The Fort Pierce City Commission will continue to operate with one empty seat after none of the three candidates vying in a special election for the position received enough votes on Nov. 4 to win the spot. Candidates Chris Dzadovsky and Jaimebeth Galinis will move forward with their campaigns, with a runoff election scheduled for Jan. 13, 2026. The special election was necessary to fill the seat of disgraced former Fort Pierce City Commissioner James Taylor, who resigned and was removed by Gov. Ron DeSantis after he was arrested in July and charged with 24 felony counts relating to an

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Beachgoers choosing to frequent the clothing-optional Blind Creek Beach in Fort Pierce must consider the long walk required to get there and be sure to stay dressed until they reach their destination. That’s the message from the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office, which has recently arrested a number of beachgoers for indecent exposure. The parking lot of the popular beach has been closed for renovation since Jan. 6, and the only legal parking is at the Little Mud Boat Ramp parking lot, a mile north of Blind Creek. After a number of complaints about nude sunbathers outside the labeled area,

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Local dignitaries and business leaders broke ground Oct. 23 on The Grove, a long-awaited $15 million restaurant expansion to the Port District along Westmoreland Boulevard. Approximately 60 dignitaries including the Port St. Lucie City Council, St. Lucie County Commissioners and primary financier SuDa Investments attended the morning ceremony to usher in the latest riverfront amenity near Port St. Lucie Boulevard. Much of the investment behind the Grove is attached to companies led by Guarav Butani, a Miami-based real estate executive. He has founded several companies, including SuDa, that will fund the Grove through a “landmark Public-Private Partnership,” in effect since

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Two early-morning incidents over Halloween weekend pushed traffic deaths in Port St. Lucie Police Department jurisdiction to highs not reached since 2020. Traffic fatalities in Port St. Lucie reached 13 from 12 incidents in 2025 as of Monday, city police records show. The Port St. Lucie Police Department and Florida Highway Patrol conducted a joint investigation after receiving reports of a body near mile marker 118 on northbound Interstate 95 around 1:05 a.m. Nov. 1. Taylor Joan Robert, a 23-year-old woman, jumped from a moving 2017 Dodge Ram pickup near the Gatlin Boulevard/Tradition Parkway exit, according to a Nov. 3

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“Legends of the Highway,” a film featuring nine of the original 26 Black landscape artists from Fort Pierce and the Gifford community in Vero Beach who sold their paintings from the trunks of cars up and down Florida’s Atlantic coast during the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, had its premiere in Jupiter on Oct. 25. The film is now available on DVD and to rent or purchase on Amazon Prime. Known today as the Florida Highwaymen – actually, 25 men and one woman – the artists represent one of America’s last and most interesting artistic movements. Led by Alfred Hair and

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Port St. Lucie officials announced they would welcome a professional soccer team and a 5.92-acre, 6,000-seat stadium to start operations by 2027. The United Soccer League (USL) awarded the city its latest franchise, the Port St. Lucie Sports Club for both men’s and women’s teams, in the latest investment for the eastern City Center, the City Council announced in an Oct. 13 press conference. Joint capital investments between two holding companies – collectively referred to as Ebenezer – and the city may total approximately “$80 million,” according to city Community Redevelopment Agency director Jennifer Davis. The city first received the

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Residents along Johnston Road in rural St. Lucie continued to disagree with the rezoning of a neighboring plat at the Oct. 7 County Commission meeting. The Board of County Commissioners voted 5-0 to rezone a 41.23-acre agricultural plat at the 2098 block of Johnston Road. The land is in the unincorporated county between Kings Highway, Angle Road, the L-20 canal and Interstate 95. Representatives of the District Planning Group presented schematics that evening for a 74-home community after downsizing it from the 82 homes presented at the Aug. 5 meeting, county records show. The community, if built out, is projected

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The three candidates who qualified to run in the Fort Pierce City Commission special election are busy on the campaign trail, hoping to fill the seat that came open with the resignation of disgraced former commissioner James Taylor. District 2 residents Donna Benton, Chris Dzadovsky and Jaimebeth Galinis are vying to fill the three-year balance of Taylor’s four-year term. The primary for the Commission District 2, Seat 2 position is set for Nov. 4, at normal voting precincts. But early voting begins this Saturday Oct. 25 for all District 2 voters, who are the only ones in the city that

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The residents of Spanish Lakes gathered Oct. 9 to mourn fallen neighbors a year after a devastating tornado swept through Lakewood Park in northern St. Lucie. At least 150 residents of the mobile home community near the Indian River County line witnessed the unveiling of a plaque dedicated to six fellow retirees. They all died when a historic tornado struck the community hours before Hurricane Milton made landfall in Tampa Oct. 9, 2024. The six victims enshrined are Alejandro Alonso, 66; Debbie Kennedy, 66; Mary Viramontez, 70; William Cutlip, 82; Sandra MacDonald, 84; and Roger Ammon, 85. They lived along

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Concerns about parking dominated discussion at last month’s Fort Pierce Redevelopment Agency (FPPA) meeting as conceptual plans for Marina Park were unveiled. The 6 acres of publicly owned property located between Avenue A (Marina Way) and Orange Avenue is home to the popular Downtown Farmers Market and contains 175 parking spots. The project is part of the November 2022 Downtown Master Plan with phase 1 of the plan to transform Marina Square into Marina Park. Proposals for the site include a market plaza, a playground with a splashpad, an events lawn, dog park, waterfront promenade and the controversial loss of

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