BOCA RATON — For more than three hours it floated above homes in Boca Raton: a neon-green light that no one could explain.

“It’s nothing like I’ve ever seen in my life,” said Mark Smith, 19.

Smith and his friends went outside about 9 p.m. Monday where they saw it: a glowing object about the size of a football. Smith said it was oblong and hovered about 200 or 300 feet in the air above a neighbor’s home in the Palm Beach Farms neighborhood. The skies were clear. There was no wind. They called police and followed it around.

A Boca Raton police officer actually drove out to see what was the fuss. The results? (more…)

PORT ST. LUCIE — A man accused of speeding along St. James Drive at more than 100 mph with an unrestrained 2-year-old child in the back seat is facing charges, according to a recently released arrest affidavit.

A St. Lucie County Sheriff’s investigator Monday afternoon spotted a green Honda Civic driving south on St. James Drive at an estimated speed of more than 70 mph.

The affidavit gave this account:
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You don’t have to win Home & Garden Television’s green home in Port St. Lucie to get an up-close look at the hydroponic garden and solar-power system.

The house, at the Tradition development, will be open for public tours April 20-June 6. Tickets are $15.

The domestic cable network built the 2,430-square-foot home for its second annual green home giveaway contest.

It’s one of a handful in Florida that has received platinum-level certification from the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program.

TALLAHASSEE — The long-sought Indian Street Bridge, along with 16 other transportation projects expected to bring money and jobs to the Treasure Coast, got the green light from the state Joint Legislative Budget Commission Wednesday.

The 14-member commission comprised of Senate and House members agreed, without debate, to accept $3.8 billion in federal dollars that will pay for a cornucopia of projects targeting transportation, health and education.

Backers say the package will help the state recover from the worst recession in decades.
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PORT ST. LUCIE — Ripe strawberries are dangling in the yard at the lone house on Westcliffe Lane. Tomatoes, onions and corn are sprouting, too.

The porch of the Home & Garden Television's Green Home in Tradition.

No green thumb is necessary: A solar-powered pump shuttles water from two nearby rain barrels to the hydroponic garden. To find out if the rain will fill the barrels today, step inside the house, where a flat-screen monitor greets you with the forecast.

No showers predicted? That’s OK. Sunshine powers rooftop solar panels. The monitor shows how much energy they’re generating, too.

“It doesn’t provide all the electricity, but it sure helps,” the home’s architect, Michael Carlson, said of the 2-kilowatt system.

This is Home & Garden Television’s Green Home, the network’s second ever and first in Florida. It’s a $750,000 collection of eco-friendly must-haves and green novelties that HGTV will give away in a drawing in June. (more…)

PORT ST. LUCIE — A 50-year-old man was arrested after reportedly hurling a knife that smashed out a car window following an apparent traffic-related dispute, according to a police report released Monday.

Timothy C. Boudah, of the 1400 block of Southeast Port St. Lucie Boulevard, faces aggravated battery and throwing a deadly missile into an occupied vehicle charges following the Sunday night incidents.
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A local contractor is making plans to build an eco-friendly office building atop a former dump in Stuart.

Ocean Gate General Contractors is finalizing negotiations to lease about 3 acres of the old city landfill property on Monterey Road, the site of the out-of-business Monterey Pointe Golf and Practice Center.

The Stuart-based company hopes to build a 20,000-square-foot, gold-rated LEED building at the site, incorporating energy-saving features to earn the designation from the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program, company President Mark MacDonald said. (more…)