It’ll be another summery day here weatherwise, but not till another big blanket of fog lifts. The National Weather Service has issued another dense fog advisory until 10am. Slow down, allow extra time to get where you’re going and leave you low beams.
Just in case you were wondering, there are no changes in trash pickup schedules for the County this week – trash haulers ARE working New Years Eve. In case you’ve lost track, this is bulk waste waste week. The garbage folks are working, but County Government offices are closed today – they were shut down yesterday, too, for the New Year’s Holiday.
Lots of restaurants and bars are open tonight – so will the cops. Your Sheriff’s Department, Police and State Patrol want you to know THEY aren’t taking the night off, and if you have one too many you may find yourself a guest of the County. Have a designated drive if you’re partying, and call an Uber of a friend if you have one more than you should.
There’s family friendly event going on to ring in the New Year of Sebring’s downtown Circle tonight. National recording star Tommy Brandt brings his Cowboy Outreach Ministry’s New Year’s Eve Block Party downtown again tonight Brandy himself will be onstage along with T-2, and the Circle will be populated with food trucks and vendors, a car show and more. The car show is set to start at 5, the party at 6pm.
Compared to many years, the calendar change at the end of the day won’t change life a LOT in Florida, but some new laws take effect at Midnight tonight. Among other things you wake up to tomorrow morning – Concealed weapons licenses will be good now in the state for five years instead of seven, but the fee goes down; your insurance company has to tell you if the formula used to make your brand-name prescription changes; alternative treatments for advanced cancer patients should become easier to get covered by insurance plans, and Clerks of Court will be required to accept online payment of fines and fees.
Floridians laid off in the new year will get seven fewer weeks of unemployment benefits because the state’s jobless rate improved in 2021. The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity on Tuesday announced that a formula used to determine the maximum number of weeks of benefits will revert from a pandemic-boosted 19 weeks to 12.