News Update for 2/11/20

It’s day five at the Highlands County Fair and there’s plenty to see and do. Regularly scheduled shows include Scott’s World of Magic and the Grizzly Experience. There are Ag-Tivity Exhibits in the Livestock Pavilion, as well as Red Dragon Laser Tag in the Alan Jay Arena.
There are plenty of booths, displays and exhibits by local clubs and businesses. And for those who like thrills, Reithoffer has rides set up in the bluegrass area. Tonight at 6:30 will be the Market Steer competition in the Livestock Pavilion.

Again it was not a unanimous vote, but by a 3-2 margin Avon Park city council members last night approved a contract with new City Manager Mark Schrader.
Both Mayor Garrett Anderson and councilman Jim Barnard voted against the contract as presented, lobbying without success that some of the benefits should be scaled back until after Schrader’s probationary period.
His predecessor, David Flowers, lasted only eight months. Schrader is slated to take over the city manager’s duties this coming Monday.

Highlands County Sheriff’s officials say scammers have been working overtime here. Among the bogus calls reported are people claiming to be with Walgreens and asking to “verify account information.” Another says he’s from Amazon Prime” – they say they’ve accidentally put money into an account and want access information into your bank account.
The Publisher’s Clearing House scam also is active – and also watch the mail for a brochure from the Neo-Think Society. Sounds good, but it’s a scam.

While Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran has announced that Common Core is done in the Sunshine State – Highlands County officials say not so fast. In fact, it could take a couple years for the local system to get out of that program.
Highlands School Board officials say they are looking for curriculum for the new “Benchmarks for Excellent Student Thinking” or “BEST program. They say testing on the old system could continue on through next year.