Polk County | featured news

Several people left the Dream Center on Tuesday night with a sunflower and a smile. The center, a nonprofit organization that aims to make lifelong impacts on families and neighborhoods in Lakeland, had hundreds of people inside and outside its building who were playing, mingling and growing together as a community. This wasn't your average Tuesday night on West Fifth Street, however. The community was coming together to celebrate National Night Out, an annual campaign that promotes community-policing and neighborhood camaraderie.

Polk County School Board member Hunt Berryman and his opponents for the District 1 seat, Franklin "Ed" Shoemaker and Billy Townsend, answered questions from Lakeland Rotary Club in a forum Tuesday on topics including the half-cent sales tax, role of a School Board member and collaboration with the comm

The Lakeland Police Department retained two national accreditations from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Inc., said Robin Tillett, LPD spokeswoman.

When the Rev. Jim Way first walked through the aging Hotel Bonaire near Lake Wales several months ago, he found disrepair at almost every turn. Now, nearly six months after his Christian ministry purchased the old lodge for nearly $1 million, Way said he hasn't been disappointed.