SEBRING – Just three months ago, Highlands County's gain of Mandy Hines as the new director of the housing department was Desoto County government's loss. This week, though, DeSoto County turned the tables on Highlands and hired Hines back. On Monday, Hines told her boss, Jim Polatty, director of development services, that she will be leaving to accept a job with DeSoto County. Hines, who has not yet submitted a letter of resignation, is leaving her job here to return home and accept a higher-level, higher-paying job, Polatty said. ...more

May 20, 2008

Imagine collecting your full retirement pension while still earning your full paycheck from the same employer. To do that in the private sector, you'd probably have to retire and find a new job. ...more

February 26, 2008

Attorneys with the Tampa Police and Fire Pension Board are investigating whether a recently hired assistant fire chief in Zephyrhills is improperly collecting more than $3,500 per month in disability payments. ...more

February 9, 2008

LAKE PLACID — Although the Tooth Fairy hasn't yet visited 6-year-old Ramon Castellano of Lake Placid, he was one of the first patients at the new Children's Dental Care of Highlands. The new 1,200-square-foot dental clinic where Ramon received care is located at the Lake Placid Health Department building, at 106 Main Ave. Any of the county's 15,000 children who are uninsured and Medicaid-eligible pay based on a sliding scale, which starts at no charge, said Dr. Paula Thaqi, director of the Highlands County Health Department. ...more

February 9, 2008

No one was crying in his beer. Then again, none of the roughly 100 Home Depot call center employees at O'Brien's Irish Pub in Brandon on Jan. 23 was jumping for joy, either. ...more

January 30, 2008

No one was crying in his beer. Then again, none of the roughly 100 Home Depot call center employees at O'Brien's Irish Pub in Brandon on Jan. 23 was jumping for joy, either. ...more

January 28, 2008

Peter Mohan traces the path from the Iraqi battlefield to this lifeless conference room, where he sits in a kilt and a Camp Kill Yourself T-shirt and calmly describes how he became a sad cliche: a homeless veteran. ...more

January 20, 2008

I promised myself I wouldn't do a preachy New Year's column. But damn it, I can't help it sometimes! ...more

January 19, 2008

LAKE PLACID — John Komasa likes to scuba dive, ride a bike, read and just get out and take walks. Although an accountant by trade, he seems like a natural for a recreation director, and that's what he became a year and a half ago when he headed Lake Placid's parks and recreation department. "I'm not in as good as shape as I used to be, and I took this job to get from behind the desk," he said. ...more

January 14, 2008

As expected, Chris Kingsley on Wednesday was unanimously appointed chairman of the county commission for 2008. ...more

January 10, 2008