Janet Begley
 |  Special to TCPalm

SEBASTIAN — Oysters, native plants and rocks will have a new place to call home now that a project to shore up the city’s waterfront near Fisherman’s Landing on Indian River Drive will move forward.

The City Council Wednesday approved spending $562,000 for the living-shoreline project, which will protect the riverfront with a sloping area of rocks planted with native shoreline plants.

The money will come from sources including $70,000 from Fisherman’s Landing Inc., a private commercial-fishing operation along the riverfront; and $170,000 from the Florida Inland Navigation District.

The restored habitat not only beautifies the riverfront, it helps protect against erosion and contributes to a healthy riverfront environment, according to Communi...

Laurie K. Blandford
 
| Treasure Coast Newspapers

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Fort Pierce gets a bad wrap.

Both mayoral candidates in the Nov. 3 runoff election want to improve the city’s image — tarnished by drugs and crime decades ago — but in their own ways using their personal styles.

Two-term incumbent Linda Hudson, 76, a Fort Pierce native retired from the healthcare industry, wants to continue the work she said she’s been doing for eight years.

“I want Fort Pierce to be a safe place; I know it to be a safe place,” Hudson said. “But our reputation isn’t as a safe place...

Will Greenlee
 
| Treasure Coast Newspapers

MARTIN COUNTY — Martin County sheriff’s officials are asking for help in finding a 61-year-old man described as “extremely depressed” and last seen Sunday, the agency stated.

Ronald Rasch, of the 3600 block of Southeast Salerno Road in Stuart, was reported missing Tuesday by his girlfriend.

The woman told investigators Rasch was depressed after losing his job because of COVID-19, and said “he was not taking care of himself,” a sheriff’s report states.

More: Charges dropped against men in alleged sex-for-pay spa cases

She said Rasch made statements about harming himself but she didn’t think too much of them.

She said they argued over the past week, and that on Sunday there was another quarrel.

She said Rasch wanted her out of the...

Laurence Reisman
 
| Treasure Coast Newspapers

Jim O’Connor has become a believer.

About five years ago when the Vero Beach power plant along Indian River Boulevard was shuttered, the then-city manager was ready to tear it down and generate $300,000 from the sale of surplus.

“I had just no imagination at all,” O’Connor told me Wednesday after visiting a waterfront power plant in Savannah turned into a high-end hotel and entertainment center. “When I see that transformation, obviously anything can be done.

“It blew my mind. I never would have guessed it was a power plant … the whole thing is beautiful.”

Savannah’s $375 million Plant Riverside District is anchored on 4.5 acres in a former Georgia Power complex begun in 1912...

Ed Killer
 
| Treasure Coast Newspapers

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The last day of Summer 2020 was a wet one in Old Palm City. Brown water slowly pushed up mangrove-lined creeks and over the tops of docks.

River water inched toward the thresholds of homes. Driveways were better suited for kayaks than cars. High tide in the South Fork of the St. Lucie River was about 3 p.m. Sept. 21.

The first of the king tides of autumn had arrived. A 30-mile easterly wind spun off from the short-lived Hurricane Teddy, though it was well out to sea from Florida’s East Coast.

Water also stacked up along the shorelines from Cap...

Joshua Solomon
 
| Treasure Coast Newspapers

A record number of mail ballots were mailed out across the Treasure Coast Thursday, shattering previous totals and showing a potential sign of how residents plan to approach voting in the middle of a pandemic. 

Nearly 157,000 mail ballots were sent, and more are expected to be mailed out as registered voters continue to request ballots.

Voter registration is open until Oct. 5. Requests for a vote-by-mail ballot are accepted until Oct. 24. Early voting begins Oct. 19 and Election Day is Nov. 3. 

More: TCPalm’s election guide, important dates and information

In St. Lucie County, the Supervisor of Elections Office sent 68,518 vote-by-mail ballots and has nearly an additional 8,000 to send as requests continue to come in...

Sommer Brugal
 
| Treasure Coast Newspapers

FORT PIERCE — Less than a month after a new charter school opened, its principal has resigned, claiming one of the co-founders misrepresented her educational experience and character toward students. 

In a Facebook post last week, Courtney Paschal Purnell, the former principal of Independence Classical Academy, said the “school should be 100% about the success of our children and the betterment of our community.”

Director Sandy Krischke, according to Purnell, “willfully committed academic stolen valor” and “misrepresented” her certifications and character. 

More: More teachers in Indian River, Martin counties resign after schools reopened compared to 2019

Purnell confirmed her post and reasons for departure in an interview with TCPalm.

Kris...

Colleen Wixon
 
| Treasure Coast Newspapers

VERO BEACH — The city may change zoning to allow museums in the commercial district, and the first one already is being planned in the former Vero Beach Press Journal building. 

Businessman Wayne Gould wants to create an auto museum in the former newspaper building at 1801 U.S. 1. He owns a similar museum, Wayne’s Toys, in Tucson, Arizona.

The Tucson museum is closed until November to prevent the risk of spreading COVID-19, according to its website. 

“Think of it like an art museum, but the paintings aren’t hanging on the wall,” Gould told the city Planning and Zoning Commission last month. The facility would be an art museum, he said, “but the art has wheels.”

The museum would feature a private collection, but would include a commercial a...

The move comes after a Florida appeals court ruled videos of the alleged crime, shot with a ‘sneak-and-peek’ warrant, could not be used as evidence.

Hannah Winston
 
| Palm Beach Post

WEST PALM BEACH – After an appeals court ruled in his favor and Florida’s attorney general said she wouldn’t take an appeal to the Florida Supreme Court, misdemeanor prostitution solicitation charges against Robert Kraft, the part-time Palm Beach resident and full-time New England Patriots owner, were dropped Thursday, according to court documents. 

Kraft, along with dozens of others across Palm Beach and several Treasure Coast counties, was arrested on the misdemeanor charges in 2019 after several law-enforcement agencies, including Jupiter police, secretly installed hidden cameras inside several ma...