Lakeland

Commissioners asked the city attorney to draft a 12-month pause on large-scale facilities, with votes expected in July.

The tree is estimated to be about about 200 years old.

At least two commissioners want time to develop rules for a fast-growing industry that is not addressed in Lakeland’s land use code.

The “Project Swan” proposal remains active. The applicant only withdrew from the scheduled June 3 Development Review Team meeting, not from the development review process.

In November, a constitutional amendment will appear on ballots statewide that would reduce — and potentially eliminate — property taxes on homesteaded properties.

The proposal is for a 600,000-square-foot data center.

More than 50 residents attended Monday’s City Commission meeting, despite a city effort to explain that the project remains in the earliest stages of review.

The 600,000-square-foot “Project Swan” concept raises questions about power, water, zoning, and whether the city code even allows data centers.

LPD officers, sergeants, and lieutenants will get raises Oct. 1 after a wage study found they were earning thousands less than peers at comparable agencies.

The fish kill appears to have been a relatively small, natural event caused by several stresses hitting an especially sensitive species at once.

Florida's toxic algae bloom season starts in about a month, but the state has already issued multiple health alerts this year.

Thomas Hicks, who first played Santa in the Lakeland Christmas Parade in 2017, was arrested in an undercover operation to identify individuals using the internet for the sexual exploitation of children.