There’s no question that water and sewer rates in Palm Coast are among the most expensive in the state. That was true even before the City Council this week approved the sharpest and fastest rate increase in the city’s 25-year history. But neither a building moratorium nor blaming the City Council is a solution for a problem seeded by ITT, the original owner of the utility.
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Daily Cartoon and Briefing
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, March 23, 2025
Flagler, Palm Coast & Other Local
Clinton Huggins, 1971-2025
Clinton Huggins, loving husband and dad, passed away on March 18, 2025 at the age of 54, but his larger-than-life persona and ability to spot fish in tannin-stained water will never be forgotten. Commissioner Leann Pennington and her son, Clint, sincerely thank the many friends, family and residents who have reached out to express their condolences and offered support during this devastating time.
New But Familiar Attorney Files for Re-Hearing in Latest Old Dixie Motel Case Twist
Flagler Beach attorney Dennis Bayer is now representing the owners of the dilapidated Old Dixe motel, which Flagler County government has been seeking to have either rehabilitated or demolished. The county was very close to winning an order that would have pushed the building into foreclosure when Bayer stepped in and asked for a re-hearing.
In Rare Rebuke, Palm Coast Planning Board Denies Application for Self-Storage Business on Pine Lakes Parkway
The Palm Coast Planning Board in a 4-2 vote denied an application for an 850-unit, 100,000 square foot self-storage facility on Pine Lakes Parkway, halfway between Belle Terre and Palm Coast Parkway. The facility would have 26 outdoor recreational vehicle and boat storage spaces. The decision is not final, and may not have been reached within the legally permissible parameters of the Planning Board’s responsibilities.
More Flagler, Palm Coast & Other Local
County Attorney Al Hadeed, Stalwart of Environmental Stewardship and Local History, Is Retiring in August
County Attorney Al Hadeed announced his retirement come August. He had been the county attorney for nearly a decade until the commission in a dubious move ended his contract in 1998. A different commission re-hired him in 2007. His retirement will remove the single-most important store of institutional memory from county government, though his signature achievements would fill volumes.
Measure Deporting Gulf of Mexico Name from State Law Moves to Florida House Floor
While a public opinion poll conducted last month shows that a majority of Floridians do not support updating changes in the state from the “Gulf of Mexico” to the “Gulf of America,” that was of little concern to the House State Affairs Committee on Thursday. The committee voted along party lines to advance two proposals making that change into both state law and state agencies. Both measures will now head to the entire House for floor votes.
No Outright Indications of Mechanical Failures in Plane Crash That Claimed Pilot’s Life in West Flagler
A preliminary investigation of the Feb. 14 plane crash that took the life of pilot 75-year-old Thomas Harvey in western Flagler County reveals that the plane had followed a normal flight path until it suddenly began to drop rapidly, at more than 200 feet per second before impact. There was no evidence of a fire on board and “no indications of a flight control anomaly were discovered,” according to the National Transportation Safety Board’s preliminary report, suggesting that Harvey may have suffered a medical episode.
City Repertory Theatre Takes Trip to Matters of Faith and Race with ‘Violet’ Musical
In “Violet,” a musical that opens Friday at Palm Coast’s City Repertory Theatre, it’s 1964, and Violet is about to travel by bus from her North Carolina home to Tulsa, Okla. The play’s themes are reflected in music that spans gospel, Memphis blues, bluegrass and jazz, with the cast singing to recorded backing tracks. Christian faith is an ongoing theme, as is race, judgment and life’s scars, visible and invisible.
13 Applicants, Including Several Familiar Names, Apply to Fill Palm Coast Council Seat Vacated by Stevens
Thirteen candidates have filed for the District 3 seat on the Palm Coast City Council that Ray Stevens resigned at the end of February. The list includes several familiar names, among them Dave Ferguson, a former appointee to the council, Dave Sullivan, who just ended two terms on the County Commission, Cornelia Manfre, who has had three unsuccessful runs for a council seat or the mayorship, Mark Stancel, who lost a primary vote to Stevens by two votes, and Andrew Werner, who lost to Stevens.
44-Year-Old C-Section Dad Arrested When 2-Year-Old Is Found Wandering the Street, and Dog Is Near Death
Ross Judy, a 44-year-old resident of Collins Lane in Palm Coast, was arrested Sunday on felony child neglect and a misdemeanor charge of abandoning an animal to neglect after his 2-year-old child was found wandering alone in the middle of a street in pajamas and a soiled diaper and a dog was found barely alive.
County’s Kim Carney, Crucial Vote on Sales Tax Proposal, Appears to Waver, Putting Beach Plan at Risk
County Commissioner Kim Carney’s support for the county-wide beach-management plan she endorsed just weeks ago appeared to waver when she raised questions about it at last Monday’s commission meeting, potentially putting the entire plan in jeopardy, especially with an undecided Palm Coast looking on.
10 Years on, Palm Coast Finally Breaks Ground on Nerve-Center Maintenance Facility’s $12 Million 1st Phase
Palm Coast hosted a groundbreaking for what will eventually be a nearly 100-acre maintenance facility gathering public works, stormwater and utility departments in one location off U.S. 1, to the northwest of the city. The $12 million phase is the first of three. The City Council in 2016 set the project in motion, but funding has been a challenge, as has the criticism of the project.
Man Who Threatened to Jump Off SR100 Bridge on I-95 Is Rescued After Hour of Negotiations
A man threatening to jump off the I-95 bridge over State Road 100 was rescued after snarling traffic for nearly an hour. The same man had attempted to jump off the Palm Coast Parkway bridge over I-95 last August. He was Baker Acted then, as he was today.
Palm Coast Adopts 31% Water and Sewer Rate Increase Over 3 Years, Scaling Back Spending to $512 Million
The Palm Coast City Council today in a 3-1 vote approved a 31 percent water and sewer rate increase to be phased in five increments through October 2028, and to finance a half-billion-dollar spending plan to improve the city’s utility infrastructure, some of which is overcapacity and outdated. The plan scales back an earlier proposal that would have increased rates 36 percent. The new plan calls for one bond issue of $292 million.
Palm Coast Mayor’s Motion for Construction Moratorium Fails in Face of Builders’ Bulky Show of Force
Mayor Mike Norris’s motion for a residential building moratorium this morning, made after nearly an hour of zealous speeches for or against, but mostly for, quickly failed for lack of a second, and applause resounded across the standing-room-only chamber. Some of it was consolation for Norris by his supporters. Most of it was from builders and their supporters.
The Conversation
The Hidden Epidemic of Violence Against Nurses
An alarming 8 in 10 nurses face violence at work. As a result, health care workers are more than four times as likely to be injured by workplace violence than workers in all other industries combined. Despite these staggering numbers, the full extent of this epidemic may not be fully understood because nurses and other health care workers chronically underreport violent encounters.
Florida and Beyond
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, March 22, 2025
‘Violet’ at City Repertory Theatre in Palm Coast, “Warbirds Over Flagler” fly-in at the Flagler Executive Airport, Gamble Jam, The Flagler Wellness Expo, George Hanns’s one-liners are still sharp.
Why Forecasting A Tornado’s Strike Zone Is Still Elusive
Pinpointing exactly where a tornado will touch down – like those that hit states including Indiana, Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama on March 14 and 15 – still relies heavily on seeing the storms developing on radar.
Edward James Is Killed by Lethal Injection for Murders of Betty Dick and her Granddaughter, Toni Neuner in 1993
More than three decades after he murdered a Seminole County woman and her 8-year-old granddaughter, Edward James was put to death by lethal injection Thursday night at Florida State Prison. James, 63, was pronounced dead at 8:15 p.m. and became the second person executed in Florida this year. Earlier Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected attempts by James’ attorney to halt the execution.
More Florida and Beyond
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Friday, March 21, 2025
‘Violet’ the musical opens at City Repertory Theatre in Palm Coast, J.S. Bach is 340 years old and we celebrate with the Art of Fugue, the Friday Blue Forum and Free For All.
President’s Defiance of Court Order Fuels a Constitutional Crisis
The president is flouting U.S. District Court Judge James Bloasberg’s order that planes carrying deportees must return to the United States. The subsequent legal back-and-forth, which is still going on, intensified so quickly and dramatically that many legal scholars say the U.S. is past the point of a constitutional crisis, as the Trump administration appears to be defying a federal court order, for which Boasberg may hold the government in contempt.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, March 20, 2025
Shawn Peter Cona on trial over written threats, Town of Marineland commission meeting, The Bronx Wanderers at the Fitzgerald Performing Arts Center, following the logic of going childless as an ethical choice.
Israeli Politics Kill Gaza Ceasefire
While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has sought to blame Hamas for the resumption of fighting that killed more than 400 Palestinians on March 18 – “only the beginning,” Netanyahu warned – the truth is the seeds of the renewed violence are to be found in Israeli domestic politics.
Flu Deaths Near 7-Year High As Anti-Vaccine Disinformation Spreads
Flu-related deaths hit a seven-year high in January and February, the two months that usually account for the height of flu season, according to a Stateline analysis of preliminary federal statistics. There were about 9,800 deaths across the country, up from 5,000 in the same period last year and the most since 2018, when there were about 10,800.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Wednesday, March 19, 2025
The Palm Coast Planning Board meets, the Palm Coast administration and members of the council break ground on a new maintenance facility, the William McKinley tariffs in a very different era.
Anti-DEI Rules Are Gutting Educators’ Free Speech Rights
The Trump administration’s attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion have continued in the form of a “Dear Colleague” letter from the Department of Education to educational institutions – from preschools through colleges and universities.. The directive the letter infringes on free speech, misunderstands the law and undermines education.
Florida Attorney General Threatens Removal of City Council Members Who Blocked Cooperation with ICE
Attorney General James Uthmeier is threatening three Fort Myers city council members with removal from office after they refused Monday to deputize police officers to participate in immigration enforcement. Uthmeier, who became the attorney general a month ago, warned the council that Gov. Ron DeSantis could remove them from office if they didn’t allow the city police to question people about their immigration status and detain those subject to deportation.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Tuesday, March 18, 2025
The Palm Coast City Council meets at 9 a.m., with an expected pro-Mayor Norris rally preceding it, Random Acts of Insanity at Cinematique, how the Washington Post is dying at Jeff Bezos’s hands.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, March 17, 2025
The Flagler County Commission meets in the evening, the East Flagler Mosquito Control District meets in the morning, and the histories and pleasures of Calvados, drink of the gods on Mont-Saint-Michel.
Corporations Are DEI’s Great Hope
Whether the many attacks on DEI – first from right-wing bloggers, then from the Supreme Court, and then from the president – will affect the makeup of Fortune-level boards in 2025 and beyond remains to be seen. But so far, these boards are diversifying and seeing the value in DEI.
The Sun Is Setting on Government Transparency in Florida
Florida, the “Sunshine State,” once known as a beacon of government transparency, is growing ever darker, and the clouds are spreading throughout the United States. Legislators have passed more than 1,100 exemptions to the Florida Sunshine Law, and growing.
Florida Law Banning Kids off Some Social Media Prevails as Judge Refuses to Block It
A federal judge has rejected a request to block a 2024 Florida law aimed at keeping children off some social-media platforms, ruling that industry groups did not show they had legal standing to challenge the measure.
Commentary
Florida Lawmakers Are About to Roll Back Rural Protections in Favor Of Developers. Don’t Let Them.
The Florida Legislature is once again trying to push through legislation that would take away the rights of area citizens and local government to have any voice in the management of rural and agricultural lands. It is crucial that citizens contact their legislative members and demand that these egregious measures be stopped immediately.
The Women Behind the Babylonian Captivity
The church may not have seen women as equals, but nevertheless, their work was key to the workings and finances of the papal court and its surroundings. The fact is made obvious in the archives by simply following the money. It was hardly glamorous work but necessary for the functioning of the papal court.
In Red and Blue States, a Surge of Laws to Protect Teen on Social Media
In 2024, approximately half of all U.S. states passed at least 50 bills that make it harder for children and teens to spend time online without any supervision. Research shows that adolescents who spend more than three hours a day on social media have an increased risk of anxiety and depression. Almost half of teens have faced online bullying or harassment, with older teen girls most likely to have experienced this. Social media use has been linked to self-harm in some cases.