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The first reports of Chinese drywall in Treasure Coast homes surfaced more than a year ago, but federal agencies responsible for determining the health and safety risks associated with tainted products aren’t any closer to resolving the problem plaguing thousands of local and nationwide homeowners. Read the rest of this entry »
The first reports of Chinese drywall in Treasure Coast homes surfaced more than a year ago, but federal agencies responsible for determining the health and safety risks associated with tainted products aren’t any closer to resolving the problem plaguing thousands of local and nationwide homeowners.
A group of federal agencies are cooperating on the imported drywall investigation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the lead agency responsible for nationwide Chinese drywall complaints. The commission will determine whether Chinese drywall sulphur emissions cause the metal corrosions and health issues reported by hundreds of Treasure Coast homeowners.
Read the rest of this entry »
Denise Brown, advocate for victims of domestic violence, was the special guest speaker at SafeSpace’s annual luncheon in Stuart.
Brown will be the guest at another luncheon at Oak Harbor Club in Vero Beach on Friday, March 19.
For information about that event, call (772) 223-2399. SafeSpace offers safety, support and education to victims of domestic violence. For more information, call 1-800-500-1119 or visit http://safespacefl.org/.
Read an earlier post: Denise Brown to visit Stuart, Vero Beach to raise awareness for domestic violence
By Will Greenlee
FORT PIERCE — Serious crimes investigated by Fort Pierce police dropped about 11 percent last year when compared to 2008, continuing an overall trend that began years ago, police stated this week.
The total number of crimes in the categories of homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny/theft and motor vehicle theft investigated by police in 2009 dropped to 3,027 from 3,413 the year before.
Crimes in all categories other than homicide and larceny/theft dropped, with a particularly large decrease coming in the number of robberies, which went from 234 in 2008 to 134 last year.
Other categories with sizable decreases were rapes, which decreased to 47 last year from 69 in 2008, and aggravated assaults, which went from 484 in 2008 to 330 last year.
Homicides, however, doubled from the four in 2008 to eight last year. The number of incidents in the category of larceny/theft also increased, going from 1,628 to 1,653.
According to a release, crime in Fort Pierce peaked in 1985 and generally has been decreasing since then.
STUART — Gov. Charlie Crist will be joined by Florida Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Michael W. Sole and several local and environmental leaders to tour the St. Lucie River and estuary today.
The visit will emphasize Crist’s focus on protecting the health of the Everglades, according to the governor’s press office.
The visit is set for 10:30 a.m. at Sunset Bay Marina and Anchorage, 615 Anchorage Way, Stuart.
A $40,000 gift from a hospital to the family of a brain-damaged Guatemalan patient on Wednesday became a footnote to a case that has sparked national debates on immigration and health care.
Attorneys for Luis Alberto Jimenez’s guardian had since last year been fighting a jury’s decision that Martin Memorial Hospital officials acted fairly when they privately deported him to Guatemala after spending more than $1.5 million treating him for injuries he received in a February 2000 car accident.
In a joint statement with the hospital, the family’s attorneys said they would stop appealing the case and the hospital would give Jimenez $40,000, money hospital officials say they would have spent on attorneys fees had the litigation continued.
PORT ST. LUCIE — St. Lucie County Fire District crews were called Wednesday morning to a crash involving a school bus with children on board and a small car, a fire district spokeswoman said.
No injuries were reported in the crash, officials said.
The bus had 15 children aboard and was headed for Parkway Elementary School, according to Janice Karst, director of communications for St. Lucie schools.
Crews were called at 7:39 a.m. to the incident at Southeast Walters Terrace and Southeast Ocean Lane, Fire District spokeswoman Catherine Chaney said.
No other information was immediately available.
Dogs & Cats Forever, a “no-kill” animal shelter in western St. Lucie County, is inching closer to building a 5,900-square-foot forever home.
Kelly Debus, of Dogs & Cats Forever, checks on a few cats in one of the cat rooms inside the “no-kill” animal shelter in Port St. Lucie. (Eric HAstert/TCPalm)
The new shelter, on 8 acres at the corner of Selvitz and Devine roads, will be more than double the size of the existing shelter on Carlton Road. It will include a swimming pool for dogs, similar to the bone-shaped pool at the Fur Seasons “luxury pet resort” in Stuart; a medical clinic; a memorial garden; and a large inside playroom, said Dogs & Cats Forever’s executive director, Jay Apicella.
“I’m just so excited because this is really a dream,” Apicella said. “This is going to be so much better (than the existing shelter). It’s like a dream to see a place where animals could live without being put to sleep.” Read the rest of this entry »
By Lamaur Stancil
MARTIN COUNTY — A teenaged boy removed from physical education class at South Fork High School was accused of burglarizing a home and bringing a stolen gun to campus Monday, the Martin County Sheriff’s Office said.
Christopher Scales, 17, was charged with armed burglary, grand theft and possession of a firearm on school property.
Christopher Scales
A school resource deputy at South Fork confronted Scales in the gym, the Sheriff’s Office said. The deputy found a backpack that had the stolen weapon from the Indiantown burglary, he said.
Scales was being held at the Juvenile Justice Center in Fort Pierce.
Okeechobee sheriff's deputies found more than 22 pounds of methamphetamines after conducting a traffic stop on Monday.
Rafaela Huerta-Aranda, 47, was arrested after members of the Okeechobee County Narcotics Task Force discovered 22.7 pounds of methamphetamines in her 2002 GMC Yukon. According to an Okeechobeee sheriff’s release, Huerta-Aranda’s vehicle was pulled over after she failed to stop at a stop sign at the intersection of Northeast 5th Street and Highway 441 North.
Rafaela Huerta-Aranda
The drugs were wrapped in plastic, grease, and carbon paper in an attempt to hide the odor, the release stated. The estimated street value is $408,600. Huerta-Aranda’s bond was set at $2 million.
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