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ALACHUA ‒ The Alachua Police Department (APD) conducted an intensive active shooter training session on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024, at the Santa Fe Institute of Public Safety. The training, hosted by C3 Pathways / NCIER, focused on equipping APD supervisors and officers with the necessary skills to respond effectively to active shooter situations.

The training session, named Active Shooter Incident Management Basic Training, aimed to prepare law enforcement personnel, fire departments, and EMS responders to handle active shooter incidents swiftly and efficiently.

Active shooter incidents are unpredictable and can happen anywhere, from schools and workplaces to public spaces. The devastating impact of these events has highlighted the critical need for comprehensive training for first responders, including law enforcement, fire departments, and emergency medical services (EMS). Active shooter training is essential for preparing first responders to effectively manage and mitigate these high-stress, rapidly evolving situations.

The training brought together various law enforcement agencies, highlighting the importance of interagency cooperation in emergency situations. By fostering a unified approach to crisis management, the training sought to improve communication and coordination among different first responders, ensuring a more effective response during critical incidents.

Every second counts during an active shooter incident. Proper training helps reduce response times by ensuring that first responders are familiar with their roles and can quickly deploy strategies to contain the threat. The program emphasizes three critical components: Command, Control, and Communications. These elements are crucial in ensuring that all first responders work as a cohesive team during emergencies, understanding their roles, and executing their duties seamlessly to protect and save lives.

APD emphasized the importance of such training in an online post, stating, “We're committed to the safety and well-being of our community, and continuous training like this is a critical part of that commitment.”

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~As a crew member on board the Blue Origin New Shepherd rocket, UF/IFAS researcher Rob Ferl will test how plants know they’re in space~

GAINESVILLE ‒ How do plants adapt when they go into space?

That’s the question the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) hopes to answer with a novel space-based experiment happening Thursday at 9 a.m. EST when a UF/IFAS horticultural sciences researcher launches with his experiment into suborbital space on a Blue Origin New Shepard rocket.

Rob Ferl, the University of Florida Astraeus Space Institute director, will fly in the Blue Origin craft and perform the experiment himself. The experiment builds on prior research that showed a type of plant – Arabidopsis thaliana – can detect that it is in space and then change how its genes are expressed.

"This moment is a milestone not just for the University of Florida and the Astraeus Space Institute but for an entire community of scientists who can now consider experiments in space that might have previously been viewed as impossible," said UF Interim President Kent Fuchs. "I look forward to cheering Rob on during Thursday’s mission and to watching him make history yet again."

This experiment will determine which genes turn on and off at various stages of flight. Although much is known about how plants respond to living in spaceflight environments, like the International Space Station, researchers know less about how plants respond molecularly as they travel to space. The experiment will provide new insights into how plants adjust their gene expression as they transition from Earth to space.

One day, plants might be an essential part of space exploration as food and air scrubbers, and understanding how they react to a space environment is the first step toward learning how to effectively grow them there.

“We envision plants will keep us alive in space or on the Moon,” said Ferl, who is also assistant vice president for UF Research. “What does it take to adapt to living in space? We’d like to know.”

Anna-Lisa Paul, co-principal investigator for the experiment, a horticultural sciences research professor and director of UF’s Interdisciplinary Center for Biotechnology Research, said researchers have only been able to see what this plant’s genes are like before and after space flight, not during.

“It’s something outside the evolutionary environment of any terrestrial species,” she said. “This is something we’re learning that has never been done before.”

The research was funded by a grant from NASA’s Flight Opportunities program and the agency’s Biological and Physical Sciences division.

Ferl will carry the plants in specialized tubes, called Kennedy Space Center Fixation Tubes (KFTs), that have a plunger to release a preservative solution. The tubes will be Velcroed to the legs of his flight suit during the flight. Before and after the flight, they will be moved in custom transit bags designed by the UF Space Plants Lab out of blackout fabric and a golden thermal blanket.

The experiment has a second purpose: to validate that having researchers do their own experiments on flights is a valuable use of research funding, rather than relying on untended experiments or robotics. This is the first NASA-supported researcher-tended suborbital flight.

“There’s something to be said about first-hand experience,” Ferl said. “The experiment is enriched when a human mind and a human brain go with it.”

The study will look at the plant’s transcriptome, the collection of all expressed RNA that contains answers to which genes are turned on and off to change the plant to adapt in a space environment. Ferl will chemically “lock” the genes with a preservative solution to pause the plants at a moment in time during various points in the launch – just before takeoff, at the start of zero gravity, at the end of zero gravity and at landing.

Researchers will then sequence the plants’ expressed genes and compare them to an on-Earth control experiment to figure out exactly which ones were activated or deactivated during the flight.

Jordan Callaham, assistant director for the UF Astraeus Space Institute and research coordinator for the UF Space Plants Lab in the UF/IFAS department of horticultural sciences, said this will help researchers begin to understand how plants would respond on space missions, on the Moon or on Mars. But it will also give them a better idea of the fundamental properties of the chemical pathways within plants and how they respond to all novel environments.

“We’re understanding how biology responds to space on a very basic level,” said Callaham, who will be doing the on-Earth control experiment while Ferl is on the Blue Origin rocket.

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ALACHUA ‒ The Alachua Business League (ABL) held their first workshop of the year, titled “Mobile Mastery with Moxie Media” at the Good Life Station on Main Street in Alachua.

Joe Hancock, with Moxie Media, described to a full house how each person in the room has the ability to use their own cell phone to do advertising videos for their own business. He touched on the basics of composition and lighting, but stressed how easy it is to get your message out through social media without spending a lot of time or money. It was a timely subject and got a good reception from those in attendance.

Next month Campus USA Credit Union in Alachua is hosting a “Meet & Greet” on Monday, Sept. 16 at 6 P.M. Check the new and improved ABL website at www.alachuabusiness.com for more information and to RSVP.

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L-R: Alachua Mayor Gib Coerper receives the Florida League of Cities’ highest award from League President Greg Ross /Photo special to Alachua County Today

ALACHUA – Mayor Gib Coerper of Alachua has been awarded the prestigious E. Harris Drew Municipal Lifetime Achievement Award, recognizing his decades of dedication to public service and his outstanding contributions to the City of Alachua and the state of Florida. The award was presented by the Florida League of Cities (FLC) during its Annual Conference on Aug. 16, 2024.

The E. Harris Drew Municipal Lifetime Achievement Award is the highest honor bestowed by the FLC, an organization that has been promoting municipal self-governance in Florida since its formation in 1922. Named after Supreme Court Justice E. Harris Drew, the award acknowledges local elected officials who have made significant and lasting impacts on their communities through dedicated public service.

“Throughout my life, I’ve always volunteered and I’ve always wanted to help,” Coerper said after receiving the award. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. I’ve been in the City of Alachua for nearly 50 years and it’s such an honor to be involved in this wonderful community.”

A resident and homeowner in Alachua since 1974, Coerper has devoted his life to the service of his community. He was first elected to the Alachua City Commission in 1999 and has since been re-elected four times. Beyond his official duties, Coerper has been deeply involved in youth mentorship, serving as a youth liaison for Boy Scouts of America Troop 88 for nearly two decades and volunteering as a tutor in the local elementary school.

“I love helping kids become good adults,” Coerper added, reflecting on his extensive community work.

Under Coerper's leadership, Alachua has experienced significant growth while preserving its small-town charm. His focus on infrastructure and technology has attracted major companies and bioscience businesses to the area, creating diverse employment opportunities. A notable achievement was the acquisition of a multimillion-dollar Florida Job Growth Grant, which was used to develop a parkway that could potentially double the region’s bioscience sector.

Alachua City Commissioner Dayna Miller praised Coerper's accomplishments, saying, “The E. Harris Drew Achievement Award that Mayor Coerper recently received was certainly well deserved; he’s accomplished great things as our mayor. He has been a member of this community for many years, and his heart for Alachua shines bright. I am proud to serve the City of Alachua alongside him.”

Coerper’s contributions extend beyond his mayoral duties. He has served as the Vice Chair of the Florida League of Cities Nominating Committee, President of the Alachua County League of Cities, and is a two-time recipient of the Florida League of Cities' Home Rule Hero Award. He remains an active member of the Alachua Chamber of Commerce and the Florida League of Mayors and has previously served on the North Central Florida Regional Planning Council.

In addition to his civic duties, Coerper is an active volunteer for various organizations, including the American Cancer Society and Keep Alachua County Beautiful. He is also a committed member of the Alachua Lions Club and has previously been recognized by Lions Club International with the prestigious Melvin Jones Fellowship in 2013. Other accolades include being named the 2013 Volunteer of the Year by the Alachua Chamber of Commerce and receiving the Outstanding Service to Our Community award from St. Luke AME Church of Alachua.

Coerper’s leadership and dedication have left an indelible mark on the City of Alachua, and his recent recognition by the Florida League of Cities is a testament to his unwavering commitment to public service and community enrichment.

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