News Update for 11/14/18]

The recount is underway here again in Highlands County. The canvassing board is conducting a machine re-count for the offices of senate, governor and secretary of agriculture as mandated, It was a long day yesterday, as the board did not suspend their operations until 10:30 last night, then began again this morning by 8:30.
State officials have mandated the re-count needs to be finished by tomorrow afternoon at 3:00.

Avon Park residents voted in two new council members earlier this month. They were sworn in last night and change came quickly. During a special meeting, council voted to terminate City Manager June Fisher and City Attorney Glinda Pruitt immediately then called for a special meeting on Thursday to deal with the vacancies.
In the interim, Savitin Latchmansingh and Marnita English of the Utilities Department and Danielle Phillips from finance have been tapped to oversee municipal operations until a city manager can be found.

NEWS 11/14/18 BF
HARDEE CRASH

An Okechobee man was killed yesterday in a Hardee County traffic crash near Crewsville. Florida Highway Patrol reports say 28-year-old Richard Barlow jr. pulled his pickup from Parnell Road onto State Road 66 and into the path of a pair of oncoming semi’s.
The first rig hit the pickup, then was rear-ended by the second 18-wheeler.
The driver of the first tractor trailer rig, Cesar Yepes of Eagle Lake was seriously injured and taken to Florida Hospital Wauchula.

A motorist is dead after a tire blew out on his RV on an expressway in Polk County.
47-year-old Jon MacDonough died Sunday afternoon while traveling on a stretch of Interstate 4 near Lakeland.
Florida Highway Patrol says MacDonough was heading west when the tire blew, causing the RV to swerve, hit a light pole and overturn. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Two Polk County women seeking baby supplies reportedly were killed when they tried to cross a major street without a crosswalk or stoplight to reach a Walmart Supercenter.
43-year-old Rosamunda Marcel and 34-year-old Judy Metellus-Pradel were walking to the store Monday night when they were hit by a car driven by a 17-year-old girl.
An off-duty deputy who saw the crash said a van ahead of the car had possibly blocked the pedestrians’ view of oncoming traffic. The women let the van pass and then stepped in front of the teenage driver, who was sober, not speeding and didn’t leave the scene. She won’t be charged.
Seven children reportedly now have been left motherless.