Jury selection is scheduled to begin today for the trial of a suspect accused of killing a former city commissioner and her husband nearly four years ago. Lakeland Police arrested Marcelle Waldon, 36, in 2020 after Edith L. Henderson, 67, and her husband David Henderson, 63, were found stabbed to death in the master bedroom of their Lake Morton home in what appeared to be a random attack. Police described the scene of a kitchen made up for breakfast. According to Taylor, food David had picked up was still in styrofoam containers and inside a plastic bag on a table in the kitchen. He said plate ..read more

Lakeland is the best city for female workers, according to a new report by Checkr, a background-checking service for businesses. The company crunched the numbers using data sourced from the US Census Bureau from 2019 to 2023 to try to determine the best US cities for women currently working and those hoping to return to work. Checkr based their results on key metrics, including the growth of women in the workforce, womens median income, and the gender wage gap. Lakeland placed just outside the top 15 for the number of women in management positions as well. The business looked at 100 of the cou ..read more

Job News USA is hosting a job fair in Polk County on Thursday, August 12 to help people looking for a job or wanting to change careers.Recruiters from nine Tampa Bay area companies and agencies will be in Lakeland to meet and interview prospective applicants as they look to fill hundreds of openings.The job fair is being held from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the RP Funding Center at 701 W. Lime St. in Lakeland.Both admission and parking at the job fair will be free.Attendees are encouraged to dress professionally and bring resumes or work history with them.Companies participating in the job fai ..read more

Publix announced Friday, May 14, that fully vaccinated people will no longer be required to wear masks in stores.According to their website, Publix will not require fully vaccinated workers or customers to wear face coverings, unless required by a state or local order or ordinance, beginning May 15.Governor DeSantis recently signed an executive order banning local COVID restrictions in Florida. People who are not fully vaccinated are required to use face coverings over their noses and mouths while inside any Publix store. How the grocery franchise plans to enforce the change or check for vacci ..read more

Governor Ron DeSantis on Friday announced nearly $150 million in award to local communities for more resilient infrastructure, including $42.9 million to the City of Lakeland. The money in Lakeland is to "establish a multi-component project in partnership with Bonnet Springs Park, which focuses on increasing flood storage capacity to the drainage basin by improving the stormwater infrastructure and watershed quality," according to a press release. The awards are part of the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity’s (DEO) Rebuild Florida Mitigation General Infrastructure Program. It allows g ..read more

“The history of this airport started way back during World War II,” said Gene Conrad, Airport Director of Lakeland Linder International Airport.That’s when Lakeland Linder International Airport was built.“To accommodate all the training activity that was required during that time,” said Conrad.It has seen lots of changes in the years since then, especially this past decade.“We just have a unique mix, a diverse mix of businesses here in the airport and we want to protect that. It’s important to what we’re doing,” said Conrad.This airport doesn’t offer commercial services currently but has had a ..read more

Have you ever had the feeling you're in the presence of greatness? Someone who hasn't realized their potential yet, but you can feel they're on the verge of leaving their mark on history?ABC Action News Anchor Deiah Riley says she had that feeling when she met 18-year-old Sylvia Nicholas Patterson. Patterson's a senior at Lakeland's Harrison School for the Arts and just won a rare, prestigious award. "Out of the nearly 230,000 students who submitted for the Scholastic art and writing awards, I was one of the 16 who was chosen for the gold medal portfolio. And out of the 16, I was one of the ei ..read more

The Lakeland High School football team (9-0) begins an important week of practice leading up to Friday’s first-round Class 4A playoff game against Lake Gibson.“We beat them the first time,” wide receiver Daidren Zipperer, a University of Utah commit, said. “They’ll play us differently. It’s a playoff game. Nobody wants to go home in the first round. Just because we have more talent than them on paper, they’re going to come and play, so we have to come and play.”The seven-time state champion Lakeland Dreadnaughts have more than a dozen players rated three stars or higher, including a pair of fi ..read more

At ABC Action News, we know it's the combination of all the communities that make Tampa Bay great to live in. That's why we've started a new series of reporting highlighting good things happening around town, discovering cool gems you may not know about, and uncovering the big news events impacting those areas.On Friday, the Good Morning Tampa Bay team focused on Sun 'n Fun, the annual aerospace expo in Lakeland. Complete Coverage: GBTB Local SpotlightFast Facts Started in 1974, Sun 'n Fun is now Florida largest annual convention of any kindsMore than 200,000 people attend each yearSun 'n Fun ..read more

Victoria J. Saunders absolutely loves "chonky," "floofy," and "grompy" cats.In fact, the Plant City author and digital artist adores colorful plus-sized kitties so much, she wrote and illustrated a best-selling hardcover picture book about them.Recently a #1 cat book on Amazon, "The Chonky Alphabet" is her love letter(s) to fleshy felines, especially her own cat Mishka, who is a certified "unit."Don't know what a "unit" is? Just open up this quirky alphabet book. "U is for Unit," said Saunders, who goes by her married name, Vicky Smude, on Instagram. "To use that in a sentence: 'That cat is an ..read more