There were a few who didn't want to get their feet muddy, but most of the 19 youngsters from Riverview's Center Academy were happy to plunge into a restoration project at Newman Branch Creek near the Big Bend Power Station on May 12. ...more

May 20, 2009

The cleanup of algae and sediments along one of the area's most famous landmarks came to a sudden halt Thursday. ...more

December 6, 2008

East German leader Erich Honecker proclaimed in 1989 that the Berlin Wall could remain in place for another 100 years. But his faith in East German construction was almost as off the mark as his political instincts. The Wall opened for traffic a few months after Honecker spoke. Now the remaining pieces are crumbling. ...more

October 16, 2008

In a 4-1 vote early Tuesday evening, the Lake Denton Citizens Advisory Committee recommended that the Highlands County commissioners permanently close public access to this popular lake. ...more

September 4, 2008

Jim Withers sat in the back room of his small barbershop smoking a cigarette and studying his computer screen. ...more

July 13, 2008

SEBRING — Four tracks mark rip from near the sidewalk, through a lawn and into the dry sand that was once part of Lake Jackson. Multiple pontoon boats were beached just south of Veterans Beach. They're a usual sight for the lake as it hits all-time historic low levels, but the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission sees a potential problem here. Officer Erika Zimmerman said these days she often catches some boaters trying to drive their trucks and trailers into the shore of the lake bed to pull the boats out, and sometimes just for the fun of it. What ends up happening, she said, is that they rip up the vegetation, spread oil and gas on the lake bed, leave deep treads and end up polluting the lake once the water returns to that area. Often, they get stuck and have to be dragged out of the bed, she said. ...more

June 23, 2008

Residents who live in the Southwest Florida Water Management District's Withlacoochee River Basin will pay the same millage rate as last year. ...more

June 20, 2008

Residents who live in the Southwest Florida Water Management District's Withlacoochee River Basin will pay the same millage rate as last year. ...more

June 19, 2008

AVON PARK — She would have supported the 2006 Avon Park housing ordinance. She advocates English only for government signs and ballots. And she would require all illegal aliens to return to their country. But she's not anti-Hispanic. She sponsored a house resolution urging Congress to fund the Indian River Lagoon South Restoration Project, and she supports the Everglades restoration. But she shirks the label "environmentalist." And Gayle Harrell calls Tim Mahoney an accidental congressman. "He was simply the luckiest guy around," said Harrell, who is running against two other Republicans for the 16th district nomination. "He would not be in the U.S. Congress if the Foley scandal had not happened." ...more

May 28, 2008

The Southwest Florida Water Management District sets the groundwork for its biggest environmental rehab ever: transforming an old rock mine and farm fields that had been tagged for a power plant into a coastal environmental paradise. ...more

May 26, 2008