Here’s the good news: Multi-billionaire Bill Gates may be shopping for waterfront properties in Martin and Palm Beach counties.

Here’s the bad: His peeps are low-balling the pants off sellers.

For more, click here.

Kevin Alicea

Damon Long

A tipster told Martin County Sheriff’s detectives that Kevin L. Alicea, of Lake Worth, and Damon J. Long, of North Palm Beach, had planned a drug deal for Thursday night.

When investigators arrived near the Kanner Highway Chevron gas station by Interstate-95 and found both men.

Alicea, 30, had 16 grams of cocaine and 58 pills of ecstasy in his pocket, according to a sheriff’s report.

Thirty-two-year-old Long — whose arrest paperwork lists him as an employee of Palm Beach Pain Management – had 3.9 ounces of cocaine, the report states.

A new shuttle service is offering low rates to and from Orlando.

Smart Shuttle Line Inc., a Melbourne-based company, started its services on the Treasure Coast area to add independent transportation to the airports and area attractions at an affordable rate.

The shuttle line, which opened about three months ago, will start offering routes to and from Orlando starting in July.

Smart Shuttle Line realized there was a transportation need to the Orlando Airport after a high demand of calls came in. (more…)

Eight suspected members of a Treasure Coast and Brevard County drug distribution ring were indicted this week on federal charges after an eight-month multi-agency investigation.

Quentin Dixon, Todd Jackson, Jr., David Duvall, Lorenza David Harriell, Michael Lemonious, Frank Pierre, Jeane Claudy Polanco, and Parson Exana were charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine hydrochloride and crack cocaine, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice. Pierre and Polanco were also charged with conspiracy to import cocaine. (more…)

A suspect in the credit card scheme.

The schemes have been reported in Wal-Marts in Stuart and Jupiter.

On each occasion, suspects are using the credit card account information on a counterfeit credit card to purchasing gift cards, police said. The suspects are driving a silver newer model Toyota mini-van, police said. They are believed to be out of the Dade or Broward County area.

Another suspect in the scheme. Photos provided by Stuart police.

A statewide cyber sting revealed Tuesday netted dozens of arrests of men who trolled the Internet for child pornography.

The 77 arrests round out a 10-week statewide effort involving 23 local, state and federal law enforcement agencies targeting some of the worst cybercrime offenders.

Included in the list of those facing charges are: Boynton Beach residents Timothy J. Elliott, 21, and Eric C. Super, 31; Martin County resident Timothy D. Orman, 46; and St. Lucie County resident Graham D. Widmann, 26.

All four were arrested on charges of child pornography possession, according to the Florida Attorney General’s Office.

STUART — It just doesn’t make sense to Bill Wallace.

Why would Chrysler close a profitable dealership in a growing area?

Why would the beleaguered automaker allow a franchise in out-of-the-way Okeechobee to remain open, while closing several on the more populated Treasure Coast?

He’s selling cars. He bought more of them than he needed from Chrysler this year, at the urging of the company’s top brass, he says.

But his Wallace Chrysler Jeep in Fort Pierce is still slated to shut down after June 9, along with 788 other dealerships that Chrysler decided to close as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition.

“We weathered this tsunami, and in America, you should be rewarded for that, not punished,” said Wallace, a third-generation dealer whose grandfather opened a Chevrolet dealership in West Palm Beach in the 1930s.

Wallace is among more than 300 dealers across the country who have joined forces to fight Chrysler’s decision. The group, called the Committee of Chrysler Affected Dealers, wants more time. More time to prove it would be a mistake to ax them.

But if Chrysler gets its way in bankruptcy court - as many industry watchers believe it will - five Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge dealers between Indiantown Road in Jupiter and Vero Beach will be among those that close next month. (more…)

PORT ST. LUCIE — Thousands of jobs will come to the Treasure Coast if Port St. Lucie gets the chance to live up to its first name.

The Port of Palm Beach in Riveria Beach is looking for a site in South Florida to build an inland port, or an Intermodal Logistics Center, that uses roadways and railways rather than congested waterways to increase transport efficiency.

Studies commissioned by the Florida Department of Transportation found that an inland port would bring at least 25,000 jobs to a community.
(more…)

INDIANTOWN — Another 3,500 job applications were taken Saturday at Timer Powers Park in Indiantown on the last day of a two-day job fair to recruit workers for the Florida Power & Light Co. Solar Power facility in western Martin County.

In all, 8,000 applied for some 1,100 jobs the project is expected to bring to the area before construction closes at the end of next year.

“That’s a fair but maybe conservative number,” said John Dinger of Workforce Solutions, which collected the applications and will immediately begin pre-screening them.
(more…)

A second Beagle, suffering from Parvo, was found staggering in traffic in Lake Park, very close to the location where a mother Beagle and her puppies were found April 17.

Kay-Lynette Roca, executive director of Safe Harbor Animal Sanctuary & Hospital, said Tuesday that the male Beagle brought to Safe Harbor and the female Beagle that was found last week have matching collars and seem to know each other.

“Parker, the male Beagle dog that was found in traffic in Lake Park, looks very similar to the Beagle mom who is now fighting for her life. I’m afraid there may be a backyard breeder in the Lake Park area who is neglecting these dogs and tossing them out.”
(more…)