Workers build pieces of FPL's new solar plant near Indiantown.

These frames will eventually hold mirrors to collect the sun's energy.

With the first mirrors set to arrive this week, that promise is starting to take shape.

“We want to harness all that free energy,” said John Gnecco, FPL’s director of project development.

The idea of solar-thermal energy sounds easy enough, and it is. Kind of.

In the most basic terms, the process works like this: The sun’s light strikes a mirror and is beamed into a pipe, which “catches” the energy and moves it, via molten liquid, into a power plant where it boils water into steam. The steam is used for power.

Jose Suarez, a spokesman for FPL, explains it this way: “When the sun comes up every day, you’re able to take your foot off the gas and let the sun generate steam.”

What seems simple on paper, though, is far more complex on the ground. (more…)

STUART - The public is invited to attend a free presentation at 7 p.m. tonight at South Fork High School about the dangers of drinking and driving.

The program, which was organized by the Martin County School District and the Martin County Sheriff’s office, will feature Renee Napier, whose daughter, Meagan, was killed in a car crash involving a drunk driver. Meagan’s best friend also died in the accident. (more…)

Five years ago, Vought Aircraft Industries Inc. announced plans to close its Stuart plant, a move that would have ended more than 50 years of history at Witham Field.

Now, the Dallas-based airline parts manufacturer calls Stuart a success
story. The plant has won more company awards than any other site. It just announced its second major expansion in two years, and Vought¹s chief executive officer says Stuart “has offset” some of the company¹s losses with the downturn of the economy.

So how did the Stuart plant come back from the brink? (more…)

Construction jobs continued to decline on the Treasure Coast during the past year, according to a report released last week by the Associated General Contractors of America.

The Port St. Lucie metropolitan area, which includes Martin and St. Lucie counties, lost about 700 jobs, or 6 percent, between August 2008 and August 2009. The Treasure Coast ranked 59 out of 337 metropolitan areas in the country for least jobs lost. The worst losses were in Reno, Nev., which ranked 337.

The Associated General Contractors of America, based in Arlington, Va., released the numbers to highlight the decline in construction jobs across the country. (more…)

For Martin County’s largest employer, the seventh time is the charm.
Martin Memorial Health Systems learned last week that after seven years of trying it has been given a prestigious national title: Employer of Choice.

“This is a tremendous achievement,” said Dr. George Rittersbach Jr., chairman of the board of directors for Martin Memorial Health Systems, which owns two hospitals and numerous clinics on the Treasure Coast.

Martin Memorial is one of four Florida health care organizations to earn the designation. The others are Orlando Health, Lee Memorial Health System in Cape Coral and Baptist Health Care in Pensacola.
Martin Memorial got the award last week during a ceremony with about 90 employees at the Robert and Carol Weissman Cancer Center in Stuart. (more…)

Vought Aircraft Industries, which is expanding its facility at Witham Field in Stuart, selected Bayview Construction of Stuart as its general contractor.

Bayview’s contract is worth about $900,000.

That’s good news for the local economy, which has seen a lot of construction jobs dry up, and just what business and Martin County officials hoped would happen when they helped the Dallas-based airline parts manufacturer get a state incentives package worth about $400,000. (more…)

MARTIN COUNTY — Emergency call centers in Martin County have been readied for a high-tech future that will improve reliability, streamline operations and soon enable whole new ways to communicate, officials said.

A new call response computer platform is shared by the county’s three 911 dispatch centers, according to Joe Laviano, Emergency 911 dispatch manager for the Martin County Sheriff’s Office. It cost nearly $1 million, which came from state grants. (more…)

MARTIN COUNTY — Some door-to-door bus riders in Martin County who are not already booked may have to be placed on a waiting list, according to a news release from the Council on Aging of Martin County.

“All rides already booked on Community Coach will continue as scheduled,” according to the news release issued by Bonnie Ares Royster, director of development for the council.

But, she notes, with the demand high and funding limited, some services may not be immediately available. Also, a change in how some services are handled may be causing some confusion.
(more…)

You would think that the Martin County School Board would be thrilled that Superintendent Nancy Kline, who has been in office less than a year, is cleaning house after both internal and independent investigations revealed long-standing shoddy, wasteful practices in the district’s finance, construction and maintenance departments.

You would be wrong.

According to memos from the state auditor general, the district paid bills without checking their accuracy, paid to repair equipment already under warranty, and time and again handed out contracts without seeking low bids. In response, Ms. Kline fired several employees, accepted the resignation of at least one other and ordered adherence to improved procedures. That and other reforms have saved the public $2 million so far.

Read the rest of the Post’s opinion piece here.

It pays to be local. Or at least it’s starting to on the Treasure Coast.
Martin County has joined a growing list of counties with ordinances that give local businesses a preference in the bidding for contracts.

County commissioners voted unanimously last week to approve the measure.

Local preference ordinances, designed to keep money at home, have become more popular in this economy. (more…)