TALLAHASSEE — Highlands County's unemployment rate dropped slightly in December, according to the Agency for Workforce Innovation. The percentage of unemployed was 4.9 last month. It was 5.1 percent in November of last year. Highlands' rate in December 2006 was 3 percent. Florida's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 4.7 percent in December 2007, representing 441,000 jobless out of a labor force of 9,312,000. Florida's unemployment rate was up by 0.4 percentage point over the month and up by 1.4 percentage points over the year. ...more

January 20, 2008

With each passing month, it gets tougher to sell homes in the Tampa Bay area, as median sales prices keep slipping and buyers remain skittish. The pressure of making a buck in the industry appears to be leading some local real estate agents to drop out of the business. ...more

January 17, 2008

Republican rivals Mitt Romney and John McCain both promised to revive recession-ravaged Michigan and the auto industry Monday as they campaigned in a presidential primary neither can afford to lose. ...more

January 15, 2008

AVON PARK — C.B. Shirey stepped down as Avon Park's city manager to become the Avon Park Executive Airport's first dedicated airport manager. According to the text of a resolution unanimously passed by the city council on Wednesday, Shirey will continue to "provide his service and expertise and allow a smooth transition to (the interim) city manager" for the next 60 days. City Clerk Sarah Adelt will assume Shirey's old duties until the city hires his replacement. Even though three of the five council members criticized Shirey's performance as a city manager in his evaluation last month, the council agreed that Shirey should take on the smaller role. Council members were a bit concerned at first about whether Adelt could run the city in the meantime. ...more

January 3, 2008

The cheers boomed from behind the fence Sunday at Florida's practice field at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex. Every few minutes for about an hour, a roar rose as the Gators honored another departing senior during the "senior tackle" ceremony. ...more

December 30, 2007

SEBRING – Businesses in Highlands County that want to add employees in 2008 might be able to tap into a fund that will offset some of the cost. The Highlands County Economic Development Trust Fund was established by the county commission in 2006 to support the economic development goals of the county and to mitigate the possible negative effect of impact fees, which were initiated in January of this year. The program is designed to support the expansion of existing industry as well as the recruitment of new industry to the county. To be eligible, companies must meet certain criteria that include meeting minimum average wage requirements for new as well as existing employees and creating a minimum number of new jobs. Companies meeting the guidelines may receive $500 per new job with a maximum program benefit of $50,000 for each company. ...more

December 23, 2007

Zephyrhills Spring Water Co.'s plan to build a retention pond on property it owns east of its plant in the city is only a small part of a growing level of discomfort some of its residential neighbors are feeling about the bottler these days. ...more

December 14, 2007

A Mississippi-based company opened a 70,000-square-foot factory in a local industrial park on Thursday, creating 35 new jobs in the city. ...more

December 12, 2007

The Home Depot is laying off 750 people locally and closing its call center in Brandon. ...more

December 4, 2007

With oil prices approaching $100 a barrel, now is the time for Washington to get serious about ending the nation's addiction to oil. Fortunately, sensible measures making their way through Congress would lessen our dependence. ...more

November 12, 2007