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Despite the recent rains, Highlands is one of four central Florida counties that remain at high risk of wildfires. Units from Lake Placid, Placid Lakes and Sun ‘N Lake South were joined by Florida Forest Service crews yesterday in dousing the flames of a brush fire off Lake Apthorpe north of Lake Placid. The blaze Continue reading

A new report by the firm Stressa shows that the median rent in the Avon Park-Sebring metro area has grown by nearly 13-percent in the past two years. The median rent in the now is said to be $1,048 per month here. That’s up from an average monthly charge of $929 back in 2019. The Continue reading

A new study shows that over the past decade, the Sebring-Avon Park metro area experienced an 11-percent increase in per capita income – which apparently is not keeping pace with inflation. Inflation has caused incomes to struggle to keep up with the declining buying power of the dollar. In fact, the local numbers represent less Continue reading

Highlands County might be a very different place – if cows could vote. A new report by the United States Department of Agriculture shows there are some 115,000 head of cattle being run here – which is more than the entire human population of Highlands County. In fact, Highlands is second in Florida only to Continue reading

Highlands County commissioners will look at the dispensation of nearly 20-million dollars in American Rescue Plan monies from the federal government when they meet tomorrow morning in regular session. More than 20 different cost centers have beeh identified for the cash – including a proposed $5-million dollar hurricane shelter project and $4.5-million dollars for the Continue reading

It’s official, there will be elections for all the seats coming up in this year’s local elections. That includes three school board and two county commission races. Resident Reece Martin yesterday filed to run for the District Four Highlands County School Board seat now held by longtime incumbent Bill Brantly. Martin, a 52-year-old Lake Placid Continue reading

It appears the Mosaic Company is looking to put a phosphate mining facility in Hardee County near the Highlands County line. Hardee officials have postponed a request to designate more than 4,000 acres of property for mining south of County Line Road between Old Town Creek Road and State Road 64 east in Hardee. That Continue reading

Officials at the Avon Park Air Force Range say you’ll be seeing – and hearing – more planes in the area today. Training exercises began in the mid-morning and will continue until very late tonight. Types of planes and who’s flying them was not revealed, but they say noise levels will be highly elevated. A Continue reading

Avon Park city council members took the first steps in changing – and limiting – their terms of office. By a 4-1 vote last night, the council instructed city attorney Gerald Buhr to draw up a ballot iniative that would change council’s terms of office to four years and limit them to just two terms Continue reading

Avon Park city council members will be talking about the city charter when they meet this evening in regular session. Mayor Garrett Anderson wants to talk about term lenghts and term limits for council members. Currently, board members serve three year terms, which puts them out of synch with the regular election cycle. They also Continue reading