Polk County

The Wildwood Antique Mall in Lakeland has drawn in customers from all over the state for years, but it's sudden closure Wednesday night caught customers and vendors off guard.

Now that it's legal - again - to grow hemp in Florida, farmers are wasting no time getting plants in the ground.

Thousands of people in Polk County who were impacted by tornadoes that touched down in October now have an opportunity to get some much-needed financial relief as they continue to recover. 

Two Bartow High School students are petitioning Polk County Schools to hire full-time counselors for every school.

The Deen House in Lakeland's Lake Morton Historic District is under contract to be sold to a couple who would like to convert the home into a community preschool, but neighbors have lots of questions about what the means for them.

Keith Brown was exposed to agent orange for years, but after being diagnosed with cancer years later, the VA said it wasn't related to the toxin and denied his benefits. Their correction was too late.

Monday in a rural area of Polk County, two deputies walked along a normally quiet street, looking for a stolen truck.

A more than two-year investigation by The Associated Press has found scores of dams nationwide in even worse condition, and in equally dangerous locations. They loom over homes, businesses, highways or entire communities that could face life-threatening floods if the dams don't hold.

Two top leaders of a popular Polk County youth baseball league were arrested this week, accused of stealing over $50,000 in funds, spending it on everything from cell phone bills to grocery orders.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd detailed the arrests of 31 men in two-month-long investigations -- one involving child porn and the other involving sex offenders on Halloween.

Pastor Matt Gilmore said he was determined to reopen on Thursday, the day of the week he usually hosts the food pantry.

It was a ride they will remember for the rest of their lives.

Polk County deputies are asking the public for help in finding the men responsible for a violent home invasion, they said.

Kimberly Barnes told reporters Tuesday she still can't believe this happened to her son. 

“There are also people who are mentally unstable who take it to an irrational level; threats and spending their time, around the clock, obsessing about me,” Samantha Markle told FOX 13 News.

Officer Chad Landry was charged with DUI Saturday after being pulled over in a police SUV by an Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office deputy. The deputy said that Landry, who was recently assigned to the canine unit, was driving erratically, swerving, and hit a median.

A Lakeland family is suing an amusement park after a 10-year-old boy fell 20 feet from a zipline.

Fancy Osborne's budget is tight these days. Her landlord evicted her, her fiancé, and their 2-year-old daughter and they now live in a motel in Winter Haven, along with the families of 40 other children.

The last dairy in Polk County may close after getting slammed by a tornado that swept through the Lakeland area in October.

Parents encourage their kids to be polite while trick-or-treating on Halloween, but the parents of one Lakeland child can be proud of her considerate nature.