FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) – A now-former St. Lucie County teacher was arrested after a cellphone video showed her hitting a 6th-grade student with what appeared to be part of a broomstick. It happened at Forest Grove Middle School last week. The student’s mother, Joselyn Destine, said her 12-year-old son had some sort of disagreement with the teacher, 49-year-old Cyntyche Darling-Lundy, and she struck him. Destine said she called the sheriff’s office after she heard what happened and then saw the video. Darling-Lundy has been charged with child abuse. The St. Lucie County Public School Distri ..read more

FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami/AP) – A man reportedly shot and killed two people, and two dogs, inside a Port St. Lucie home before turning the gun on himself. A roommate returned to the Port St. Lucie home Sunday night and discovered the dead people, according to Port St. Lucie police. The roommate left the house and called 911. Officers responded and found three people and two pets dead from apparent gunshot wounds. Investigators didn’t immediately identify the deceased people. Officials said a 52-year-old man shot and killed a 33-year-old man, a 53-year-old woman and the two dogs and then shot a ..read more

PORT ST. LUCIE (CBSMiami) – Police have arrested a June bride after she admitted to charging her Seminole Hard Rock Casino wedding to her employers’ credit cards. According to the South Florida Sun Sentinel, La Reese Michelle Darville, 31, was jailed on fraud and grand theft charges Monday. Police say she charged the wedding’s $50,000 bills to credit cards in the names of her bosses, including her father. Police were tipped to the crime by one of the owners of Partners III Pawn Shop in Port St. Lucie who got notices about late payments on a credit card the company had not used for two years. O ..read more

PORT ST. LUCIE (CBSMiami/AP) — A pilot from Davie was killed when his small plane crash near the Treasure Coast Airpark in Port St. Lucie. . Deputies from the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office were called to the scene of the crash Sunday at 9 a.m. The single-seat, single-engine aircraft built from a kit crashed nose down near the entrance of the private Port St. Lucie airport. The pilot, 62-year-old John Schoonover, was killed on impact. No information on the cause of the crash was immediately available. (TM and © Copyright 2013 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE L ..read more

PORT ST. LUCIE (CBSMiami/AP) — A lightning sparked wildfire scorched 200-acres of brush and damaged four homes in Port St. Lucie. An investigation found that Sunday’s fire started when lightning struck a tree in thick woods at St. Lucie County International Airport. As of Tuesday, the fire was 90 percent contained. Fire officials note that lower humidity and higher winds may cause more flame activity, and there is also concern with additional lightning strikes that can smolder for days unnoticed. Some residents evacuated the area and a preliminary assessment shows four homes were damaged in th ..read more

PORT ST. LUCIE (CBSMiami/AP) – Some Port St. Lucie residents were forced to leave their homes due to a rapidly growing wildfire. The fire, which started at St. Lucie County International Airport, has already burned more than 30 acres. Officials shut down Indrio Road late Sunday afternoon as wind gusts of more than 30 miles per hour fanned the flames. St. Lucie County Sheriff’s officials are evacuating homes off Indrio Road, west of US-1. Florida Forest Service specialist Melissa Yunas said homes in the Heatherway Community were being threatened and reported minor damage to some homes. She said ..read more

MIAMI(CBS4) – A man who police said shot three people in a rampage in Miami on Sunday is being held without bond after his arrest in Port St. Lucie. It happens one day after his mother, Mattie Walton, made an appeal for her 23-year-old son Erin Cash to turn himself in; and she is telling CBS4’s Peter D’Oench that she is relieved that her son was arrested without incident. “I feel relieved. I feel very relieved,” said Walton. “I would rather see him doing time than being six feet under. I’m very glad they got him. I feel bad for the people who were wounded and who we shot at. I didn’t raise my ..read more

MIAMI (CBS4) – New information has been released in the kidnapping of a South Florida mother whose baby was found dead in the trunk of a car. In a 911 call to police the caller is heard naming the suspect. A Port St. Lucie gas station attendant obtained information from the three adult victims and then passed it along to the dispatcher. The caller mentions “something about a baby”, not knowing that baby would be found dead the very next day. “People crying and yelling, yeah,” the caller said as he listened to the victims tell him what happened. “Something about a baby too.” In the recording, y ..read more

PORT ST. LUCIE (CBSMiami) – Memorial Day festivities in Port St. Lucie were disrupted when a weak twister touched down near the Lyngate Park neighborhood. The tornado’s winds were estimated between 65 and 85 mph, according to the National Weather Service. A home at the 1900 block of Southeast Millbrook caught the worst of the damages in the neighborhood. The roof was ripped from the home. Tom and Libby Petrillo rent the home to their adult children who were not there at the time. Libby Petrillo said when they got to their roofless home dozens of police and fire officials were there inspecting ..read more

PORT ST. LUCIE (CBSMiami) – Florida Power and Light, which is seeking permission to expand it’s Turkey Point nuclear power plant in South Miami-Dade, is getting increased federal oversight of it’s Jensen Beach plant near Port St. Lucie after the plant experienced a series of unplanned shutdowns. In making the announcement Monday, The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said the Jensen Beach plant “continues to operate safely” but the shutdowns “point to performance issues” that need to be addressed. The NRC’s oversight of nuclear power plants is governed by a four-level color-coded system with green ..read more