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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STUART — Have you ever wondered why some of those markers on the water are red and some are green?

And why are they different shapes, anyway? Why shouldn’t I just wait until I need my life jacket to put it on?

What is the minimum length of boat that requires a second fire extinguisher — or a third?

Answers to these and many other questions will be yours just for taking the time to attend the Coast Guard Auxiliary’s program, About Boating Safely.
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HOBE SOUND — Thirty-year-old fire station #32 in Hobe Sound will soon have a new 5,000-square-foot, hurricane-proof addition that will add eight dorm rooms and two bathrooms, enabling the station to finally separate male and female firefighters.

The $520,000 addition is being installed by Royal Concrete Concepts of West Palm Beach, which manufactures pre-engineered concrete building systems that arrive virtually complete on the construction site. Workers simply connect the utilities, add the flooring and other touches and the new wing is nearly ready for occupancy.

“It takes just one day to set the units up because they arrive on site from our Okeechobee manufacturing plant 95 percent complete,” said Jeff Wisinski, the company’s head of business development.
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STUART — Described as a loving father and caring person, Jerome Hutchinson was found early Monday morning face down on the sidewalk leading to his East Stuart residence.

The 24-year-old man had been shot in the chest, the second to die in an exceptionally violent weekend in Stuart. The first was Michael Morrison, 43, found early Saturday morning on his back next to his Jeep at The Crossings at Indian Run Apartments less than four miles away.

Morrison also had been shot in the chest, but police haven’t found a nexus between the two killings, police spokesman Sgt. Marty Jacobson said Monday.
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VERO BEACH — An educational security expert said the days and weeks that passed before arrests were made for the false bomb threats at Vero Beach High School isn’t unusual.

“You could have multiple threats made before the perpetrator is caught,” said Kenneth Trump, president of the National School Safety and Security Services, a Cleveland-based consulting firm. “Often the individuals making the calls have a tendency to tell others who weren’t involved and are caught that way.”
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PORT ST. LUCIE — A 22-year-old Port St. Lucie man has been charged in federal court with transporting child pornography after authorities found more than half a million child pornographic images on his computer hard drive, according to a news release Friday from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Jason David Bingham was detained Friday in Miami without bond and his arraignment is set for April 28.
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A second Beagle, suffering from Parvo, was found staggering in traffic in Lake Park, very close to the location where a mother Beagle and her puppies were found April 17.

Kay-Lynette Roca, executive director of Safe Harbor Animal Sanctuary & Hospital, said Tuesday that the male Beagle brought to Safe Harbor and the female Beagle that was found last week have matching collars and seem to know each other.

“Parker, the male Beagle dog that was found in traffic in Lake Park, looks very similar to the Beagle mom who is now fighting for her life. I’m afraid there may be a backyard breeder in the Lake Park area who is neglecting these dogs and tossing them out.”
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FORT PIERCE — Sitting in a living room filled with marijuana smoke, Alfred Foster Welling III had a problem: St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office investigators executing a search warrant at his home.

Welling’s encounter with the law enforcers in the 1900 block of South 34th Street ended Thursday with his arrest on felony charges including cultivation of marijuana, possession of marijuana with intent and possession of more than 20 grams of marijuana, according to recently obtained records.
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Some residents of St. Lucie County have a chance to protect their homes against hurricane damage. For free.

The county and I.N.T.A.C.T., a local long-term recovery organization, are seeking low-income residents to apply for inspections and grants offered through the My Safe Florida Home Program.

Low-income residents who own their own home and have a homestead exemption could be eligible.

Improvements covered may include hurricane shutters, exterior and garage doors and gable end-bracing.
For more information about income limits, or to apply, call (772)462-1777.

eve_samples@pbpost.com

PORT ST. LUCIE — Police are investigating to see whether a burglary and an attempted break-in at two check-cashing stores discovered this morning are linked.

Sometime overnight, someone broke into the Advance America Cash Advance at 10169 S. U.S. 1 and made off with cash and the store’s surveillance video, police spokesman Officer Thomas Nichols said.

The suspect or suspects pried open a back door, cut a hole in a floor safe and took an unknown amount of cash, Nichols said. An employee discovered the theft this morning. (more…)