lower.

Over the six-year average length of car ownership, that's between $6,600 and $9,600 in gasoline savings. The average Supercharger cost of $0.25 per KW to fully recharge a Tesla or other EV car for 250 miles of range costs approximately $22. The stations are free to any Tesla owner who bought their car before 2018.

The Supercharger network allows EV drivers to plug in at a convenient location, take a break, do a little shopping or get a bite to eat. “This station not only benefits the citizens of Alachua and High Springs, it also provides travelers on I-75 a chance to explore our community and businesses after using the station,” said Giselle Alvarez.”

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alachuatoday.com

ALACHUA COUNTY — Alachua County Supervisor of Elections Kim Barton is notifying voters about changes in the upcoming 2022 Primary Election. A visible change is that envelopes for vote-by-mail ballots in the 2022 Primary Election will not be pink as they have been in previous elections due to a shortage of colored dye. The top and left borders of the envelopes will now have pink markings.

Vote-by-mail ballots will be mailed to domestic voters with an existing request on file by July 14. Overseas ballots will be mailed to voters with an existing request on file by July 8.

The deadline to request a vote-by-mail ballot for the 2022 Primary Election is 5 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 13. Vote-by-mail ballots can be requested online, in person, or by phone, fax, mail or email. Until the deadline, vote-by-mail ballot requests will be filled as they are received. Any registered voter can sign up to vote by mail.

The Supervisor of Elections Office must receive domestic vote-by-mail ballots by 7 p.m. on Election Day, Tuesday, Aug. 23. Voters who vote by mail are encouraged to mail their completed ballot well in advance of Election Day to give the ballot ample time to arrive at the Supervisor of Elections Office before the deadline. Voters should also verify that their voter information and signature are up to date before they return their ballot if they have moved or their signature has changed.

Any voter who does not sign their vote-by-mail ballot or whose signature on the vote-by-mail ballot certificate does not match the signature in their voter record will be contacted by the Supervisor of Elections Office and provided the opportunity to correct their ballot. Per Florida Statutes, voters have until 5 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 25 to complete an affidavit to correct a vote-by-mail ballot that does not have a signature or has a signature that does not match the voter's signature on file.

Voters can deliver completed vote-by-mail ballots to the Supervisor of Elections Office, located in Gainesville at 515 N. Main Street during normal business hours — 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Voters can also use the Secure Ballot Intake Station located outside of the office’s main entrance. The Secure Ballot Intake Station will be available at the Supervisor of Elections Office Aug. 8 through Aug. 22 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Election Day, Aug. 23, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Additionally, Secure Ballot Intake Stations will be available at all seven early voting locations from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. during the early voting period of Aug. 13 – Aug. 20. Voters have until 7 p.m. on Election Day to return their vote-by-mail ballot to the Supervisor of Elections Office.

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alachuatoday.com

ALACHUA COUNTY ‒ It may be only the middle of July, but back to school is just around the corner. In Alachua County, some 28,000 public school students head back to the classroom on Wednesday, Aug. 10—only four weeks away.

With the new school year fast approaching, parents may be feeling a bit overwhelmed, especially if their student is moving into middle or Today Staff Report

high school. To help ease the transition and answer any questions, the Alachua County School District is inviting families of students who will be entering either 6^th or 9^th grade in the upcoming school year to attend special workshops with information to help them make the move to either middle or high school. Their students are also encouraged to attend.

Both workshops will be held July 21 in the Gainesville High School Auditorium at 1900 N.W. 13^th Street. The middle school session will be held from 5 to 6 p.m. and the high school session from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Both sessions will feature school administrators and counselors from the relevant grade levels, who will share information and answer questions about credits, preparing for school, behavioral expectations and other important issues.

“After the pandemic and the challenging school years we’ve had, we thought it would be helpful to prepare families for what to expect before they arrive on campus,” said Dr. Anntwanique Edwards, the district’s Chief of Equity, Inclusion and Community Engagement. “We want students and their parents to be more familiar with the middle and high school experience and requirements.”

The sessions have been organized by the Alachua County Public Schools’ Student Services Department and Parent Academy, which have been hosting parent workshops since January on topics ranging from mental health to internet safety to job skills.

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MONTEOCHA ‒ The Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) is currently investigating a single vehicle traffic crash which resulted in one fatality. On July 10 at approximately 10 a.m., units from Alachua County Fire Rescue, LaCrosse Fire Rescue, ShandsCair, the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office and the Florida Highway Patrol responded to a single vehicle accident in the Monteocha area of Alachua County.

A red Mitsubishi Eclipse sedan was traveling north on Northeast 21^st Street near Northeast 181^st Place, when for reasons unknown, the vehicle traveled off the east shoulder of the roadway at a high rate of speed and struck a large oak tree after reportedly rolling over. The vehicle suffered significant structural damage and came to a rest after impact. Both vehicle occupants were ejected during the crash.

FHP reports that a 33-year-old female was pronounced dead on scene and the second occupant, a 23-year-old female, was transported via helicopter with life threatening injuries. Names of the individuals, both Gainesville residents, have not been released. Neither occupant was wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash. The cause of the accident and which occupant was driving the vehicle at the time of the crash is under investigation by the FHP.

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ORLANDO – A Gilchrist County teacher has been named a finalist in Florida’s Teacher of the Year. Trinity Whittington, a fourth-grade English language arts and social studies teacher at Bell Elementary School in Gilchrist County, is among five finalists vying for the award.

On Tuesday, Governor Ron DeSantis attended Florida’s annual Teacher of the Year Conference in Orlando to recognize the best educators in the state. At the event, Governor DeSantis highlighted five teacher of the year finalists and awarded each one with a $15,000 bonus. Governor DeSantis also highlighted Florida’s continuing education achievements over the past year, including Florida’s ranking as third in the nation for K-12 achievement according to the latest Quality Counts report.

“Florida is the education state not just because we have good policies, but because we have great teachers who go above and beyond for their students,” said Governor Ron DeSantis. “It was great to join some amazing teachers today and to show our appreciation for their hard work and sacrifice. We will continue to invest in our schools and educators, while putting policies in place that improve outcomes for students.”

The five teachers who are finalists for Teacher of the Year and were awarded $15,000 bonuses by Governor DeSantis are:

• Melissa Matz, a seventh-grade math teacher at Lakeside Junior High School in Clay County.
• Trinity Whittington, a fourth-grade English language arts and social studies teacher at Bell Elementary School in Gilchrist County.
• Jennifer Jaso, a social studies teacher at Sarasota Middle School. 
• Deelah Jackson, a fourth-grade teacher at Samoset Elementary School in Manatee County.
• Seema Naik, a fourth-grade teacher at Eagle Ridge Elementary School in Broward County.

The five finalists were chosen for 2023 Teacher of the Year from nearly 185,000 public school teachers throughout the state. After each school district selects its teacher of the year, a selection committee representing teachers, principals, parents, and the business community reviews each district application on the basis of outstanding ability to teach and communicate knowledge of the subject taught, professional development, philosophy of teaching, and outstanding school and community service. The winner will serve for one year as the Christa McAuliffe Ambassador for Education, promoting the positive aspects of teaching as a career.

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