Rob Gangi greets friends in Stuart. (Photo by GUY KITCHENS)

STUART — Eight months ago, Rob Gangi’s doctors said there was a nine out of 10 chance he would not survive, and the one remaining scenario would have him speechless and unable to walk.

Despite still recovering from a Dec. 26 North Carolina skateboard accident that left him in a three-week coma, the 43-year-old Palm City real estate agent was smiling broadly Tuesday evening as he walked through the door of Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza in Stuart to rejoin friends at Southeast Florida Honor Flight’s regular monthly meeting. (more…)

By Susan Burgess

PORT ST. LUCIE — Budget cuts have left Port St. Lucie without its annual Elks Lodge Fourth of July parade this year. The parade’s veteran coordinator said he is saddened but optimistic that the parade will return next year with the help of private donors.

The patriotic parade featuring marchers and floats was organized and produced for about 20 years by Elks Lodge #2658 in Port St. Lucie on Midport Road, now called Veteran’s Memorial Highway. (more…)

There’s some good news if you’re looking for work. A big job fair is being held Thursday in Martin County.

Workforce Solutions and the Business Development Board of Martin County are holding the event from 1 p.m. until 4 p.m. at the Indian River State College Chastain campus at 2400 Southeast Salerno Road in Stuart.

Twenty employers are expected to attend including Old Cell Phone County of Palm City which is looking to fill more than two hundred positions.

Every rite of passage seems to come with a souvenir.

Wedding revelers get picture frames. Baby shower guests go home with candles or chocolates.

The bric-a-brac is usually harmless - and often useless.

But the favors handed out at South Fork High School’s prom last weekend were neither. (more…)

STUART - An organization is encouraging beauty salons, barber shops and pet groomers to collect hair so it can be used to help soak up the Gulf of Mexico oil leak.

Heather Lundstrom, who runs Salon 206 in Stuart, found out about the effort by San Francisco-based Matter of Trust.

“I can’t go over there and actually volunteer,” Lundstrum said. “I have a family here and a business, so I can at least donate the hair and it helps out a little bit.”

She says every hair clipping swept off her salon floor will be sent to the nonprofit group.

Matter of Trust says the hair will be stuffed into old nylons, which are then wrapped with mesh to make oil-absorbent booms.

More than 400,000 pounds of hair are already on the way to Gulf Coast, the organization says.

VERO BEACH — Golf may return to the former Dodgertown Golf Course if the city is able to come to an agreement with one of two parties interested in reviving the nine-hole facility.

At the same time, Minor League Baseball officials are talking to city officials about possibly using part of the city-owned land to expand their operations at the former Dodgertown spring training facility.

According to City Manager Jim Gabbard, discussions are underway to see if both Minor League Baseball plans and a golf course can be accommodated. (more…)

Huizena (Courtesy Business Week)

Click here to find out!

Wayne Huizenga, the billionaire former owner of the Miami Dolphins, quietly sold The Floridian Golf & Yacht Club, his prized private Palm City playground.

The price, according to the deed filed this week, was $25.6 million.

The clubhouse, from the St. Lucie River

Huizenga originally bought the property, which straddles the Martin-St. Lucie counties line, in 1996 for $750,000, according to St. Lucie County records.

He built a world-class clubhouse, guest cottages, deep water docks on the St. Lucie River and a 300-acre golf course designed by legendary designer Gary Player. Huizenga didn’t respond to a request for an interview, but he claimed in a Business Week interview in 2003 that he sunk $75 million into the place.

For the buyer, and more, click here.