SEBRING –– A special five-member interview committee will meet Dec. 20 at the Highlands County Government Annex Building to pick a replacement for former county Housing Director Penny Phillippi. The five county commissioners, who will act on the committee's recommendation, have the chance to promote from within the housing department to pick its new leader. Teresa Hofer, now the acting housing director since Phillippi's Dec. 1 departure, is one of the five candidates for the job. ...more

December 14, 2007

SEBRING — Highlands County commissioners need to find one more person, with the right credentials, to appoint a state-mandated citizens advisory committee on affordable workforce housing. At stake is the county's ability to keep receiving about $900,000 per year in state funding for housing assistance programs. Ten of the 11 seats on the committee have been tentatively filled, but commissioners are waiting to appoint the committee until the 11th position is filled. That person must be a county resident "who is actively engaged as a for-profit provider of affordable housing," according to state law. "Generally, that would be a contractor or a developer," said Jim Polatty, the county's development director. ...more

December 1, 2007

LAKE PLACID — It all depends on who you talk to. Some call the vendors who hawk fresh vegetables along the roadside "squatters," while regular customers talk about bargains. As the local growing seasons change, the fare varies from strawberries to oranges and melons. A pair of longtime produce vendors along U.S. 27 – just north of the Lake Placid town border – don't know whose property they sell from. ...more

November 12, 2007

A group of students got a head start on the holiday season by helping design a batch of Christmas cards for charity. ...more

October 24, 2007

SEBRING — Housing assistance offered by Highlands County to low- and moderate-income people has grown 15 times larger than it was seven years ago, when Penny Phillippi took over the program. That's one reason Phillippi is on the verge of becoming the first executive director of the new Immokalee Community Redevelopment Agency. When Phillippi became county housing director in November 2000, assistance programs totaled just under $700,000 per year. That figure is now more than $10 million annually. Phillippi confirmed that she has a contract offer of $85,000 to head the Immokalee CRA. With a $6,000 per year car allowance, her total salary package would be $91,000. While the new job would raise her salary by about $35,000, Phillippi said, "for me it was never an issue of money. I loved this job, I loved the challenge here, and I love Highlands County." ...more

October 5, 2007

PLANT CITY - Christmas isn't that far away, and a nonprofit group that helps farmworkers is taking orders for Christmas cards featuring artwork of youngsters in its programs. The Redlands Christian Migrant Association hopes to net $20,000 from its ninth annual Christmas card sale, association spokesman Matt Bokor says in an e-mail. ...more

September 25, 2007

Philanthropist Bob Thomas, a man known for his wealth, faith and his kidnapping in 1991, died Sunday. He was 83. ...more

September 6, 2007