Arresting human smugglers will be somewhat easier under legislation signed by Gov. Charlie Crist. ...more

June 13, 2009

William Morrow says it plans to publish the first of two books with hero pilot Chesley B. Sullenberger III late this year. ...more

March 20, 2009

Given the economic downturn, even the most romantic might balk at the $86,609 price tag for the items in "The Twelve Days of Christmas" carol. ...more

December 3, 2008

The drying room at the Highlands County Sheriff's Office is filled with 62 seven-foot tall marijuana plants with an estimated weight of 550 pounds and a value of $420,000. ...more

October 10, 2008

Marousa Placiotis, a single mom with four home-schooled sons and two foster children, is living a dream of owning her own farm. ...more

September 5, 2008

Marousa Placiotis, a single mom with four home-schooled sons and two foster children, is living a dream of owning her own farm. ...more

September 3, 2008

Marousa Placiotis, a single mom with four home-schooled sons and two foster children, is living a dream of owning her own farm. ...more

September 3, 2008

Little could they have known that after winning their first game by a narrow 3-2 score, the rest of the season would come so easily. The Macaws concluded a dominant campaign May 17 as the Under-8 champions of the Plant City Recreation and Parks Department/Optimist youth soccer program. ...more

May 28, 2008

If you are not making a living here in Highlands County, blame your local elected official. My husband works for Cross Country, like about 500 others here in Highlands County. Prior to locating their business here in Highlands County, Cross Country's intentions were to pay more per hour than they are currently paying. Our wonderful local city councilmen at that time negotiated with Cross Country and they nixed the higher pay that Cross Country was going to offer their employees. The reason was the city councilmen were concerned that if Cross Country paid as much as they were intending to pay, local business would not be able to compete and Cross Country would depreciate the local employee pool making the low cost employee unavailable to our local businessmen. Their reasoning was that this would hurt the local businessman. ...more

May 19, 2008

SEBRING — Few places in Florida nurse wild bald eagles back to health, but David Wrede said that Wrede's Wildlife Rehabilitation Center does that. He fixes their wings as well as owls, hawks and geese that are all native to the area. On the side, he even houses a few peacocks, cougars and a lone coyote. Although the three bald eagles at Wrede's Wildlife Rehabilitation Center couldn't be released because they had permanent injuries such as a blind right eye in "Thunder's" case, David Wrede said he was looking for volunteers to help some of the 600 to 1,000 other animals that go through the center each year so they can return to the wild. He and his wife Karen Wrede ran the rehab center at Wilderness Trail south of Sebring for more than 18 years, but David said that they had to slow down because of health problems and they've been focusing mostly on birds. He hoped the volunteers could help him expand the center's efforts with mammals and reptiles. ...more

February 12, 2008