Children’s Home Society Holiday Toy Drive

Low beach attendance for January; no water rescues

VERO BEACH — While chilly temperatures caused a drop in beach attendance last month, lifeguards are happy to report that there were no water rescues that occurred in January. "It's a great thing," Vero Beach Lifeguard Association officials said in a statement. "We hope people are paying attention to lifeguards and condition signs before they go into the water." The Vero Beach Lifeguard Association recently released its monthly report for the beaches at Jaycee Park, Humiston Park and South Beach Park. Lifeguards said about 54,105 beachgoers flocked to the shore in January. The highest beach-attendance record of 65,700 was set in 2019 for Vero Beach, lifeguards said. The record low for beach attendance was set in 2016 with 36,000 people, ...

Santa visits students at GYAC

GIFFORD — In the days leading up to Christmas, the jolly Saint Nicholas cleared up his busy schedule of gift giving to make sure students at a youth center received presents on their wish list. Saint Nicholas, better known as Santa Claus, visited youth last Thursday afternoon at Gifford Youth Achievement Center. The man in the traditional red and white outfit with a white beard was GYAC staff member Lebon Nicholas, happily providing each student with a gift. The students sung Christmas carols inside the gymnasium and the youth orchestra performed classic holiday tunes. The orchestra did a combined performance as well as solo performances, staff members said. The GYAC, a center that offers an after school program focused on ...

Man shot after charging at deputy with small sword

INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — A 29-year-old man who was shot by a deputy after charging at the officer with a small sword, was hospitalized late Friday, officials said. The unidentified man was taken by ambulance to Lawnwood Regional Medical Center & Heart Institute in Fort Pierce, Indian River County sheriff's spokesman Maj. Eric Flowers said. The deputy who fired the shot was not injured. The deputy was placed on paid administrative leave, which is protocol for police-involved shootings. Neither the deputy's name nor the man's name were released Friday. The incident unfolded about 7 p.m. Friday after deputies received a series of calls about a disturbance at a home at 12th Street Southwest and 35th Avenue Southwest in the Grovenor ...