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Here's an interesting note from Florida's camp heading into Saturday's big game ... President Barack Obama is rooting for Florida to beat Alabama on Saturday, according to Gators right tackle Marcus Gilbert, whose father Jeff helped protect Obama as a U.S. Secret Service agent during his president campaign. According to the Palm Beach Post ... Marcus said Obama often asks his dad how Marcus and the Gators are doing."He's rooting for us all the way, like he did last year," Gilbert said.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Florida coach Urban Meyer, who was admitted to a hospital because of chest pains following the Southeastern Conference championship game, is stepping down because of health concerns. Meyer resigned Saturday, calling it quits after five seasons in Gainesville and two national titles. He leaves Florida with a 56-10 record that includes a 32-8 mark in league play and a school-record 22-game winning streak snapped early this month against Alabama. HISTORIC RUN Urban Meyer is stepping down at Florida after the Allstate Sugar Bowl, and he goes out on top among current FBS coaches. His win percentage is...

University of Florida's president 'convinced' big state budget cuts coming By Nathan Crabbe Staff writer Published: Friday, April 17, 2009 at 6:30 a.m. Last Modified: Friday, April 17, 2009 at 12:32 a.m. The University of Florida released a worst-case budget plan Thursday that includes options such as hundreds of layoffs, the elimination of 10 academic and student-support programs, and a four-day workweek in the summer. The options amount to more than $108 million in possible cuts, providing a menu of possibilities for UF to consider when the state budget is completed. UF President Bernie Machen said he expects to present...

Gainesville, FL (LifeNews.com) -- Assisted suicide crusader Jack Kevorkian is headed to the University of Florida for an October 11 speaking engagement -- which will have the college pay him $50,000. But the event isn't going over well with students there, who are upset that state taxpayer dollars will be used to pay the convicted murderer. Ashley Emans, a junior at the university, wrote more about the speaking engagement in an editorial on Town Hall. She said that the student-run speaker's bureau called ACCENT sent Kevorkian the speaking offer shortly after his released from prison, where he served eight years...

A civil case brought by a former director of the Collier County Extension Service against the University of Florida is headed to trial. A U.S. District Court judge in Fort Myers has denied the university’s motion for summary judgment, saying there’s enough evidence for the case to move ahead. Denise Blanton has sued the university, saying she was unjustly reprimanded and then terminated as a senior extension agent after filing a race and gender complaint with the Equal Opportunity Commission. Judge Paul Magnuson ruled against the university’s motion on Feb. 27...

Pregame is on 7:30 Pm on Fox, Game at 8. Gobucks, all you in Buckeye Nation. GoBUCKS!!!!

"The fact that he's dead is unfortunate but looking back on his life it's a very pleasant thought."The father of late The Doors singer Jim Morrison has branded the death of his estranged son "unfortunate," despite the rocker often singing about his family's imagined demise. George Morrison, a retired Navy admiral, insists memories of his rocker son are "pleasant" - even though he once joked his parents were dead and used Oedipal rant "The End" to imagine killing his dad and sleeping with his mother. However, in a new memoir of the band, George remains positive about his child. Contributing...

Starke, Florida - Danny Rolling to scheduled to die by lethal injection at 6 pm tonight for the brutal murders of five college students in August 1990. He is said to be “calm and cooperative.” The victims: 18 year old Christa Hoyt of Archer, 18 year old Sonja Larson of Deerfield Beach, 17 year old Christina Powell of Jacksonville, 23 year old Manuel Taboada of Carol City and 23 year old Tracy Inez Paules of Miami. Five college students, five murders in three days. Their brutal and senseless deaths sent Gainesville into sheer panic. Students at the University of Florida...

Once upon a time, in a Florida far, far away, the lakes were translucent lagoons, teeming with fish and fowl. The landscape was a tropical Eden, saturated with guava fruit, papaya, coconut and mangoes. And, most importantly, the football fields were filled with magnificent touchdown prances and end zone dances. These days, something awful and alarming is happening to our beloved land. The lakes now teem with slime and sludge. The landscape is covered in strip malls and T-shirt shops. And, worst of all, the football fields are barren wastelands, devoid of offensive imagination and innovation. Who unplugged our scoreboards?...

It looks almost like any other shopping cart, except sensors allow it to follow the shopper around the supermarket and slow down when needed so items can be placed in it, and it never crashes into anyone's heels. Gregory Garcia dreamed up the robotic cart to solve a childhood peeve of being accidentally hit with shopping carts by his sister. His cart, also known as B.O.S.S. for Battery Operated Smart Servant, was one of about 30 robots on display Wednesday by students at the University of Florida, who worked the past semester on the projects using their engineering backgrounds. "The...

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — When hurricanes, wars or other emergencies force authorities to respond, three essentials top their list of must-haves: water, electricity and refrigeration. Now, in a project funded by the U.S. Army, two University of Florida engineers have designed, built and successfully tested a combined power-refrigeration system that can provide all three – and, with further development, be made compact enough to fit inside a military jet or large truck. “If you’re in a forward base in Iraq, it costs you the same per gallon of water as it does per gallon of fuel,” said William Lear, a UF...

UF finding could lead to approaches to treat macular degeneration GAINESVILLE, Fla. - University of Florida scientists conducting experiments with mice have found evidence that the body naturally replenishes small amounts of cells in the eye essential for healthy vision. The finding may shatter the belief that a cell layer vital for eyesight called the retinal pigment epithelium, or RPE, is a nonrenewable resource, say researchers writing in a recent issue of Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science. RPE plays a vital role in our visual health by forming the outer barrier of the retina and supporting the function of cells...

WED — APRIL 5 — COULTER AT UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA! - GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Ann Coulter, political commentator and author of four New York Times bestsellers, will speak at 8 p.m. April 5 at the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Florida. Doors open at 7:15 p.m. Advance tickets will be available at the Phillips Center and University Box Office to University of Florida students with a valid UF student ID beginning April 3, with a limit of two tickets per student. Beginning on April 5, tickets will be available to the general public at the...

By Pat Forde ESPN.com 1. Find the weakness in Florida. Go ahead. I'll wait 2. Billy Donovan has been here before. Ben Howland has not. 3. Banners don't win championships, players do Tradition is a valuable thing to have on your side in the banter between fans. But UCLA's 11 national championships won't help the Bruins one iota come tipoff Monday. 4. Florida has had the stronger tournament run 5. UCLA used up all its good karma escaping Gonzaga The Bruins' desperate scramble to score the final 11 points of the game and extricate themselves from near-certain defeat was the...

University of Florida employees have to pledge that they're having sex with their domestic partners before qualifying for benefits under a new health care plan at the university. The partners of homosexual and heterosexual employees are eligible for coverage under UF's plan, which will take effect in February. The enrollment process began this month, and some employees have expressed concern about an affidavit that requires a pledge of sexual activity. Fielding questions about the pledge at a Faculty Senate meeting Thursday, UF's vice president of human resources said he's heard concerns about the affidavit, though overall feedback about the plan...

The University of Florida's gay and lesbian employees will receive health insurance benefits for their domestic partners under a measure approved Friday by the school's Board of Trustees. The vote was 12-1 making UF the state's only public university to approve such a policy, which also covers partners of unmarried straight couples. Married employees have long been able to insure their spouses. UF President Bernie Machen said he thought the measure would be important for both recruiting and keeping faculty members. "This is not just about the people who need this benefit. This is also about people who consider the...

GAINESVILLE · University of Florida officials say they're simply enforcing the law. But civil libertarians say the school has itself become an enforcer for the recording industry. In the annals of the online music wars, the university may well go down as one of the Recording Industry Association of America's most loyal allies. Chris Russell, an 18-year-old freshman, and some of his dorm buddies got their lesson this fall. As he was downloading Metallica tunes in his room, Russell suddenly lost his Internet connection. Logging on to a university site, he was informed by a pop-up message that he'd violated...

<p>Editor's note: Campus Vibe is a feature that provides student perspectives on the 2004 election from selected colleges across the United States. This week's contributor is Dwayne Robinson, student writer at The Alligator, the University of Florida student newspaper. The views expressed in this article are not necessarily those of CNN, its affiliates or the University of Florida.</p>

Your four years of college are up: Graduate or else A University of Florida policy was implemented to curtail career students - and it appears to be working. By ANITA KUMAR, Times Staff Writer St. Petersburg TimesGAINESVILLE - Since his first class at the University of Florida, Paul DeSario has changed his major six times. The 24-year-old admits he has had trouble picking a career path, but swears he will graduate by next year, his seventh at UF. That's not nearly fast enough for university administrators, who are tired of students like DeSario. They say four years is all anyone...

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- Leslie Strickland said she had nothing but good intentions when she loaded a badly hurt 6-foot alligator into the back seat of her car and took it home to Port Charlotte. The 49-year-old woman had hit the animal with her car Friday night and went back to rescue it Saturday - but wound up spending a night in jail, charged with possession of an alligator, a felony in Florida.Police also charged her with driving with a suspended license and walking away from the scene of an accident, leaving the injured alligator in the back seat."I knew...