Lakeland FL

A Wesley Chapel woman was found guilty of stealing almost $2 million in unemployment benefits, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Friday.

We keep local news free — can you help keep it going?. With the support of readers like you, we provide independent, local news for an informed and connected community. This is your chance to keep local news strong. Please join us!. Several groups have festivities to commemorate Juneteenth,...

HAINES CITY, Fla. - Haines City has agreed to pay more than half-a-million dollars to a former employee who filed a whistleblower complaint. The complaint alleges retaliation, discrimination and harassment by the city as well as by former Mayor Anne Huffman, who is now a city commissioner. The backstory:. Erica...

LAKELAND, Fla. – Jeffrey Padgett, 39, of Lakeland, who has been in the Polk County Jail since January on drug trafficking charges, is now facing a new set of felony charges related to the illegal dumping of thousands of waste tires. Padgett was initially taken into custody by the...

Florida County Ends $10M Housing Fund, Putting 1,100 Homes at Risk You’ve probably heard about the growing affordable housing crisis […] This article originally appeared on BuildLikeNew.com — visit us for more home security guides.

Polk County Sheriff’s Office/ Facebook A 44-year-old Florida man was found cooking dinner and running a bath in a stranger’s home after allegedly breaking in to avoid his wife’s wrath, authorities said. According to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office , deputies responded to a home in Davenport on June 9 after a...

Some places lift your spirits the moment you step inside—and this little tropical escape in Key West does exactly that. Imagine hundreds of butterflies fluttering around you, landing softly on your arm as classical music drifts through the air and a pair of flamingos casually strut past a bubbling waterfall. It sounds like a dream, but it’s very real—and it’s one of the most unexpectedly enchanting spots on the island.

When most people think of Florida, they picture beaches and palm trees—but just an hour south of Miami lies a landscape that feels like it belongs on another planet. Welcome to a place where the river moves slow, the trees grow sideways, and the silence is often broken by the bellow of an alligator. Everglades National Park isn’t just a national treasure—it’s a living, breathing, waterlogged wonder unlike anywhere else in the U.S.

Haines City has agreed to pay more than half a million dollars to a former city employee who filed a whistleblower complaint. Carla Bayron reports.

Juneteenth has long been celebrated by the African American community. The holiday dates back to June 19, 1865, marking the day the last remaining enslaved people in Texas found out they were free.