Welcomed showers continued to pelt St. Lucie recently as the county recovers from severe drought brought on by the February cold. Record rainfall of 1.28 inches fell on the county March 29 and 0.2 inches fell April 3, according to the National Weather Service. These totals arrived in between readings that rarely rose above 0.5 inches the weeks of March 22-April 4. The CoCoRaHS volunteer weather monitoring service reported similar peaks centered around White City and Tradition. Three readouts between these sites took in anywhere between 1.34 to 1.81 inches of rain, according to the CoCoRaHS website. Smaller peaks descended

Read more

A contractor with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began closing Fort Pierce beaches on a “revised” schedule to address erosion there in recent months, according to a March 19 county release. Manson Construction, the contractor, cut off access to Jetty Park and South Beach on South Hutchinson Island between March 21-27 as a new beach nutrition project begins. The Army Corps, through Manson, intends to “place roughly 400,000 cubic yards of sand” throughout “one mile of shoreline immediately south of the Fort Pierce Inlet,” the release said. Manson would begin adding sand to the beach starting March 24. Manson

Read more

The 2025-26 winter proved daunting for Florida’s citrus industry in both the field and laboratory. Obstacles, both natural and administrative, beset scientists looking to restore thousands of acres of citrus groves waylaid throughout the state. They included the ongoing greening epidemic, now in its third decade; the historic February freeze, which left soils in dire need of water; and the 43-day federal shutdown last October through November, which squelched government-backed lab research. Discoveries unveiled at the 2026 Florida Citrus Show, however, revealed positive steps toward reversing these fortunes: from greater fruit yields to more promising methods in combating invasive diseases

Read more

Port St. Lucie has a renewed sense of purpose in building and maximizing its city-owned green spaces. A 2.4-acre patch of trees in the Whispering Pines community served as the pilot for what some public land managed by the Naturally PSL program could look like in the coming years. The plat – encircled by SW Hiawatha Street; SW Homeland Road; and SW Lovell Terrace – had, for decades, remained a dormant habitat as new homes were built nearby. Around 20 city workers and volunteers met there the morning of March 21 for two purposes: to plan another park, and to

Read more

The Port St. Lucie Governmental Finance Corporation (GFC) authorized two land sales at their March meeting, leaving just 22 acres in the 1,200-acre Southern Grove Jobs Corridor unaccounted for. “We are near achieving full completion of the implementation of the Southern Grove Master Plan,” said Jennifer Davis, director of the PSL Community Redevelopment Agency. “It’s amazing that we only have 20 acres left,” said Vice Mayor Jolien Caraballo, expressing surprise at how quickly full completion has been achieved. One land sale was to Costco and the other to Tambone Companies, LLC, which acquired 7.36 acres at the northeast corner of

Read more

When Senior Sgt. Erik Levasseur was asked to stand at the culmination of last week’s Port St. Lucie Police Department award ceremony, the crowd in the room erupted in applause, then went silent while a black and white video played on the screen telling his story. Chief Leo Niemczyk narrated part of the video. “Erik, I want you to know that you are not alone. I want you to know that your PD and city family have you in their thoughts and prayers and are thinking about you each and every day. I know you are in a hell of

Read more

Heartburn may feel like it’s coming from the heart, but the fiery discomfort has nothing to do with cardiac trouble. Instead, it’s a digestive problem that affects millions of Americans and, for some, can become a chronic condition that interferes with lifestyle, sleep and long-term health. The burning sensation that creeps up the chest after a meal is commonly linked to GERD, or gastroesophageal reflux disease, a condition in which stomach acid repeatedly flows backward into the esophagus. “Heartburn occurs when acid within the stomach that our body uses to dissolve the foods that we eat goes backwards, or refluxes,

Read more

The Costco era is about to be realized in Port St. Lucie. “At last. We are excited, our residents are very, very excited,” said Mayor Shannon Martin at a Government Finance Commission (GFC) meeting at Port St. Lucie Town Hall on Monday after the board approved the sale of 22.8 acres of land in the Southern Grove area of the city to Costco. “Now we are actually getting that retail store we’ve all been wanting to have,” said Martin, noting that social media blew up the minute the agenda that included the sale was published. The sale paves the way

Read more

While the prospect of hosting commercial flights remains up in the air, activity related to Treasure Coast International Airport has nevertheless ramped up in recent months. APP Jet Center celebrated the grand opening of its newly remodeled fixed based operator (FBO) last month, while the County Commission approved a number of items including work on a taxiway. The TCIA got the official go-ahead to begin offering commercial passenger services on aircraft with more than 30 seats in October 2024 when it received FAA Part 139 Certification. The county began the formal process of pursuing the certification in April 2023. They

Read more

Another green space has joined Port St. Lucie’s growing roster of trails and brush for its residents, this time in The Port District near its epicenter. The city opened “The Preserve,” a 13-acre natural property with a 3,000-foot trail network for casual hikers of all ages, March 4. Five entrances flank the space (one near Pioneer Park playground; two each at the riverside boardwalk and Westmoreland Boulevard) leading visitors into a brief, albeit winding patch of foliage between the Port District and the Anchorage gated community. The Preserve opened after construction began in August 2025 at a cost of $971,531,

Read more