The Monster Mash will be Friday, October 23 at the Walden Lake Golf & Country Club from 8pm to Midnight. Dress in your favorite costume and enjoy contests, prizes, a 50/50 drawing, food and witches brew, music and heaps of monstrous fun. Tickets are $65 a person or $125 a couple. For more information, Greater Plant City Chamber of Commerce at 813-754-3707. If you still want to dress up your kids for something to do, why not try out Dinosaur World with Free Admission on Saturday, October 31. Children ages 3 to 12 in costume will be admitted free to Dinosaur World on Halloween to enjoy the displays and exhibits. Admission for adults is $12.75; for seniors 60 and over it’s $10.75. Hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information, call 813-717-9865. Know of other events happening October 23-31 you want to share with us? Leave a comment!
Tampa Tribune – Reducing Abuse Of State Pensions:Â “Few lawmakers have the stomach for it, but additional reforms do need to be made. Some workers have gamed the system by working huge amounts of overtime in their final few years to qualify for a much larger lifetime pension. That abuse should stop. Lawmakers should look [...]
Housing prices continue to fall throughout the Polk County region, and Winter Haven’s January stats show this to be the case for our town as well. Average sold prices have decreased to $114,306 ($68.30 per sq.ft.) a decline of 10% from the previous month and a sharp drop of 30% for the month of January [...]
It's now been three months since the state initiative that Rev. Jay Dennis, R-First Baptist Church at the Mall, helped publicly launch stripped gay people of rights they didn't have. He has yet to publicly call for laws to restrict heterosexual divorce, which leads me to conclude that he cares much more about stigmatizing gays than protecting marriage. However, one must acknowledge there has been a development. Dennis is listed as one of the many endorsers of the new Yes2Marriage public relations campaign launched last week.
I feel like I'm standing in front of the Soup Nazi in Seinfeld, I've been told No ICE for me. I'll try not to mention the name, don't want to give them too much publicity but I'm sure you can figure it out... This all started with a phone call at the start of December, then e-mails for media access to the "nearly two million pounds of ice" and I just got the answer today. From the PR director – "regretfully will have to decline media tickets." This is a news media website not just a blog. We cover news and events of all types in Orlando, Tampa and between. I like to think we can provide stories from a different perspective and give you more than other local media and news outlets. But for this story, that would have had pictures and video, we cannot. And I was looking forward to covering this event in "a frigid 9 degrees Fahrenheit."
Yes, at just a few months old, Metro I4 News is going to get a face lift. Maybe a nose job. With all the new contributors at Lakeland Local I let my focus drift. MI4 has been carrying everything from select bloggers. As a central repository it let you have one feed instead of five. But I stopped making it easy to scan. That's going to change. I need to trim, prune, and focus. First, I'm going to stop reprinting everything from Lakeland Local. Yes, my own site. Starting tomorrow, I'll just publish select Lakeland Local columns that are more regional in nature. Then a few days of looking at better arranging the front page. After BlogOrlando, I'm going to add an every other day column on the best of Central Florida blogs, columnists, twits, and facebookers. Basically, where ever I find something interesting online. Then we start weight training.
People are losing their homes and property taxes are still rising according to reports in this morning’s news. Homeowners Find Big Problem in ‘Solutions’ and Neighbors Kick Family Out Of Home both address pitfalls faced by home owners looking to stay afloat. On the tax front, counties are forced to raise property taxes the state [...]
The teaching of the theory of evolution was made a requirement just last month. But now, Ronda Storms has introduced a bill that will allow teachers to contradict the theory of evolution. If the bill passes, educators will be able to teach anything they want, including pastafarianism: Florida Sen. Ronda Storms, a Republican from [...]
In the midst of "deadlines and commitments," I neglected to mention Lakeland Local topped 500 posts. Surprisingly, the majority weren't maps. I've been working behind the scenes on some revisions and additions, but I'm just going to tease you today. Look for more news tomorrow. Meanwhile, some CSX news of interest:
The "Move Over" law in Florida states you must leave an empty lane between you and emergency vehicles or, if you can't, slow down at least 20 MPH below the speed limit. To help remind you of the law, the Lakeland Police Department will be out in force from 7:30 am to 3:00 pm today to help educate drivers in the following areas: • The Polk County Parkway. • Harden Blvd between Beacon Road and Lakeside Village Shopping Center. • South Road 98 (Bartow Highway) between Edgewood Drive and South Crystal Lake Drive. According to LPD, "Violators of this law will be stopped and given literature and anything from a verbal warning to a uniform traffic citation."
Writer Larry Thornberry was a reporter for the Ledger when he met William F. Buckley in 1976. Evidently the meeting made some impact... The interview took place in the living room of the upscale home of the Ledger's publisher, who, with his wife, was big in such limousine liberal circles as existed in Polk County, Florida, in those days. Contrary to the stereotype of the day -- conservative meanie vs. caring n' compassionate liberal nice guys -- Buckley the conservative was the very soul of graciousness, treating a reporter he had just met with all respect and civility, while the publisher treated me like hired help. Which I was, but that's no excuse. The wife and the uniformed maid ignored my existence. -- Buckley in the Provinces I'm willing to bet there are a couple of more sides to that story. I have no idea who was the publisher for the Ledger in 1976. Thornberry obviously doesn't name him. I plan to stop the library and read that article though. I wonder if Thornberry was able to keep his politics out of the story? Whether he did or not, it is a good reminder that not all reporters are liberal, not all media publishers are conservative, and it doesn't hurt to remind the public of our biases.
Tuesday House Representative Seth McKeel introduced HB 1143. Simply entitled University of South Florida Lakeland, HB1143 states: An act relating to the University of South Florida Lakeland; creating s. 1004.345, F.S.; establishing and designating the University of South Florida Lakeland campus; providing legislative intent; requiring the Board of Trustees to appoint a Campus Board; providing membership, powers, and duties of the Campus Board; providing that the university is administered by a Campus Executive Officer; requiring the President of the University of South Florida to consult with the Campus Board before hiring or terminating the Campus Executive Officer; providing duties and powers of the Campus Executive Officer; providing that students enrolled at a branch campus of the university have the same rights as other students; requiring the University of South Florida to provide for a system of student registration that meets certain conditions; providing an effective date. That pretty much sums up the bill. You can read a PDF of the full bill here.
The Detroit Tigers officially open spring training today with a game against the New York Mets. The weather won't e as warm as yesterday, but hopefully we'll have no rain. The Mets are bringing their A team to the game today. Unfortunately, I mean their Single-A team. MLB requires spring training teams take at least five players from the major league roster to every away game. That's exactly what the Mets are doing today: Ryan Church,Ramon Castro, Pedro Feliciano, Jorge Sosa and Mike Pelfrey are the MLB players scheduled to appear in Lakeland. When you go to the park be prepared for a couple of changes: parking went up to $7 and don't try to turn left onto Lakeland Hills Blvd. from Al Kaline. That's a right turn only now. You can solve both problems by getting to the game early and parking at the church at the corner of Grenada and Lakeland Hills. Parking there was just a $3 donation last year. • For those who read Lakeland Local on email or through a feed...remember there all all kinds of spring training maps and links on our home page special Spring Training column.
Yes, it's true. Starbucks will close today from 5 pm to 8:30 pm. Evidently it's time for a little retraining. In an effort to help those who need coffee to navigate I-4 at rush hour, Dunkin' Donuts will offer 99-cent small lattes, cappuccinos and espresso drinks today from 1 pm until 9:30. I'm not including a map of all Starbucks and Dunkin' Donut shops. The afternoon drive is too wired as it is. This information has been presented as public service announcement. With caffeine.
Far be it for me to criticize a Ledger article, but what were they thinking with the piece headlined Proposed Rail Facility Is 'In the Middle of Nowhere? You might have missed it since it ran in the East Polk news section of the paper. Let's take a look, shall we?
Bio: Darby Critendon is a young professional in the community and recently graduated with a Masters of Business Admin from Southeastern University. Her college radio DJ name was "DarbySea". She enjoys photographing nature and always hopes to catch that one perfect shot. She has a passion for videography and the local arts. Critendon started her blogging career with the popular site DarbySea.