Mayor Pat Christensen

The mayor of the Treasure Coast’s largest city has refused to step down after tensions exploded this week between her and the local police department over her accusations they arrested her son as part of a vendetta over contract negotiations.
The Palm Beach County Police Benevolent Association, the same union whose battle with West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel sparked an incident that landed Frankel’s son in jail earlier this year, on Thursday called for Port St. Lucie Mayor Patricia Christensen’s resignation on behalf of her city’s police force.

The demand came after PBA and International Union of Police Associations leaders learned of an e-mail Christensen wrote Sunday about a rape investigation involving her 18-year-old son Erik, which ended with his arrest Aug. 20 for allegedly supplying a 15-year-old girl with alcohol.

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Horn

But it’s something that many lovesick people in the Boca Raton area do remember!

Horn, 56, once worked as the vice president of Soulmates by Helena, a dating service whose owner pleaded no contest to two dozen charges of grand theft in 2004. She was ordered to pay back $300,000 in restitution to 41 former clients.

Click here for more.

Gov. Charlie Crist signed a wide-ranging voter bill Friday that will require more public disclosure by shadowy political groups, eases voting for military personnel serving overseas and delays for four years the need for new voting equipment for the disabled.

Elections officials say the bill saved the Treasure Coast having to buy $1.85 million in new equipment in the next year.

“We’re all in budget crises and the half a million dollars that it (was) going to take for my county is surely needed in other areas,” said St. Lucie County Supervisor of Elections Gertrude Walker.

The concern for county elections officials was to delay having to purchase new voting equipment. (more…)

Nordegren and Woods

And Page2Live confirmed through an impeccable source that two West Palm Beach divorce lawyers are set to be involved at one time or another. Woods and Nordegren, who are building their home on Jupiter Island, haven’t filed for the divorce but could do so sometime this year.

Who are the two lawyers? Click here to find out

STUART — Two men being followed by Palm Beach Gardens police Tuesday morning were apprehended in the area of Halpatiokee Regional Park after their Hyundai crashed into a ditch, according to a Martin County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman.

Darris Gresham

Palm Beach Gardens police called Martin sheriff’s investigators about 10:09 a.m. and asked for assistance, saying officers were following a vehicle north on Interstate 95, sheriff’s spokeswoman Rhonda Irons said.

Brandon Davis

Deputies went to the area and put out tire deflation devices on I-95 just south of Kanner Highway. The Hyundai swerved to avoid the devices and crashed into a ditch.

One of the men in the vehicle was taken into custody immediately, Irons said. The other man ran into the park and was captured about 20 minutes later.
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Trying to stop the northward flow of the so-called prescription drug pipeline that starts in South Florida, a growing number of Treasure Coast governments are considering laws that put tighter controls on pain management clinics or forbid them from coming into the community.

Stuart enacted a moratorium on opening new pain clinics last month, and Martin County commissioners on Tuesday ordered staff to craft a similar measure. St. Lucie County officials are working on a moratorium, and Fort Pierce City Commission is expected to vote April 13 to forbid new pain clinics from coming into the city for nine months.

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A transportation watchdog hopes that a slight strengthening of the U.S. dollar in the past week will eventually curb the rising price of gas for homeowners and motorists.

But for now, the price at the pump continues to rise.

In Florida, a gallon of regular was selling on average for $2.80, up 2 cents from a week earlier, according to AAA Auto Club South.
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Liberator Medical Holdings, Inc., of Stuart, added two well-known members to its board of directors.

They are: Joseph Farish, a West Palm Beach lawyer and former judge, and Robert Cuillo, a former West Palm Beach car dealer and restaurateur.

Farish was involved in several high-profile cases, including the 1982 divorce of Roxanne Pulitzer. Cuillo owned Palm Beach Lincoln Mercury in West Palm Beach and currently owns or co-owns two restaurants in Palm Beach County.

Liberator Medical Supply Inc., a subsidiary of Liberator Medical Holdings, sells more than 5,000 products to Medicare-eligible patients with chronic conditions, such as diabetes or high blood pressure.

When “America’s Most Wanted” interviewed Jupiter Police Detective Jason Vansteenburgh Friday morning, the highly rated show was interested in the town of Jupiter and in the manhunt for Paul Merhige, accused of gunning down four members of his family on Thanksgiving night.

“Homicide is very rare in Jupiter,” said Vansteenburgh, who is the city’s police liaison with the U.S. Marshals’ Florida Regional Fugitive Task Force. “Also, we have had a manhunt for Merhige since Thanksgiving night, and are working both internationally and nationally to find him.”

“America’s Most Wanted” is expected to lead its telecast Saturday night at 9 p.m. on Fox with the Thanksgiving Day murders, and plans to air the in-depth story they are now developing on Dec. 26, according to Jupiter police.
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