News Update for 6/2/23
It appears when it comes to new construction value, the Avon Park/Sebring metro area is above the national average. A new report by Construction Coverage, looking at the US locations investing the most in affordable housing, found that locally, the average construction value was $230,000 per unit.
That’s slightly over the national average of $226,000 per unit. The survey reflects some 663 housing units that were authorized to be built here in 2022.
Meanwhile, the median home price in the Avon Park/Sebring metro area also shows above the national average. Locally, it was set at just over $395,000. Nationally the number was just over $357,000.
The debt ceiling deal passed the House with overwhelming bipartisan support Wednesday night, but it also had plenty of bipartisan opposition: 117 members voted against it.
Seventy-one Republicans and 46 Democrats voted against the debt limit bill. Of the Republicans that resisted, several were from Florida – but not Scott Franklin, who represents Highlands County. Other Florida Republicans such as Matt Gaetz, Vern Buchanan, Kat Cammack, Anna Paulina Luna and Greg Steube opposed the measure.
Eight men the Polk County sheriff calls monsters are in custody. Sheriff Grady Judd announced yesterday that eight child porn suspects were arrested as part of Operation May’s Monsters. They face about 13-hundred felonies combined. Judd says the videos and photographs are some of the most horrific his detectives have ever seen. The suspects range in age from 24 to 66, and they include a 40-year-old Davenport man who works for Disney World at the Cosmic Rays Restaurant. The youngest alleged victim is a newborn, but investigators aren’t sure if any are county residents.