By JASON SCHULTZ

The body of a missing Hutchinson Island resident was found floating in the Intracoastal Waterway near her home, according to the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office.

Delores Whiteman Brink, 85, had been reported missing earlier in the day by family members. A neighbor in the Holiday Out community in the 10000 block of South Ocean Drive where Brink lived found her body floating in the Intracoastal Waterway around 5:30 p.m., according to a sheriff’s report.

Detectives are investigating tonight but there is no evidence of foul play in her death, according to the report.

FORT PIERCE — Faced with unprecedented cuts to public schools, St. Lucie County teachers, school board members and community leaders are gathering Saturday to pressure legislators to “put kids first and cut education last.”

More than 1,000 people are expected to attend a rally and march at the school board offices on Okeechobee Road. They plan to gather at 9:30 a.m. and march at 10.

With state budget cuts, St. Lucie County schools lost about $23 million for the 2008-09 school year and are estimated to lose another $30 million in the 2009-10 school year, said Superintendent Michael Lannon.

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Robin Crosley

Maurice Anderson-Phillips

The vehicles were all parked outside the Grand Island Athletic Club on the corner of U.S. 1 and Indian Street.

A witness told investigators that he heard breaking glass as he walked into the parking lot. When he looked around, he saw a gold Lincoln leaving the lot.

Deputy Doug Cruz later found the car driving on U.S. 1 in Hobe Sound. (more…)

PORT ST. LUCIE — Police are investigating to see whether a burglary and an attempted break-in at two check-cashing stores discovered this morning are linked.

Sometime overnight, someone broke into the Advance America Cash Advance at 10169 S. U.S. 1 and made off with cash and the store’s surveillance video, police spokesman Officer Thomas Nichols said.

The suspect or suspects pried open a back door, cut a hole in a floor safe and took an unknown amount of cash, Nichols said. An employee discovered the theft this morning. (more…)

STUART — For the kids at the East 10th Street Recreation Center, shooting hoops or playing football for the Stuart Hornets is all a part of growing up.

Taking a few swings with the bat or playing soft toss on the diamond is not, a reflection of baseball’s diminished grasp in some areas of the country especially those populated by black youth. (more…)

The economy is so bad, St. Lucie County officials are thinking about declaring a state of emergency.

St. Lucie County commissioners explored creative methods to lower unemployment and stave the foreclosure mess, including the possibility of declaring a state of emergency to help local companies and laborers find work. (more…)

Wendy Portillo

Portillo got the suspension after a lengthy St. Lucie County Schools investigation into the incident. Alex was 5 years old last May when he was voted out by classmates. He was in the process of being diagnosed with a type of autism. (more…)

WEST PALM BEACH — One week, Down South Customs owner Charles Seager was starting on a candy green custom paint job for a van belonging to one of his best customers, a guy he knew as “D.V.”

The next week, he was calling the Crimestoppers hotline, saying he believed he was working on the vehicle that had become the center of an investigation into the slayings of a family of four along Florida’s Turnpike.

A husband, wife and two children from Greenacres were found shot to death off turnpike in northern Port St. Lucie. (more…)

FORT PIERCE — Facing unprecedented cuts to public education, St. Lucie County educators and community members are gathering Saturday to draw attention to the potential losses that could result if the district is forced to cut another $30 million from its budget.

About 1,000 people are expected to attend a rally and march at the school board offices on Okeechobee Road.

School officials have not officially announced any plans for how $30 million would be shaved from the budget, but everything is being considered, said Vicki Rodriguez, vice-president of the teachers union.

“We’ve tried to make the point over and over that it’s not just one thing that’s cut, it’s multiple things,” she said.

By EVE SAMPLES
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
PORT ST. LUCIE — One of the world’s leading HIV-vaccine development teams is moving from Montreal to Port St. Lucie.

Rafick-Pierre Sékaly of the University of Montreal and his group of more than 30 scientists will relocate to the city in the next few months to work at VGTI Florida, the East Coast branch of Oregon Health & Science University’s Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute, the institute announced today.

VGTI accepted $60 million in state incentives last year to open a campus in Port St. Lucie.
Construction of VGTI’s 105,000-square-foot facility is expected to start in the coming months. Meanwhile, Sékaly and his team will work from the third floor of the Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies, which just moved into its new building at the Tradition development. (more…)