News Update for 1/8/25
An overturned sod truck caused traffic delays for hours on Hwy. 27 Tuesday after the semi truck and a pickup truck collided. At approximately 10:25 AM, a pick-up truck stopped at a red traffic signal on US 27 and Thunderbird RD, but a sod truck following behind was unable to stop in time causing the semi and trailer loaded down with sod to flip on it’s side. Both Northbound and Southbound lanes saw delays on US 27 as emergency crews worked to clean up the accident. The driver and passenger of the semi had minor injuries and were taken to a local hospital.
Highlands County Fire Rescue Officials recently received permission from the County Commission to use funds from the Florida Opioid Settlement to purchase Narcan for the county. The medicine rapidly reverses the effects of opioid overdoses and is credited with saving thousands of lives in Florida. Highlands Fire Chief Kelly Duppenthaler and his deputy, Dustin Fitch, went before the commission December 17th, to ask for approximately $708,115 dollars in order to purchase Narcan delivered by nasal spray. The plan is to order a year’s supply of Narcan for the county.
An ousted Central Florida prosecutor is back in office. Orange-Osceola State Attorney Monique Worrell was sworn in earlier today after she was reelected in November. Worrell made remarks after taking her oath, saying she is ready to build upon the office she began several years ago. Governor Ron DeSantis suspended the state attorney back in August of 2023, claiming she went easy on crime. Worrell is currently the target of a Polk County grand jury investigation. She did not comment on the case, but says she is ready to get back to work.
Florida’s chief financial officer is trying to improve mental health resources for first responders. CFO and State Fire Marshal Jimmy Patronis recently filed a more than three-million-dollar funding request to improve menthol health care for firefighters, police and EMS officials. Patronis says first responders see suffering every day, and it has led to an increase in issues, like PTSD and increased suicide rates. The state Department of Financial Services is planning to work with lawmakers to secure the money in hopes of creating a peer support program and psychological services for frontline workers.
Governor Ron DeSantis is calling Florida a law-and-order-state. He made the comment while attending the swearing-in ceremony for Hillsborough County State Attorney Suzy Lopez yesterday. DeSantis says too many prosecutors around the country put their ideological agenda over upholding their oath of office, a reason he claims is why he replaced State Attorney Andrew Warren with Lopez three years ago. Meanwhile in Central Florida, formerly ousted prosecutor Monique Worrell was sworn in as the Orange-Osceola state attorney earlier this morning. She was suspended by DeSantis in 2023 after he accused her of going easy on crime. Worrell says she is ready to get back to work.
Some Florida lawmakers are standing behind the man they call Venezuela’s president-elect. Senator Rick Scott and some Florida congress members met yesterday with Edmundo Gonzalez. He ran for president of Venezuela last summer against incumbent Nicolas Maduro, and according to the US, he won. Maduro, though, plans to take the oath of office on Friday. Gonzalez says he plans to do the same. Scott says Gonzalez is the one with the right to be inaugurated due to his overwhelming victory and clear mandate from the Venezuelan people. Scott says any attempt by Maduro to illegitimately cling to power through violence or repression will not be tolerated by the US or the international community.