Local

Family and friends surround the graduates on the field at Arrowhead Stadium on Friday night as Fort White High held its commencement ceremony for the Class of 2026. The ceremony was interrupted for about 45 minutes due to lightning in the area. (RAY CARPENTER/Lake City Reporter)

Jatarious Fluellen II said during his closing statement of a sentencing hearing Tuesday that he gave false testimony after arrests following the August 2023 murder of Mariah Smith. (MORGAN MCMULLEN/Lake City Reporter)

The Caribbean Chillers (pictured), Atlantic City Boys and Divas Through the Decades will perform during Columbia County’s Independence Day celebration, which is celebrating America’s semiquincentennial. (COURTESY)

Rhonda Anderson (from left) stands with Kent Banner, Columbia County Assistant Supervisor of Elections, and Darryl Thomas, Columbia High School welding instructor, as the school’s welding piece, ‘Globe of Freedom,’ is on display at the Columbia County Supervisor of Elections Office. (COURTESY)

Former commissioner Ron Williams said he thought the MSTU to cover EMS services was the right thing for the county to do. (JAMIE WACHTER/Lake City Reporter)

Columbia County Fire Chief Jeff Crawford asked the County Commission to lift the burn ban for at least the next two weeks due to recent rains and forecasts of more coming. (JAMIE WACHTER/Lake City Reporter)

Jeff Avinger, the AmeriPro EMS operations director for Florida and South Carolina, said the company will be fully running its five trucks in two weeks after working through staffing challenges. (JAMIE WACHTER/Lake City Reporter)