Pinwheels for Prevention to focus on child abuse prevention

County announces beach closures ahead of beach restoration project

At least two beaches will be closed starting this weekend ahead of the beach restoration project, which will start back up next week, county officials said. The project aims to restore sand - which had been washed away by storms and hurricanes over the years - at the beaches. Beach park access at Seagrape Trail Beach Access and Treasure Shores Park Beach will both close starting Friday, county officials said. Seagrape Trail Beach is located south of Wabasso Beach, off Highway A1A. Treasure Shores Park Beach is located north of Wabasso Beach. Construction at Treasure Shores Park Beach - which will start Nov. 1 - was expected to last for 45 days. Crews will finish dumping 30,000 cubic yards of ...

Couple charged with manslaughter in death of 76-year-old woman

INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — A husband and wife were charged with manslaughter after refusing to get treatment for a 76-year-old woman with a broken right arm and infections throughout her body, deputies said. Deputies said Yannie Adelia Lund, 58, and Brandon Chad Blanchard, 39, both of Woodland Drive, Vero Beach, were the woman's caregivers. The unidentified woman, who died Feb. 6, was Blanchard's mother, reports show. Medical examiners noted a number of factors that led to the woman's death, including the injury to her right arm with complications, a blood infection, infected bed sores and hypertensive atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, reports show. Medical examiners listed the woman's manner of death as a homicide, deputies said. Deputies charged Lund and Blanchard each ...

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, ...