The Emergency Operations Center will be staffed by emergency management staff only. The phone lines will be open at the Public Information Center all day today. When the center was opened Monday morning, volunteers fielded 71 calls in three hours. ...more

August 19, 2008

Neither County officials nor the National Weather Service knows exactly what to expect from Tropical Storm Fay. ...more

August 18, 2008

Public schools throughout Highlands County will be closed Tuesday as the county braces for Tropical Storm Fay. Two of those schools, including Woodlawn Elementary in Sebring and Lake Placid High School, will be activated at 6 p.m. Monday as hurricane shelters, Highlands County Emergency Operations director Bill Nichols said Sunday. The county will also open the Avon Park Recreational Center for shelter. The County Board of Commissioners will hold an emergency meeting at 8 a.m. Monday to decide if other county services will be halted Tuesday, when Fay is expected to pass through Highlands County. National Weather Service projections indicate that the eye will go over Hardee County. ...more

August 17, 2008

In her monthly address to the Highlands County Board of County Commissioners, Sheriff Susan Benton told the board the jail population is down largely due to streamlining the process. ...more

August 16, 2008

Design and construction of the new Highlands County Sheriff's Building will start early next year as planned, according to the proposed county budget for the new 2008-09 fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1. ...more

August 14, 2008

The New Tampa Community Council wants to recognize Carol Poland's efforts by renaming the New Tampa Regional Library in her honor. ...more

August 13, 2008

After doing weeks of research on the state law, legal issues and complaints of residents at Sun 'n Lake of Sebring, Highlands County Assistant Administrator Ricky Helms recommended Tuesday that the board of county commissioners do nothing about the battle there between homeowners and the large, absentee landowners. ...more

August 13, 2008

On Thursday evening, the Highlands County commissioners will hold the first of two required evening public hearings on the proposed county budget for fiscal year 2008-09, which starts Oct. 1. ...more

August 13, 2008

It is not certain which environmental organization came up "Pave it or Save it," but I am beholden to them as it stirred my recollection of words to that effect, thrown as a challenge; "If you want to save that piece of wild land, buy it!" How many times have I heard that from local and other bureaucrats, and even a newspaper whose editorial staff must have been influenced by developers or big agriculture? ...more

August 13, 2008

County bosses to mull alternatives. ...more

August 12, 2008