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The Cade to launches into Outer Space this Summer 

At a museum not so far way, visitors of all ages will soon experience the stellar amazement of our mysterious Milky Way galaxy.  

Wandering the Milky Way: A Tour of the Solar System is set to take off as the new summer theme at the Cade Museum for Creativity and Invention on Thursday, June 2, invading every space of the Cade through January 2023. 

With immersive experiences and hands-on discoveries, Wandering the Milky Way offers the perfect escape from Florida’s sweltering summer heat. Museum visitors can cool off in climate-controlled, state-of-the-art comfort while delving into the lives of inventors who made breakthrough discoveries about our neighboring planets, as well as other far-out features of our solar system and beyond.  

Expect to travel from Jupiter’s swirling red spot to the icy geysers on Neptune’s moon Triton. Learn about the inventors who’ve used robots, rockets, and rovers to take the people of Earth on a tour of our galactic neighbors. Perhaps, most exciting of all, Wandering the Milky Way provides a glimpse of how humanity explores outer space. In the featured exhibit, Voyages: A Trip through Time and Space, guests will learn about Voyagers 1 and 2 and how they are still broadcasting back to Earth as they travel farther into space than any manmade object. 

The new museum-wide theme will feature not just exhibit panels and interactives, but also a host of space-themed activities. Little ones get a chance to construct a spacesuit from a plastic egg, make galactic slime, and find out why potatoes make excellent astronaut fuel. 

Families, jet to the Petty Gallery, where the Astronaut Academy is enlisting kids for an out-of-this-world mission. In the area designed especially for the Cade’s youngest guests, kids can send a parachute flying in a wind tube and crawl around an obstacle course.  

Of course, no museum exploration would be complete without an introduction to Neil Armstrong (1930– 2012), an American aerospace engineer, test pilot and astronaut who flew on the Apollo missions and first set foot on the moon. To get a sense of what it was like to take that famous lunar step, one activity invites kids and kids-at-heart to make an impression in a pile of moon sand. 

Even the Cade’s Fab Lab has gone outer limits to investigate how technological innovations will lead to even larger leaps for humankind. In the lab, guests can build a rover and test it on alien terrain, while discovering the secret code hidden on the Mars rover. Ye olde printing press is getting in on the action too, printing stories for guests that cover topics related to space. 

“The Cade Museum offers a learning experience that you won’t find anywhere else,” says Bailes. “We call it our Inventivity™ Framework. We take a non-traditional, multidisciplinary approach to teaching science. We teach STEM concepts with art, creativity, and play, and most importantly through the lens of invention. When kids ask ‘why do I need to know this?’ we can show them a product they really care about or an invention that has changed their lives. We bring that science concept to life in a way that is meaningful. And most importantly, it’s fun. Everyone loves to create and build and stretch their imaginations. We hope our visitors have a blast launching into the world of space exploration.” 

For more information about the Cade Museum’s upcoming exhibits and programming, visit cademuseum.org. 

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NEWBERRY ‒ Ozell Rasheem Hoyt, 29, was arrested on Tuesday, May 3 following two separate assault incidents at the same location the previous night.

According to arrest reports, shortly after midnight on May 3, Hoyt arrived at the home of a woman he had previously been in a relationship with. The woman reportedly didn’t let him in because she thought he was high. About an hour later, the woman’s mother let him in and he entered the woman’s bedroom, then went to the kitchen, picked up a steak knife and went back to the bedroom while attempting to conceal the knife in his shirt. He allegedly threatened to kill the woman while walking toward her with the blade of the knife protruding from his shirt.

The woman’s mother told deputies that she was able to convince him to leave the bedroom and he put the knife in the kitchen sink. The woman’s mother pushed him out of the residence and locked the door.

At about 3:25 a.m. the same night, the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call about a man trying to force entry to the same home by throwing a cinderblock into a window.

When the deputy arrived, he found Hoyt with a large piece of cinderblock in his hands behind his back. After Hoyt reportedly refused multiple commands to drop the cinderblock, the deputy drew his Taser and told Hoyt he would be tased if he did not drop the cinderblock.

The deputy reported that Hoyt then assumed an aggressive posture, holding the cinderblock out to one side. When the deputy repeated the command to drop the cinderblock, Hoyt allegedly said, “You will have to shoot me” and started moving toward the deputy. The deputy deployed his Taser, and he was able to handcuff Hoyt.

Post Miranda, Hoyt denied the verbal argument occurring with the woman and stated that he never was in possession of a knife. However, both the mother and daughter allegedly saw Hoyt with the knife.

Hoyt has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill, assault on a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest. He is being held on $155,000 bail.

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  HIGH SPRINGS - The High Springs Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) will host its inaugural social soiree on Tuesday, May 17^th at 6:30PM. Area residents and business owners are invited to The Opera House, located above The Great Outdoors Restaurant, 18587 High Springs Main Street for an evening of fellowship and education. Joe Cirulli, founder of Gainesville Health & Fitness, will be our guest speaker. An update on the High Springs downtown/CRA master plan with CRA Coordinator David Sutton and Assistant City Manager Bruce Gillingham will also be provided. Admission is free. Light refreshments will be served.

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GAINESVILLE ‒ Alachua County Public Schools (ACPS) has extended the deadline for parents to notify the district if their students need a laptop and/or Internet connection at home.

Thanks to federal funding, the district has the opportunity to provide thousands of students with a laptop, Internet service or both at home beginning this fall. However, families need to let the district know what their students need by filling out the Home Technology Survey

More than 1,800 of the surveys have been returned so far. The original deadline of May 13 has now been extended to May 20 to give more families time to respond.

Hard copies of the survey were sent home with all students at the end of April, but parents can request another by contacting their child’s school. They can also respond to the survey online at https://www.sbac.edu/techsurvey. The online version can be completed on a cell phone, tablet or desktop. All responses will be confidential.

The district is hoping to order, receive and distribute devices to students in time for the beginning of the school year, although that will depend on the availability of devices and other supply-chain issues.

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ALACHUA COUNTY ‒ The Florida League of Cities (FLC) has recognized three of Alachua County’s municipal leaders as 2022 Home Rule Heroes for their work during the 2022 legislative session.

City of Alachua Mayor Gib Coerper, City of Hawthorne Commissioner Matthew Surrency and City of Newberry Mayor Jordan Marlowe were among the 150 municipal officials recognized for the award. Each of these people is being recognized for their work and advocacy efforts during the 2022 Legislative Session.

Coerper, Marlowe and Surrency worked throughout the session to promote local voices making local choices, protect the Home Rule powers of Florida’s municipalities and advance the League’s legislative agenda.

“I am greatly humbled to be selected for this honor,” Coerper said. “I’ve always felt the government closest to its community should be the one making decisions based on the best interests of that community and the Home Rule allows municipalities like Alachua to do just that.”

“I am so honored to be a recipient of this prestigious award, and I will continue to work hard to protect local authority,” said Marlowe.

“It’s an honor always to be recognized for the work that we do on the local, state and national level to advocate for keeping policy making at the local level,” Surrency said.

“On behalf of the League and its legislative team, we’re very proud to present this year’s Home Rule Hero Awards to a deserving group of municipal leaders,” said FLC Director of Legislative Affairs Casey Cook. “We had a record number of Home Rule Heroes this year, which shows the dedication and impact of local officials on behalf of their residents and businesses in protecting local decision-making. These local officials were constantly engaged and actively advocating for their communities throughout the 2022 Legislative Session. They’re heroes for Home Rule and we thank them for their efforts.”

Home Rule is the ability for a city to address local problems with local solutions with minimal state interference. Home Rule Hero Award recipients are local government officials, both elected and nonelected, who consistently responded to the League’s request to reach out to members of the legislature and help give a local perspective on an issue.

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