
Editor’s Note: Mainstreet’s 2024 year-end recap includes the area’s top news stories, top feature stories, top high school sports events, our most-viewed website stories and our Community Impact Report.
Mainstreet covered no small number of stories in 2024, providing exclusive coverage not found elsewhere. The stories ranged from small announcements to major reports that impacted thousands across the region.
Mainstreet staff curated the following list of local stories in the order we felt they were most important. We particularly weighted stories for impact based on how many people in the area would be affected.
Disagree with our lineup? Comment on what stories you think should have made the top 10.
- HCA Florida North Florida surgery shutdown
HCA Florida North Florida Hospital abruptly stopped all elective surgeries on Jan. 17.
The decision came as some patients were in operating rooms and prepped for surgery. It left some patients in pain, waiting weeks for surgery to repair, for example, a shoulder broken in two places.
Mainstreet reporting on the closure showed a hospital scrambling to fix a problem that had festered for 6-12 months, if not longer. Surgeons had complained to hospital administrators about “bioburden” clinging to instruments delivered to operating rooms—from blood and tissue to rust.
Hospital administrators closed ranks and left questions unanswered, but surgeons stepped forward anonymously to talk about the ongoing problems.
One surgeon said hundreds of patients and innumerable surgeries had been impacted because of the sanitation problems with the instruments. Those operations weren’t just pushed back after the Jan. 17 shutdown but had stretched back for months.
Even once surgeries restarted, a surgeon said trays arrived without the correct instruments on them, forcing surgeons to “piecemeal surgeries together.”
Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) conducted a brief investigation into the matter and quickly cleared the hospital, finding “no deficiencies” in the way it was handling the instrument issues.
Most recently, Mainstreet provided exclusive coverage of a lawsuit against HCA’s North Florida Hospital for negligence related to the dirty instruments.
- Management of Gainesville Regional Utilities
The new Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) Authority entered the year settling into its new role. Within months, all four members resigned, and Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed five new members.
Before long, the new board fired General Manager Tony Cunningham and appointed Ed Bielarski, then chair of the GRU Authority, to take his spot.
Meanwhile, the Gainesville City Commission voted to place a referendum on the November ballot to wrest control of the utility away from the authority and back to the commission.
Legal action has followed, and both entities continue to stake their claim for management of GRU.
Gainesville voters approved the referendum with over 70% of the vote, but a judge will decide whether the referendum was legally valid. The issue will continue into 2025.
- Local elections prompt leadership changes
Harris and Trump, who?
At Mainstreet, we focused on local elections coverage that readers can’t get anywhere else. We ran questionnaires on 28 local candidates, six state candidates and four federal candidates.
We also ran articles to explain one city of Gainesville referendum, two Alachua County referendums and six Florida referendums.
A close sheriff’s race forced a recount and resulted in a change for Alachua County. After Emery Gainey, who was appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, held the position for just over a year, Democratic challenger Chad Scott won and will take over in January.
Other office changes included Thomas Vu, who joined the School Board of Alachua County, and James Ingle, who will replace Commissioner Reina Saco on the Gainesville City Commission starting in January.
Republican Chad Johnson won House District 22, replacing term-limited state Rep. Chuck Clemons, while state Rep. Stan McClain won Senate District 9, replacing term-limited state Sen. Keith Perry.
- Alachua County Public Schools leadership transitions
A divided School Board of Alachua County voted 3-2 to fire Superintendent Shane Andrew in October. The decision was the latest in a series of split votes that have impacted the school district’s upper management.
In February, a split board voted on Andrew’s new contract. Even the original board that hired Andrew, as an interim to start, split that vote after a 3-2 vote to fire former Superintendent Carlee Simon.
The school board hired Kamela Patton as interim as it searches for a new superintendent, who will be the eighth for the district in the last decade.
Just after the vote to hire Patton, Board member Kay Abbitt resigned to take over Boulware Springs Charter School after the death of its director. Gov. Ron DeSantis will appoint a board member to fill the seat.
- Sasse resigns, faces questions over spending
Ben Sasse earned a spot in Mainstreet’s 2023 list of top news for joining UF; this year he’s on the list for stepping down as president after 17 months on the job.
Sasse cited his wife’s worsening medical conditions and the need to be with family as his reason for resigning. Reports by The Independent Florida Alligator say Sasse also had a rocky relationship with UF Board of Trustees Chair Mori Hosseini.
In the wake of his resignation, questions rose about the expanded budget Sasse’s office oversaw—three times that of his predecessor. Sasse defended the budget, saying the expenditures were part of charting UF’s innovative future.
- Newberry charter conversion
A group of parents and local leaders launched a campaign in February to turn Newberry’s three public schools into charter schools—headed by an independent board and outside the management of the public school district.
Following a contested election and clarification from the state, Newberry Elementary School met the qualifications to become a charter school. City and charter school leaders submitted its application to the state in November and plan to make the switch in the fall of 2025.
The move prompted strong feelings among residents and city commissioners, including a cease-and-desist letter sent by Newberry’s attorney to a local citizen.
Mainstreet published more than 30 stories chronicling the story.
- Gainesville police chief transition
The city of Gainesville abruptly announced the resignation of Police Chief Lonnie Scott Sr. in late February.
Emails showed that Scott resigned after City Manager Cynthia Curry said the other option was for her to fire him. Scott said in the emails that he didn’t understand why the action was necessary, and Curry said it was time for a new direction for the police department.
The emails came a week after an internal investigation cleared Scott of wrongdoing in the handling of the department’s K9 unit. But Curry told Mainstreet months later that the decision had to do with the culture at GPD and needing a fresh start.
Curry selected Assistant Chief Nelson Moya, who joined GPD in 2023, as the new chief, and he was sworn in on Nov. 21.
- Alachua County buys West End
Mainstreet readers got an exclusive preview of new plans for West End Golf Course in February after we reported that Viking Companies, owners of Celebration Pointe, would purchase the site.
For years, nearby residents organized to oppose development plans at the golf course, which stood closed and abandoned since 2019. Alachua County sided with residents in 2022, denying a change in land use and zoning.
Alachua County’s decision left the golf course in further limbo since the developer hadn’t planned a recreational use for the property.
Soon after Viking Companies had a contract to purchase the site, Alachua County announced it would take over the contract and be the new owners of the 75-acre site. Alachua County plans to turn the area into a park, with input sessions already held for residents to suggest activities and amenities to provide.
- Four boys die in wreck
In April, state and local law enforcement chased a stolen vehicle near Waldo. Officers reported occupants appeared to wear ski masks, and the driver refused to pull over.
The chase ended in a crash after a PIT maneuver, which left all four occupants dead—either at the scene or from injuries sustained in the crash. At least two of the teens were from Newberry, and all were ages 14 to 17.
As of Dec. 19, Florida Highway Patrol told Mainstreet the crash investigation is still ongoing.
- Ginnie Springs shooting deaths
Sheriff Bobby Schultz estimated more than 20,000 people visited Ginnie Springs over Memorial Day weekend—more than the entire population of the county. Within 24 hours, two visitors to Ginnie Springs were shot and killed in separate incidents.
Law enforcement arrested two brothers in Georgia for one of the shootings, and the community demanded changes at the private recreation and camping facility in Gilchrist County, which has a history of deadly incidents.
The Gilchrist County Board of County Commissioners and Gilchrist County Sheriff’s Office created a committee to deal with safety issues. Ginnie Springs owners said they were already making changes following the shootings, including capacity limits.
Two lawsuits also followed the deaths, with families claiming negligence on the part of Ginnie Springs.