Metro - The Independent Florida Alligator

At street corners all over the county, crossing guards stop traffic as they help school children safely cross the road, and on Friday, as part of School Crossing Guard Appreciation Day, it was their day to be thanked.

Gainesville resident Mary Horn (right) explores the newly opened Barr Hammock Preserve with Emily Hoon, an Alachua County resident, at the opening celebration Saturday morning. The pair walked along the 6.5-mile Levy Loop hiking trail, which circles around restored marsh.

METRO

Preserve now open to public

By Alex Harris | Feb. 3, 2013

Local residents have a new area to explore after a nature preserve south of Gainesville opened Saturday morning.

Walmart Super Center, 5700 NW 23rd St., will open today. The old Walmart, located off Northwest 13th Street, closed Thursday.

METRO

New Walmart store opens, other location closed after 30 years

By Ellen Villafuerte | Jan. 31, 2013

One Walmart closed, but the shopping won’t stop with the opening of a new store Friday.

METRO

City accepts registration for academy

By Caitlin Raddatz | Jan. 31, 2013

The city of Gainesville is accepting applications for its Spring citizens’ academy program, designed to teach residents about the inner-workings of local government and city management.

Pedestrians cross Southwest 62nd Street on Wednesday afternoon. Gainesville Police issued more than 120 traffic citations near the crosswalk during the past two days, a majority of which went to drivers.

METRO | CRIMINAL JUSTICE

Police issue citations to drivers, pedestrians on Gainesville road

By Carla Vianna | Jan. 30, 2013

The Gainesville Police Department and the City of Gainesville created a program to reduce traffic accidents on Southwest 62nd Street.

METRO

Gainesville’s new custard shop to host grand opening Friday

By Chad Furst | Jan. 30, 2013

Sweet-toothed Gainesville residents have had frozen yogurt, ice cream and gelato to choose from. But a new restaurant will give them a fourth option to settle their cravings.

Gainesville Police Department Headquarters, 721 NW Sixth St., is scheduled to be demolished at 8:30 a.m. The demolition is the first step in the reconstruction process, which will take about one year to complete, said GPD spokesman Officer Ben Tobias.

METRO | CRIMINAL JUSTICE

GPD headquarters to be demolished

By Kathryn Varn | Jan. 30, 2013

The abandoned Gainesville Police Department headquarters was demolished this morning as the first step of the building’s reconstruction process.

METRO

New license plate messaging service pilots in Gainesville

By Hanna Marcus | Jan. 29, 2013

Texting someone over the phone requires a number. An email on the computer needs an address.

Sapphira Crawford, 36, right, a volunteer for the City of Gainesville/Alachua County Coalition for the Homeless and Hungry, helps George Washington take a survey at the bus stop in front of the Publix on 1302 N. Main St. on Tuesday afternoon.

METRO

Survey counts homeless residents

By Billy Kennedy | Jan. 29, 2013

Where did you sleep Monday night?

METRO

Gainesville protest case occupies judges’ minds

By Shayna Posses | Jan. 29, 2013

Alachua County judges denied the appeals of 29 Occupy Gainesville protesters — including Bo Diddley’s son, Ellas Anthony McDaniel — to drop trespassing charges from 2011 during a case hearing Friday.

METRO

Libraries used as social hubs

By Bethany Schuster | Jan. 29, 2013

The Pew Research Center released new findings that showed about 70 percent of Americans browse or borrow print books from the library.

Rabbi Berl Goldman, executive director of the Tabacinic Lubavitch-Chabad Jewish Student and Community Center, at 2021 NW Fifth Ave., stands in the site of the new center.

METRO

New Jewish center under construction, set to reopen in Fall

By Daniella de la Campa | Jan. 29, 2013

A Jewish center currently under construction in northwest Gainesville is set to reopen this fall.

The workers at Carson Springs Wildlife Conservation Foundation recently discovered that Zena, an Eurasian lynx, is actually male.

METRO

Gainesville wildlife sanctuary recognizes big cat gender mix-up

By Fatemah Albader | Jan. 29, 2013

For eight months, caregivers at the Carson Springs Wildlife Conservation Foundation have taken care of what they thought was a female Eurasian lynx.

Dr. Nicole Mullally speaks to Cameron Varvel, 10, about braces. Mullally described the best way to maintain and clean braces using a 3-D instructional video.

METRO

Technology, energy efficiency priority for orthodontist’s office

By Hanna Marcus | Jan. 29, 2013

An orthodontist’s office is usually the last place someone would expect to find touch-screen computers, fingerprint scanners and 3-D video presentations.

The charred wreckage of a semitrailer and an SUV sit on Interstate 75 in Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park on Jan. 29, 2012. Today marks the one-year anniversary of the accident that claimed the lives of 11.

METRO

On first anniversary, responders reflect on I-75 crash

By Chris Alcantara | Jan. 28, 2013

It was in the early hours of Jan. 29, 2012 when Alachua County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Todd Kelly received a call about an accident on Interstate 75 in Paynes Prairie State Park.

Patrons watch “A Royal Affair” at the Hippodrome State Theatre Cinema on Sunday night. The theater has shown a variety of international and domestic films for 31 years.

METRO

Hippodrome Cinema struggles to break even

By Caitlin Raddatz | Jan. 28, 2013

Despite receiving thousands of dollars from the Florida Department of State, the Hippodrome State Theatre is still struggling to break even on international films being aired through its Cinema program.