MELBOURNE (AP) – Just as Florida's fruit shippers are entering their busy period, they've been saddled with some additional scrutiny — full-time government inspectors in the packinghouses, checking citrus for signs of canker blemishes. It's not that the U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors are unwanted, but ... "I know they're just doing their job," said Jim Harvey, an owner of Harvey's Groves in Rockledge — one of Brevard County's major fruit shippers. "But it certainly is inconvenient." ...more

December 2, 2007

You don't have to be a Boy Scout to live by the motto "Be prepared." Many American workers learn that lesson each year, as foreign competition, technology and other factors force their companies to shut down or move overseas. People ask, "How am I going to make it?" ...more

November 11, 2007

Florida's citrus industry was just about given up for dead in recent years. Sure, the annual crop brought in $1.4 billion to growers last year. But plagued by hurricanes, freezes, labor shortages, imports, deadly diseases and sky-high land prices that caused landowners to turn groves into subdivisions, the long-term outlook for Florida's most identifiable crop appeared bleak. ...more

November 3, 2007

The state owes nearly 41,000 Palm Beach County residents fair compensation after removing citrus trees from their yards in a failed decadelong effort to eradicate a harmful bacteria, an attorney said Monday during opening statements in a class-action lawsuit. ...more

October 16, 2007

SARASOTA - Two or three times a day, laboratory technicians load chilled metal boxes onto small planes at Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport. ...more

October 7, 2007

WASHINGTON — Mason Smoak, a citrus producer and cattle rancher from Lake Placid, testified before Congress on Thursday about the labor needs of the American agriculture industry. The House Agriculture Committee convened a hearing, requested by U.S. Rep. Tim Mahoney, D-Palm Beach Gardens, to examine the issues of worker verification, hiring and retaining agriculture laborers, and the implications of current federal regulations. ...more

October 6, 2007

This letter is in response to Mr. Royce's comments in regard to an appointed superintendent instead of an elected superintendent. By the tone of your comments, Mr. Royce, it sounds as though you might be vying for Wally Cox's job. You are sure quick to give your misinformed opinion. All of Highlands County's schools are not "D" schools. Our school educators and employees take a lot of pride in the hard work it takes to educate this county's children. Frankly, I think people are sick and tired of hearing misinformed people such as yourself spout false accusations. Although Mr. Cox has quite the impressive credentials, excellent reputation, years of experience in the system and apparently the support of Highlands County schools and families, you and your coffee buddy Mr. Tuck sound like two wanna-bes running for the CEO of the Highlands County School District. ...more

September 16, 2007

Dozens of dead orange trees lay stacked here among vast green rows of grove. ...more

September 10, 2007