When a magnitude 8 earthquake rocked China's Sichuan province on May 12, Gary Mentro's sister-in-law worried about friends back home. ...more

June 30, 2008

Thousands of ham radio operators are showing their emergency capabilities this weekend. ...more

June 28, 2008

Four weeks ago County Administrator David Hamilton ordered a do-over after software problems disrupted a mock hurricane drill. ...more

June 28, 2008

COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR AT EASE ...more

June 27, 2008

Thousands of ham radio operators will show their emergency capabilities this weekend. ...more

June 27, 2008

SEBRING — Wednesday's emergency preparedness drill at the Agri-Civic Center was only practice, but almost 200 volunteers and county employees acted like the mock exercise was real. Andrew Pease, a Sun 'n' Lake Elementary School student, gave up a day of summer break to volunteer and portray a "victim," along with his mother Mary and sister Becky. The 9-year-old took the drill to heart and said he was "a little scared." "My mom tells me to not talk to strangers, but I trust the police and others," said Andrew Pease. "This is like some kind of play, but it's real, too." ...more

June 19, 2008

SEBRING — The formal legal process for the appeals of two county employees for exchanging inappropriate and often sexually explicit instant-messages will begin in six days, on Monday. Jim McCollum, the attorney for ex-county employees Jared Lee and Treasa Handley, will take sworn statements, recorded verbatim by a legal stenographer, from four people, starting at 9 a.m. in a conference room at the Highlands County Government Center. Handley and Lee were dismissed more than five months ago for sending thousands of personal instant messages to each other, and others, on their county computers during working hours. Many of the messages were sexually explicit, and all of them are public record, accessible to anyone, with a request to either the county's public information officer or the Highlands County Clerk of Courts office. ...more

June 16, 2008

The cramped quarters inside the sheriff's office earned some much-needed relief last year when dispatch moved out. ...more

June 14, 2008

WORK BEGINS NOW ON GARAGES OUTSIDE ...more

June 13, 2008

Four people were killed and numerous others injured when a tornado struck a western Iowa Boy Scout camp Wednesday evening, Iowa Homeland Security officials said. ...more

June 12, 2008