News Cast January 6th:
A fatal crash at the intersection of State Road 70 and County Road 721 took the life of an 88-year-old man from Novi, Michigan Saturday morning.
The Florida Highway Patrol said the incident happened at 11:27 AM.
The report said the victim was south bound on 721 in a pickup truck approaching the intersection when he traveled onto the northbound lane to overtake a vehicle that was stopped for a stop sign at the intersection.
The pickup entered the intersection into the direct path of a west bound tractor trailer.
The front of the semi collided with the left side of the pickup truck.
The victim was pronounced dead at the scene by Highlands County Fire Rescue. The driver of the truck, a 58-year-old man from Mayo, Florida, was uninjured, the crash report said.
Troopers said the crash remained under investigation.
A camper was lost in a fire at 401 NE 3rd Street on Thursday afternoon.
Okeechobee County Fire Rescue responded at 2:39 pm and arrived less than three minutes later.
The fire report said crews found the camper fully engulfed and had spread to a shed six feet away.
Crews attacked the fire and had it knocked down and extinguished in 10 minutes.
The camper was a full loss and the shed had damage to one side but the contents inside were salvageable.
The fire apparently started in the kitchen. The owner said the camper had no power and should not have been occupied. The Fire Marshall was contacted to investigate.
The fire report said the first was a possible arson.
Florida unemployment levels fell to 3.4 percent in November. Okeechobee was a slight increase from 3.7 to 3.8 percent between October and November.
Okeechobee’s labor force was reduced from 18,373 in October to 18,145 in November. The number of employed in Okeechobee dropped from 17,701 in October to 17,454 in November. The number of residents who collected jobless benefits rose from 672 in October to 691 in November.
Around the region Highlands County had 5.1 percent, Glades 4.5 percent, Osceola four percent, St. Lucie 4.1 percent, Martin County 3.6 percent and Indian River 4.2 percent.
Okeechobee County recently welcomed a new emergency management director and a new airport and industrial park director.
Christopher Georges will lead the airport and Robert Shelt will lead emergency management.
Shelt comes from a similar position at Palm Beach County.
He said he looks forward to working with all the stakeholders in Okeechobee County and to make sure citizens get the services they need during emergencies.
Georges said he appreciated the opportunity to run the airport. He added there is a lot of good things happening at the airport.
Commissioner Brad Goodbread said he supports growth and prosperity at the airport and thinks the county should see as many grants as possible to make improvements there.