The Latest Local News

Avon Park council members are looking to clean up the city of charm. They adopted a new set of rules that would establish criteria in foreclosure proceedings for properties that violate code enforcement statutes. The measure, crafted by city attorney Gerald Buhr, sets up a point system with weighted items that could lead to legal Continue reading

Avon Park city council members last night took another step forward to getting in synch with the election cycle. They approved on first reading a charter change amendment that would lengthen the council’s terms of office from three to four years. That would put the Avon Park elections on both the general and off-year ballots. Continue reading

The Avon Park city council will take another step in getting in synch with the general election cycle this evening when they review a proposed charter change amendment that would lengthen the council’s terms of office from three to four years. Avon Park Mayor Garrett Anderson has been pushing for the change, along with provisions Continue reading

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