Join the crew at the Medulla Resource Center on Thursday, May 14 at 10 a.m. for the free event Neighborhood Storytime.
The event will feature the book, “What If We Had a Pet Shark?” By Deanna Chesley, a playful rhythm on using your imagination and wonders what life would be like to live with many different animals found at the zoo.
Neighborhood Storytime is a free, monthly program designed to bring families and young children ages 6 and younger together through the power of storytelling. Each session features a different book, along with a craft project and an activity.
10 to 11 a.m. Thursday, May 14 Medulla Resource Center 1049 Parker Road, Lakeland
In fact, every 40 seconds someone in the United States has a stroke, with approximately 800,000 people experiencing a stroke annually, according to the American Heart Association, making it a leading cause of death and serious, long-term disability.
A stroke happens when normal blood flow in the brain is interrupted. When parts of the brain don’t get the oxygen-rich blood they need, those cells die.
However, many strokes may be prevented, treated and overcome by understanding the risk factors and taking steps toward managing them.
“When a stroke happens, every minute matters,” said Dr. Adrian Jaquin-Valdivia, a stroke neurologist at HCA Healthcare and American Stroke Association volunteer expert. “The faster someone gets treatment, the better the chance of saving brain function. On average, nearly 2 million brain cells die every minute a stroke goes untreated. Early treatment improves survival rates and reduces disability.”
Take control of your brain health with this information from the American Stroke Association.
Know the Warning Signs
Because strokes do not discriminate, knowing the signs is key. To help you recognize common warning signs and symptoms of stroke and take action in moments that matter, remember this simple acronym: B.E. F.A.S.T.
B: Balance loss – sudden difficulty with walking, dizziness or loss of balance or coordination.
E: Eye (or vision) changes – sudden vision loss or trouble seeing in one or both eyes.
F: Face drooping – one side of the face droops or feels numb; a smile may look uneven.
A: Arm weakness – one arm feels weak or numb or drifts downward when raised.
S: Speech difficulty – a telltale sign of a stroke is slurred speech or trouble speaking.
T: Time to call 911 – If someone is having any of these symptoms, even if the symptoms go away, call emergency services immediately to jumpstart care. Be sure to check the time so you’ll know when the first symptoms started.
Explore the signs by playing the interactive, web-based B.E. F.A.S.T. Experience to see what stroke symptoms may look, feel and sound like.
Take Steps to Protect Your Health
Approximately 80% of strokes are preventable, according to the American Stroke Association. Everyday choices – such as eating well, moving more, not smoking and keeping up with routine health screenings, along with managing risk factors with the support of a health care professional – can help lower stroke risk.
Manage Risk Factors
High blood pressure is the leading risk factor for stroke, according to the 2025 American Heart Association/ACC Guideline for the Management of High Blood Pressure in Adults. Controlling blood pressure through regular checkups, at-home monitoring, following your treatment plan and maintaining a healthy lifestyle can significantly reduce your risk of stroke and support overall brain health.
Additionally, having a stroke or mini stroke, known as a Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA), increases the chances of having a second one. That’s why identifying what caused your stroke and reducing your personal risk factors can help protect your health and reduce the risk of another stroke.
To learn more about stroke risk factors and better understand the warning signs, visit Stroke.org/StrokeMonth, where you can also access stroke support services and subscribe to the Stroke Connection e-newsletter for the latest resources.
Construction continues at the South Lake Howard Nature Park expansion project in Winter Haven, as crews work on new recreational amenities, trail improvements, and stormwater infrastructure designed to enhance both the park experience and the health of Lake Howard.
Construction continues at South Lake Howard Nature Trail.
The project has been underway since 2024, with multiple phases planned through 2026. Recent work visible at the park includes playground installation, expanded boardwalks and trails, new parking and sidewalk improvements, and additional landscaping around the nature area.
The park, located off Lake Howard Drive SW, has long been known as one of Winter Haven’s quieter outdoor destinations, offering a boardwalk through wetlands, wildlife viewing opportunities, walking trails, and access to the Chain of Lakes Trail system. The nature park also serves a larger environmental purpose by helping filter and treat stormwater runoff before it reaches Lake Howard.
Lake, Howard nature Trail in Winter Haven, Florida
According to the City of Winter Haven, the expansion project includes additional stormwater and wetland infrastructure intended to improve water quality while also creating additional wildlife habitat. Recreational additions tied to the project include expanded trail networks, picnic areas, a playground, kayak launch access, fishing areas, boardwalks, shade structures, and future disc golf elements.
The project is being funded through a combination of grants, city funds, stormwater funding, and impact fees associated with new development. City officials previously noted that portions of the funding are tied specifically to stormwater improvements and environmental restoration efforts around the lake system.
South Lake Howard Nature Park has become increasingly popular with walkers, cyclists, birdwatchers, and photographers over the years due to its scenic wetlands and wildlife. Birds commonly seen in the area include herons, egrets, osprey, and other native species. The park also serves as a gateway connection to portions of the Chain of Lakes Trail.
What appears to be a juvenile Limpkin. One of the many birds and wildlife around the trail.
Some portions of the walking trail remain temporarily closed during active construction, according to signage posted at the site. Current city updates indicate work on parking, sidewalks, and playground features is ongoing as the multi-phase expansion moves forward.
BARTOW – Wendy’s Dance Company is choreographing a beautiful new facility in a new location with fresh offerings for the students and families.
Wendy’s Dance Company founder Wendy Attix, who started her dance company about 30 years ago, recently announced the upcoming construction of the Elevate Performance Complex. The multi-purpose facility will be approximately 8,000 square feet and will include three professional dance studios; a fitness gym; a full cheer and tumbling gym; a performance boutique; athlete lockers; a study hall; and creative services including photography and a content studio.
Attix said the Complex is built on a simple idea, “create a space where children can grow, families feel supported, and the community can come together in a meaningful way.
“I want it to be special not just for the kids but for the families,” she said. “This is something that I put together from what I have seen has been needed over the years,” Attix said. She has seen parents walking around the studio for exercise and kids studying with their books on the dance floor and in waiting areas. There were extra clothes, backpacks and other belongings lying around that needed a designated space. So, when designing the complex, she included a fitness gym for the parents, a study hall (with supervised study time), and athlete lockers.
Students, families, and friends participated in a 10-day countdown to the big announcement made by Attix last month. Now, she is teasing the location of the new facility and plans to announce both the location and grand opening date soon. The cheer portion details are still being finalized.
Attix started dancing at a young age and continued through college. She spent her first two years at Florida State University, where she took dance courses. During her summer breaks, she held dance classes in her hometown of Fort Meade. The parents and kids loved her so much that they encouraged her to move closer so she could teach more often. So, she transferred to University of South Florida, where she was on the dance team and grew her dance business.
She started out teaching tap, ballet, jazz, and clogging at a Fort Meade studio. Over the years, the location has changed, and the number of students has grown. She and seven other instructors have added hip hop, contemporary, and tumbling to the list of dance styles originally offered.
“This is all such a blessing to me. I am overjoyed,” Attix said. She said she is humbled and thinks about how she can teach students not just dance, but life lessons as well.
“Are they a better person because they walked through my doors?” she asked. “I don’t look for thank you’s. I like to see how they blossom. I just want to make a difference.”
Until the new complex opens, dance classes will continue at the current location, including summer intensive classes. Several guest instructors will participate, including Jaliyah “Juicy” Kersten, Taylor Savaglio and Kinsey Hughey. Classes will be held July 14–31, with registration beginning June 1. The studio is located at 780 W. Main Street in Bartow. For more information, visit Wendy’s Dance Company.
Polk County Board of County Commissioner Martha Santiago has announced she will not seek re-election for a third term on the commission.
Santiago, who was first elected to the Board of County Commissioners in November 2018 and re-elected in November 2022, said she is ready to begin the next chapter of her life. She is currently serving as the board chairperson.
“I have been blessed to accomplish many of the things I set out to do when I first decided to run for the county commission. I am proud to have served Polk County well and to have remained focused on the key priorities I set during my tenure, including ensuring our citizens’ safety, improving infrastructure, and supporting the county’s economic initiative to create jobs. It is now time to turn it over to someone else who also has a vision for what they hope to accomplish as a county commissioner,” Santiago said.
She shared she is looking forward to traveling more with her husband, Alex, and to spending more time with her adult children and her grandchildren.
Santiago, who began and has spent most of her career as an educator, is the owner of Leadership Consultants, LLC. She began her teaching career in 1978 and later became a school and district administrator for the Polk County Public School system. Santiago then worked at Polk State College where she served as a board trustee, Dean of Academic Affairs and Provost. Santiago earned her doctoral degree from the University of South Florida.
“My purpose in life is to serve others. I would like to thank the residents for trusting in me to serve as their commissioner for the past eight years,” she said. “I love Polk County and will continue working with local organizations and in the community to ensure Polk is the best county in which to live, work, and raise a family. Who knows what the next chapter will bring? I can’t wait to find out.”
On Saturday, May 9th at around 7:52 pm, PCSO deputies were requested to respond to Nagoya Sushi & Hibachi on Champions Drive in Davenport.
The restaurant staff report a disruptive customer who refused to leave.
A PCSO deputy arrived within just a few minutes and was told that the suspect appeared to be heavily intoxicated. He had fallen asleep repeatedly and become belligerent with customers and staff.
While interacting with the suspect, the deputy noticed him to be incoherent with slurred speech. He was lethargic, unbalanced, confused, and erratic.
The deputy asked the man for his identification, because he was being trespassed from the business. The man refused, multiple times.
The suspect was arrested by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office and taken to the Sheriff’s Processing Center.
He was identified as 25-year-old William Hightower from Willow Creek, California, and he was charged with: Trespassing (M1), Resisting without Violence (M1), and Disorderly Intoxication (M2).
On May 11, 1981, Bob Marley, the soul and international face of reggae music, died in a Miami, Florida, hospital. He was 36 years old.
In what would prove to be the next to the last concert of his tragically short life, Bob Marley shared the bill at Madison Square Garden with the hugely popular American funk band The Commodores. With no costumes, no choreography and no set design to speak of, “the reggae star had the majority of his listeners on their feet and in the palm of his hand,” according to New York Timescritic Robert Palmer. “After this show of strength, and Mr. Marley’s intense singing and electric stage presence, the Commodores were a letdown.”
Only days after his triumphant shows in New York City, Bob Marley collapsed while jogging in Central Park and later received a grim diagnosis: a cancerous growth on an old soccer injury on his big toe had metastasized and spread to Marley’s brain, liver and lungs. Less than eight months later, he passed away.
Nesta Robert Marley was born on February 6, 1945, in rural St. Ann Parish, Jamaica, the son of a middle-aged white Jamaican Marine officer and an 18-year-old Black Jamaican girl. At the age of nine, Marley moved to Trench Town, a tough West Kingston ghetto where he would meet and befriend Neville “Bunny” Livingston (later Bunny Wailer) and Peter McIntosh (later Peter Tosh) and drop out of school at age 14 to make music. Jamaica at the time was entering a period of incredible musical creativity. As transistor radios became available on an island then served only by a staid, BBC-style national radio station, the music of America suddenly became accessible via stateside radio stations. From a mix of New Orleans-style rhythm and blues and indigenous, African-influenced musical traditions arose first ska, then rock steady—precursor styles to reggae, which did not take shape as a recognizable style of its own until the late 1960s.
Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer performed together as The Wailers throughout this period, coming into their own as a group just as reggae became the dominant sound in Jamaica. Thanks to the international reach of Island Records, the Wailers came to the world’s attention in the early 1970s via their albums Catch a Fire (1972) and Burnin’ (1973). Eric Clapton spread the group’s name even wider by recording a pop-friendly version of “I Shot The Sheriff” from the latter album. With the departure of Tosh and Wailer in 1974, Marley took center stage in the group, and by the late 70s he had turned out a string of albums—Exodus (1977), featuring “Jamming,” “Waiting In Vain” and “One Love/People Get Ready;” Kaya(1978), featuring “Is This Love” and “Sun Is Shining”; and Uprising (1980), featuring “Could You Be Loved” and “Redemption Song.”
While none of the aforementioned songs was anything approaching a hit in the United States during Bob Marley’s lifetime, they constitute a legacy that has only increased his fame in the years since his death on this day in 1981.
The Culpepper’s Cardiac Foundation placed AED #93 at the Women’s Care Center of Bartow on April 30, thanks to a “pay it forward” donation from Bartow American Legion Post 3.
The AED placement is part of the foundation’s ongoing effort to place lifesaving equipment throughout Polk County and surrounding communities while also raising awareness about sudden cardiac arrest and the importance of quick emergency response.
The Women’s Care Center is a transitional living facility dedicated to serving women and their children who are experiencing homelessness or housing instability. The program provides a safe, supportive environment where residents can begin to rebuild their lives, with a focus on stability, personal growth, and long-term independence. Through services like case management, healthcare access, employment support, and life skills development, the center works to empower each family to transition into permanent, stable housing.
Rusty Music, Executive Director of the Women’s Care Center, has served in the role for the past 15 years. During that time, Music has helped expand programs and deepen the organization’s impact within the community, including the continued development of the Women’s Care Center.
Music expressed appreciation for the foundation’s work, stating, “We are very very thankful for all your work and dedication to the AED program! They truly do save lives. One saved a staff members of mines life a few years ago. They are an invaluable tool.”
Danny Blackford, acting commander of the Sons of the American Legion, said he has been a member of SAL for eight years and is a third-generation member of Post 3.
Blackford shared that Bartow American Legion Post 3 is celebrating a major milestone this year.
“Bartow is celebrating its 109 year anniversary this year. Our goal is to support veterans , their families and the community,” he said.
In addition to supporting veterans and their families, the organization continues to look for ways to give back locally through community partnerships and outreach efforts.
The organization chose the Women’s Care Center of Bartow because of its commitment to helping women and children throughout the community.
Blackford also praised the continued efforts of Melanie Culpepper Beilke and Culpepper’s Cardiac Foundation for their dedication to providing lifesaving equipment and training throughout the area.
“Melanie and her foundation has and continues to have a great organization that we will continue to support because of her dedication people may have their lives saved,” he said.
He added, “CCF is a group whose only mission is to make aware and provide the necessary training and equipment to save lives. She is a wonderful example of dedication to her community.”
The placement of AED #93 represents another life-saving resource now available in the Bartow community and continues the foundation’s mission of making AEDs more accessible in public spaces where they may be needed most.
Students at Jesse Keen Elementary in Polk County got a surprise dose of Disney magic this week as Goofy and the Goof Troop visited campus for a special preview of Walt Disney World’s upcoming “Cool KIDS’ SUMMER” celebration, part of a larger $1.3 million investment Disney is making in education programs across Central Florida.
The event transformed parts of the school into an energetic Disney-themed experience where kindergarten and pre-kindergarten students participated in interactive games and activities inspired by “GoofyCore,” one of the family experiences coming to EPCOT this summer. Students danced, played games and posed for photos alongside Goofy during the celebration.
Jesse Keen Elementary Staff Hanging Out With Walt Disney Worlds Goofy
Jesse Keen Elementary was one of five schools selected across Central Florida to receive the special visit. Disney also stopped at schools in Orange, Osceola, Lake and Seminole counties as part of the initiative recognizing students, teachers and school staff as the school year comes to a close.
Following the student activities, teachers, administrators and staff members were invited to remain after school for a special surprise. Participating educators received complimentary Walt Disney World theme park tickets as a thank-you for their dedication and commitment to students throughout the year.
Disney officials said the broader $1.3 million investment will support education programs throughout Orange, Osceola, Lake, Polk and Seminole counties, benefiting all five public school districts along with nonprofit and arts education organizations serving students across the region.
Free Disney World Tickets For Teachers
“We are grateful to Disney for their ongoing support of education in our community,” Orange County Public Schools Superintendent Maria Vazquez said in a statement. “Opportunities like this encourage our students to dream big and remind our teachers that their impact reaches far beyond the classroom.”
According to Disney, the funding will also help support STEM, literacy and arts education initiatives through organizations including Elevate Orlando, A Gift for Teaching, the Orlando Philharmonic Young People’s Concert and Disney Musicals in Schools through the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.
“Schools are where the very first sparks of imagination are lit,” said Tajiana Ancora-Brown, Director of External Affairs at Walt Disney World. “Supporting Florida students and educators isn’t just important to Disney, it’s essential to who we are.”
Families will soon be able to experience some of the same activities showcased during the school visits when Cool KIDS’ SUMMER officially returns to Walt Disney World Resort from May 26 through Sept. 8.
A former deputy was arrested Friday evening, May 8, 2026, by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office following an investigation that found he had falsely claimed to have worked an extra duty detail.
39-year old Mark Rodriguez was booked-in at the Sheriff’s Processing Center and charged with: Public Servant Falsifying Official Records (F3), Unlawful Use of 2-Way Communication Device (F3), and Petit Theft (M1).
“Honesty is a cornerstone of law enforcement, and Mark Rodriguez showed that he can’t be trusted to be a deputy. His criminal conduct should be an embarrassment to him, and is certainly an embarrassment to the agency. He resigned during the investigation. Had he not resigned, his employment would have been terminated.” – Grady Judd, Sheriff.
Detectives first became aware of a problem on Wednesday, May 6, 2026, when a member of the Home Owners Association for the Westridge neighborhood in Davenport reported a discrepancy regarding Rodriguez’s extra duty work there.
Deputies are able to work extra duty details during their off-duty hours.
Rodriguez agreed to be a law enforcement presence in the community on May 1st from 5:00 am to 8:00 am, and marked himself present in the community for those hours remotely.
In an investigative interview, Rodriguez admitted to detectives that he never went into the neighborhood during those hours.
Rodriguez instead spent that time on duty, working his normal shift, attending morning briefing, and answering calls for service.
Later, Rodriguez accepted a deposit of $135.97 into his bank account as payment for the work he claimed he performed.
Mark Rodriguez was hired as a deputy sheriff trainee on November 27, 2023.
