Dylan Sanders pitched 5 1/3 solid innings and the offense produced just enough runs as the Sebring All-Stars eased past Crystal River by a score of 5-4 in the Dixie Pre-Majors (ages 15-16) state baseball tournament Monday at the Chain of Lakes Park in Winter Haven. ...more

July 15, 2009

About 30 residents of a Winter Haven nursing home have been evacuated because of a fire, according to Polk County public safety officials. ...more

July 10, 2009

Winter Haven police charged a 16-year-old boy in a shooting that left a 40-year-old Plant City man seriously wounded. ...more

July 1, 2009

A woman who leased animals out as guard dogs was charged with 24 counts of animal cruelty Tuesday, Polk County deputies say. ...more

June 24, 2009

The Polk County Sheriff's Office is investigating the death of a man whose body was found in Saddle Creek Lake today, along with a single-person canoe. ...more

May 23, 2009

A community stroke education event has been rescheduled for Tuesday on WFLA, News Channel 8. ...more

May 23, 2009

The fire destroyed one home and damaged three others. ...more

May 7, 2009

A woman shot while she and an accomplice tried to steal a sport utility vehicle in Wahneta Tuesday has died from her injuries, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said. ...more

April 28, 2009

A 9-year-old boy accidentally drowned in Lake Cannon in Polk County, deputies said today. Sony Georges was reported missing late Sunday. Deputies found his body this morning in the lake. ...more

April 27, 2009

I am an angry, loyal Publix shopper and have shopped there for over 40 years. I learned about the closing of the Avon Park store in the newspaper, and a Publix spokesperson confirmed this. Part of her rationale for closing the store is that "it doesn't make sense to have two stores only four and a half miles apart." Sebring now has two stores about five miles apart, Lake Wales has two stores about five miles apart and Winter Haven has two stores about five miles apart. Avon Park shoppers who are accustomed to running by their neighborhood Publix to pick up a gallon of milk or a box of fried chicken, on their way home from work, will now have to buy their goods at Winn-Dixie or Wal-Mart, neither of whom carries products of the same quality as Publix's goods; or they can drive all the way to Sebring. ...more

April 18, 2009