May 06, 2026
Resident Louise Geiser donates 13 parcels across three sites, including land once eyed for a massive storage facility
Louise Geiser looked at 15 acres of Martin County scrubland, creek buffer, and residential greenspace — and decided no storage warehouse, no subdivision, no strip of concrete was going to swallow it.
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May 07, 2026
Louise Geiser's 13-parcel donation expands Hobe Sound Scrub Preserve and sets a new template for private conservation giving
Louise Geiser didn't inherit the land. She bought it — parcel by parcel, over the course of a year — specifically so she could give it away.
The Martin County Board of County Commissioners voted unan...
May 07, 2026
TLC Vero Beach Classical School's plan for 1,194 students on 53 acres draws sharp opposition from rural neighbors
Jim Moran has lived south of Oslo Road for nearly 50 years. On Tuesday, he stood before the Indian River County Commission and told them nobody in his neighborhood wants a football stadium built next ...
May 12, 2026
A Special Session bill would expand rail tax credits to benefit only Brightline — even as auditors warn the company may not survive
Florida legislators are moving to hand Brightline an $800,000 tax break during a Special Session this week, even as the private passenger railroad's own financial filings warn there is "substantial do...
May 12, 2026
HB 7031-E, before lawmakers in a Special Session, would carve out $39M in annual breaks for Space Florida tenants — with counties bearing most of the loss
A House tax bill moving through Florida's Special Session this week would strip $76.6 million in recurring revenue from local governments statewide, funneling the savings instead to aerospace and defe...
May 12, 2026
Shawn Frost says he won't run against incumbent Robert Brackett — but is first to plant a flag if the Vero Beach lawmaker moves to Congress
Shawn Frost, a 50-year Indian River County resident, Marine Corps veteran and conservative education advocate, is publicly weighing a run for Florida House District 34 — becoming the first Republican ...
May 12, 2026
A federal grant for Jensen Beach school sidewalks survived a rescission attempt — but the debate over who owns the neighborhood exposed a deeper tension in county planning.
A federal grant that would put sidewalks along two streets near Jensen Beach Elementary School nearly died Tuesday in the Martin County Metropolitan Planning Organization boardroom — killed not by tra...
May 13, 2026
Justin Story, a retired Marine and commercial pilot, qualified for the 2026 congressional ballot by signature — a feat that signals early campaign infrastructure in a district that includes Indian River County.
A St. Cloud-based commercial pilot and retired Marine Corps officer has become the first candidate in Florida's 9th Congressional District to qualify for the 2026 ballot by petition, collecting enough...
May 13, 2026
Three lawsuits targeting DeSantis-designed congressional map could be merged; Treasure Coast districts among those at stake if courts intervene before midterms
A Leon County judge moved Tuesday to potentially merge three separate legal challenges to Florida's new congressional map, setting the stage for a Friday hearing that could freeze the cartography befo...
May 14, 2026
Board sidesteps Jensen Beach sidewalk fight, debates age limits and helmet rules as sheriff reports daily complaints
The Martin County Metropolitan Planning Organization approved a five-year, $300 million transportation blueprint Tuesday — but complaints about reckless e-bike riders, not road funding, consumed the s...
