SEBASTIAN — An elderly Sebastian couple remain hospitalized with serious burns following a mid-day fire Monday in their duplex unit in the 1000 block of Louisiana Avenue.

Karen Baker, 68, and her husband, Jimmy Yates, 75, were taken to a burn treatment facility in Orlando after initially being treated at Health First in Melbourne, officials said.

Barker, who is an invalid on oxygen, had burns on about 45 percent of her body, said her daughter, Debora Wagner.
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FORT PIERCE — The Treasure Coast Opera Society will not perform for the 2009-2010 season. Finances are to blame.

“The New York State Opera closed. The Baltimore Opera closed. The Orlando Opera has closed,” said TCOS co-founder Anne Abood. “Everyone is skating on thin ice.”
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FORT PIERCE — After Julia Rolon-Estrada died of a gunshot wound to the artery in her leg on July 26, 2006, she was wrapped in a blue tarp and again in a green blanket before being buried in the yard of her Port St. Lucie home, near a rear sliding glass door.

A dog trained to find cadavers helped authorities locate the newly tilled grave, which was covered with a wooden pallet holding 20 mulch bags stacked on top.

Rolon-Estrada’s jailed husband, 43-year-old Albert Estrada, state prosecutors say, is the man guilty of killing his wife and high-school sweatheart, who had walked out on him the night before she died at age 39.
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PORT ST. LUCIE — Hundreds of Tesoro property owners aren’t waiting around while their subdivision’s developer grinds through bankruptcy court: They’re filing their own lawsuits against Ginn Resorts and its affiliates.

Property owners are charging Ginn with a host of wrongdoings, including selling lots through Ponzi schemes, fraudulently inflating property values, lying to and duping clients, failing to account for hundreds of thousands of dollars in membership dues and missing escrow accounts and backing out on promises to build amenities.

Timothy Vetrano, 72, a retiree from Manhasset, N.Y., who lives at Tesoro with his wife Marilyn, said his experience falls under “buyer beware.”
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PORT ST. LUCIE — One year ago, a 6-year-old autistic boy was brought to the front of his classroom. He left moments later feeling like an outcast.

For many, he became a symbol of how children with autism are mistreated and misunderstood.

Some experts say the case of Alex Barton, who was voted out of his kindergarten classroom 14-to-2, brought about change and awareness of how autistic children are educated. Others say there still is a long way to go. (more…)

It’s common to see Treasure Coast teens and preteens using cell phones for sending text messages and photos.

But it’s also becoming common for teens nationwide to send other things via their phones or computer Web cameras, including explicit and sexual photographs that have given the phenomenon a new name — sexting.

“It’s been going on for several years here. We just didn’t call it this,” said Detective Brian Broughton of the Martin County Sheriff’s Office. “Now it has a little buzz word, but basically we’re referring to the same thing — when children would take nude pictures of themselves and send it to other children.”
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PORT ST. LUCIE — A U.S. Appeals Court upheld a lower court’s ruling that Port St. Lucie resident Colleen Demers was wrongly fired by Adams Homes when she took maternity leave four years ago and reinstated the $5,000 in damages awarded by the jury.

Demers worked as a real estate agent for Adams Homes, which builds houses in Viera, Melbourne and West Melbourne, when she became pregnant in 2005. The company dismissed her, claiming she was an independent contractor and not entitled to family leave benefits.

But a trial judge in Orlando last year ruled the company had treated Demers as an employee for 3 1/2 years and offered no evidence that she was an independent contractor. (more…)

ST. LUCIE COUNTY — An oil portrait of Col. Joseph Nine, the medals he was awarded during his 47-year Army career, and the flag which was draped over his casket in 2007 hang on the wall of his son’s home.

They were the first things unpacked when Evan and Rachael Nine moved the family from Palm Beach County last June.

One year later, this coming June, Hayley Nine, the colonel’s granddaughter, will follow his lead into the Army. (more…)

Greg Osborne has trouble sleeping at night.

Osborne, a former Piper Aircraft Inc. employee who got laid off earlier this month, wonders how he’ll be able to pay for his five prescriptions when his medical insurance runs out at the end of the month. He worries about how he’ll make rent this month and how he can delay paying for utilities.

But most of all, he prays that his kidney cancer doesn’t return.

“I loved my job. I loved that company, I loved my co-workers, it was my life. It was my family,” said Osborne, a former aircraft inspector at Piper for more than 11 years. “There’s days go by, I don’t even eat.”

Osborne joined other former Piper employees at a workshop organized by the United Way and Workforce Solutions of Indian River County Monday. The two agencies held seminars to help former Piper employees find social services and other financial assistance from the county and state. (more…)

ORLANDO — Walt Disney Co. announced its first major hotel discounts in years to counter a “sobering” economic outlook for 2009, after reporting lower profit in its most recent quarter because of a decline in movie and theme-park earnings and losses from the bankruptcy of one of Wall Street’s giant investment firms.

Disney President and Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger said early hotel bookings for 2009 are down “considerably,” though he also said “it’s just too early to tell” whether that’s more the result of people delaying their vacation plans or canceling them altogether.

“Our brand and the experiences we offer have never been stronger. But consumer confidence is the lowest we’ve seen in over three decades,” Iger said, noting that retail spending is also down. “That could impact us possibly during the holiday season but almost certainly during 2009.”

Disney is bringing back a deal it last offered in 2003: For most of the first six months of next year, vacationers can get seven nights in Disney World hotels for the price of four. Those who book vacations for January, February or March will also get a voucher for $200 worth of food and souvenirs. For either deal, reservations must be made by Dec. 20. (more…)