News Update for 12/02/24
Officials at Lakeview Memorial Gardens are pushing to get final donations of wreaths for the Holiday season before the Wednesday, December 4th deadline. The goal is to provide a wreath for each Veteran buried there. With over 700 already donated, officials are seeking a total of 1000. The wreaths will be laid at the cemetery in a December 14th ceremony. More information can be obtained through Gina Smith at Lakeview Memorial Gardens.
The Sebring Community Redevelopment Agency has granted an occupancy extension to the former owner of the The Downtown Mall & Market Place. The former Bank of America Building on South Ridgewood Drive was purchased by the CRA on June 28th. Mike Tellschow, who previously owned the building, has continued to operate the building since the sale and was originally supposed to only occupy the building until the end of the year. Tellschow was granted the extension until March 1st on the condition that the sole proposer for the building, Marmer Construction, could access the building for survey work that may need to be done before a contract for the structure might be awarded. Marmer Construction’s proposal calls for relocating its corporate office to the second floor while the Sebring Hall of Fame racing museum would occupy the first floor.
The search continues for the driver involved in a deadly hit-and-run in Polk County. Lakeland Police are looking for information on last week’s crash on South Florida Ave. A woman was hit by an SUV while crossing the street. The driver took off, and the woman was taken to the hospital where she was pronounced dead. The LPD identified her as 67-year-old Robin Brown. Investigators are looking for a Range Rover Sport 2, gray or silver, made between 2018 and 2022.
A local DEA official expects Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister to have a big impact on the agency. President-Elect Trump announced on Saturday he has selected Chronister to run the Drug Enforcement Administration. Mike Furgason is assistant special agent in charge of the DEA’s Tampa office. He wrote on LinkedIn yesterday the appointment of Chronister to lead the women and men of DEA will be transformative. Chronister calls the appointment the honor of a lifetime, and he says he’s deeply humbled by this opportunity to serve our nation.
A Central Florida woman will find out today if she’ll be spending the rest of her life behind bars. Winter Park’s Sarah Boone is due to be sentenced this afternoon for killing her boyfriend by suffocating him in a suitcase in 2020. The 47-year-old was found guilty of second-degree murder last month. Boone claimed self-defense because she suffered from Battered Spouse Syndrome. Life in prison would be the maximum penalty for Boone, and the minimum is 22-and-a-half years. Before the trial started, she rejected a plea deal that would have had her serving only 15 years.
Two people are dead after a shooting in Polk County. It happened Saturday in Haines City at a home in Hammock Reserve. Haines City Police say a 34-year-old man and a 33-year-old woman were found dead in the home. No one else was hurt, including the couple’s children.
UCF head football coach Gus Malzahn is stepping down after four seasons with the Knights. After posting nine wins in each of his first two years at UCF, the Knights were a combined ten-and-15 the last two years. That includes a five-and-13 record in UCF’s first two years of Big 12 play. ESPN is reporting that Malzahn will join Mike Norvell’s staff at Florida State, where he’ll be offensive coordinator and take over play-calling duties. FSU has not confirmed Malzahn’s hiring, but did say in a statement the Seminoles “have identified our next offensive coordinator.”