By placing 88 small crosses on lockers in their school's main hallway on Thursday, a few Lake Placid High School students want to illustrate the message that 88 people die each day in Florida from smoking-related causes. ...more

November 17, 2009

A long list of community accomplishments earned Dr. Rao Musunuru a Point of Light Award from Gov. Charlie Crist. ...more

September 23, 2008

SEBRING — About 400 middle and high school students met regularly to plan activities on spreading the word about the dangers of tobacco and smoking. That was five years ago before a funding cut in 2003 severely curtailed, or at some schools ended the Students Working Against Tobacco (S.W.A.T.) program. With a federal grant to fund it, the Highlands County Health Department proposes to reinstitute the program in the county's high schools. Active S.W.A.T. membership in the county has dropped 70.8 percent since the year 2000, according Donna Noel Stayton, Health Department tobacco prevention specialist. About 28.1 percent of the high school students in Highlands County reported using tobacco within the last 30 days of taking the 2006 Florida Youth Tobacco Survey . ...more

January 22, 2008