The Flagler County Commission in a pair of 4-1 votes this afternoon agreed to keep Heather Haywood as a member of the county’s planning board, but boot off Jeff Davies from the Contractor Review Board on nationalistic grounds: he is not an American citizen, and thereby not a registered voter.
County Not Yet Stoked for Skate Park Improvements But Approves 4 Pickleball Courts at Wadsworth Park
Wadsworth Park, the 45-acre county facility on the mainland side of the Flagler Beach bridge, will soon see a tennis court converted to four pickleball courts, but county commissioners are not ready to approve a plan to renovate the skateboarding park: the county administration is proposing a band aid, while users of the park are advocating for a more ambitious, but also more permanent, renovation.
Road Rage Incident Over Hurled Cup of Coffee Lands Palm Coast Man in Jail on 3 Felonies
An argument between the occupants of two vehicles that started at Chick-Fil-A off Palm Coast Parkway escalated into a physical fight in which one of the occupants took out an unloaded rifle, and culminated in the arrest of 36-year-old Donavan Matthews on three felonies.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, November 20, 2023
The Flagler County Commission in a pair of meetings takes up the proposed settlement with Captain’s BBQ and improvements at Wadsworth Park. When Carl L. Stinedurf joined Richard Cory: Guns and Simon and Garfunkel.
Yes, the South Has a Poverty Crisis
By a range of economic indicators — personal income per capita and the proportion of the population living in poverty, for starters – large parts of the South, and particularly the rural South, are struggling. About 1 in 5 counties in the South is marked by “persistent poverty” — a poverty rate that has stayed above 20% for three decades running. Indeed, fully 80% of all persistently poor counties in the U.S. are in the South.
Florida Lawmakers Put Developers’ Interests Ahead of Residents’ Hurricane Safety
In a bill to supply aid to the victims of Hurricane Ian and Idalia, lawmakers told local governments in counties hammered by the storm that they were not allowed to make “burdensome” changes to their land-use or growth plan regulations for three years. No learning from their mistakes and trying to avoid repeating them.
Eight Florida Cities Get Perfect Scores in LGBTQ+ Equality Report
Despite enduring a year that advocates have derided as the “most anti-LGBTQ legislative session in history,” a nationwide report gives eight Florida cities perfect 100% scores when it comes to assessing LGBTQ+ equality in the areas of municipal policies, laws, and services. Getting maximum scores of 100 in Florida are: Tampa, Wilton Manors, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Miami, Oakland Park, Orlando, and St. Petersburg.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, November 19, 2023
Riverfest Seafood Festival, Deland Fall Festival of the Arts, the Library of America’s edition of William Faulkner’s collected stories, a few words from “Uncle Willy.”
‘From the River to the Sea’: A Historian Interprets the Palestinian Slogan
The majority of Palestinians who use this phrase do so because they believe that, in 10 short words, it sums up their personal ties, their national rights and their vision for the land they call Palestine. And while attempts to police the slogan’s use may come from a place of genuine concern, there is a risk that tarring the slogan as antisemitic – and therefore beyond the pale – taps into a longer history of attempts to silence Palestinian voices.
Palm Coast Man, 42, Killed in Single-Vehicle Crash on U.S. 1
A 42-year-old Palm Coast man died in a single-vehicle crash on U.S. 1 just north of County Road 202 Friday afternoon. The man was at the wheel of a Ford F-150, driving north on U.S. 1. He lost control of the vehicle, veering onto the grass media, then overcorrected, sending the vehicle rotating counterclockwise across the highway’s two lanes before crashing into a tree.