Commissioners Barbara Revels and George Hanns bitterly criticized Bunnell’s decision to reverse course and reject the old courthouse, blaming the city for accelerating the building’s deterioration and leaving the county little choice. In the meantime, the county will again pick up the $60,000 to $80,000-a-year tab of maintaining the building to keep it from deteriorating more than it already has.
Charlie Crist on Ending the Cuba Embargo: Not Flip-Flopping, But Facing Reality
Crist wants to lift the 53-year-old U.S. trade embargo on Cuba. He hasn’t flipped soft on the Cuban government, which he calls “oppressive,” “totalitarian,” and “wrong.” He just says that the embargo hasn’t worked and that it’s insanity to keep doing the same thing and expecting a different result, argues Stephen L. Goldstein.
Joe Cunnane, 4-Time Candidate in Palm Coast Races and Rolls-Royce Fan, Is Dead at 80
Joe Cunnane, the esoteric, irascible Palm Coast wit best known for his Rolls Royce, his Ahab-like obsession with Mayor Jon Netts and for running in almost every city election either for mayor or for a council seat, died Wednesday, May 14 at his home in Palm Coast after a long and recurrent battle with cancer, his wife Alice announced in an email to friends and family.
County’s Generosity To Bunnell Runs Out as Commission Imposes Rent and Exit Deadline
Bunnell city government has been occupying county office spaces for almost five years. On Monday. the county agreed to slap on $2,400-a-month rent and $100-per-meeting fees on the city, starting Aug. 1, and it will expect Bunnell to vacate the GSB by Dec. 1 regardless.
Dispute Over State’s Shifting Juvenile Detention Costs to Counties Simmers Again
The dispute goes back to 2004 and centers on DJJ’s handling of a law that requires counties help pay for “predisposition,” or the costs of detaining underage offenders before they are sentenced. It affects 38 counties. The 29 poorest counties in the state are considered “fiscally constrained” and aren’t part of the cost-sharing formula.
SunRail Begins Paid Commuter Service Between Volusia and Orange Counties
After providing free service to 135,000 riders for two weeks, SunRail, the commuter rail line in Central Florida, on Monday began paid service between DeBary and Sand Lake Road in Orlando. The free service days drew 11,237 riders a day, on average.
National Data Blank: Why Don’t We Know How Many People Are Shot Each Year in America?
While the number of gun murders has decreased in recent years, there’s debate over whether this reflects a drop in the total number of shootings, or an improvement in how many lives emergency room doctors can save. We don’t even know if the number of people shot annually has gone up or down over the last 10 years.
Evidence of “Mobile” Meth Lab Uncovered In Woods Within Palm Harbor Golf Club
A woman half naked and screaming that her skin was on fire from the deck of the Palm Harbor Golf Club led deputies to what they determined to be various wars used to cook methamphetamine in the woods in and around the golf club Thursday evening. No arrests were made.
Flagler County’s Unemployment Rate Tumbles to 8.3% in Sharpest Single-Month Improvement of Recovery
Flagler County’s unemployment rate fell a full percentage point in April, to 8.3 percent, the sharpest single-month improvement of the last five years’ recovery, as the number of unemployed people in the county dropped by 375 and the number of employed people climbed by 111. A drop of 264 in the labor force, however, also helped reduce the unemployment figure.
As City Market Place Plays Hardball With Palm Coast, Gallery’s and Theater’s Future There Dims
The new owners of City Market Place want to jack up rent on Palm Coast city offices by 33 percent, and slam similar increases on Hollingsworth Gallery and other long-time anchors of the strip mall, making every one of those tenants question whether they will be there much longer–and placing a cloud on the future of some tenants, such as City Repertory Theatre.