HIGHLANDS NEWS-SUN Monday, July 13, 2020 VOL. 101 | NO. 195 | $1.00 YOUR HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER SINCE 1919 An Edition Of The Sun Florida sets record with 15,000 new virus cases STAFF REPORT new cases was the lowest the followed by Lee County, with states, but is No. 10 in cases County saw six new cases, state has seen since June and 1,243 and Palm Beach County, per million residents and pushing its total to 602 and They say records are made was a full 7% lower than the with 1,166. No. 25 in deaths per million Okeechobee saw nine new to be broken, but the record 18.2% reported on Thursday. There were 19 counties which residents. cases and is at 527. Florida broke Sunday morning The median age for new reported at least 100 new cases, For Highlands County, there Nationally, there was an is one the Sunshine State prob- cases was 38, making it two including some which followed were an additional 15 cases ably could do without. With straight weeks of seeing a the state’s pattern of setting reported, bringing the total increase of a little more than 15,300 new cases of COVID-19 median between 35 and 40 for records both for the number of to 532. There have been 84 75,000 new cases, bringing the reported, Florida smashed the state. While those ages 25 to new cases, as well as with the hospitalizations, with 33 still new total to 3.28 million, with the previous record of 11,694, 54 make-up roughly 56% of the number of tests given. hospitalized, along with 13 909 new deaths, pushing the which was set by California on COVID-19 cases in the state, Hillsborough County went up deaths. death toll to over 135,000. Wednesday. New York’s highest they account for just 7% of the 799, while Duval went up 571 The median age of county Globally, the count moved single-day increase was 11,571. deaths. and Manatee saw an increase cases is 48, which is less than past 12.8 million, with 566,790 It was also a record testing Once again Miami-Dade of 470. Escambia jumped 465 the state average of 39. deaths. day for Florida and despite the County saw the biggest in- cases and Sarasota was right DeSoto County saw just one large number of positives, it crease in the state with 3,561 behind with an increase of 464 new cases which brought its Brazil has seen the sec- was actually the best day the new cases, while Broward saw cases. total to 831, while Glades also ond-highest amount of cases, state has seen in several weeks. an increase of 1,826. Orange Florida has the third-largest had a minimal increase and followed by India, Russia and The positivity rate of 11.2% for County saw 1,355 new cases, amount of cases among the stands at 203 cases. Hardee Peru. School District has 2 director positions to fill By MARC VALERO STAFF WRITER SEBRING — The School Board of Highlands County is looking to fill two administrative positions — Director of Finance and Director of the Heartland Educational Consortium. Both openings are due to retirements. The Consortium’s Director of Professional Learning Sherri Albritton retired on June 30. School Board of Highlands County Director of Finance Richard “Bo” Birt will be retiring on Aug. 31. The closing date for applications for the director position at the Consortium is July 21. the School Board of Highlands County serves as the Consortium’s fiscal agent. The Consortium, which is located in Lake Placid, provides educational services to six school districts: Highlands, Hardee, Hendry, COURTESY PHOTO Glades, DeSoto and Hendry. The finance director position closed Superintendent Brenda Longshore, left, at the New Teacher Orientation in August. on Wednesday. District Humane Resources Manager Ana Guedes said there are four eligible applicants for the finance director position. School survey shows most ready for Birt said he has worked close to 20 years with the School Board of Highlands County. He started working face-to-face instruction for the district in December of 2000. “I am moving on to being a full- By MARC VALERO think all of those options are strong and the Department of Education time grandpa,” he said. Birt and his STAFF WRITER options for kids,” Longshore said. staff is guiding many of the district’s wife have 11 grandchildren. “Of course we would love to have decisions, she said. He was the finance director for SEBRING — The Back to School sur- them face-to-face and I do think for For elementary and middle school the City of Avon Park for three years vey forms closed today for parents to most kids that is the optimal learning students the district has three options before going to the School District. select the type of educational model environment, but there are certainly for students: attend school with face- He was the controller and operations their children will have with the start options available for families that feel to-face instruction with a teacher, director at the News-Sun. of the new school year on Aug. 10. like they are not ready to come back full-time remote online learning with The School District is currently Around mid-day Friday prior to the face-to-face yet.” the same curriculum with a Highlands advertising for teachers — six closure of the survey, Superintendent There will be many protocols and County teacher or Highlands elementary openings, two middle Brenda Longshore said there has procedures in place for the face- Virtual School with the Edgenuity school openings and four high school been about 8,000 responses to the to-face environment to provide the curriculum. openings. There are nine school survey with 5,700 opting for face-to- safest possible place that we can for Due to the many course offerings support staff openings and other face instruction, 1,300 for Highlands our students, she said. at the high school level there are two open position such as in transporta- Virtual School and 1,000 for remote Longshore said she meets with the district options: face-to-face instruc- tion, secretary/clerical and athletics/ online learning. Health Department every Monday tion or Highlands Virtual School. activities. “We will start making adjustments morning. The Health Department Longshore met with principals on Also, the School Board of Highlands (today) as we get the final numbers is supporting the district’s school Friday and they are making plans for County, at its July 14 meeting, will and then looking how to staff properly reopen plans. the back-to-school open houses on consider approval of changing the top each one of those options,” she said. There continues to be weekly virtual campuses that will be different this position at Highlands Virtual School “I think we have a very good plan meetings with the education commis- to higher position from lead teacher ... parents have many options and I sioner and input from the governor SURVEY | 2A to assistant principal. Sebring passes on paving Curry Street Alternative sought to help homeowner By MARC VALERO a road into the unfinished been on the City Council’s STAFF WRITER Curry Street development, agenda several times in the which has five houses and hopes of finding a solution SEBRING — Due to the vacant lots. to Curry Street, which is pandemic’s impact on the Without the road and off Martin Luther King Jr. economy, the City of Sebring without utility services a Boulevard and south of will not be moving forward certificate of occupancy has Cemetery Road. with any plans to pave Curry not been issued for any of the At its recent meeting, the Street. houses that were built prior Sebring City Council was MARC VALERO/STAFF The City of Sebring in to the economic downturn in provided a budget estimate recent months was working 2008. of $165,773 to construct and The Sebring City Council decided not to move forward with paving Curry on developing an equitable Adriana Fernandez who Street, which was a small housing development that was unfinished due to plan to pay for the paving of owns one of the homes has CURRY | 2A the real estate/economy downturn in 2008. Classifieds ......................B3-5 Puzzles .........................B5-8 Viewpoints ....................... A6 Good morning To Sports ............................ B1 TV Listings ....................... A7 Weather .......................... A8 Mike Needleman Lottery ........................... A2 facebook.com/ twitter.com/ Thanks for reading! newssun.com newssun TheNewsSun A2 | HIGHLANDS NEWS-SUN | July 13, 2020 www.highlandsnewssun.com 5 THINGS That Will Make You ALMANAC SMARTER Orange production Today is Monday, July 13, the 195th 1. Thoroughgood Marshall was born in Maryland in day of 2020. There are 171 days left in 1908. Young Thoroughgood would eventually change the year. his name to Thurgood. He once admitted, “By the time down as season ends I reached the second grade, I got tired of spelling all that Today in history NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA out and had shortened it to Thurgood.” 4.85 million boxes, an increase On July 13, 2013, a jury in Sanford, 2. In the 1950s, Marshall tipped off the FBI about from 4.51 million boxes in the Florida, cleared neighborhood watch communist attempts to infi ltrate the NAACP. But he was Florida’s citrus growing 2018-2019 season. Specialty volunteer George Zimmerman of all also the subject of FBI investigation, under the direction season ended on a sour note, citrus, primarily tangelos charges in the shooting of Trayvon of J. Edgar Hoover.