Vince and Monica Strawbridge and their four children are within 50 miles of finishing a 2,650-mile hike along the Pacific Coast Trail from Canada to Mexico. The trip has been an opportunity for family bonding, self discovery and fund-raising for favorite causes.
MORE: Follow on Facebook | Trip website | Lakelander article

Samantha Kunin, a 20-year-old Florida State University senior from Lakeland and graduate of the International Baccalaureate School in Bartow, interviewed in Birmingham, Ala., this past weekend as a finalist for the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship. More

Leroy Foster, an Air Force veteran whose tales of spraying Agent Orange defoliant over Guam during the Vietnam era are disputed by the government, has died of diseases he says were caused by the toxic chemical | Background

Two years after philanthropist Carol Jenkins Barnett revealed she had been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s, she still has a good memory but is struggling with some motor skills and vision issues, son Wesley Barnett tells Bay News 9 at a Lakeland “Walk to end Alzheimer’s” that attracted nearly 1,000 people.