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

Youth baseball registration deadlines are quickly approaching and all three Highlands County leagues will hold sign-ups this weekend. Sebring and Avon Park will hold registration at their home fields, while Lake Placid's deadline for both baseball and softball is 9 a.m. Saturday. Check below for more information about each league: ...more

January 16, 2009

A long-awaited Florida High School Athletic Association football district realignment was announced on Monday afternoon, and its effects will be felt across all three Highlands County high schools next fall. ...more

December 17, 2008

SEBRING — Three Highlands County high school graduates each own a Ford Focus, courtesy of the Wheel's for A's program of the Alan Jay Automotive Network. Quacey Fletcher of Avon Park High, Tara Weeks of Lake Placid High and Sydney Ruble of Sebring High were on hand at Alan Jay Ford Lincoln Mercury on Tuesday to officially take possession of their new set of wheels. ...more

June 3, 2008

Landscaping costs in the three Highlands County incorporated areas: (budgeted costs vary wildly, and shouldn't be directly compared, since most employees perform several tasks not connected with landscaping, while grant funding varies and pays for many improvements.) • Highlands County-$2.5 million yearly budget for landscaping of 40 county owned properties which includes the cost of a four-person, full-time department. • Avon Park-$52,000 of Avon Park city funding goes to contractor Cutting Edge, which maintains the U.S. 27 corridor, the Main Street mall and other city properties. Inmates perform much of the landscaping at no cost to the city, as is the custom in many areas of the county. Five recreation department employees oversee upkeep of the city ball fields with a $16,000 yearly budget. ...more

February 10, 2008

SEBRING — By accident, a routine financial audit of expenditures for the 9-1-1 emergency call system uncovered voluminous sexually explicit messages sent between three Highlands County employees in the budget department. The sexually explicit messages, all public-record documents open to public inspection, led to the firings Monday morning of: Treasa Handley, former coordinator of non ad-valorem assessments; Jared Lee, former budget analyst; and Christine Edwards, former budget technician. ...more

January 30, 2008

Getting parents involved in their children's education is often considered the key to a student's success. At least three Highlands County schools are helping parents do that, and we hope many more do. In the last few weeks, one school has held a Better Readers workshop to guide parents on how to help their children's reading at home. The Kindergarten Learning Center had a curriculum night to familiarize parents with what is expected of their children in school while another middle school had something similar. ...more

November 19, 2007