Top news in 2016

This is Paul Janensch with a Treasure Coast Essay about the top two news stories on the Treasure Coast in 2016.  First the bad news.  Toxic blue-green algae covered our waters for months.  Beaches had to close.  Marine life was killed.  Polluted fresh-water discharges from Lake Okeechobee into the St. Lucie River were to blame.  The algae spread to the Indian River Lagoon and the ocean.  Now the good news – at least for Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River counties.  Hurricane Matthew barreled toward them, but then veered away.  The coast to the north was not so lucky.  Not since Jeanne in 2004 has a major storm smacked the Treasure Coast.  What’s coming in 2017?  An end to discharges from Lake O?  Another year without suffering a direct hit by a hurricane?  We can only hope.  I’m Paul Janensch.