News Update for 9/6/24
A change is coming to the operation of the traffic signal at College Drive/Bill Sachsenmaier Memorial Drive and US 27. The change is scheduled to take place Tuesday, September 10th at 10:00AM. On the day of the switch the traffic signal will be turned off as crews work to put the new operation into effect. Motorists on College Drive and Bill Sachsenmaier Memorial Drive will only be able to turn right onto US 27 until the signal is restored. Motorists on US 27 will not be able to turn left onto College Drive or Bill Sachsenmaier Memorial Drive and will need to proceed to the next intersection and make a U-turn. The left turn signal will be changing from a protected/permissible left turn light to a protected left turn only from US 27 onto both College Drive and Bill Sachsenmaier Memorial Drive.
A 16-year-old George Jenkins High School student has been arrested in Polk County for threatening a mass shooting at school. Orion Isaiah Burts of Lakeland reportedly called a suicide hotline from a cell phone that was tracked to George Jenkins High School. Polk County Sheriff’s Office deputies were notified of the threat at about 7:00am Thursday morning and were able to determine that the call was made from a phone owned by Burts. Deputies immediately responded to the school and located the teen. When a School Resource Deputy checked Burts’ cell phone, it was determined that it was the phone used to make the threatening call. According to a press conference held by Sheriff Grady Judd- Burts is facing multiple felony and misdemeanor charges.
A man is hurt after he was hit by a Manatee County school bus. Bradenton police say there were kids onboard the charter school bus at the time of the incident early yesterday morning. The 59-year-old victim was not walking on a crosswalk when he was hit along Manatee Avenue East. Authorities say the man was alert and conscious before he was brought to a hospital. No children were injured.
SpaceX has another successful launch in the books. A Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station yesterday morning. The rocket was carrying 21 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit. SpaceX says 13 of them had Direct to Cell capabilities.
Central Florida school leaders are emphasizing their focus on security following a deadly mass shooting at a Georgia high school. Orange County Superintendent Maria Vazquez tells WFTV that she believes her district has the safest campuses in the country. The school system has launched a metal detector pilot program this academic year to prevent weapons from getting onto school grounds. In Lake County, the district has started using panic buttons that allow staff members to directly alert police about potential threats on campus. The renewed focus on security comes a day after authorities say a 14-year-old suspect opened fire at Apalachee High School, killing four people and injuring nine others just outside Atlanta.
A decision to cut ties with a landfill could cause environmental problems in Polk County. County officials last month decided to stop bringing human waste from septic tanks to BS Ranch and Farm. That decision came after the Florida Department of Environmental Protection chose not to renew the company’s permit. With that landfill no longer an option, haulers have further to go to dispose of their customers’ waste outside the county. That’s more expensive, and haulers are passing those extra costs onto their customers. While some customers may pay, Averett Septic Tanks Owner Tim Lister is worried others might choose a less sanitary option. He tells 10 Tampa Bay people may just pump their waste into a ditch in their backyard.
A researcher with the University of South Florida is helping develop a new treatment for Parkinson’s disease. USF Professor Robert A. Hauser led the clinical trial that proved an FDA approved medication’s effectiveness. The 13-week study was published in the American Journal of the American Medical Association last year. It highlights how the drug, known as Crexont, is able to prevent symptoms of the disease from surfacing longer than current medications with few daily doses. The Parkinson’s Foundation says about one-million Americans have the disease with nearly 90-thousand new diagnoses occurring each year.