Sheriff's Investigators were looking Friday for anyone with information to come forward on an armed robbery that took place late Tuesday at a Taylor's BP gas station at the corner of State Road 17 and Arbuckle Creek Road.< ...more

July 11, 2008

If your home mortgage is federally insured - and most are - and you live in a flood-prone area, you may have to buy flood insurance. ...more

July 11, 2008

As the state is working on the massive Everglades cleanup, a local Audubon Society official warned that one of its tributaries is headed for the same environmental problems plaguing the swamp and Lake Okeechobee. ...more

July 10, 2008

SPRING LAKE — Joe DeCerbo thinks he's finally solved Spring Lake's water problem. South Florida Water Management District has allowed a seawall to be built that carries excess rainfall directly to Arbuckle Creek, without flowing over the land of ranch owner Sandra Tyrell. "This will, without a doubt, protect us and Sandy Tyrell forever," said DeCerbo, the manager of Spring Lake Improvement District for the past two years. "As soon as it's finished, we're going to sit down and have an agreement typed with them sitting there. We sign it, and Sandy signs it, and then we call the judge and get that injunction lifted." ...more

July 5, 2008

SEBRING — A call to the Highlands County Sheriff's Office regarding a missing 3-year-old boy ended in tragedy Saturday, when the boy was found dead in a family pool. ...more

February 25, 2008

I'm writing to the ATV riders who deliberately ran into and drove on my auto, parked at the Highlands Preserve on Feb. 16. Your thoughtless "fun" will cost me $1,500 to repair; but it will also add to the growing list of ATV problems and complaints in Highlands County. The recent ATV fatality, along with problems at Arbuckle Creek, and your actions, will ban or limit county ATV riding for responsible operators and fools like you. A fun sport ruined by thoughtless few. ...more

February 22, 2008

SPRING LAKE — When is a sinkhole a blessing in disguise? When it costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, but saves millions. That's what happened at the Spring Lake pump station, when 19 feet of foundation eroded over 24 years. "The sinkhole actually became a blessing for the (Spring Lake Improvement District)," said Joe DeCerbo, district manager, "because if any more land under the pipes was lost, water would have gone under the pilings and caused the entire structure to collapse, with incredible damage." ...more

February 6, 2008

LAKE MARY – AT&T announced that it is expanding wireless coverage in Highlands County with the activation of a new cell site in Lorida. The new cell site, on Arbuckle Creek Road, is providing additional coverage in the new residential and business growth areas of Highlands County that are west of Sebring along U.S. 98 North. AT&T plans to add approximately 12 new cell sites in Central Florida in 2008. The company has invested more than $800 million in the Florida wireless network since 2005 to improve coverage and expand its 3G footprint, which, in Central Florida, includes Orlando and Lakeland. ...more

January 13, 2008

SEBRING — A Delaware man died Friday morning when the Ford F-150 in which he was a passenger overturned, because the driver failed to see a fog-obscured curve. The deceased was listed as Leroy Caldwell, of Smyrna, Del. ...more

December 28, 2007

SEBRING — Christmas decorations are going back into boxes, but what happens to that live tree that brought holiday cheer? Residents just have to cart the tree, with the ornaments and tree stand removed, to the curb and solid waste officials will take care of the rest. Richard Gorman, landfill operation manager for Highlands County, said the county residents' Christmas trees are picked up with the yard waste and mixed with dirt and sand to make a ground cover at the Highlands County Landfill. The ground cover, which is spread over the landfill daily, is used for odor control and as a barrier from intrusion by birds and animals. ...more

December 27, 2007