Rain and win forced the cancellation of Thursday’s air show at the Sun ’n Fun Aerospace Expo, WFLA reported. Expo organizers are making it up to visitors who missed the show by honoring Thursday admissions today; either show your wristband or take your receipt to the box office. The USAF Thunderbirds are honoring Lakeland Police […]
Category: People
Posted inActivism, People
Lakeland Volunteers in Medicine’s Valerie Poole Receives Champion of Service Award
Volunteer Florida recognized Valerie Poole of Lakeland by awarding her the “Champion of Service Award” for her “outstanding efforts in volunteerism and community service” with Lakeland Volunteers in Medicine.
Posted inPeople
Amid Global Scandals, Grace City Church Breaks with Hillsong
A recent series of scandals that rocked Hillsong, a global network of popular megachurches, has led a fast-growing Lakeland congregation to drop its affiliation with the organization.
Posted inPeople
Noted Author Taking Up the Cause of Convicted Murderer from Lakeland
Editor’s note: This article has been updated on September 4, 2025 with a correction below. A Pulitzer Prize-winning author is taking up the cause of Leo Schofield Jr., who has spent the last 34 years of his life in prison for the 1987 stabbing death of his wife, whose body was found in a water-logged […]
Posted inNews Roundup, People
Read It in the Morning Paper: Kelli Stargel, Quentin Darrington
KELLI STARGEL, a Lakeland Republican, was honored with an hour-long, bipartisan sendoff as her 14th and final Florida legislative session ended. She served four years in the House and 10 in the Senate, where she capped her career as appropriations chair. With her time in the Legislature ending in November due to term limits, she […]
Posted inPeople, Public Safety
Behrens, Suttle Named LPD Officers of the Year
A Lakeland police officer who had to make a split-second decision when facing a gunman who had just shot his ex-girlfriend has been named the Lakeland Police Department’s Officer of the Year along with another officer who assisted at the scene.
Posted inPeople
Retired Lakeland Physician Visited Family in Ukraine and Stayed to Volunteer at a Hospital
A retired physician left her Lakeland home to be with her family in Ukraine as tensions with Russia mounted; she helped them leave the country, but she has decided to stay for now and volunteer in a hospital, husband John McColley tells ABC Action News. “She feels it’s her duty to be there while she […]
Posted inPeople, Politics
Appellate Courthouse Slated for Lakeland Will Be Named for the Late Judge Oliver L. Green
Action by Florida lawmakers to create a new appeals court district based in St. Petersburg clears the way to build a $50 million courthouse in Lakeland for the 2nd District Court of Appeals, Florida Politics reports. The Lakeland courthouse will be named after the late Judge Oliver L. Green, under a legislative deal sealed on […]
Posted inPeople
LHS Mourns Father and Son Who Both Became Head Drum Majors
A father and son whose love of music led them both to legacies as Lakeland High School drum majors are being memorialized in Lakeland Saturday and in Tallahassee Monday following their deaths in an auto accident last weekend.
Posted inBusiness, People
Study Ranks Lakeland 7th Best City in the U.S. for Black Professionals
A new report from Apartmentlist.com ranks Lakeland as the 7th best city for Black professionals in the nation, scoring higher than Orlando, Tampa, Cape Coral and Miami. In all, 82 cities were included in the study. The news came as a shock to a few of the Black transplants we spoke with.