News Update for 12/27/24
Yesterday marked another step towards fully equipping Highlands County Fire Rescue Personnel with advanced life support equipment. The equipment will enable emergency care and medication to be administered to residents and visitors of Highlands County until a Rescue Transport Unit can get on scene. Engines 7, 19, and 41 are now carrying the ALS equipment and will be able to provide an increased level of care.
The American Legion Post #69 will be hosting the 10th Annual Veteran’s Expo next weekend. The expo will kick off on Friday, January 3rd through Saturday the 4th. The free event will dually serve as a fundraiser for the American Legion Department of Florida’s Project Vet Relief and provide on-site services to active-duty military, veterans, and their families. An opening ceremony planned on January 3rd, will include the arrival and installation of the Traveling Vietnam and Global War on Terror memorial walls. The event will be located at 1301 W. Bell Street in Avon Park.
Polk County’s sheriff welcomes a new law that takes effect next week. Starting January First, the Halo Law will make it illegal for anyone to get within 25 feet of a law enforcement officer after being warned to stay away. Violators could be fined or jailed. Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd says the law could have a chilling effect on people who want to stir up trouble. Some oppose the law. Bobby Block is executive director of the First Amendment Foundation, and he says the law contains terms like ‘substantial emotional distress’ that aren’t clearly defined. Judd tells News Channel 8 the law simply says you have to stay out of a law enforcement officer’s way while they do their job.
A Sarasota restaurant that can say ‘Elvis ate here’ is closing. The Waffle Stop on South Washington Boulevard will shut down on New Year’s Eve after almost 75 years. One day, in 1956, 21-year-old Elvis Presley stopped in for breakfast. Owner Dolly Hollinger says he ordered three eggs, three glasses of milk, toast, home fries and bacon. The Waffle Stop contains some Elvis memorabilia, a statue at the entrance to commemorate his visit, and the menu offers the Hunka-Hunka Burger. All of it may be sold if Hollinger can’t find someone who wants to keep running the restaurant. She says she’ll be sad to say goodbye, but staffing has become harder in recent years, and at 76, her age is taking its toll. She tells 10 Tampa Bay there have been a lot of tears, but everyone tells her she’ll be OK.
Polk County will start enforcing new rules at its five campgrounds in the new year. Parks and Recreation officials say the changes are meant to improve the visitor experience, provide fairer access to facilities, and to align policies with other counties. Primitive camping will cost guests ten dollars a night, while sites with water and electricity will cost an additional ten dollars. Cash and checks are the only acceptable form of payments. Lastly, campers are only allowed to stay up to two weeks at a time and no reservations will be accepted until there is more reliable internet at each campground.
A Polk County man is in custody after a high-speed chase in St. Petersburg. It took place yesterday morning on Gandy Boulevard and ended on US 19 near Tampa Road. FHP says Lakeland’s Rasha Honors was speeding and refused to pull over. Troopers gave chase with Honors allegedly hitting 100 miles an hour at one point. Pinellas County deputies helped by putting stop sticks on the road, and a trooper used a PIT Maneuver to bring Honors’ pickup truck to a stop. The 43-year-old was arrested. He’s charged with fleeing and eluding, DUI and driving without a valid license.
Nine new Florida laws are set to take effect in less than a week. The legislation touches on a variety of issues from crime to education to tax relief. Starting in the new year, children under the age of 14 will be banned from having social media accounts with limited exceptions. Several other major bills passed earlier this year include increased punishments for threatening first responders and more protections for vulnerable adults who fall victim to financial exploitation. More than two-hundred laws were passed earlier this year with a majority of them taking effect in July and October.
Florida leaders are hoping to improve the rankings for more of the state’s universities. The state university system’s Board of Governors talked about its strategy plan last week on how to bring Florida Atlantic University and the University of North Florida to the top one-hundred of the U.S. News and World Report’s public universities listing. The goal is to improve graduation rates, graduate earnings, and peer assessments in order to bump up the school by 2030. Officials say the achievement would mean eight of the state’s dozen universities would be in the nation’s top one-hundred.