News

By Charles Elmore

Health agencies in Palm Beach County will receive 9,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses during the first week of February, an agency chief said, a sign of change after outcry about overwhelming reliance on Publix to distribute doses locally.

By Mary Thurwachter

With availability of vaccines for many in the area not expected until spring, Lantana has changed the date of its Centennial Celebration from April 24 to July Fourth.
The decision came during the Dec. 14 Town Council meeting at th

By Dan Moffett

South Palm Beach has postponed its Dec. 8 council meeting and restricted access to town hall after a town employee tested positive for COVID-19 this week.

Mayor Bonnie Fischer said the building is being sanitized and no rescheduling da

Vaccines, cabin fever offer hope for gloomy tourism forecast

The Renzi family shops for souvenirs at Beach Planet in Delray Beach. (l-r) Joe; Stacy; Mia, 8; and Ari,10, live in Chicago but came to Florida for a week to celebrate Thanksgiving with fri

By Dan Moffett

The Briny Breezes Town Council wants to set up a COVID-19 vaccination pod, so that when vaccines become available, the town can deliver them quickly and efficiently to residents.
But like so many things in 2020, even the good ideas com

Mayor Bonnie Fischer wears the model of mask selected for distribution to residents. A secure fit and easy breathing fabric make it her favorite.
The ones given to residents will have the town seal.
Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Dan Moffett

The Sou

South Palm Beach holds an in-person Town Council meeting late last month, but with social distancing measures in place and a thermometer to screen attendees. The town also has allowed residents and council members to attend via phone. Jerry Lower/The

By Rich Pollack

After months of meeting virtually, municipal government leaders throughout south Palm Beach County are about to take their seats on a dais — but they won’t be getting too close.
Gov. Ron DeSantis’ decision to end an order that allowed

Jody Sorrels stands amid dance props at her shuttered studio in Boynton Beach. She hopes to teach somewhere else.

By Mary Hladky

When Jody Sorrels closed her Boynton Beach dance studio on March 17 because of the coronavirus pandemic, she expected to

By Mary Hladky

The city has received additional money that it is making available to residents who have fallen behind on their mortgage or rent because of COVID-19.
The state allocated the city $230,285 that it received through the federal CARES Act i

By Rich Pollack

Municipalities in southern Palm Beach County that are holding virtual meetings can continue to do so for another 30 days, but officials should be prepared to convene in person come Nov. 1.

An executive order signed by Gov. Ron DeSanti

There are no high-fives in Julie O’Brien’s kindergarten class at St. Vincent Ferrer School. Ditto for circle time and close encounters.
Students, teachers and staff don masks, classes are smaller and there’s social distancing — not the easiest concep

The Rev. D. Brian Horgan of St. Lucy Catholic Church in Highland Beach has been on the front lines of war before as a chaplain in the Air Force early in his pastoral career. Now, with COVID-19, he feels like he’s in a war again.
The pandemic has chan

COVID-19 is far from done with Palm Beach County, but emergency room physician Dr. Bill Benda is less stressed than he was early on in the pandemic.
Doctors knew very little about the novel coronavirus or how to treat it in March. But the county’s sta

The threat of COVID-19 is always on Kevin Saxton’s mind, but the Delray Beach Fire Rescue battalion chief won’t let the highly contagious disease prevent him from fully serving the community.
“It’s something I think about all the time,” says Saxton, w

Sue Brown has undoubtedly encountered nearly every challenge in the restaurant business.
But COVID-19 was a game changer. Brown, the general manager of Oceano Kitchen in Lantana, had a lot more to worry about than inventory when the eatery had to halt

During the 20 years that Valerie Jacoby has been behind the counter of the Highland Beach Community Post Office, she’s gotten to know many of the residents.
Over the years, folks would come into the small-contract postal station, established in 1964