Mainstreet’s most-viewed stories of 2024

Among Mainstreet's most-viewed online stories were (clockwise from left) Newberry Elementary losing 14 teachers, GPD Chief Lonnie Scott resigning, HCA's surgical shutdown and the loss of radio host Heather Jennings in a car accident.
Among Mainstreet's most-viewed online stories were (clockwise from left) Newberry Elementary losing 14 teachers, GPD Chief Lonnie Scott resigning, HCA's surgical shutdown and the loss of radio host Heather Jennings in a car accident.
Photo montage by C.J. Gish

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.

Following our theme of top 2024 stories, today’s list features Mainstreet’s most-viewed stories, as recorded by Google Analytics. 

These stories differ from our top local news stories that we selected for their community impact. These individual articles received high readership over a short period of time and were either breaking news and/or were stories that went viral on social media. 
 
This is the fifth in our year-in-review articles, which include Mainstreet’s top feature stories, top high school sports events and our Community Impact Report .

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Most-read stories of 2024

1. Florida Highway Patrol trooper shooting temporarily closes I-75 (July 15)  
 
A Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) trooper-involved shooting south of Interstate 75 mile marker 374 near the Micanopy exit temporarily closed southbound traffic. FHP troopers pursued the reckless driver who hit multiple vehicles before stopping on I-75.

2. 6 dead in 5 Memorial Day weekend crashes (May 27) 
 
On May 25, a UTV accident killed a Live Oak man and injured two passengers, an Old Town woman, 52, died when she accelerated in a Circle K parking lot in Chiefland and her motorcycle struck a traffic barrier in the parking lot, and an Old Town teen was struck and killed while standing on State Road 349.

On May 26, an Ocala man, 82, died in a single-vehicle crash and two people died in a collision with a tree in Suwannee County.

3. HCA North Florida Hospital shutdown: “It’s been a disaster’ (Feb. 9) 
 
HCA North Florida Hospital resumed performing surgeries at a fraction of its normal rate, and only for emergencies or patients so severely ill they can’t wait. Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration investigated the hospital’s suspension of surgeries and the circumstances surrounding it while HCA denied or downplayed allegations of shortchanging patient care at its facilities.

A car wrapped around a concrete utility pole in Waldo
Photo courtesy ACFR The Honda CRV wrapped around a concrete utility pole in Waldo.

4. Vehicle fleeing Florida Highway Patrol at time of deadly Waldo crash (Apr. 20)

An April 20 accident in Waldo killed two people and injured two others after they attempted to evade a pursuing Florida Highway Patrol car near Cole Street after the vehicle fled Bradford County Sheriff’s Office deputies.

5. 1 dead, 3 injured in Ginnie Springs shootings (May 27)Two Memorial Day weekend shootings that left one person dead and three injured at Ginnie Springs. The incidents occurred in the overnight hours of Friday, May 24, and Saturday, May 25.

6. Surgeons: HCA North Florida Hospital ‘dirty instruments’ issue dates back a year (Feb. 19) 
 
For at least a year, surgeons at HCA Florida North Florida Hospital in Gainesville battled the problem of “dirty” instruments being delivered to operating rooms and pleaded with administrators to fix it. Doctors vented their “disgust” over the “festering” problem in an extraordinary, early morning meeting with administration on Jan. 10. One week later the hospital suspended all surgeries. A long-simmering crisis had boiled over.

7. Newbery students among 4 killed in Waldo crash (Apr. 25) 
 
The Newberry community is in mourning after two teens died from injuries sustained in a weekend crash in Waldo that had already claimed two other lives.  

8. Newberry Elementary School loses 14 teachers (July 2)
 
An unusually high number of teachers transferred away from Newberry Elementary School as the school underwent a controversial push to convert into a charter school

The West End Golf Club.
Photo by C.J. Gish The West End Golf Course will be part of the upcoming 2025 World Masters Athletics Indoor Championships in March 2025.

9. West End Golf Course planned for purchase, possible sports venue (Feb. 2) 
 
West End Golf Course is on track to become a key part of the 2025 World Masters Athletics Indoor Championships, an international event expected to draw 10,000 people to Alachua County in March 2025.  

10. 3 Celebration Pointe companies file bankruptcy (Mar. 27)

Three Celebration Pointe companies filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on March 14 in federal court, with more than $165 million in debt.

The companies—Celebration Pointe Holdings LLC, Celebration Pointe Holdings II LLC, and SHD-Celebration Pointe LLC—manage more than 100 acres of mixed-use development just west of Gainesville.

An attorney representing Celebration Pointe said the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process would not impact business or events planned for the property in southwest Gainesville.

11. Surgery crisis persists at HCA’s North Florida Hospital (Mar. 21) 
 
HCA Florida North Florida Hospital canceled more than half a dozen major surgeries on March 21, compounding a crisis of “dirty” surgical instruments that has left patients in a lurch and doctors reeling from disrupted schedules. 

12. I Am Country morning show host dies in head-on collision (Dec. 3)

A Dec. 3 head-on collision on SW Williston Road claimed the life of I Am Country’s 106.9 FM morning show host Heather Jennings.

Jennings started her weekday show on WPLL I Am Country 106.9 FM in November.

Tributes from across the country poured in for Jennings in the days following her death.

Customers steadily streamed into Capricious in the first two days of its soft opening.
Photo by Glory Reitz Customers steadily streamed into Capricious in the first two days of its soft opening.

13. Local eclectic eatery opens in Newberry (Jan. 3) 
 
On the first day of a new year, Christa Rummel opened the doors of a new restaurant in downtown Newberry: Capricious. The new eatery is a blend of art and family history that Rummel said she hopes will become a gathering place for the community. 

14. 3 semis, 1 car collision stops southbound I-75 traffic in Gainesville (June 27) 
 
Southbound lanes on Interstate 75 near the Newberry Road exit stopped on June 27 after three tractor-trailers and one car were involved in a crash.

According to a Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) release, a car traveling southbound on I-75 at 11:36 a.m. hydroplaned across the lanes and struck the center median guardrail ahead of three tractor-trailers.

15. Internal investigation of GPD’s Scott preceded resignation (Feb. 29) 
 
The Ocala Police Department (OPD) conducted an internal investigation on Gainesville Police Chief Lonnie Scott over several months in 2023. OPD submitted its report in December, but the final charge was settled on Feb. 12—the week before Gainesville City Manager Cynthia Curry informed Scott he could either resign or face termination.  

16. Georgia man sentenced to 30 years for DUI, drug possession (Jan. 23) 
 
A Georgia man was sentenced to 30 years in state prison after he was found guilty of trafficking Fentanyl, in possession of drug paraphernalia and driving under the influence.

17. Gainesville police chief resigns under pressure (Feb. 26) 
 
Gainesville Police Chief Lonnie Scott Sr. submitted his resignation on Feb. 26 after City Manager Cynthia Curry said Friday that she planned to fire him. In a letter, Scott said he accepted Curry’s offer to submit a letter of resignation instead of facing termination.

18. State investigating HCA surgery shutdown (Feb. 5) 
 
State regulators are investigating an ongoing clinical crisis at HCA Florida North Florida Hospital after surgeries were abruptly stopped almost three weeks ago.  

An undisclosed number of patients have had their surgeries put on hold since at least Jan. 17, when the hospital closed its operating rooms and told first responders to rush the critically sick or injured somewhere else.

Santa Fe High School baseball coach Travis Yeckring was placed on administrative leave on Monday.
Photo by C.J. Gish Santa Fe High School baseball coach Travis Yeckring was placed on administrative leave.

19. Santa Fe High School coach, school employee put on administrative leave (Mar. 19) 
 
Santa Fe High School baseball coach and school media specialist Travis Yeckring was placed on administrative leave on March 18. The announcement came after the Florida Department of Law Enforcement recently started investigating alleged crimes against children at the school.  

20. Alachua Police Department re-hires former chief as captain (June 24)
 
Former Alachua Police Chief and sheriff’s office candidate Chad Scott returned to APD in June after two-year stint with the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO).  left APD in 2022 to re-join ACSO as a major, taking charge of the Department of Operations. 

Scott left ACSO in order to run for sheriff, which he would win by 392 votes over Emery Gainey in the November election.

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