A real estate agent by trade, Debra Benoit finds time when she can to try her hand at another profession: publisher. ...more

December 19, 2007

AVON PARK — Three weeks after the Boys and Girls Club's Avon Park branch opened at Memorial Field, the club is still getting a second portable ready, and is working on a deck to connect its two trailers. But membership has already shot up well beyond what Executive Director Wally Randall predicted. The branch's new location has 74 members, and 65 children can be found either studying or screaming, racing and playing around the two portables on any given weekday after school. That's slightly more than the number of kids at the club's main branch in Sebring. "We were expecting 40. On the first day, close to 60 showed up," Randall said. ...more

December 8, 2007

SEBRING — October was the best month in the 45-year history of the Humane Society of Highlands County. The 111 adoptions — of 58 dogs and 53 cats — jumped above the monthly average of 60 to 80 and the previous all-time high of 87. But the record-breaking month is cause for both celebration and concern. Expanding services is straining the non-profit organization's budget of just under $150,000, raised entirely through donations and community fundraising, said Marvine McPhee, executive director. "We're spending right now more than we are taking in in donations," said Barbara Shrewsbury, a volunteer who does everything from newsletters and data entry to cleaning out kennel cages. "We keep a reserve for times like this," she added. "But we can't keep drawing on it for very long. So, we're hoping that the more people see what is being done here, the more they can help, because we definitely need more funds." ...more

December 2, 2007

A nonprofit computer repair shop that refurbishes old equipment and distributes computers to families and schools that couldn't afford them on their own has a waiting list of about 100 names. ...more

November 10, 2007

The proposed Riverview Boys & Girls Club is well on its way to achieving its fundraising goal of $1.5 million. ...more

October 17, 2007

Why are thousands of millionaires lining up for the right to plunk down as much as $459,000, plus annual dues of up to $35,000, just for a few weeks of access to vacation homes? ...more

October 17, 2007

When it comes to treating substance abuse, Florida can pay now or pay later. In the quest to trim the state budget, lawmakers are gambling on later. ...more

October 17, 2007

The proposed Riverview Boys & Girls Club is well on its way to achieving its fundraising goal of $1.5 million. ...more

October 15, 2007

TAMPA - The state Department of Corrections will demote three high ranking officials and has taken steps to suspend them without pay because of how they allowed hundreds of inmates to transfer between prisons throughout Florida, Corrections Secretary James McDonough said today. ...more

October 8, 2007

LAND O' LAKES - A reluctant Pasco County School Board agreed Tuesday to increase the enrollment capacity for Athenian Academy of Pasco, an action that amounted to an after-the-fact contract amendment because the charter school already had enrolled extra students. ...more

October 3, 2007