An Alachua County Fire Rescue station in Grove Park is currently serving the city, but Hawthorne commissioners proposed that the station be moved back to the original location in Hawthorne. No motion was made at the meeting, but county commissioners directed county staff to provide the city with an update within 90 days.

The conversation between Alachua County Fire Rescue and the City of Hawthorne is complicated, at best.

The Alachua County Fire Rescue station was asked to relocate after the City of Hawthorne established its own fire department in the fall of 2007. The city run fire department came about due in part to a dispute about the amount of money Hawthorne owed the county for fire services. The transition also included moving an ambulance to Grove Park.

Facing financial problems, Hawthorne commissioners were forced to cut both the city’s fire and police departments, leaving the city with an abandoned fire station.

Now, city commissioners want to move the station from Grove Park, and closer to the center of the community.

Hawthorne Mayor Matthew Surrency told commissioners that most of the calls to the Grove Park station either originated in Hawthorne or rescue workers had to pass through Hawthorne to respond.

County Commissioner Mike Byerly swiftly expressed support for the discussion, saying that he believed the current station was not at an optimal location. To move forward, the city would need to take a leadership role in paying for refurbishing the abandoned fire station, he said.

The mayor added that a new roof would be completed within 30 days.

County Commissioner Susan Baird noted that while the numbers show more incidents in Hawthorne, the current location has more coverage geographically than the proposed Hawthorne location.

Former Hawthorne mayor John Martin said county commissioners should not punish the city for the government’s decision.

“Hawthorne has been on probation long enough,” Martin said.

A fire station is vital to a community not only in terms of service, but also in community spirit, he said.

Byerly responded by saying that moving the fire station was no small task. The past may even call for legal insurances so that history doesn’t repeat itself.

County commissioner Paula Delaney said the historical tension between the city and county fire services was water under the bridge.

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 “The state has changed the test and raised and lowered the bar so much that it’s hard for us to know what the results really mean,” said Superintendent Dan Boyd. “We’re certainly going to be cautious about how we use the scores, especially when it comes to individual students.”

 According to test results released today, 81% of local 4^th graders scored a 3 or above on the FCAT writing test, right at the state average. Seventy-nine percent of 8^th graders were at a 3 or above, slightly higher than the state average of 77%, while 84% of 10^th graders at both the state and local level scored a 3 or above.

 The Florida Department of Education also released the first set of scores for the new FCAT reading test. According to the state, 57% of Alachua County 9^th graders scored a 3 or above, compared to 52% statewide. At 10^th grade, 55% of local students scored a 3 or above, while the Florida average was 50%.

 Students this year took what is now called the FCAT 2.0, a new version of the FCAT given in writing, reading, math and science. The state also significantly raised passing scores on the tests, warning that the changes would lower student scores and school grades dramatically.

 But when statewide writing results showed that about three-quarters of students would have failed, Florida education officials decided to lower the proficiency rate back to a score of 3. During an emergency conference call with the state Board of Education and later with the media, Commissioner Gerard Robinson acknowledged that districts and teachers may not have had enough time or information to prepare for all the changes.

 “Overnight students didn’t become bad writers,” he said.

 Individual student scores are not expected to be available until next week. Local educators are encouraging to parents not to jump to any conclusions based on this year’s test.

 “They should not assume that their children are bad writers based on this one essay,” said Sandy Hollinger, deputy superintendent for instruction and student services. “There are too many unanswered questions about the FCAT testing this year. Their child’s teacher is a much better source of information.”

 School grades based on the FCAT scores won’t be released until this summer, but the state says to expect much lower grades this year as a result of the many changes to the tests, the scoring system, the passing rates and the grading formula.

 “We know we’re going to see significant drops across the board,” said Robinson during a conference call earlier today.

The Meals on Wheels Program in Newberry delivers meals to the elderly four days a week except for holidays. At a recent commission meeting, Robert W. Wilford, the CEO of the agency, told the Newberry City Commission that $22,000 was needed to sustain the local Meals on Wheels Program.

The CFCAA provides services to citizens in Alachua, Levy and Marion counties. The other services the organization provides, such as the Emergency Assistance Program, Family Self-Sufficiency Program and the Low-Income Energy Assistance Program, would not be cut if the City of Newberry decided to pull funding for the Meals on Wheels Program.

On average, the Meals on Wheels Program delivers to about 15 to 18 people, Wilford said. Each meal costs $3.95, and the agency would bid out the price after it rose to $4.

“We’ve got to look after the senior citizens we’ve got,” Commissioner Lois Forte said at the meeting.

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The 9^th Annual Celebration of Biotechnology at Alachua Progress Corporate Park hosted 70 vendors who cater to local biotech companies. The high growth industry has found a fertile niche in the park where 80 percent of the 1,100 workers are employed by University of Florida spinoff companies.

ALACHUA – Preparing the space shuttle for the gravity-defying trip from Earth into space, engineers carefully selected the glass for the windows. The engineers calculated the extreme measures the material would have to endure, such as high pressures, heat and extreme cold.

As the shuttle spirals through the last frontier, the glass protects the precious cargo inside – scientific research, data and, of course, the astronauts. So when the glass was selected, NASA and its engineers went to the same manufacturers who provided Thomas Edison an exterior for his light bulb – Corning Incorporated.

Corning was just one of 70 vendors on display at the 9^th Annual Celebration of Biotechnology at Alachua Progress Corporate Park on Thursday, May 10. The vendors presented their wares under tents set up on the lawn in front of RTI Biologics, the host of the annual celebration.  The event, sponsored by BioFlorida, draws approximately 400 visitors to the area.

“It all started because we wanted to highlight companies in Progress Corporate Park,” said Jenny Highlander, an RTI Biologics employee.

Visitors to the celebration could participate in a bus tour, which covered the businesses in the park not featured at the celebration. For the first time, the event also included an art gallery, which featured art inspired by science.

Vendors at the annual event welcome the chance to show their products to local biotech companies. “It’s good to get in on the ground level,” said Brigit Wilcox, a representative of Micronova Manufacturing, Inc. “As [the small biotech companies] grow, we grow with them.”

North Central Florida houses 33 of the 193 biotech companies in Florida. Progress Corporate Park sits at the epicenter of the Alachua County biotech industry as home to UF’s Sid Martin Biotechnology Incubator, which includes Pasteuria Science, AxoGen and Applied Food Technologys, among several others. The Incubator provides lab space, greenhouses and fermentation facilities.

Since 2008, the size of the biotech industry in Florida has grown by 42 percent, said Michael Schmitt, editor of Florida BioDatabase. Over the same period of time, the biotechnology has grown by only 5 percent nationwide.

It’s a sign that the incubators and large research universities are aiding the growth, Schmitt said. The Florida biotechnology industry has grown more since 2004 than all other years combined.

Stephanie Warrington, vice chair of BioFlorida, said she still believes biotechnology to be an emerging industry, despite its growth.

“There’s a lot of growth in the industry happening right here,” she said. The University of Florida is ranked number one for transferring ideas into commercial products, and currently 80 percent of the 1,100 workers at the Park are employed by University of Florida spinoff companies.

The incubator, said Warrington, provides a wonderful entrepreneurial ecosystem that helps biotechnology stay in the region and continue to grow.

This year, representatives and realtors from Infusion Technology Center at UF Innovation Square showcased the new building, which sits adjacent to the University of Florida. The new structure will provide unmatched access to research infrastructure and technology located at UF, as well as an open exchange of ideas. Infusion provides wet lab, dry lab, office, restaurant and retail space.

The North Florida area brings together the influential powerhouses spanning across industries, such as Progress Corporate Park, Innovation Square, University of Florida, Shands HealthCare and the City of Gainesville.