Lakeland, Polk County | featured news

Lakeland Regional Health’s cancer program was named to Becker’s Hospital Review’s List of 101 Hospitals and Health Systems with Great Oncology Programs. Four other Florida hospitals and health care systems also made the list of 101: Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute in Tampa, UF Health Shands Hospital in Gainesville, Mayo Clinic Jacksonville and Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami.

At age 23, Kailee Cook had been through what her mother calls her wild years but was ready to grow up, return to college and find a new purpose. Then came the catastrophe — a head-on vehicle crash that left her with a traumatic brain injury. Still hospitalized and recovering from life-threatening injuries nearly five months later, Cook endures persistent neurological effects that have emotionally transported her back to childhood.

Winter Haven Police Department detectives are asking for the public to help identify suspects who used stolen credit cards and checks from recent vehicle burglaries.

Sean McLaughlin, 41, of Lakeland was arressted today and charged in the carjacking which occurred in the Bonefish Grill restaurant parking lot about 4 a.m. Aug. 21, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said.