Americans with developmental disabilities still remain second-class citizens in the eyes of the law and our fellow human beings. There is no greater symbolic gesture of the ridicule they endure than the accepted use of the word “retarded” in day-to-day speech.
Only Mild Opposition as Palm Coast Council Prepares to Raise Utility Rates 22% in 3 Years
To avert a crisis with its creditors, Palm Coast will raise water and sewer rates 22 percent over the next three years, beginning with an 8 percent increase this March. Residents’ rates are increasing to ensure that the city’s debts can be paid.
Trouble on Matanzas and Rymfire School Buses, A Fight at Palm Coast’s Homeless Camp: Flagler 911
Allegations of a racist assault on a Matanzas school bus, a fight at the homeless camp along Palm Coast Parkway, a 3-year-old girl is attacked by a Humane Society pit bull mix at PetSmart, the Mondex is the scene of an angry, bloodied couple’s arrest, and more from the blotter since the new year.
Senate Committee Approves Drone Ban in Florida Skies, With Some Police Exceptions
The ban on unmanned drones used by police in Florida would include exceptions for use with a search warrant or in certain cases, as when a child in danger. The measure (SB 92) was approved unanimously Tuesday by the Senate Criminal Justice Committee.
16-Year-Old Matanzas High Student Accused Of Raping 14-Year-Old in School Stairwell
D’Shawn Hosang, who was on probation for burglaries in July, was accused of raping a 14-year-old girl Monday morning after both students had secured hall passes while the rest of the school was in second period.
Man Found Dead at 16 Covington Lane Was Murdered; Sheriff Seeking Leads
The Medical Examiner determined that the middle-aged white man found in a shallow marsh behind 16 Covington Lane in Palm Coast was murdered, but the body is so decomposed that identifying it has been impossible so far.
Citing “Sorry State of Affairs,” Sullen Flagler Library Board Asking for a New Tax to Survive
The Flagler County Library Board of Trustees chairman’s report to the county commission this evening is sullen and frustrated in tone, and at times directly critical of the commission for too stingily supporting the library over the past few years. It will also ask for the creation of a new taxing district to support the library.
State Health Agency Corrects Inflated Costs of Obamacare Scott Had Used to Oppose Reform
Florida’s costs could be as low as $3 billion over 10 years — a huge drop from the nearly $26 billion figure that AHCA produced in a report last month. Even with the changes, it appears that the Scott administration believes that the state’s final tab over 10 years would be higher.
Obama’s Inauguration Sells Out
President Barack Obama, reversing his own honorable precedent for his first inaugural, has chosen this time to have corporations pay for his second round of big shindigs. This multimillion-dollar infusion of corporate cash is a crass intrusion by favor-seeking private interests into what ought to be a purely public occasion.
Richard Resnicoff, 68, of Grand Haven, Is Killed in a Puzzling Incident With His Wife
Richard Resnicoff, 68, was killed two houses down from his own in Grand Haven when he apparently jumped on the trunk of the car driven by his wife, Lucille Horton, and fell to the pavement, dying of severe injuries shortly after, on Saturday afternoon.