Devin Deschaine is a fighter. He doesn't have a choice. The Hudson boy, whose brown hair used to hang down to his dark eyebrows, turned 2 on March 3. A few days later, his mother, Melissa Deschaine, 20, of Hudson, noticed him limping. ...more

September 25, 2008

SEBRING —A Highlands County Sheriff's internal investigation cleared one deputy of an accusation that she tipped off friends at Paul's Harbourside Restaurant and Lounge about a sheriff's undercover operation on Aug. 4, involving the sale of alcohol to minors. The sheriff's deputy was a trainee at the time of the undercover operation. While she was cleared of the accusation, she was later counseled about discussing an open investigation with others. ...more

June 25, 2008

For the second time since America's war on terrorism began, soldiers trained at the National Guard Armory here are expected to serve in Afghanistan. ...more

December 14, 2007

AVON PARK — Don't hide drugs from this 82-pound bilingual Belgian Malinois from Holland. Or don't be on the lam when he's around. He's likely to "pinch" you. ...more

November 21, 2007

LAKE PLACID — At 8 a.m. last Thursday, paramedic John Dyess and EMT Todd Kreulen parked a Highlands County EMS ambulance at the Tomoka Heights station, unlocked the door and staffed this station for the first time since mid-April. That put county EMS back to its full daily staffing level of eight ambulances, including two in the Lake Placid area. About four hours later, Dyess and Kreulen responded to their first 911 call from the Tomoka station, a former model home just north of Florida Hospital on U.S. 27 South. They reached a patient in respiratory distress in less than five minutes, well within EMS's goal of a six-minute average response time. Steve Coltharp, acting EMS director, said reopening the Tomoka station improves response times not only in the Lake Placid area but also throughout the county. The county's recent hiring of two paramedics and three EMTs solved a manpower shortage that forced EMS to reduce its ambulance crews from eight to seven. ...more

November 13, 2007

Fancy and not-so-fancy cats and kittens will vie for prizes and praise this weekend at Raga-Ma-Catz, an all-breed and household pet show sanctioned by the American Cat Fanciers Association. ...more

September 22, 2007