Avon Park’s Community Redevelopment Agency is losing its top leader. CRA Executive Director Jessica Carlson has resigned after eight months, accepting a new role with AdventHealth Heartland. Her final day is January 5, when she’ll present a full transition report to the CRA Joint Board. Carlson says she brought structure to the CRA—expanding business grants and jump-starting Main Street and Southside revitalization. She stressed the need for steady leadership as the CRA races to finish key projects before the program sunsets statewide.
Nearly five years after a deadly crash, 64-year-old Bobbi Lynn Smith is now charged with DUI manslaughter — despite blowing just .043, barely half the legal limit. Prosecutors say the low reading doesn’t clear her, pointing to other substances in her system and witness accounts that she took the wheel moments before the violent rollover that killed her neighbor, Joseph Delsignore. FHP’s lengthy investigation delayed charges until this year. Her next court date is December 17.
A 17-year-old wanted on serious firearm charges is now in custody after a coordinated law enforcement operation in DeSoto County. Deputies arrested Miguel Angel Cordova Estudillo near the Cardinal Corner Apartments, with assistance from Hardee County deputies and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Estudillo was wanted in Hardee County for firing a gun in public, shooting into an occupied home, and illegal firearm possession. Deputies increased patrols around local apartment complexes during the operation.
Polk County deputies have arrested 23-year-old fugitive Jha’Kari Martin-Sugrin, wanted on a Hillsborough County warrant for fleeing to elude. He was found Wednesday morning at a home in Eagle Lake after Lakeland Police tipped off investigators. Because of his violent history — including a 2024 case where he was charged with killing his pregnant girlfriend and her unborn child — deputies responded in force. Martin-Sugrin was taken into custody without incident and transported to the Sheriff’s Processing Center.
Drivers in Sebring should expect brief road closures this morning for St. Catherine Catholic School’s Our Lady of Guadalupe event. From 9:30 to 10 a.m., Kenilworth Boulevard will be shut down between Persimmon Avenue and Lakeview Drive, and the northbound lane of Lakeview Drive will also be closed. A detour will guide northbound traffic around the area via Villa Road, Persimmon Avenue, and Sebring Parkway. All roads are expected to reopen by 10 a.m., though minor delays are possible.