Alachua County is a county in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 278,468. The county seat is Gainesville, the home of the University of Florida since 1906, when the campus opened with 106 students.
Alachua is the second-largest city in Alachua County, Florida and the third-largest in North Central Florida. According to the 2020 census, the city's population was 10,574. The city is part of the Gainesville metropolitan area, which had a population of 339,247 in 2020.
Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, and the largest city in North Central Florida, with a population of 141,085 in 2020. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, which had a population of 339,247 in 2020.
The Gainesville Sun is a newspaper published daily in Gainesville, Florida, United States, covering the North-Central portion of the state. The paper is published by Lynni Henderson, the paper's Executive Editor is Douglas Ray and the editorial page editor is Nathan Crabbe.
The William M. Staerkel Planetarium is a planetarium at Parkland College in Champaign, Illinois. It is the second largest planetarium in the state, the largest being the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, and has the first Carl Zeiss M1015 opto-mechanical star projector installed in the western hemisphere. The Staerkel Planetarium provides science education programs and light show entertainment to as many as 40,000 people each year. It has a 50-foot dome, seats 144, and private group and school show reservations can be made beyond the regular public offerings.
The Santa Fe College Teaching Zoo is a 10-acre (4.0 ha) zoo in Gainesville, Florida. Located on Santa Fe College's main campus, it is the only college zookeeper training facility in the United States. Since 2000, the zoo has been accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA).
Porter Michael Peterson is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the outside linebackers coach at the University of Florida. He most recently was the outside linebackers coach at the University of South Carolina. Peterson played college football at the University of Florida, where he was a member of a national championship team and earned All-American honors. He was a second-round pick in the 1999 NFL Draft and played professionally for thirteen seasons with the Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars and Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL).
Santa Fe College is a public college based in Gainesville, Florida, with satellite campuses in Alachua and Bradford counties. It is part of the Florida College System. It was established in 1965 as Santa Fe Junior College by the Florida Legislature and began offering classes in September 1966. As of Fall 2020, the school had an enrollment of 12,607 students, and offers associate and baccalaureate degree programs.
Star Gazers is a short astronomy show on American public television previously hosted by Jack Horkheimer, executive director of the Miami Space Transit Planetarium. After his death in 2010, a series of guest astronomers hosted until 2011, when Dean Regas, James Albury, and Marlene Hidalgo became permanent co-hosts. In 2019, Dean Regas and James Albury stepped down from the program and were replaced by Trace Dominguez. On the weekly program, the host informs the viewer of significant astronomical events for the upcoming week, including key constellations, stars and planets, lunar eclipses and conjunctions, as well as historical and scientific information about these events.
Jack Horkheimer was the executive director of the Miami Space Transit Planetarium. He was best known for his astronomy show Jack Horkheimer: Star Hustler, which started airing on PBS on November 4, 1976.
The Oaks Mall is an enclosed shopping center in Gainesville, Florida.
Morningbell is a psychedelic rock band based in Gainesville, Florida. The band was formed in 2000 by brothers Travis Atria and Eric Atria. Stacie Thrushman/Atria (keyboard) joined the band in late 2001, while Chris Hillman (drums) was recruited in 2007 as the band's 6th drummer.
Rick Dantzler is an American lawyer, former Florida politician, and a member of the Democratic Party. From Winter Haven, Dantzler served in the Florida House of Representatives from 1982 to 1990, and in the Florida Senate from 1990 to 1998. He was Buddy MacKay's running mate in the 1998 Florida gubernatorial election; they lost to Jeb Bush and Frank Brogan. From 2014 to 2017, Dantzler was President Obama's appointed Florida State Executive Director of the Farm Service Agency.
Dwayne Keith Dixon is an American former college and professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) and Arena Football League (AFL). He played college football for the University of Florida, and thereafter, played professionally for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the NFL, and the Washington Commandos and Detroit Drive of the Arena Football League. Dixon has been a college football coach since 1990.
Charles R. "Chuck" Perry was a Gainesville, Florida construction industry leader, philanthropist and businessman. He died of a heart attack in 2005 while on vacation in Dresden, Germany.
The Buehler Planetarium and Observatory is a 40-foot in diameter, domed theater. It is located at the A.Hugh Adams central campus of Broward College in Davie, Florida. The planetarium uses the Definiti fulldome video system. It is the only public planetarium in Broward County.
Rebecca Heflin is a women's fiction and contemporary romance novelist living in Gainesville, Florida. The name Rebecca Heflin is a pseudonym used by B. Dianne Farb and was inspired by her great-great-grandmother, Sarah Anne Rebecca Heflin Apple Smith. As Dianne Farb, she works at the University of Florida and runs a local nonprofit organization with her husband.
James C. Albury is an American television personality and director of the Kika Silva Pla Planetarium at Santa Fe College.
Dean Regas is an American astronomer, public speaker, author, and television host. He is most widely known as the cohost of the syndicated television show Star Gazers, which airs daily on more than 100 PBS stations around the world. He has been the Outreach Astronomer for the Cincinnati Observatory since 2000 where he specializes in astronomy education and public speaking. Regas is the author of three books Facts From Space!, 100 Things to See in the Night Sky, and 100 Things to See in the Southern Night Sky.
The Sky Above Us with James Albury is a short American astronomy show hosted by James Albury, director of the Kika Silva Pla Planetarium at Santa Fe College. Each episode is approximately five minutes in length; and, a new episode is released every two or three weeks. Prior to hosting this series, Albury had spent eight years co-hosting the long-running PBS astronomy series, Star Gazers. The series is produced at Santa Fe College in Gainesville, Florida.
