Polk Circuit Judge Keith Spoto has eased bond conditions slightly for two of the eight defendants in the Polk video beating case.

Spoto ruled this week that Zachary Ashley, 17, would be allowed to travel to his job while awaiting trial, and that Cara Murphy, 16, would be allowed to visit her grandmother, said Chip Thullbery, spokesman for the Polk State Attorney’s Office.

All eight defendants are free on bond and on house arrest pending trial in the kidnapping and beating of 16-year-old Victoria Lindsay. The six girls are accused of directly attacking Lindsay, while the two boys are accused of acting as lookouts and not allowing her to leave. All eight have been charged with kidnapping and misdemeanor battery.

The case became a sensation when it was reported that some the girls filmed the attack and planned to post it on the Internet. The Polk sheriff’s office released an excerpt of the videotape of the beating , which was viewed around the world.

All eight defendants are scheduled for a status conference on May 30. No trial dates have been set.

UPDATE: I spoke with city Planning Director Jim Studiale late Friday, and he said he has no idea who these specific people were or what they were doing. He’s not aware of any specific condo project in that area. Studiale said, generally, the city hopes that developers will bundle some of the less attractive property in the area and redevelop it into condos or anything else that upgrades the district. But he emphasized that local government no longer has the power to seize and raze someone’s property to make that happen. Developers and owners would need to agree. That should come as some relief to property owners on that street. Anyway, it’s still curious, and I’ll continue to follow it.

I received a frantic call from a woman this morning saying that about 70 well-dressed people with cameras and computers had descended upon Bluefield Drive, a side street between Lemon Street and the In-Town bypass. It’s about two blocks east of the Lake Mirror, Barnett Park complex in central Lakeland. The picture above is of a house at the entrance of the street.

The group was strolling up and down the street, taking pictures of homes and even peering inside them without asking permission.

By the time I went to check it out, the group was gone. I can’t verify the numbers. But some residents of the quiet street were rattled. Linda Maurer, who owns a home on the street, said at least one of the people told her that condos would be coming soon to the street and that the eight to 10 homes there would be razed. And at least one person identified himself as a member of the city of Lakeland’s planning staff, she said.

The city’s project to redevelop a blighted area behind the downtown police station is well-known by this time. This sounds like it could be something similar. But this area, which is considered part of the city’s “garden district” is not nearly as blighted as the police station neighborhood.

Here’s another home pictured below:

I’ve not been able to reach city officials to discuss this. But it sounds intriguing. Hmmmmm.

For those of you who haven’t noticed, TBO.com has a new main page design. I would encourage you to peruse it. I happen to think it’s a significant improvement over our previous design.

And while you’re at it, we have a database page we call “Data Bay”. Among other cool, searchable data collections, you will find a database of forecosures filed in 2007. Polk has recently been added to it. The data shows 5,922 Polk foreclosures filed in 2007. It is searchable by zip code and street name.

So Atlantic reporter James Fallows sings DayJet’s praises just in time for its first mass layoffs.

Here’s the story. DayJet officials say the job cuts relate to expansion, not maintenance of the company’s current business, which they say is fine. Lakeland is one of five cities that DayJet first began serving last year. Since then, it has expanded its reach across the southeast.

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