Madison

In the last few decades, technology has pushed blue collar jobs in the U.S. away from heavy industry and toward skilled trades.  North Florida Community College is hoping a new program will prepare its students for these jobs of the future.

It’s called the Automation and Production Technology program; the idea is to prepare students for manufacturing jobs that have become increasingly dependent on automatic and programmable technologies.  NFCC has focused on putting its students face-to-face with the same machines they’ll use professionally. 

Voters in Madison Co. have overwhelmingly chosen to allow the sale of alcohol there, bringing the number of so-called dry, or partially dry, Florida counties down to three. On Tuesday, a landslide 62 percent of voters said they’d like restaurants and stores to begin serving drinks above the previous limit of 6.2 percent alcohol.