Gainesville & Alachua County Weekly Briefs: July 14, 2025

UF Health Florida Recovery Center Expands Services

The UF Health Florida Recovery Center recently opened its new five-acre campus on July 16, marking a significant expansion in capacity and services. The facility now offers 124 beds, up from the previous 80, with both single- and double-occupancy rooms available. The campus spans 47,600 square feet of residential, therapeutic, and recreational space, featuring amenities such as a swimming pool, gym, outdoor recreation area, and even a pickleball court. An existing 18,700-square-foot administrative building houses offices and provides access to various services, including addiction evaluations, group and individual therapy, lectures, and outpatient care.

Founded in 1999, the UF Health Florida Recovery Center has served individuals from across the country, offering support for behavioral health issues, including substance use and addiction. It caters to people from all walks of life, including health professionals and first responders.

Scott Teitelbaum, a professor in psychiatry and neuroscience at the University of Florida College of Medicine, expressed his excitement about the new facility. “I’ve been waiting for this day for about 25 years,” he said in a press release. “As a younger physician, I would run around the area where we are now, and I thought what a beautiful place this would be for a treatment center. Twenty-five years later, the dream, the vision, has been realized.”

Community Cleanup Event in Pineridge Neighborhood

On July 19, the Pineridge neighborhood will host a community cleanup event from 9 a.m. to noon. The event will begin at the Pineridge Community Center located at 2509 NW 57th Place. Organized by Keep Alachua County Beautiful, the cleanup is supported by community partners and the city of Gainesville, led by Gainesville City Commissioner Ed Book.

Volunteers will have the opportunity to work together to remove litter from neighborhood streets and public areas. Lunch will be provided to participants, and cleanup supplies will be available. Volunteers are encouraged to wear cool, comfortable clothing, closed-toed shoes, and bring a refillable water bottle and sunscreen.

GRU Recognized for Excellence in Water Quality

Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) recently announced that the Murphree Water Treatment Plant received three industry awards for its excellence in water quality, operations, and professionalism. On May 15, the plant won first place in the Best Tasting Drinking Water Competition hosted by the Florida Section of the American Water Works Association (FSAWWA) Region XI. This competition, held in Ocala, was open to water utilities from the 12 counties within the region. Entries were judged based on taste, odor, color, and clarity.

In addition to the top prize, the Murphree Water Treatment Plant also received the “People’s Choice Award,” which was voted on by attendees who tasted the same water samples from different plants within Region XI.

Frazer School Triumphs at National Math Championship

The Frazer School made a strong showing at the Mu Alpha Theta National Convention in Orlando, taking 56 students to compete. The school won two of the four divisions—Theta and Statistics—and placed second in the Alpha and Mu divisions.

The Theta division included Algebra 2 and Geometry, while Alpha covered Pre-Calculus and Mu involved Calculus. Throughout the competition, the team members collected a total of 255 trophies. Frazer School emerged as champions with a total of 7,283 points, narrowly beating second-place American Heritage Broward with 7,177 points.

Individual winners included:

Theta Division: - Tony Lai, Maxwell Xu, Yifan Song, and Connor Guthrie – Division championship - Maxwell Xu – Theta Applications - Ajay Sawant – Equations and inequalities - Yifan Song – Conics - Lily Zhou – Logarithms and exponents - Fei Wang – Ciphering - Tony Lai – Mental math; functions - Maggie Gao – Theta chalk talk

Alpha Division: - Jonathan Lin – Matrices and Vectors - Aadya Guduru – Alpha Chalk talk - Xi Chen – Analytic Geometry

Mu Division: - Andrew Xing – Mu Applications; Integration Bee - Katie He – Area and Volume; Speed Math - Thomas Wu – Limits and Derivatives - Xuyao Zhang – Mu Chalk Talk - Anish Patel – Probability and Statistics

Statistics Division: - Mark Shiau, Eileen Lai, Jaivik Patel, and Caleb Wang – Statistics division - Warren Craft – Statistics unplugged - Andrew Xing – Mystery test - Eileen Lai – Statistics Ciphering - Katie He – Discrete math

Team Events: - Relay – Antony Lai, Xi Chen, and Katie He - Hustle – Andrew Xing, Michael Wei, Eric Gao, and Jonathan Lin