Tampa CBS affiliate WTSP follows up on what’s happening with Lakeland resident Jessica Peet, a Beef O’ Brady’s waitress who was selected for the current season of “Survivor.” If you didn’t watch the show tonight and don’t mind spoilers, check their article.
ALSO: Orlando Sentinel coverage
The Lakelandist, a new satirical and snarky website/Twitter feed about Lakeland and Polk County has lots of people asking, “Who IS The Lakelandist?” We tried to find out — and failed miserably. (Actually, we think we know but were too respectful of her/his privacy to actually ask.) But we did land an interview through the anonymity of Twitter direct messaging. Enjoy:
Campus Police Officer Tommie Jackson was first on the scene Monday morning after a car on University Boulevard rolled over and ended up partially submerged in a pond and taking on water. Wading into the murky water, he was able to rescue both the driver and her infant. “This quick response could not have been made possible without the partnership we have with the Lakeland Police Department and the sharing for their communications division,” the university police said on Facebook.
A GoFundMe account set up by Keller Williams Realty Lakeland has raised more than $50,000 for the four young children of their colleague Samantha Keithley, who was killed by her husband in a murder-suicide. In addition, a Texas Keller Williams office raised $24,000, the company’s Chris McLaughlin tells The Tampa Bay Times | GoFundMe campaign
Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Canady, a Lakeland native, was on President Trump’s original list of potential U.S. Supreme Court nominees. If Judge Brett Kavanaugh is knocked out of contention for the open seat on the high court, Trump could very well select the cerebral jurist who once represented Lakeland in the Florida House, The Times notes.
Jennifer Bush used photographs, interviewed family members and searched warehouses to re-create the office the way it looked when Publix Super Markets founder “Mr. George” used it in 1968.
ALSO: Bush discusses Jenkins and the history of Publix in “Before the Shopping Cart,” a free lecture at the Lakeland Public Library Oct. 11 at 6 p.m.
Freeman, a North Fort Myers film and TV producer, had been the Democratic candidate for the District 17 congressional seat, which includes parts of Lakeland south of County Road 540A. “It appears she was having a heart attack,” her husband told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune today. She is survived by two children and two grandchildren.
Shelley Thayer (LinkedIn) faces big challenges as new executive director of Lakeland’s SPCA Florida: stabilizing the organization’s finances and working with other agencies to make Polk a “no-kill” county. That would require bringing the county’s live-release rate for shelter animals from 51 percent to at least 90 percent.
In an interview with The Lakelander, Jae Choe discusses his path: growing up with martial arts at his family’s tae kwon do dojo, studying architecture and applying concepts he learned from architecture to a new karate business.
“Today’s” Dylan Dryer filmed a stand-up at Lakeland Linder Airport today after flying to Hurricane Florence with the NOAA Hurricane Hunters based there. View her report.
ALSO: ABC Action News checks in with the Hurricane Hunters
