News Update for 4/28/21

There has been another fatal fire in Highlands County – this one yesterday in the Caladium Capital. Units from Highlands Park, Lake Placid and Sun ‘N Lakes south responded to the home on Copperhead drive in the Lake Placid Campground Resort.
Highlands County Sheriff’s deputies were first on the scene, where they found the unit fully involved in flames. The fire was so intense, they could not get in to help the resident.
Cause of the blaze remains under investigation.
Meanwhile, the name of the person killed in that weekend fire off Sparta Road now has been released. 22-year-old Savannah Roland perished there. The cause of that fire also remains under investigation.

Lake Placid police now have released the name of that driver hurt in an accident there yesterday. They say Daniel Folgate’s Jeep hit the back of a parked Semi-tractor/trailer rig on Highway 27 in front of the AdventHealth medical center there.
The 43-year-old Lake Placid man was airlifted out to a trauma center.

By a 3-2 vote, Avon Park city council members have opened the doors to food trucks in the City of Charm. The measure eliminates non-compete regulations, zoning restrictions and the number of food trucks allowed at any one location.
Times for food truck operation, however, were put into place. The Avon Park Planning & Zoning commission held no vote on the matter, with some members saying council had gone against all their previous recommendations.

A Sebring Middle School student has grabbed statewide honors in a Black History Month essay contest.
On his entry, Harper Schuknecht highlighted Joseph E. Lee, one of the first Black Floridians to practice law in the Sunshine State. Lee also served as a judge as well as in both the Florida House of Representatives and the Florida Senate.
Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis announced the winners Monday.