SEBRING – Just three months ago, Highlands County's gain of Mandy Hines as the new director of the housing department was Desoto County government's loss. This week, though, DeSoto County turned the tables on Highlands and hired Hines back. On Monday, Hines told her boss, Jim Polatty, director of development services, that she will be leaving to accept a job with DeSoto County. Hines, who has not yet submitted a letter of resignation, is leaving her job here to return home and accept a higher-level, higher-paying job, Polatty said. ...more

May 20, 2008

It's mid-May, the time when the school year is nearly over. A ritual of this season is delivery of school yearbooks, and it's likely that none of the students who bought one are thinking about their descendants. ...more

May 18, 2008

Sixty-five candles were lit at dusk, each symbolizing the life of a homeless person extinguished this year by illness, an accident, natural causes or violence. ...more

December 22, 2007

TAMPA - Sixty-five candles were lit at dusk, each symbolizing the life of a homeless person extinguished this year by illness, accidents, natural causes or violence. ...more

December 21, 2007

Operation Unwrap A Smile is marking its second year of service with a wide-scale holiday campaign to help others. ...more

December 14, 2007

Considering she has such a young team, Plant girls basketball coach Carrie Mahon has to be pleased her Panthers are off to a 7-0 start. ...more

December 6, 2007

Highlands Little Theatre has done it once more, put on a production to rave about. The night of entertainment we enjoyed Saturday night as we tried to figure out "who done it" in their production of Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None" was nothing short of amazing. ...more

November 7, 2007

Never before has a hole in the ground been so widely anticipated, and no one gets more credit for that happening than a young lady whose donation perhaps makes it possible. When the Highlands County Family YMCA pool gets build, it will be called the Capt. Justin K. Ward Aquatic Center. Many will not know that Justin K. Ward was an Army captain killed in a car accident but his memory will live each time someone takes a dip in the pool or learns how to swim. ...more

October 2, 2007

Oh, if only I could express the things to be enjoyed about the Heartland Idol competition. Not a person in Highlands or the surrounding counties would be home on the nights the contest is going on. ...more

September 25, 2007