Things are wrapping up today and tomorrow at the Highlands County Fair. No attendance numbers have yet been released but officials say, as always, weather has been a factor.
The beauty queens have been named, the grand champion livestock has been picked and dozens of youngsters sold off their animals last night at the annual Junior Livestock Auction.
Tomorrow will be the big finale, with a Blackbird Anthem concert in the Ag-tivity building sponsored by the Highlands Radio Group.
A Florida attorney has been sentenced to seven years in prison and ordered to pay $19.7 million in restitution for his role in a pump-and-dump securities fraud scheme. Court records show that 77-year-old James Schneider was sentenced Thursday in a Miami federal court. Prosecutors say Schneider authored fake legal opinion letters for a scheme to create 20 shell companies from 2008 to 2013 and sell shares of those companies to investors for millions of dollars.
Two people were killed and two others were wounded from a gun fight at an outdoor basketball court in Jacksonville. The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office reported that multiple people started shooting at each other Thursday night at a basketball court in a city park. Lt. Ellis Burns said that possibly a dozen bullets were fired.
A dozen Florida police officers have been disciplined for misusing a driver license database. Orlando police internal affairs investigators reportedly found the officers were using the Driver and Vehicle Information Database for personal purposes. The database allows law enforcement officers to look up personal details about drivers. A police spokesman noted that most of the violations were officers viewing information about themselves or family members.