LAKE PLACID — Summer is when rivalries are born in the pool. For 12-year old Emily Helterhoff of the Highlands Hurricanes and 11-year old Maggie Brumfield of the Hardee Swim Team, Saturday's Lake Placid Aquatic Invitational gave everyone a glimpse of the future of girls swimming in the Heartland. Helterhoff and Brumfield competed in six events in the girls 11-12 category during the event at the Green Dragon pool, with the Hurricane swimmer getting the best of the Wildcat in five events –– with just two weeks of work before the event. "Emily has been just short of amazing," said Hurricanes coach Marvin Wolfe. "She showed a lot of promise last season, which was her first with the Hurricanes, and is picking up right where she left off." ...more

June 22, 2008

Even though federal officials now say certain areas of the state are safe, Florida tomato growers are feeling the effects of the recent salmonella outbreak with fields of tomatoes still to be picked. ...more

June 21, 2008

"You can't turn on the TV the past few days without hearing something about tomatoes and salmonella," says Family and Consumer Sciences agent Betsy Crisp, "Things have been changing almost daily and you just need to be alert - but do not panic." ...more

June 17, 2008

"Politics," the late American newspaper editor and writer Charles Dudley Warner once quipped, "makes strange bedfellows." ...more

June 15, 2008

In addition to the hail up to the size of golf balls that fell in Hardee and DeSoto counties, Wednesday's thunderstorms cost some Wauchula residents their electricity and water. Hardee County Emergency Management said firefighters and an ambulance were called to a mobile home park on Sims Road about 6:15 p.m. after receiving a report people were trapped in a mobile home by a fallen tree. Rescuers found no tree, but a 10-inch limb had dropped on two mobile homes. No one was trapped, and the branch didn't punch through the mobile homes' roofs. ...more

June 12, 2008

SEBRING — Area high school students will encounter a new set of classes when they go back to school in August. The set of 12 classes will not be on social studies and math but alcohol prevention. The new program is being funded through a grant totaling more than $432,000 to prevent alcohol abuse among high school students in the Florida Heartland, a top local education official said Wednesday. Frank Gibbs, the executive director of the Heartland Education Consortium based in Lake Placid, said it would be up to the Highlands County School Board to determine how the courses will be inserted into the high school curriculum. ...more

June 11, 2008

AVON PARK — Norm Stephens knows that in a recessionary economy, voters aren't likely to approve any suggestion of a tax increase. And in November, there will be nine ballot issues to confuse voters, including a one-cent sales tax which that would replace school property taxes. And furthermore, the 10-mill college property tax is No. 8 on the list, after the amendments prohibiting gay marriage and illegal aliens owning land. So its chances of passing may be small. But if voters approve in November, the Legislature would be required to allow the commissioners in Highlands, Hardee and DeSoto counties to hold a election which would generate property taxes to support South Florida Community College. "It's a four-step process," said Stephens, SFCC president. "It has to be approved by 60 percent of the voters in November. That allows the Legislature to develop rules. Then the counties can place it on the ballot, and the voters would have to approve again." ...more

June 8, 2008

AVON PARK — Incoming college freshmen wouldn't normally think of off-campus housing as a necessity unless they're heading to one of the larger state universities, but South Florida Community College actually has a need for it. The Jacaranda Hotel's women's dormitory was booked through the school year that ended in May, said Don Appelquist, the executive director of the SFCC Foundation. Even though 10 apartments were left for the men, he anticipates nearly all of the men's dorms will be booked as well before August. Jacaranda, operated by SFCC, houses 35 male and 35 female students who live outside of the Highlands, Hardee and DeSoto counties, even though Appelquist said an occasional student from DeSoto might prefer taking courses at the main Avon Park campus without taking the commute. Most of the out-of-district students attend SFCC to join one of the athletic teams. ...more

June 5, 2008

SEBRING — Of Highlands County's nine baby deaths in 2007, three are a result of mothers sleeping with their babies. It's called co-sleeping, and officials say it's a big problem in Highlands County. Deborah Hadley, program manager of Healthy Families for Highlands County, said family support workers with Healthy Families, who visit mothers in the home, are reporting many teen mothers sleeping with babies in their bed. "We have a huge problem with co-sleeping," Hadley said. "Some of our parents use drugs or alcohol, and it concerns us greatly that that have babies in the bed with them." Hadley said some mothers say co-sleeping is a cultural habit they don't want to change and others say they cannot afford cribs for their babies. ...more

June 2, 2008

SEBRING – The search for an executive director for Florida's Heartland Rural Economic Development Initiative will contine Monday, June 2 when the selection committee meets in Sebring. Six candidates for the position are scheduled to be interviewed, according to Roger Hood, who is a member of the committee. The FHREDI board of directors' regular meeting will be held Monday, June 16 at the Agri-Civic Center in Sebring. A recommendation will likely be made from the committee to the board at that time. Following the retirement of Lynn Topel earlier this year, the board advertised the position. The committee chose three candidates to be interviewed and offered the position to the top two, but both declined. Salary might have been an issue with those two individuals, according to Hood, who is also a member of the board. ...more

May 31, 2008