The number of foreign children adopted by Americans has dropped for the third year in a row, a consequence of tougher policies in the two countries - China and Russia - that over the past decade have supplied the most children to U.S. families. ...more

December 7, 2007

SEBRING — Assessments of more than $5,000 on customers of the Thunderbird Hills Wastewater Treatment Plant may not be necessary to solve the long-standing problems at the plant. In an effort to eliminate, or at least minimize, the potential assessments, Highlands County commissioners agreed Tuesday to talks on a possible new solution. Next week, county officials will meet with representatives of Highlands Utilities, which runs a wastewater treatment plant serving 1,250 customers, including Lakeshore Mall and many businesses along U.S. 27. There will be one topic: arranging for the Highlands Utilities wastewater plant to treat the sewage from the nearby Thunderbird Hills plant, which has been operating without an operating permit from the state Department of Environmental Services for six years. ...more

December 5, 2007

Brooksville Housing Authority director Ronnie McLean, whose suspended driver's license and ensuing explanation prompted some housing board members to question whether he was right for the job, endured a scare Monday when he thought his license had once again been suspended. ...more

November 27, 2007

The father of a newborn baby boy surrendered by his mother to the Lake Wales Fire Department wants the child back, according to published reports. The father told authorities that he had not known the mother was turning over the child in accordance with Florida's safe haven for newborns law, The Ledger newspaper reported. ...more

November 17, 2007

The county commission and school board will try one more time Tuesday to resolve differences on school concurrency. ...more

November 17, 2007

The State Department is dropping plans to force diplomats to serve in Iraq because volunteers have filled all 48 vacant positions at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and in outlying provinces, The Associated Press has learned. ...more

November 16, 2007

• People who are absolutely upset are the folks in the State Department. They want to send them to Iraq. There's a lot of empty positions that need to be filled over there. But the people at the State Department are revolting about this because they say it's dangerous over there. I haven't heard that. ... President Bush is furious. He said, "If you didn't want to go to a war zone, you shouldn't have joined the State Department. You should have joined the Texas Air National Guard." ...more

November 9, 2007

My Safe Florida Home inspectors consistently disagree about key inspection data, according to a state report released Wednesday. ...more

November 1, 2007

Applied Research Associates, one of the My Safe Florida Home inspection companies whose contract was renewed Monday, was paid by the state last year to develop the program software used by inspectors. ...more

October 31, 2007

The state on Monday announced sweeping changes to its My Safe Florida Home program, including the dismissal of five of 11 companies hired to do hurricane inspections. ...more

October 30, 2007