Only 3,571 people have successfully enrolled in a private insurance plan in Florida in the first month of the Affordable Care Act’s federal marketplace. The target was 33,400, resulting in a success rate of just 11 percent, though 3.8 million Floridians are without health insurance.
Burdens and Costs Pile Up for School Board’s Ex-ITT Building on Corporate Drive, Disrupting Community Education
The board bought the 54,000 square-foot building for $3.5 million in 2001 and housed the Flagler Technical Institute’s community education classes and offices there, but the building must be evacuated either by January or by summer and either rebuilt and renovated at costs approaching $5 million or demolished even as the district continues to pay $445,000 in annual debt service on it.
Speed Limit Could Go Up to 75 On I-95 By July, and to 70 on U.S. 1
Florida lawmakers’ proposal to raise speed limits would direct the state Department of Transportation to determine the safe minimum and maximum speed limits on all divided highways that have least four lanes. In Flagler County, that includes I-95 and U.S. 1. On U.S. 1.
Live Smoke Bomb and Dud Grenade Found at Flagler County Landfill; Bomb Is Safely Detonated
For the second time in six weeks, the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office’s bomb squad was called into Flagler County early Wednesday morning to investigate the discovery of a live grenade–in this case, a live smoke bomb from the Vietnam era, packed alongside a dud grenade from World War II, and discovered in the hazardous materials pile at the Flagler County landfill.
Specialty Tags Lose Their Gloss As Fewer People Are Willing to Pay Extra For Causes
There’s been a noticeable decline in motorists willing to pay an extra $15 to $25 to let others know their college or sports preferences or that they support the troops, manatees or even trees, but advocates say reducing registration fees could reinvigorate the program, which helps raise $30 million a year for a wide range of causes.
Troubling Scene of 1 and 2 Year Old Soiled and In Road Leads to Neglect Charges Against Mom
Josie-Lynn Walters, 22, a resident of Espanola, was arrested on two counts of child neglect–a third-degree felony–after her children were found wandering unsupervised and in soiled underwear for over an hour near a busy intersection as Walters slept at home.
Darius Kimbrough, 19 Years on Death Row for Murder of Denise Collins, Is Executed This Evening
Darius Kimbrough, who raped, beat and murdered 28-year-old Denise Collins in her Orlando apartment in 1991, is being executed by lethal injection at Florida’s Starke prison at 6 p.m. Tuesday, after 19 years on death row. He is being killed on his mother’s birthday. He becomes the fifth inmate executed in Florida this year.
Palm Coast Again Pitches New City Hall, No Referendum, as Chamber Orchestrates Support
Palm Coast City Manager Jim Landon on Tuesday choreographed a presentation focused on a $9 million city hall in Town Center he said can be built mostly with existing dollars–and without a referendum–as the Flagler Chamber of Commerce and the Palm Coast Observer worked on a letter-writing campaign to sway council members, who may vote on the plan next week.
The Trouble With Veterans Day
It’s hard to see how, if a war is unjust, it can be heroic to wage it. So it’s flat-out preposterous to claim that everyone who has ever been in the U.S. military is a hero, argues Arnold Oliver, a Vietnam veteran who finds it troubling that Veterans Day has devolved into a hyper-nationalistic worship service of militarism.
They’re Not Speed Traps: New Spy Cameras on U.S. 1 in Palm Coast Aimed at Overweight Trucks
Crews last week installed video cameras on both sides of U.S. 1 between Royal Palms Parkway and Whiteview Parkway as part of a $1.2 million project to monitor the weight of large trucks. Additional cameras will go up by the northbound lanes of U.S. 1, near the weigh station.