Stephanie Bowyer, who has two children in Highlands County public schools, has a suggestion for the school board: Don't do any budget cuts. ...more

March 8, 2009

Dust off and get ready to stuff those backpacks again, the first day of school is near and the annual school supply lists are out. ...more

August 5, 2008

Pinellas County Sheriff's detectives arrested a transient today who they say asked for Marlboro cigarettes before robbing two stores. ...more

January 7, 2008

SEBRING — Maybe it was because he was in great shape. Maybe it was Darrel Smith's helmet that made the difference and saved his life after a car struck his bike in August. Perhaps, Smith thought, it was the thousands of prayers given for him from other park rangers, his fellow bicyclists and the entire community. In a little more than three months, Smith came out of a month-long medically induced coma, regained 20 pounds of lost muscle and just last Thursday took a two-mile ride on his tricycle for the first time since the accident. "Yes, it hurt like hell... I got nine pieces of stainless steel (in me) right now. Two of them are cables," he said, showing his right hip. His smile and his beaming optimism goes against the grain of the aches he described. Smith's trainer, Keith A. Bowyer Jr., thinks it was Smith's drive that got him where he is now. Smith's hoping by Friday that he will get back on his job at Highlands Hammock State Park. By Christmas, Smith's hoping he can try out a bicycle. ...more

December 11, 2007