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Local News

  • Run-off election set for May 25It's a tie!

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  • Clam farming industry prepares for oil spill impacts

    The clam farming community met last week to begin preparing for potential oil spill impacts.  Following is a summary of topics discussed. 

     

    Shellfish is Safe

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  • Cedar Key clams and oysters are safe

    Cedar Key's most imminent risk is not oil in the waters, Leslie Sturmer, University of Florida Aquaculture Extension Agent, said after a briefing Tuesday.

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  • Oil Spill update

    Department of Environmental Protection, as the lead response agency for the state of Florida, is actively participating in the Deepwater Horizon response and provided the following summary on Saturday. 

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  • Parker spared prison time

     Suspended Levy County Commissioner Tony Parker was sentenced to six months house arrest, five years probation and 500 hours of community service on Wednesday afternoon by Federal Chief District Judge Stephan P. Mickle.

    Parker, along with Commission Chair Sammy Yearty was convicted of soliciting and accepting a $10,000 bribe from an undercover FBI agent posing as a developer. Yearty was also convicted of lying to the FBI during an interview and will be sentenced  on May 5.

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  • Good NewsLevy unemployment rate down

    The news was good for job seekers in Levy County in March as the jobless rate dropped to 13.5 percent, down from February's rate of 14.2 percent.

    That means out of 16,633 people in the civilian labor force, 14,390 were employed and 2,243 were unemployed.

    It's the first good news on the county's job front since October 2009 when the rate was 12.4 percent. The county's unemployment rate has sat stubbornly above 12 percent since July 2009.

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  • Cedar Key is growing

    New business openings and business expansions in Cedar Key mark a trend that defies the current climate of recession, giving the island community more variety for consumers and a dose of economic hope.  In this multi-part series, the Beacon examines more than a dozen businesses located on the major arteries of State Road 24, 2nd Street and Dock Street that have opened or expanded on the island since last summer. The Cedar Closet, a clothing store located on SR24, opened in November and has been steadily increasing its inventory ever since.

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  • City of Cedar Key Special Meeting: Wednesday 6 p.m.Levy County added to Florida’s State of Emergency

    By executive order, Governor Charlie Crist added 13 counties this morning to the original six included in Florida’s State of Emergency due to the Deepwater Horizon Incident.

    The coastal counties of Franklin, Wakulla, Jefferson, Taylor, Dixie, Levy, Citrus, Hernando, Pasco, Pinellas, Hillsborough, Manatee and Sarasota join already declared Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton, Bay and Gulf.

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  • Levy Emergency Operations Center decides not to activate for now

     

    “Due to operational changes in the trajectory of the oil spill, we have decided not to activate the Levy EOC at this time,” Levy County Director of Emergency Management Mark Johnson said. “We are ready to go to a Level 2 activation at a moments notice.”

    Johnson said the decision came late Wednesday afternoon, after the announcement was made that the EOC would activate earlier that morning.

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  • Levy, Cedar Key prepare for chance of oil

     Monday Governor Charlie Crist declared a State of Emergency in Levy and 12 additional counties in response to the to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. So far Crist has declared a State of Emergency in 19 coastal counties along the panhandle and the west coast of Florida.

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