Local

State pumps $6M into LC wetlands

JAMIE WACHTER
Saturday, December 10, 2022
Lake City’s treatment wetlands are expanding. As part of $75 million worth of funding for springs restoration projects announced Friday by Gov. Ron DeSantis was $6.1 million to the City of Lake City to expand its recharge wetlands.
Lake City Mayor Stephen Witt (left) presents retired Third Judicial Circuit Judge Paul S. Bryan with a proclamation honoring Bryan for his three decades of service. (ESTA EBERHARDT/Special to the Reporter)

Lake City Mayor Stephen Witt (left) presents retired Third Judicial Circuit Judge Paul S. Bryan with a proclamation honoring Bryan for his three decades of service. (ESTA EBERHARDT/Special to the Reporter)

Judge Bryan receives sendoff in Friday retirement ceremony

TONY BRITT
Saturday, December 10, 2022
Judges, law enforcement officers, friends, family and supporters from the area piled into Courtroom 1 at the Columbia County Courthouse on Friday to celebrate, commemorate and honor three decades of work by Third Judicial Circuit Judge Paul S. Bryan during his retirement ceremony.
Santa Claus (from left) gets smiles from Bentley Strickland, 9, and Carleigh Holeman, 3, during an after-hours event at the Columbia County Public Library that was attended by more the 25 children. (TONY BRITT/Lake City Reporter)

Santa Claus (from left) gets smiles from Bentley Strickland, 9, and Carleigh Holeman, 3, during an after-hours event at the Columbia County Public Library that was attended by more the 25 children. (TONY BRITT/Lake City Reporter)

Library celebrates Santa’s early arrival

TONY BRITT
Saturday, December 10, 2022
The Columbia County public library’s main branch was buzzing with excitement Friday night around closing time. It wasn’t that employees were that excited about getting off from work, it was children and their families who were arriving at the library for an after-hours event with Santa.

Detours set again for roundabout

NEWS STAFF
Friday, December 9, 2022
As construction continues on Columbia County’s first roundabout, nighttime and overnight traffic will be detoured away from U.S. Highway 41 north and Bascom Norris Drive. The Florida Department of Transportation has announced detours through Thursday from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m.
Koberlein and McKellum

Koberlein and McKellum

Ethics board clears Koberlein, McKellum

JAMIE WACHTER
Thursday, December 8, 2022
The City of Lake City’s former attorney, as well as an advisory board member to the city, have been cleared of wrongdoing by the state. In a hearing Saturday, the Florida Ethics Commission found no probable cause of misdeeds by either Fred Koberlein or Lester McKellum.
Columbia County Sheriff Mark Hunter (from left) stands with other sheriff’s office employees Paige Milligan, Sarah Wheeler, and Sgt. Chris Parker as they show toys that were purchased and donated from the agency’s inaugural ‘Deputy Clause for a Cause’ program. (TONY BRITT/Lake City Reporter)

Columbia County Sheriff Mark Hunter (from left) stands with other sheriff’s office employees Paige Milligan, Sarah Wheeler, and Sgt. Chris Parker as they show toys that were purchased and donated from the agency’s inaugural ‘Deputy Clause for a Cause’ program. (TONY BRITT/Lake City Reporter)

CCSO ready for toy drive with ‘Deputy Clause’ program

TONY BRITT
Thursday, December 8, 2022
It looks like Santa Claus has enlisted the aid of a team of new elves to help spread Christmas joy - and toys - to local children. But these are no traditional elves.
Aubree Craig enjoys a candy cane as she looks through decorative door hanger signs at the P.S. We’re Crafty Door Hanger booth at the Holiday Market craft festival in December 2020. (FILE)

Aubree Craig enjoys a candy cane as she looks through decorative door hanger signs at the P.S. We’re Crafty Door Hanger booth at the Holiday Market craft festival in December 2020. (FILE)

Lake City Holiday Market set for opening

JAMIE WACHTER
Thursday, December 8, 2022
Downtown Lake City is about to turn into a winter wonderland. On Saturday, the Christmas in Columbia Holiday Market, combined with the City of Lake City’s Holiday Market, will take over Olustee Park and Wilson Park from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Ronnie Collins (from left), Columbia’s Top Talent competition founder and sponsor, talks to contestants Di’Amee Reese, AJ Busscher, Omarion Howard, Michelle Burch, Omarion Udell, Jacqueline Wiley, Ash Esposito and Jaleiah Burch as they prepare to compete in the first round of competition on Friday night at the Norman Choice Performing Arts Auditorium on the Columbia High School campus. (TONY BRITT/Lake City Reporter)

Ronnie Collins (from left), Columbia’s Top Talent competition founder and sponsor, talks to contestants Di’Amee Reese, AJ Busscher, Omarion Howard, Michelle Burch, Omarion Udell, Jacqueline Wiley, Ash Esposito and Jaleiah Burch as they prepare to compete in the first round of competition on Friday night at the Norman Choice Performing Arts Auditorium on the Columbia High School campus. (TONY BRITT/Lake City Reporter)

CHS to host 19th annual Columbia’s Top Talent event

TONY BRITT
Wednesday, December 7, 2022
Whether it be romantic ballads, Country-Western classics, classic Motown hits or modern hip-hop tunes, a dozen local high school students plan to put their unique twists on songs in the first round of Columbia’s Top Talent competition.
Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day

Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day

OUR OPINION: Pearl Harbor memory must be preserved

NEWS STAFF
Wednesday, December 7, 2022
Today is Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, December 7, a day set aside to remember the “day that will live in infamy,” as President Franklin D. Roosevelt said in his radio address to our shaken country on December 7, 1941.