PORT ST. LUCIE — The International Union of Police Associations, which represents the city’s police officers, put a sign on a billboard Sunday at U.S. 1 and Jennings Road to protest the city sending layoff notices to eight police officers.

The notices advised the officers their last day of employment would be Sept. 30.

One side of the billboard reads, “Welcome to Port St. Lucie! Violent crime is up 14.4 percent! Feel safe???”

The other side breaks down what the city spent on the civic center and plans to spend to bring a private digital production studio to the city. It also cites a figure, $1.5 million, as the annual upkeep of the botanical garden project.
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INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Opponents of the school superintendent’s decision not to let students see President Barack Obama’s nationally televised back-to-school speech live, lashed out at him Tuesday night.

“You have chosen to put politics in front of good citizenship and good patriotism,” Vero Beach resident Peter Hyatt said during a public comment period at the beginning of a school board meeting.

Hyatt called for Schools Superintendent Harry La Cava’s resignation.

Board members took no action following speeches by about 10 people.
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FORT PIERCE — A plan that includes eliminating 331 jobs and closing three schools to cut $30.6 million from next year’s budget was explained in detail Tuesday evening to elected members of the School Board, who sat silent through the presentation by Schools Superintendent Michael Lannon.

Their lack of comment was deliberate. Chairwoman Judi Miller said after the meeting all five members of the School Board had previously agreed in individual conversations with Lannon not to speak until after a town hall meeting on the proposal, scheduled for 6 p.m. March 31 at Fort Pierce Central High School auditorium.

Lannon spoke for almost one hour on a problem that he laid entirely at the feet of Tallahassee lawmakers who refuse to raise more money in the face of shortfalls created by the economic recession.
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FORT PIERCE — City Commissioner Reggie Sessions, perhaps the most vocal critic of the Fort Pierce Utilities Authority, hasn’t been paying his utility bills on time for the past year, records show.

And to help Sessions remember to pay his bills, the utility has been giving him preferential treatment, including special calls from the utility director’s office and customer service. These services aren’t generally extended to the utility’s other 28,619 customers, utility officials said.

Sessions, who lives in a 1,200-square-foot home on North 22nd Street, said he hasn’t been paying his bills on time in protest of “high rates.”
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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…)

Chanting “open the swamp or we’re coming in,” about a dozen protesters gathered at Florida Power & Light Co.’s headquarters Thursday to demand opening of a Martin County wetland preserve they say is being drained dry by the company’s power plant.

The protesters, who have been camping out around-the-clock in shifts outside the 455-acre Barley Barber Swamp since Monday, said they will defy the no-trespassing signs and enter the swamp on Saturday. They contend the power plant near Indiantown pulls water for cooling and dries out the wetland, threatening acres of cypress trees. (more…)