FORT PIERCE — City officials Monday night shut the door on the mayor’s idea to consolidate the Police Department with the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office.

Mayor Bob Benton could not get the support he needed from at least three commissioners to move the idea forward.

Commissioners Rufus Alexander, Christine Coke and Reggie Sessions did not want to disband the police department. And Commissioner Eddie Becht didn’t express an opinion on how he felt about the idea.
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ST. LUCIE COUNTY — Tourism leaders from Grand Bahama Island will meet with local officials this week and get a first-hand feel for St. Lucie County in an effort to build a business and tourism partnership.

Grand Bahamian and St. Lucie County officials hope the visit, which will include tours of Fort Pierce and Port St. Lucie, will help solidify a non-binding agreement the two groups entered into in December with the goal of boosting tourism in both locations. One of the main ideas behind the agreement is to work together to market both areas, such as offering vacation packages between the two locations. (more…)

A few years ago, the well of state incentives for new businesses was deep.

Port St. Lucie got a big bucketful: $32 million to lure the Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies and $60 million for a local branch of Oregon’s Vaccine & Gene Therapy Institute.

But the supply has since been drained by budget cuts and a constricting economy. So Port St. Lucie is drilling for new sources of cash - and it’s not looking in the usual places.

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VERO BEACH — Security was tight at the Riverside Theatre Monday when humanitarian, author and Dutch feminist Ayaan Hirsi Ali spoke to an overflow crowd about issues in the Muslim world.

The backstage area for the theater was locked down for security reasons, and patrons with bags had to submit to a search by theater personnel, marketing director Oscar Sales said. Vero Beach police officers were also stationed at the building’s entrances and exits.

Hirsi Ali is a 40-year-old Somalia native and former member of the Dutch Parliament who is well known for defending the rights of women in Muslim society. She gained international attention following the murder of Theo Van Gogh, who had directed her short film “Submission,” a documentary about the oppression of women under Islam. The assassin, a radical Muslim, left a death threat for her pinned to Van Gogh’s chest.

During her prepared remarks on Monday, the second speaker for this year’s Distinguished Lecturer series told the audience there are two schools of thought regarding the religion of Islam. (more…)

Kilroy is here.

At 12:30 p.m. Wednesday afternoon, staff from the Ocean Research and Conservation Association and volunteers completed installation of a remote-controlled water quality sensor, known as a “Kilroy,” on a post in about 6 feet of water on the south side of the inlet.

At 12:49 p.m. Wednesday, Kilroy started sending information about water speed, direction, temperature, salinity and the prevalence of key microorganisms to ORCA’s Fort Pierce office.

With sensors in a plastic case in the water and a solar power unit perched above, the device is called Kilroy because ORCA officials hope that one day it will be as ubiquitous in coastal waters around the world as its cartoon namesake was in the European Theater during World War II.

It could happen: The Kilroy installed Wednesday is the first of 25 ORCA plans to deploy over the next few weeks — weather permitting — between the St. Lucie Inlet near Stuart to the Fort Pierce Inlet near Fort Pierce. Later this year, a second network of Kilroys is scheduled to be deployed in Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the United States and the country’s most imperiled marine ecosystem.

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A Wellington couple have managed to do what many who bought at the market’s peak are dreaming of: escape a new-home contract.

A Miami-based arbitrator ruled in January that the contract Kurt and Micheline Moeding inked with Kolter Homes violated federal law, and that they should get their $76,114 deposit back. The couple signed up for the $629,580 home at Kolter’s Verano community in Port St. Lucie in 2006 - before home values plummeted.

The tool the Moedings used to get out of the deal is a technicality in the Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act.

The law requires developers to make time-consuming reports to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, unless they claim exemptions. The exemption Kolter used: It promised to complete homes at Verano within two years of signing a sale contract.

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STUART — Two Martin County Fire Rescue members were suspended without pay for two shifts, required to take sensitivity training and received disciplinary letters, for using the “N” word in an e-mail that was part of the preparations for a party, Fire Rescue Chief Thomas Billington said Monday.

“Both men have apologized profusely,” Billington said. “They had no intent to demean anyone, but it was sent over the county e-mail system and we can’t allow that.” (more…)

STUART — Despite a commissioner’s concerns about overspending during the economic downturn, the Martin County Commission approved the final site plan Tuesday for a new $2.7 million maintenance facility for the county’s ambulances and fire trucks.

Construction could start as soon as next week on the new 15,840-square-foot repair shop for the county’s Fire Rescue Division on Ruhnke Street, said Randall Saumier, the county’s construction chief. The building will also hold supplies for the trucks and ambulances. (more…)

PORT ST. LUCIE — Martin and St. Lucie counties are two of nearly a dozen counties where complaints of possible exposure to the contaminated drywall in new homes have arisen.

The problem may have been sparked by drywall imported during the local construction boom of 2004 and 2005, according to TCPalm.com. (more…)