STUART — Months after Martin County Schools Superintendent Nancy Kline conducted a sweeping housecleaning of district staff based, in part, on preliminary information in a state audit, a final report shows that employees violated board policies in bidding, contracting and purchasing.

None of the five violations merited the state’s most serious classification. The auditors deemed only two of the five “significant.”

The report came this week from the state Auditor General’s Office, which conducts routine audits of the state’s 67 school districts. The office has no oversight authority and cannot enforce its findings.

Kline said the final audit was no surprise, saying district officials fixed the most serious problems.

“Maybe, if anything, it kind of validates the decisions that were made,” she said.

Those decisions — to terminate long-standing employees and bring in consultants — brought fierce criticism from some school board members and former employees during much of Kline’s first year in office.

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One of Martin County’s most beloved beaches may be closed indefinitely.

Bathtub Reef Beach, known for its worm-rock reef and calm waters, has been closed off and on since storms left it battered and severely eroded more than two years ago.

The parking lot is full of sand. Bathrooms are closed. Litter is common, and the reef has been damaged by graffiti and illicit beachgoers trampling on its delicate structure.

County officials, who closed the beach until further notice in October, are short on cash and solutions to shore up one of their most recognizable natural landmarks. They say it may never look like it once did. (more…)

Lured by its proximity to race tracks, a sports car racing team has opened up shop in Martin County.

Extreme Speed Motorsports, owned by veteran race car driver Scott Sharp, will run his team out of a building on Jack James Drive in Stuart.

The team will race a Ferrari 430 GTC in the American Le Mans series, which is a sports car racing series in the United States and Canada in which drivers participate in endurance and sprint races that last from 100 minutes to 12 hours. (more…)

Martin Memorial Health Systems opened a fitness center last week at the Port St. Lucie Community Center, replacing another in that location run by its rival, HCA Inc.

The center, which is located at 2195 S.E. Airoso Blvd, opened Thursday.

HCA, a national corporation with two hospitals in St. Lucie County, ran a fitness center in the city-owned building for years, but told city officials in November that it would be closed because of budget cuts. They reversed course after Martin Memorial made a pitch to move into the site.

The city council voted to accept Martin Memorial’s proposal. (more…)

At Stuart’s Volunteers in Medicine Clinic, doctors have seen first-hand the effects of a bad economy.

More patients. More repeat visits. The top two maladies treated at the nonprofit clinic are depression/anxiety and high-blood pressure. Diabetes is third.

“This year, we’ve just seen a lot more patients because of the economy,” said Tanya Spain, the clinic’s spokeswoman. (more…)

The Martin County Community Foundation will launch an initiative this month based on a popular development theory: Empower women to benefit the community.

The Center for Women’s Philanthropy, which will be run through the nonprofit foundation, will look for new entrepreneurial solutions to long-standing social problems.

Women must spend $1,000 a year for a minimum of three years to become a member. The money will be used either to pay for several small projects or for one large project, as determined by the members. (more…)

PORT ST. LUCIE — The battle for hospital supremacy on the Treasure Coast continues.

HCA Inc., which owns two hospitals in St. Lucie County, filed an appeal this week with the 1st District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee to stop Martin Memorial Health Systems from building a new hospital in Port St. Lucie’s Tradition community.

HCA exhausted its state appeals last month. (more…)

Martin Memorial Health Systems, which owns two hospitals in Martin County, has been recertified as a primary stroke center.

The non-profit health organization first received its certification two years ago from The Joint Commission, a Washington D.C.-based non-profit organization that ensures hospitals meet national standards and performance measures.

The certification applies to both hospitals and an emergency clinic in St. Lucie West.

The commission’s certification program was developed with the help of the American Stroke Association.

Sol, Inc., a Palm City-based manufacturer of outdoor solar lighting, has appointed a new business development manager for its international operations in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean.

Andy Chaguaceda, who will be based in Miami, has 30 years of electrical sales experience and has worked in Central America, the Caribbean and South Florida.

Sol, Inc. develops, manufactures and markets commercial and industrial-grade solar powered and energy efficient lighting systems. They have installed more than 38,000 systems worldwide.

Liberator Medical Holdings, Inc., of Stuart, added two well-known members to its board of directors.

They are: Joseph Farish, a West Palm Beach lawyer and former judge, and Robert Cuillo, a former West Palm Beach car dealer and restaurateur.

Farish was involved in several high-profile cases, including the 1982 divorce of Roxanne Pulitzer. Cuillo owned Palm Beach Lincoln Mercury in West Palm Beach and currently owns or co-owns two restaurants in Palm Beach County.

Liberator Medical Supply Inc., a subsidiary of Liberator Medical Holdings, sells more than 5,000 products to Medicare-eligible patients with chronic conditions, such as diabetes or high blood pressure.