Mar 15, 2026
The Florida House approved HB 991 on a 77-28 party-line vote, sending the measure backed by Sen. Erin Grall to Gov. Ron DeSantis, with new rules affecting Treasure Coast voters starting in 2027.
A voter identification bill with ties to the Treasure Coast is headed to Gov. Ron DeSantis after the Florida House passed the measure Thursday. Its new requirements would not affect any election until...
Mar 18, 2026
Cracked sidewalks and vacant storefronts in the Treasure Coast gem expose a neglect that demands immediate city investment and action.
Opinion | TC Sentinel Editorial Board
A picture is worth a thousand words, but the photographs circulating of Vero Beach's downtown corridor require only one: neglect.
Cracked sidewalks. Vacant stor...
Mar 19, 2026
Residents from Vero Beach to Fort Pierce share urgent concerns about eroding community values in heartfelt submissions to the TC Sentinel.
Opinion | TC Sentinel Editorial Board
Three letters landed on our desk this week that, taken together, tell us something important about this moment on the Treasure Coast. They come from different ci...
Mar 20, 2026
By halting SB 482, legislators prevented mandates on AI platforms that could hinder jobs and innovation in Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River counties.
Opinion | TC Sentinel Editorial Board
Florida's 2025 legislative session quietly produced one of the more consequential near-misses in recent state policy history. Senate Bill 482, the so-called AI B...
Mar 22, 2026
As Florida's term-limited governor exits office, his Arizona State speech urges Tallahassee leaders to prioritize real governance in Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River counties.
Opinion | TC Sentinel Editorial Board
Gov. Ron DeSantis will leave office at the end of this year under Florida's two-term limit — a constitutional provision codified in Article VI, Section 4, that v...
Mar 26, 2026
With dozens of new residential and mixed-use projects flooding unincorporated areas, residents demand a full accounting of the accelerating growth's costs.
Opinion | TC Sentinel Editorial Board
The numbers are not subtle. Indian River County's unincorporated areas surrounding Vero Beach have seen a measurable surge in development applications in recent ...
Mar 27, 2026
Officials must set concrete thresholds for traffic, schools and water before greenlighting more projects straining Vero Beach suburbs along State Road 60 and Oslo Road.
Opinion | TC Sentinel Editorial Board
Indian River County has approved more than 3,400 new residential units in unincorporated areas since 2020, according to county planning records. The development ...
Mar 28, 2026
As Women's History Month spotlights influential figures, local leaders in Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River counties push for sustained recognition of women's ongoing roles in shaping land use and environmental policies.
Opinion | TC Sentinel Editorial Board
March is Women's History Month, and across Florida, institutions are publishing their lists of influential women who shaped the state. We have no quarrel with th...
Mar 29, 2026
As Martin County's population swells to 165,000, local leaders must fund photographers and videographers to capture the region's real stories and foster community understanding.
Opinion | TC Sentinel Editorial Board
There is a particular kind of knowing that only comes from a photograph — or a video, or a carefully composed documentary frame — that no data table or zoning re...
Mar 30, 2026
Residents from Stuart to Vero Beach turned out in force, demanding accountability and prompting calls for local leaders to respond seriously.
Opinion | TC Sentinel Editorial Board
Thousands of Treasure Coast residents did not stay home.
That is the fact that should anchor every conversation that follows. Rallies held under the banner of "...
Apr 01, 2026
Joseph Catrambone's LinkedIn remark sparked backlash in Stuart, prompting a board discussion but falling short of restoring community trust, the TC Sentinel argues.
Opinion | TC Sentinel Editorial Board
The Stuart-Martin County Chamber of Commerce exists to serve every business owner and entrepreneur on this end of the Treasure Coast — Democrat, Republican, inde...
Apr 01, 2026
Martin and St. Lucie officials must reveal funding, traffic impacts and cost burdens before committing public resources to proposed rail stops.
Opinion | TC Sentinel Editorial Board
Brightline's private passenger rail corridor has been operating between Miami and Orlando since 2023, and the company has made no secret of its ambitions to exte...
Apr 02, 2026
A local physician's suggestion to screen migrants for drugs stigmatizes the region's vital agricultural workforce, demanding a vocal community response.
Opinion | TC Sentinel Editorial Board
A Florida physician is drawing sharp criticism after reportedly suggesting that migrants should be subjected to drug testing — comments that, whatever their inte...
Apr 03, 2026
Legally blind Janie Desir, raising an autistic son in Indian River County, creates free early learning tools to bridge gaps in disability education.
# Opinion | TC Sentinel Editorial Board
Janie Desir didn't set out to become an advocate. She set out to find a counting book in Braille for her child.
That search — frustrated, unproductive, and ul...
Apr 04, 2026
As hyper-scheduled travel skips the bizarre attractions from Everglades ditches to local county roads, Floridians risk losing the state's unplanned magic.
# Opinion | TC Sentinel Editorial Board
There is a particular kind of forgetting that happens when we optimize everything. We choose the fastest route, the highest-rated restaurant, the most-reviewed...
Apr 06, 2026
City leaders must decide if approving the rezoning will preserve Sebastian's quiet, fishing-community charm or spur unsustainable growth in northern Indian River County.
Opinion | TC Sentinel Editorial Board
Sebastian is a city that has always prided itself on knowing what it is — a quiet, water-adjacent community on the northern edge of Indian River County where the...
Apr 09, 2026
The Democratic challenger's campaign poll claims Sen. Ashley Moody leads 43-40 with 17% undecided, but flawed methodology distorts the true Florida Senate race picture for local residents.
# Opinion | TC Sentinel Editorial Board
Numbers have a way of traveling faster than context. A poll drops, a campaign issues a memo, and within hours the topline figure — stripped of its footnotes an...
Apr 11, 2026
With 21,000 unsolved murders statewide and no state budget resolution before April 20, Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River counties face real local fallout from lawmakers' decisions.
Opinion | TC Sentinel Editorial Board
The week in Tallahassee was crowded — a NASA splashdown, a congressional ethics reckoning, a gubernatorial candidate tangled in allegations of manufactured onlin...
Apr 12, 2026
Senate Bill 302 requires natural barriers that could transform protections for the Indian River Lagoon and the region's storm-battered coastline.
Opinion | TC Sentinel Editorial Board
Set aside, for a moment, everything the Florida Legislature failed to do this session — the affordability crisis left to fester, the sprawl-enabling bills signed...
Apr 12, 2026
Senate Bill 302 requires state guidelines for mangroves, seagrass and reefs, delivering a key win for Treasure Coast's coastal economy amid Tallahassee's environmental setbacks.
Opinion | TC Sentinel Editorial Board
In a legislative session that environmental advocates are calling an "almost total disaster," Tallahassee managed to do one thing that matters enormously to the ...
Apr 19, 2026
Migratory flocks along the Atlantic Flyway enrich Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River counties, calling on locals to safeguard irreplaceable coastal wildlife beyond mere admiration.
Opinion | TC Sentinel Editorial Board
There is a moment — and anyone who has spent a quiet morning at Savannas Preserve State Park or along the Indian River Lagoon knows it — when a great blue heron ...
Apr 19, 2026
A local man's defiant birthday gift to his dementia-stricken wife in a group home underscores why love persists when memories fail in Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River counties.
Opinion | TC Sentinel Editorial Board
He stood outside a clothing store and nearly talked himself out of it.
His wife has dementia. She lives in a group home. She no longer wears earrings, no longer...
Apr 20, 2026
While the 2026 honor roll celebrates executives and leaders in energy, government and healthcare, Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River counties question who truly benefits from the recognition.
# Opinion | TC Sentinel Editorial Board
Every year, a roster of accomplished Floridians gets its moment in the sun — executives, attorneys, public servants, energy professionals — celebrated for care...
Apr 21, 2026
Rising passenger traffic at Witham Field in Stuart and Vero Beach Regional drives investments, demanding focus over ideological fights in Martin and Indian River counties.
Opinion | TC Sentinel Editorial Board
Something real and consequential is happening at our regional airports — and it deserves a serious conversation, not a sideshow.
Passenger activity and charter ...
Apr 23, 2026
A NetChoice-commissioned survey by Echelon Insights raises methodology concerns that Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River county voters should heed before drawing conclusions.
# Opinion | TC Sentinel Editorial Board
It's a presidential-cycle ritual as familiar as humidity in August: the polls start dropping, the campaigns start spinning, and voters start making assumptions...
May 03, 2026
Tens of thousands of migrating birds like roseate spoonbills and ospreys soar over Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River counties each year, but these vital routes face persistent pressures demanding urgent protection.
# Opinion | TC Sentinel Editorial Board
Every autumn and spring, something extraordinary happens above the Treasure Coast that most of us drive beneath without a second glance. Tens of thousands of b...
May 04, 2026
As the nation marks 250 years, the Treasure Coast's courts face a funding gap that threatens the constitutional right to trial by jury
Opinion | TC Sentinel Editorial Board
Think about the last time a jury summons arrived in your mailbox. Maybe you groaned. Maybe you quietly hoped for a scheduling conflict. Most of us have been ther...
