The Highlands County School Board will soon be discussing the possibility of repurposing the Sebring Pre-K Center due to lower-than-expected enrollment. A workshop is slated for October 17th at 3:30pm to discuss options, following a previous discussion by the Board back in May. Superintendent Brenda Longshore will present information to the Board on the possibility of having some open classrooms at some schools and transitioning the current students at the Pre-K Center to their zoned elementary school. Several ideas have been presented throughout the years on what to do with the remaining facility if the students are transferred out. Longshore said some of those ideas include eventually moving the District Office to the space or moving Highlands Virtual School and The Academy on Youth Care Lane to that location.
A Polk County home health aide is facing manslaughter charges in connection to one of her patient’s deaths. Polk County Sheriff’s Office Homicide detectives arrested and charged 25-year-old Beatrice Taylor of Dundee on one count of aggravated manslaughter of an elderly person after their investigation revealed that she neglected to dial 9-1-1 or provide health care to the 86-year-old male patient who was under her care when he died in his home. Taylor is accused of falling asleep on her scheduled shift and not rendering aide to the victim when she eventually found him lying on the floor of his bedroom in the early morning hours. She told detectives that when she attempted to assist him back into the bed that he told her not to touch him, so she left him on the floor and did not call 9-1-1 or her employer. Reportedly, She then fell back asleep for several more hours. When Taylor woke back up, she called her parents and while still on the phone, she checked on the victim and found him still on the floor and unresponsive. She remains in the Polk County Jail being held on no bond.
Thirty-four new state laws take effect this October 1st, including one banning the homeless from sleeping in public spaces after sunset. Researchers in Central Florida have noticed a recent rise in arrests among the homeless population. Dr. Andrew Sullivan with UCF’s School of Public Administration says there has been a big increase in citations among people listed as transient since last fall. Sullivan tells News 6 that the number of panhandling violations went up by two-hundred-percent between October of 2023 and the year prior.
Ports along the East Coast are facing what could be a massive disruption. That’s what Jacksonville University Professor Jim Mirabella says about a strike called by the International Longshoremen’s Association. They went on strike at midnight after failing to agree on a new contract. Mirabella tells News4Jax ports along the East Coast handle a million shipping containers a day, and even if the strike lasts just one day, it could set us back a week because of the ripple effect.