Lakeland | featured news

For 28 years, Annette Hutcherson has been educating nurses at Polk State College, making her name recognizable at hospitals, clinics and anywhere nurses work in Polk County. As an indicator of the success of Polk State’s nursing program, 95.4 percent of the college’s nursing graduates passed their RN exam on the first attempt in December, compared with 71.3 percent statewide and 83.4 percent nationally.

The view traveling along the entrance road to Bok Tower will never be rooftops. An historic grove in the Winter Haven suburbs containing an impressive collection of Chinese fan palms among the native lowland vegetation will remain intact. A large swath of land south of Lake Buffum near Fort Meade that includes much of what area residents maintain is a spring-fed stream called Boggy Creek, which flows to the lake through seepage slopes where increasingly uncommon stands of cutthroat grass grow, will never be bulldozed.

The Polk County Sheriff's Office has issued a renewed warning about an IRS phone scam that has been reported by area residents again.

Police are asking for the public's help identifying a man suspected in theft of more than $300 worth of whey protein from Wal-Mart at 7450 Cypress Gardens Blvd.

The Polk County Sheriff's Office is asking for the public's help identifying three suspects who burglarized vehicles between 4 and 5 a.m. Saturday in the Sunset Vista and Mission Hills communities off of Stokes Road.