For more than a decade, the state and county have coveted a high-speed alternative to U.S. 27. Two public meetings are scheduled to discuss a route.

Polk County’s level of immunization for kindergartners dropped from 96.3% in 2021 to 93.2% in 2023, still above the statewide rate of 90.6%.

A map on the Turnpike Enterprise ... which now stretches from I-4 near the Polk-Hillsborough County line to I-4 just east of Florida Polytechnic University, opened in 1998.