Category: News Roundup

DRONE ON: The Polk County Sheriff’s Office and the Lakeland Police Department are using drones to replace helicopters for certain emergency situations. Both forces note the cost savings of using drones. Depending on model, the drones cost $1,200 to $22,000 each and an LPD spokesman estimated the PCSO drones cost approximately $500 per hour to […]

LAKELAND LINDER ACCIDENT: Student pilot Gary Alan Mansell, 64, of Ranchdale Drive, died Saturday when his plane crashed during touch-and-go landing training at Lakeland Linder International Airport. Source: The Ledger

BALL HOCKEY?: Members of the Barnett family have purchased the closed Interstate Lanes bowling alley on West Memorial Boulevard and Paul Granville has leased it to turn the building into a year-round ice rink and “ball hockey” facility. Granville hopes to open the ice rink in summer 2019. It would be Polk County’s first all-year […]

GRADUATION RATES CLIMB: Polk County schools had an all-time high graduation rate in 2018 with 80.4% of the class of 2018 graduating. That was up 5 percentage points from 2017. RED LIGHT STOP: For the third year in a row, Lakeland’s red light cameras were triggered more often, but Lakeland police officers reviewing the films […]

LAKELAND LINDER INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT: Lakeland’s airport broke ground on the $9 million headquarters for Keys to the World Aviation. The startup corporate aircraft service hopes to open for business on August 15th, 2019. THE WHEELS GO ROUND: Polk County School District bus driver Cindy Williams is back on the job after Monday’s accident where she […]

VOTING RIGHTS: Polk County Supervisor of Elections Lori Edwards noted her office will handle voter registrations as they always have: offer the registration and pass it on to the state. As far as area felons registering to vote? Edwards said, “Now the right to vote has been restored by meeting the criteria in Amendment 4. […]

BROADBAND: Lakeland city commissioners approved a $139,000 bid from a Denver-based company to create a business plan for a city-owned fiber optics internet utility. GARDEN DISTRICT: City commissioners discussed an ordinance to increase the building height limit in the Garden District from 40′ to 60′. They decided to delay a vote while they consider the […]

BEACON HILL HOUSE: An historic house may be saved from moving after preservationist Gregory Fancelli contacted the South Florida Avenue Church of Christ elders and offered to repair the house on their property. “It will take a while to determine what needs to be done and how and when it will be accomplished,” (church elder […]

AMENDMENT 4: The daily newspaper took a look at plans to implement Amendment 4. The measure restored the voting rights for some 1.4 million people convicted of felonies. The paper quoted Polk County Supervisor Lori Edwards: “Edwards, a Democrat, expressed frustration over Matthews’ statements. “We came to the conference looking for direction from the state […]

ROAD DIET: Friday the county commissioners learned about the Florida Avenue road diet that is still on the table. In Dixieland during the 2019 test, low concrete curbing and planters will be installed to give an approximation of the conditions for pedestrians in the event the diet is made permanent. UWCF FINALISTS:The United Way of […]