Stet NewsGood morning, Stetters! Today we bring you ancient news from the Loxahatchee Slough; a thoroughly modern fire station; a pension mystery; and a month of restaurant deals.Plus, confirmation that the newsletter on your screen is one of the best money can’t buy.
Unearthing ancient Palm Beach County
They’re digging through layers of rock once thought impenetrable in the protected, county-owned Loxahatchee Slough Natural Area and unearthing scientific treasures older than the pyramids in Egypt.
Why it matters: The trove of roughly 250,000 artifacts may be as monetarily worthless as modern-day trash, but it offers archaeological proof that human beings have been calling the area west of modern-day Palm Beach Gardens home for more than 5,000 years.
Catch up quick: The county’s Environmental Resources Management Department is documenting the work in a series of videos. The first came out in May, the second last month, and the third is planned for next year.
What they’re saying: “In academia, there is the notion that nobody or very few people lived in South Florida before 2,000 years ago. We now know that is incorrect,” County Archaeologist Christian Davenport said.
Zoom in: Inspiration for the project came from a discovery 20 years ago by Margo Schwadron, a National Park Service archaeologist. She sawed through rock once viewed as an obstacle to further study and found it contained ancient artifacts 2,000 to 3,000 years older than deposits found above it.
- Using a concrete saw, the ERM team cuts through the caprock and chips away at small sections, unearthing ancient tools made from animal bones and teeth, charcoal, fiber-tempered pottery shards and other evidence of human habitation.
Of note: The newly discovered site isn’t believed to be as old as a midden found near the Jupiter Lighthouse. But both sites prove that people were living in the inland Palm Beaches as far back as the Late Archaic Period (3,000 to 500 years BC).
- That’s when ancient Native Americans transitioned from highly nomadic hunting groups to living in permanent settlements.
Read more about the finds and see photos at StetNews.org.
See ERM’s first video here
See ERM’s second video here
— Joe Capozzi
🚒 Singer Island fire station goes modern
Riviera Beach’s City Council has approved a $400,000 redesign for a fire station already under construction on Singer Island.
Driving the news: At an Aug. 19 meeting, City Engineer Terrence Bailey presented the proposal to modify Fire Station 86’s planned Key West structure to a modern design.
Feedback from nearly 15 Singer Island civic associations and condominium boards supports the redesign, Vice Chair Glen Spiritis, who represents the island, told the council.
What they’re saying: ”It was unanimous that they wanted the more modern look,” he said, because it’s more consistent with the community’s character. “You’d be hard-pressed to find anything that’s Key West in design on Singer Island.”
The latest: The new station is rising at the site of the old Fire Station 86 at 5010 N. Ocean Drive toward the northern end of Singer Island.
By the numbers: The $400,000 covers the new design and putting the words “Singer Island” on a water tank next to the $19.7 million fire station. The project’s contingency fund will cover the cost.
Zoom in: Under the original design, columns support the building’s roof line, Bailey told the council. The modern design requires a deeper structural beam to support the roof. Moving that load from the roof to the slab requires a structural redesign, he said.
- The Key West design also called for a sloped roof with vertical supports near the garage bays. The modern design features a cantilever roof that floats over the garage. “That cantilever is a very heavy structural element that has to support its own weight,” Bailey said.
Keep reading to find out about the council’s discussion before the vote at StetNews.org.
Who wrote this story: This story was reported by Community Voices writers Mikala Graham and Micaja Etienne.
What is CV: Community Voices is a partnership between Stet News and Inlet Grove High School that trains and pays teens to cover the news. The Pew Family Fund and the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties generously support Community Voices.
Inlet Grove journalism teacher C.B. Hanif and Stet’s Carolyn DiPaolo contributed to this story.
🪄 Lake Park’s disappearing pension
For five months last year, Lake Park town workers couldn’t find information about their pension accounts.
Catch up quick: The town promised but failed to move its workers’ retirement savings into the Florida Retirement System. It took complaints from a whistleblower to resolve the problem. But why it happened in the first place is clouded in mystery.
Why it matters: As skeptical residents face a measure on the November ballot that could severely limit local government spending, how Lake Park lost its workers’ pension payments for five months bears scrutiny.
Zoom in: A review of emails and other documents gathered by a whistleblower and a former assistant town manager show the breakdown came about because of a failure to communicate.
- The finance director and the assistant town manager received the same email to submit the final four documents to FRS to complete the transfer. The email came in April and again in June. Neither official submitted the documents.
What they’re saying: The finance director “has always served as the administrator of the town’s retirement plans,” the former assistant town manager, Bambi McKibbon-Turner, wrote to town commissioners in November.
- McKibbon-Turner, a 24-year employee who had served as interim town manager, had resigned on July 31 at age 78.
“I was notified that the one person that was responsible and directed by me to take on the responsibility of filling out the paperwork and completing the entire process did not complete the paperwork,” Town Manager Rich Reade told commissioners, referring to McKibbon-Turner.
But in the months since this played out, Reade said he doesn’t want to point fingers at his administrators.
“If you want to point out who made the mistake? It’s me,” he said. “Even though I didn’t know about it, I take responsibility that this happened under my watch.”
What’s next: Workers await actuarial reports to allow the town to fully reimburse them for lost pension earnings.
- The Palm Beach County Inspector General’s Office has been investigating since November. A report could come out at any time.
Read more about a small town’s troubles shifting to a new pension system at StetNews.org.
— Joel Engelhardt
☀️ Stet’s newsletter shines brightest
Stet News produces the best digital newsletter in Florida, as judged by the state’s oldest and largest contest recognizing excellence in journalism.
Driving the news: Last year, the Society of Professional Journalists’ Sunshine State Awards picked Stet’s newsletter as a finalist. This year Stet’s newsletter took first place.
- Stet also won best newsletter in this year’s Florida Press Club awards.
Why it matters: The free weekly newsletter is our conversation with you, part of the growing Stet community. It would not be possible without the readership and financial support of Stetters.
Zoom in: For the top honor, Stet entered three of its weekly newsletters that complement the StetNews.org website.
- Each newsletter covered at least five topics and included the firing of a Palm Beach Post editorial page editor over a cartoon deemed to be antisemitic; severe cuts that threatened the existence of TriRail; and the report in November after Stet’s Jan Norris and Joel Engelhardt led a team to shop at 19 area grocery stores to find the best Thanksgiving dinner deals.
Stet News earned finalist honors in four other categories: best independent website, coverage of underrepresented communities, crime and courts and community news.
Zoom out: This year’s contest drew more than 1,000 entries from nearly every major news operation in the state, including the Miami Herald, the Tampa Bay Times, The Palm Beach Post and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. A list of winners and finalists is here.
Keep reading to see the Stet finalists at StetNews.org.
— Carolyn DiPaolo
🍊 The Juice
⚖️ A state grand jury found the DeSantis administration “misappropriated” taxpayer money when it diverted $10 million from a Medicaid settlement into the Hope Florida Foundation, arguing the transfer was “part of a sophisticated scheme to fund political activities,” a sealed grand jury report shows. (CBS News Miami)
- Take a deep dive into the grand jury’s findings. (Seeking Rents)
✈️ Palm Beach County is working with the state to obtain an additional $2.75 million for its $5.5 million airport upgrade tied to its renaming after President Donald Trump. Florida legislators granted only half the money. (Sun-Sentinel $$$)
🗳️ Mike Caruso’s name will remain on the Nov. 3 ballot for Palm Beach County clerk and comptroller. If he withdraws because of his arrest on sex abuse charges involving a child, Republicans can select a replacement so that a vote for Caruso would be a vote for the replacement. Democrat Yvette Drucker opposes Caruso. (Sun-Sentinel $$$)
🚰 West Palm Beach is moving to build a water desalination plant and about 11 wells that would provide an estimated 10 million gallons of water a day. Most of the estimated $350 million to $750 million cost would be paid by higher water rates for the city’s utility customers. (The Palm Beach Post $$$)
🚌 Palm Beach County saw a nearly 7,000-student drop in traditional and charter school enrollment at the start of this school year, more than double what district officials had predicted. (Sun-Sentinel $$$)
💰 Three buildings owned by Subculture Group’s Rodney Mayo face foreclosure over a $4.89 million loan issued in May 2024. One building, at 526 Clematis St., houses the Lost Weekend bar. Two warehouse buildings on West Palm Beach’s south end at 3615 Henry Ave. house a dog rescue operation. The suit filed by BEB Credit Opportunity Fund came after the lender released a bar at 114 S. Narcissus Ave. in West Palm from the loan to allow its sale for $3 million. The suit said Mayo, who did not return a message from the reporter, owes $2.89 million. (South Florida Business Journal $$$)
- Mayo has launched new restaurant concepts, reimagined existing ones and expanded his footprint in Palm Beach County with the addition of Man Ray in Lake Worth Beach. (The Palm Beach Post $$$)
⛔️ Two of seven finalists for Lake Worth Beach city manager withdrew after questionable actions by city commissioners. Interim City Manager Troy Perry backed out after Commissioner Anthony Segrich tried to derail his candidacy. Ross Herzog, a Colorado county manager who ranked first last week, dropped out after the commission, at the urging of Vice Mayor Mimi May, added Perry as a finalist. (Lake Worth Beach Independent)
🎓 A report from Day 1 at Vanderbilt University’s New York campus. The Chelsea property is the first satellite opening as part of an expansion helmed by business-savvy Chancellor Daniel Diermeier, who raised $3 billion in donations, changed the school’s motto to “Dare to Grow,” and hired the first chancellor focused on real estate. (New York magazine $$$)
🏡 Rudy Tinker, the Democratic runner-up in the Palm Beach County Commission District 6 primary, sued the winner, Katherine Waldron, over her residency. But even records submitted in the lawsuit by Tinker show that she lived in Wellington when she qualified to run in June. (WPTV Channel 25)
? Urban Design Studio and Arquitectonica submitted a pre-application request for a 25-story workforce housing and condo development under the Live Local Act at 215 Fifth Street, just north of the Northbridge building in downtown West Palm Beach. The developer behind the project hasn’t been identified, but the property owner is tied to Palm Beach real estate mogul Burt Handelsman, who died in 2023. (The Real Deal)
🥪 A historic Palm Beach estate, known as the Ham and Cheese House because of its alternating coral and brick exterior, is coming on the market for $105 million. Officially named Casa Eleda, the house was designed around 1928 by architect Maurice Fatio for banker Mortimer Schiff and his wife, Adele. (Palm Beach Daily News $$$)
🎧 “Top of Mind Florida,” the podcast by Michael Williams and Brian Crowley, breaks down Amendment 3’s effects with former Palm Beach County Commissioner Melissa McKinlay. The conversation also touches on Byron Donalds vs. David Jolly for governor, Angie Nixon’s U.S. Senate run and congressional redistricting. (Listen now; watch after 4 pm today.)
561NSIDER:🍴 Deals for high-end dining
Just when the wallets of local diners are worn down to the leather, relief comes in the form of Flavor South Florida.
The dining event promoting restaurant deals at more than 100 restaurants — many high-end — in Palm Beach and Martin counties returns today and runs through September.
Prices range from $44 to $87 per person for a three-course dinner and $30 to $55 for three-course lunches.
Cuisines featured are international and American: Mediterranean, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Greek, and chophouses, grills and seafood restaurants.
Why it matters: September is a slow month for restaurateurs, and the Flavor event gives them a much-needed boost.
- Many deals are for high-tier restaurants that diners might not otherwise frequent and include appetizers or desserts that some diners skip.
Where can I go? Diners can eat at award-winning restaurants and with chefs who’ve also earned accolades.
- Dine with chef Jeremy Ford at PGA National’s The Butcher’s Club, and you’re dining with a Michelin-starred chef.
- Try Ela Curry Kitchen in Palm Beach Gardens — it’s a Michelin-recommended restaurant.
- New restaurants include Eddie V’s Prime Seafood, which opened this year in Palm Beach Gardens, and the mod-American Man Ray from the Subculture Group in Lake Worth Beach.
- Established favorites in Palm Beach Gardens, such as the Capital Grille, Cafe Chardonnay and La Masseria as well as Aquasan in Juno Beach, offer Flavor menus.
How does this work? Diners can search the Flavor website to find participating restaurants, view menus and make reservations. A filter allows searchers to find restaurants by location, cuisine or view the menus offered.
For a list of north and central Palm Beach County restaurants, go to StetNews.org.
— Jan Norris
And finally
August 2026 marks our highest month for web traffic since our launch in February 2023. Thank you for making Stet News part of your day.
