Republican Josie Tomkow, elected this week (the second time this year) to a Florida House seat representing a largely rural district north and east of Lakeland, says when she finally serves in Tallahassee, she will advocate for agriculture, promote foster care and adoption and support school choice.
In a wide-ranging discussion with podcaster Bump Galletta, real estate investor Gregory Fancelli says he envisions another push for a strong mayor for Lakeland. “I firmly believe that the opportunity to do this again will present itself pretty soon,” said Fancelli, who spearheaded last year’s unsuccessful attempt to change the city charter to allow an elected chief executive for the city of Lakeland. The next attempt will need a broader group backing it, he said. The mayor discussion begins 33 minutes into the podcast.
CBS Sports traces Steve Pearce’s route from a Lakeland-raised son of a Red Sox diehard from Massachusetts through seven MLB teams to Boston’s World Series MVP.
We hardly knew ye …
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.
Copeland fan-boy and fellow musician Chase Wagner interviews Aaron Marsh about the past, present and future of the band. With a new album coming out soon (“Actually, I’m not sure if I like it yet … I know I liked it six months ago.”), Marsh says the band has re-found its passion. He reveals he’s always dreamed about playing “The Late Show” and wants to again tour Southeast Asia, where Copeland has drawn audiences of 5,000.
Republicans have represented Florida’s 15th Congressional district for more than two decades, but a few factors could help Democrat Kristen Carlson in her race against Republican Ross Spano, Florida Politics columnist Joe Henderson writes. Among them: Lakeland’s voter base is becoming less conservative, and the popular-with-conservatives Sheriff Judd criticized Spano during the primary campaign for mailers he said were misleading.
Friends of Samar Aboukhdair, a Lakeland mother of six children ages 5-13, say they aren’t surprised she was trying to save her children when she was overcome by rip currents at Pass-a-Grille beach Saturday. She “was passionate about her family — and kids everywhere,” friend Rahel bat Tzur said. The children survived, but their 36-year-old mother passed away.
ALSO: The death is renewing calls for more warning signs at the beach, ABC Action News reports.
The Lakelandist, the anonymous satirist who’s been entertaining us the last two weeks (Is that all it’s been?) asked LkldNow to share some of her/his findings about Lakelanders. Who was I to object, so here goes: More
