News Update for 5/13/24
Search and rescue efforts continued yesterday by multiple agencies for a missing boater first reported missing Saturday evening on Lake Jackson. The missing boater has been identified only as a 22 year old male from Hardee County and was not alone at the time of his disappearance. As of 11:00pm on Saturday night, The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission has taken the lead in the investigation. Veteran’s Beach boat ramp and Veteran’s Beach Memorial Park were closed yesterday as the investigation continued. No further information has been released at this time.
Millions of Americans were able to see the magical glow of the northern lights on Friday and Saturday night, when a powerful geomagnetic storm reached Earth. The northern lights, also known as the aurora borealis, were predicted to be visible as far south as Florida and Oklahoma. Reports and pictures surfaced that residents in Lake Placid, Sebring, Avon Park, and Frostproof were able to view the phenomenon Friday night as well as many other places throughout Florida. The geomagnetic storm reached Earth Friday evening as an “extreme” G5, according to the NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center. Geomagnetic storms are ranked from G1 to G5.
The Central Florida Regional Planning Council held their visioning session for the city of Sebring this past Thursday evening. Public transportation and affordable housing were among the topics brought up. The 50 attendees were apprised of the goals for updating the City’s comprehensive plan then broken into three breakout groups to discuss planning issues. The planning Council has a web page available for more information about the Sebring Evaluation and Appraisal Report (EAR) as well as a survey for the public to give their own input on issues including zoning, commercial business, transportation, housing infrastructure and conservation.
The week is off to a successful start for SpaceX. The company launched a Falcon 9 rocket yesterday at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Liftoff took place at 8:53 p.m. The rocket was carrying 23 Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit. The satellites are part of SpaceX’s efforts to spread high-speed internet around the world.