PORT ST. LUCIE — Prevention, not treatment, of swine flu is what people should be thinking about now, according to the health officials and doctors who spoke Thursday at a town hall meeting about the H1N1 virus.

A couple dozen people showed up at Port St. Lucie’s Civic Center, most with questions and many armed with antibacterial sanitizing gels. Concerns about the severity of the H1N1 virus as well as side effects of the vaccine expected to be distributed beginning next month dominated the question and answer session. (more…)

The medical clinic business is booming.

An emergency care clinic in St. Lucie West owned by Martin Memorial Health Systems saw 380 patients in its first week. The clinic, which opened Sept. 1, had an average of 48 patients per day, said Scott Samples, a hospital spokesman.

Located at the health system’s existing facility at 1095 N.W. St. Lucie West Blvd., the clinic is about 9,100 square feet with 12 beds. It is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. (more…)

Martin Memorial Health Systems can build an 80-bed hospital in Tradition, a state administrative law judge has ruled.

The ruling, released late Friday by Judge J.D. Parrish, puts Martin Memorial a step closer to building a hospital to serve the communities in sprawling western St. Lucie County.

“We’re very excited about the news,” said Mark Robitaille, Martin Memorial’s president and chief executive officer. “It’s been a long journey to get to this point.”

Martin Memorial received permission from the state two years ago to build a hospital in Tradition. Hospital officials argued that it was needed because of St. Lucie’s rapid growth and the distance from western communities to the county’s existing hospitals, Lawnwood Regional Medical Center & Heart Institute in Fort Pierce and St. Lucie Medical Center in eastern Port St. Lucie. (more…)

A creative technology investment company planning to build a digital production studio in Port St. Lucie already is recruiting a senior management team and will soon start a second phase of recruiting for other positions.

The second-phase positions will be focused on development, storytelling, animation and production.

The company plans to build a digital production studio in Port St. Lucie that could bring at least 500 jobs and a $50 million capital investment to a county struggling with a 14.1 percent jobless rate.

Hobe Sound-based Wyndcrest Holdings LLC — which focuses on entertainment, telecommunications and Internet technology — announced Thursday its plans for a 150,000-square-foot facility that will include artist studios, office suites, screening theaters, software design studios and community access areas. (more…)

Before there was Transformers, before she took Hollywood by storm, Megan Fox was just another PSL teenager. For more Palm Beach Post archive pictures of the most buzzed about Tinseltown hottie, click here.

FORT PIERCE — The State Attorney’s Office has decided a Port St. Lucie man was defending his grandmother when he stabbed and killed a man assaulting her.

According to Port St. Lucie Police Department reports, 39-year-old Scot Smith stabbed Michael Gary Sherman, 51, in the early morning hours of Jan. 21 as Sherman was attacking Smith’s grandmother, 87-year-old Augusta Smith.

A report made available Friday at the police department said Assistant State Attorney Linda Baldree had determined Scott Smith’s act was justifiable homicide, and State Attorney Bruce Colton agreed.
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PORT ST. LUCIE — Mayor Patricia Christensen and her husband and campaign treasurer, Frans Christensen, have paid $5,000 in fines to the Florida Elections Commission as part of an agreement over charges of campaign violations.

According to the agreement signed by the couple on June 4, the two failed to report a $500 contribution from Homes of East Lake Village LLC in August 2006, and two $500 donations from The Painting Pros LLC in August and October that same year.

The commission agreed to charge the couple $5,000 in fines, which was paid last month, according to an official.

The commission is set to approve the agreement and payment at its August meeting.

Charges that a Buffalo Bills player exposed himself outside a woman’s home in Port St. Lucie have been dismissed, authorities said today.

Corey McIntyre, 30, who played football at South Fork High School in Stuart and lives in Indiantown, was arrested on a warrant charging him with indecent exposure related to a March 20 incident in which a woman said she saw him performing a sex act on himself.

The State Attorney’s office dismissed the charge because the woman who reported the incident now says she didn’t see the man exposing himself and couldn’t give other details, said Officer Tom Nichols, a spokesman for the Port St. Lucie Police Department. (more…)

Jazlyn Perez, 5, who is in kindergarten at Port St. Lucie Elementary, runs to give Principal Glenn Rustay a high five.

“Look at the principal playing basketball. He knows his knee is going to hurt later,” said Assistant Principal Latasha Scurry, dancing a few yards away to Bob Seger’s “Old Tim Rock and Roll.”

With days left before Port St. Lucie Elementary closes forever, students and staff members have a lot of reasons to be glum. The school year in St. Lucie County ends Wednesday. Teachers, students and administrators are scattering, their A-rated school one of two closing as a result of budget cuts. The old school, with its leaky roof and cheerful murals, is likely to be razed. (more…)

When the going gets tough, the tough … have a Business Palooza?

That’s what the city of Port St. Lucie is calling its free business expo scheduled for 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday.

Anyone with an occupational license can sign up for a free booth during the event at the Port St. Lucie Civic Center. To register, visit www.cityofpsl.com or call (772)807-4486.