Teens it’s not that Publix stores don’t want your money from alcoholic beverage sales, it’s just that they are prepared to wait for it until you are old enough to legally buy the items.

A review of five years of citations issued for selling to underage persons on the Treasure Coast showed no violations for Publix Super Markets Inc., which has 29 stores on the Treasure Coast and Okeechobee County. (more…)

A six-member jury took only two hours to find Indian River County Administrator Joe Baird not guilty of DUI late Wednesday afternoon.

Baird, noticeably jubilant, sat with his attorney Bobby Guttridge as the court clerk read the verdict at 3:57 p.m. Baird then hugged his girlfriend and deferred comments to his attorney, before leaving the courthouse. (more…)

Asked in a questionnaire by Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers for TCPalm.com’s “Ask the Candidates” page whether they had been convicted of a felony, both candidates on the ballot for state Senate District 28 seat wrote “no.”

The answer from one of the candidates isn’t accurate, according to a Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers investigation.

According to court records and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Eastern Pennsylvania, Democrat Bill Ramos, a mortgage broker from Jensen Beach, pleaded guilty to a single count of embezzlement of postal funds — accepting a three-year probation and repaying the missing money — in 1989. That charge is a felony.

Ramos said Thursday he didn’t consider pleading “no contest” the same as a conviction.

“I answered specifically as it was asked,” Ramos said. “It just said have you ever been convicted of, and I answered no. I plead no contest.”

The court documents show Ramos pleaded guilty.

Assistant State Attorney John Cannizzaro, of Florida’s 19th Judicial Circuit in Fort Pierce, said judges advise defendants before they enter a guilty plea that the action is the same as being convicted at a jury trial.

“There is no difference,” he said. (more…)

MARTIN COUNTY — Foreclosure activity in Martin County hit an all-time high in June.

Of the 472 Martin County homes in some stage of foreclosure, 398 were first-time notifications of default with intent to file suit, according to data released Thursday by California-based RealtyTrac (www.realtytrac.com), an online marketplace for foreclosure properties.

The 472 was 84 percent higher than May’s total and nearly three times the number of homes in any stage of foreclosure a year earlier.

Since RealtyTrac began tracking foreclosures in 2005, the highest number of Martin County homes in some stage of foreclosure was 312 in October 2008. Homes in foreclosure never topped 100 until they reached 106 in August 2007. (more…)

St. Lucie County Clerk of Courts Joe Smith announced this afternoon that he is offering buyouts and early retirement packages to some employees but will eventually have to lay off others by July to make up for a $546,000 budget cut.

Smith told his employees about the imminent layoffs in an email this afternoon, saying his office received the new numbers late last week from the Florida Clerks of Court Operations Corporation.

The new budget would give the office about $8.1 million for the fiscal year beginning July 1, down from more than $8.6 million they had for the current year.

The cuts come after state lawmakers in the last legislative session voted to change the way clerk’s offices are funded.

It’s disappointing,” Smith said this afternoon. “As a manager the worst thing you can tell you employees is ‘I have to let you go.’”
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