Is it just me, or has this FCAT season seemed far more muted than in past years? School scores came out this week. The Ledger did its annual story and score listing and used the same old “mixed bag” quote it’s used for the entirety of the FCAT’s existence. (I say that in solidarity, not [...]

So Chuck hit the road a few days ago, as documented in the photo above. With Juliette in tow, he’s en route to Wisconsin via New Orleans and Houston. Don’t ask. It’s Chuck. While in the Big Easy, they stopped to Facebook a picture of the suburban Chili’s where the wife and I met. So [...]

Editor’s Note: Long-time Ledger journalist Cary McMullen most recently wrote a column for Florida Voices. In a special column for Lakeland Local, McMullen gives a thumbs-up to the handling of the Kiera Wilmot case. Or is it a thumbs-down? One of the clichés of Hollywood films about the Roman Empire is that the fate of [...]

This is not a news article. This is commentary. There’s a “church” in this country that wants to spread a message of hate. Tonight this group of people made an announcement that they planned to disrupt the Lakeland High School Graduation on June 1st. Since they don’t want to take the trouble to send a [...]

Reversing the pointless, idiotic ruin of a young girl is rightly the top priority of most people following the Kiera Wilmot case. But put that aside just a second. Of all the grotesque aspects of this case — and they are difficult to fully count — one sticks most in my craw Explaining the expulsion, Polk [...]

…well, I’ll get to that in a minute I think I have a local perspective on the controversial decision to start charging for online access to the Ledger. I’ve stood on both sides of this digital media divide. Growing up, there was nothing greater than my local paper. The men and women who covered local [...]