Highlands County Fire Rescue and Florida Forest Service started mitigation efforts yesterday to help contain the Granada Brush Fire in Sun’ N’ Lake of Sebring. They started conducting back burns near Schumacher Road and Blueberry Road. The efforts were to help prevent the fire from spreading outside of the control lines that Foresty had already established on Tuesday.
A woman is in Highlands County Jail for aggravated assault after an argument over food allegedly taken from a shared refrigerator escalated on Friday. Highlands County sheriff’s deputies arrested Alicia Ann Jackson on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, without intent to kill; burglary with assault or battery, and possession of burglary tools with intent to use. The incident took place at a home that Jackson and the victim share in the Spring Lake Improvement District. Reports said that after an argument broke out between the two over missing food, Jackson allegedly forced her way into the victim’s locked room armed with a knife causing the victim to feel she would harm him. She is being held without bond.
Steps are being taken to address rising demand for health care in rural parts of Polk County. Central Florida Health Care opened in Mulberry nine years ago to serve those who lack insurance or access to medical care. The county commission has already voted to spend four million dollars on another center in Mulberry that’ll open next year on North Church Ave. Central Florida Health Care’s CEO tells ABC Action News the goal is to have more sites so we can see more people and take care of the indigent health care population.
Lake Placid has received money to build new pickleball courts in Lake June Park. A Florida Recreation Development Assistance Program grant worth up to $200,000 has been approved. The town will use $200,000 of its own money to match the grant money provided for the $400,000 pickleball court project. The town will piggyback on a pickleball court construction contract Spring Lake has with NIDY sports construction, which has built courts around the state.