Hillsborough County Commissioner Kevin Beckner suggested Tuesday that commissioners look at cutting their own salaries or benefits as a symbolic gesture to show empathy for county employees facing layoffs. ...more

April 1, 2009

Three Highlands County employees fired last January for "inappropriate" use of instant messages on their work computers have filed a federal lawsuit. ...more

January 17, 2009

The three workers fired in Highlands County's Office of Management and Budget for "inappropriate" use of their instant messages lost their bid to win their jobs back on appeal. ...more

August 21, 2008

Riding a bus is going to get more expensive, and even nonriders might soon pay more to support Hillsborough County's transit agency. ...more

August 5, 2008

Hillsborough County's transit agency this morning voted to raise fares across the board and gave tentative backing to a property tax increase to pay for more buses and a long-range transit study. ...more

August 4, 2008

A federal rescue of troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could cost taxpayers as much as $25 billion, Congress' top budget analyst said. ...more

July 23, 2008

A federal rescue of troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could cost taxpayers as much as $25 billion, Congress' top budget analyst said Tuesday. ...more

July 22, 2008

SEBRING — The formal legal process for the appeals of two county employees for exchanging inappropriate and often sexually explicit instant-messages will begin in six days, on Monday. Jim McCollum, the attorney for ex-county employees Jared Lee and Treasa Handley, will take sworn statements, recorded verbatim by a legal stenographer, from four people, starting at 9 a.m. in a conference room at the Highlands County Government Center. Handley and Lee were dismissed more than five months ago for sending thousands of personal instant messages to each other, and others, on their county computers during working hours. Many of the messages were sexually explicit, and all of them are public record, accessible to anyone, with a request to either the county's public information officer or the Highlands County Clerk of Courts office. ...more

June 16, 2008

SEBRING — David Flowers, director of Highlands County's facilities management, was given a written reprimand late Thursday afternoon for his improper use of county instant messaging. ...more

January 31, 2008

SEBRING — David Flowers, director of county facilities management, is under investigation for sexually explicit, instant messages he exchanged on county computers with fired budget department employee Treasa Handley. Rick Helms, the assistant county administrator, is in charge of the investigation of Flowers, a former county commissioner who failed in his bid this week to become director of the county's new division of administrative services. ...more

January 31, 2008