PORT ST. LUCIE — A woman died and a man was taken to a local provisional trauma center following a Friday morning motorcycle crash in the St. Lucie West area, a St. Lucie County Fire District spokeswoman said. (more…)

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.

The Personhood anti-abortion organization will bring its Personhood FL Spring Break Tour 2010 to the Treasure Coast today.

The organization will be in Port St. Lucie at the intersection of U.S. 1 and Port St. Lucie Boulevard, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. The rally includes “two ‘truth trucks’ with 45 anti-abortion protestors with large signs of born, pre-born, and aborted babies,” the group said in a news release.

One of the organizers is Pastor Bryan Longworth, director of Personhood FL and associate pastor of Covenant Tabernacle in Port St. Lucie, according to the news release.
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PORT ST. LUCIE — The body of a 40-year-old man believed to have left his home in January wearing boxer shorts and a lightweight sweatshirt may have been found Sunday afternoon in a drainage canal, a police spokesman said Monday.

Police suspect that a “badly decomposed” body is that of Nicholas Edward Halliday. The body was found Sunday afternoon in a canal behind the Windy Pines Estates community by two people walking a dog, said Officer Tom Nichols, police spokesman. (more…)

PORT ST. LUCIE — A 20-year-old Port St. Lucie man is accused of punching a pregnant woman in the face early Sunday, according to the Port St. Lucie Police Department arrest affidavit.

Kenchavious L. Jones of the 600 block of Southwest Todd Avenue was arrested before 8 a.m. Sunday and charged with aggravated battery. Deputies were dispatched to a dispute and found the woman, who was eight months pregnant, had locked herself in the bathroom.

Jones was intoxicated, according to the affidavit. The woman said they were in a verbal argument about a purse, and he punched her in the face with a closed fist.

He said they were in a verbal argument when she fell and hit her face with an unknown object, according to the affidavit.

Jones remained in the St. Lucie County jail Sunday with a $50,000 bail.

PORT ST. LUCIE — A known gang member accused in connection with a violent confrontation last month at the Minsky gym faces several charges, according to records released Wednesday.

James Palmer, 20, was identified in a police investigation as one of several people involved in the attack in which he and others approached a pickup truck with five people inside and smashed windows. At least some of the vehicle’s occupants were hit with a pipe and/or a stick.

The attack apparently happened after the pickup truck drove off and got stuck.

At least one of the truck occupants said Palmer, also referred to as “PJ/OG,” jumped in the truck bed and broke the rear glass with a stick. He threw a pipe through the window, hitting this occupant in the back of the head. Palmer then is accused of trying to enter the broken window and pull that person from the vehicle.

Two of the other attackers reportedly smashed the driver’s window with a pipe. These other attackers also tried to pull the driver out of the truck as they hit him with a stick.

One of the truck occupants told investigators he’d gotten in a fight with Palmer last summer.

Allegations also were made that at least one of the assailants pulled a gun during the incident.

The assailants fled when someone yelled “cops.”

Palmer, of the 3200 block of Southwest Ronlea Court, and two others involved in the incident were identified in records as “known gang members within our city.”

Palmer faces charges including two counts of burglary of a conveyance with assault or battery, two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, aggravated battery and criminal mischief.

It wasn’t immediately clear Wednesday whether any of the other alleged attackers have been arrested.

By Will Greenlee, TCPalm.com

PORT ST. LUCIE — The Personhood anti-abortion organization has announced it will bring its Personhood FL Spring Break Tour 2010 to the Treasure Coast.

The tour, coming to Port St. Lucie March 16, includes “two ‘truth trucks’ with large signs of born, preborn, and aborted babies along with 45 pro-lifers with large signs of born, pre-born, and aborted babies,” the group said in a news release.

The protest is planned for the intersection of U.S. Highway 1 and Port St. Lucie Boulevard, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.

The tour started Tuesday in Panama City Beach and is headed to Tallahassee, Gainesville, Ocala, Tampa, Sarasota, Fort Myers, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm, Port St. Lucie, Orlando, Daytona Beach, and Jacksonville.

For detailed times and locations, visit the Personhood FL Facebook Event Page, http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=app_2344061033&ref=search&gid=103394659903.

The group plans to distribute 30,000 constitutional amendment petitions seeking to challenge the constitutionality of Roe vs. Wade, the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortions.

“Our goal is to gather 676,811 petition signatures from registered Floridian voters by February 1, 2012 to enable Florida voters the right to vote in the General Election of 2012 for the Personhood Amendment so that all Floridians are protected from the moment of biological beginning to natural death,’’ the group said in a news release. “Citizens can download, print, and distribute the Florida Personhood Amendment at the Personhood FL Web site. http://personhoodfl.com/resource-kits/.”

One of the organizers is Pastor Bryan Longworth, director of Personhood FL and associate pastor of Covenant Tabernacle in Port St. Lucie, according to the news release.

PORT ST. LUCIE — The acts that led to Melanie Henningsen’s death stemmed from “drug trafficking,” though police don’t know what, if any, involvement she had in the illegal activity, a spokesman said Tuesday.

Emergency officials were called early Sunday morning by Henningsen’s boyfriend, Jose Ortiz, who found Henningsen with a fatal gunshot wound at their home in the 6100 block of Northwest Duke Circle, said Officer Tom Nichols, police spokesman.

Those were among the new details in the case released Tuesday by police as their investigation of the city’s first homicide of the year continues. (more…)

By Laurie K. Blandford

ST. LUCIE COUNTY — Most of the now more than 80 cats taken from a home here to the county’s Humane Society are expected to be healthy and flea-free for adoption by the end of the week.

David Robertson, Operations Manager of The Humane Society of St. Lucie County, checks on one of the 85 cats rescued from a home in Port St. Lucie. (Eric Hastert/TCPalm)

“Remarkably, most of the cats are in very good health,” said David Robertson, the shelter’s operations manager.

Port St. Lucie officials have not released information pending an investigation into the home at 3266 S.W. Ronlea Court where the cats were found Monday afternoon in deplorable conditions. No charges were filed in connection with the cats and home as of Tuesday afternoon.

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By Will Greenlee

PORT ST. LUCIE — The acts that led to Melanie Henningsen’s death stemmed from “drug trafficking,” though police don’t know what, if any, involvement she had in the illegal activity, a spokesman said Tuesday.

Emergency officials were called early Sunday morning by Henningsen’s boyfriend, Jose Ortiz, who found Henningsen with a fatal gunshot wound at their home in the 6100 block of Northwest Duke Circle, said Officer Tom Nichols, police spokesman.

Those were among the new details in the case released Tuesday by police as their investigation of the city’s first homicide of the year continues.

Henningsen, 26, told an officer at the scene and her 25-year-old boyfriend that two men, each with a dark complexion, broke into the house and shot her, Nichols said.

Henningsen was taken to Lawnwood Regional Medical Center & Heart Institute in Fort Pierce, where she died. It is unclear where her two children were at the time.
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