Both stand-offs, which began after domestic confrontations, ended peacefully, with the arrest of Val Mateyshin in the W Section and no arrest in the Hammock.
Palm Coast Man, 60, Faces Capital Felony on Rape and Molestation Charges of 12-Year-Old Relative
Mario Edward DiGirolamo is at the Flagler County jail on $300,000 bond following his arrest Friday on three sex-crime charges involving a 12-year-old relative, including a count of rape, a capital felony.
Monday Briefing: Supreme Court Goes Lethal, Puerto Rico Goes Greece, Flagler Goes Jet Skis
The Supreme Court refused to declare lethal injection unconstitutional in a fractured 5-4 opinion, Flagler County Fire Rescue has itself new jet skis in time for July 4.
New Laws Kick In This Week: Body Cameras, Drones, Abortion, Traffic Tickets, Secret Recordings, Flags
Florida’s record-setting budget goes into effect on Wednesday, along with 130 other new laws that were produced by the Legislature this year in the regular and special sessions and signed by Gov. Rick Scott. Here’s a run-down.
Reported Runaway, 14, Is Found at Her Father’s as Family Custody Issues Emerge
Ashley Martin, 14, had left home her mother’s June 20 and was found at her father’s June 26, where police were told of family conflicts and custody issues.
The Confederate Flag:
A Swastika Cross-Dressing as Heritage
Removing the Confederate flag from public places isn’t a denial of first amendment rights. It corrects an offensive version of false history and opposes black honor to white supremacy.
Gay Marriage Is Now Legal in the United States: Supreme Court Rules for Equality, 5-4
The United States Supreme Court this morning declared gay marriage legal across the United States in a 5-4 decision authored by conservative Justice Anthony Kennedy.
Bad Judges: Florida Supreme Court Seeks to Rein in Rogues and Hotheads
The number of judges facing sanctions in Florida jumped last year, and the high court is more often seeking harsher penalties than those originally proposed by the state Judicial Qualifications Commission.
Algal Bloom Observed at the Confluence of Flagler’s Dead Lake and Bull Creek
Algal blooms damage the environment because they replace vital food sources, clog fish gills, prevent sunlight from reaching seagrass and contribute to low oxygen “dead-zones” when they degrade.
Weekend Briefing: Banning the Ghastly Selfie Stick, Ham Radio Fest in Flagler Beach, Construction Updates
The selfie stick is finally banned at Disney, Flagler County’s ham operators hold their annual open house in Flagler Beach Saturday, all sorts of construction progress reports.
Explosion at Santore Fireworks Causes Small Fire, Panic But No Injuries
The fire was restricted to a 12-by-12 area at Santore Fireworks’s manufacturing plant on County Road 305 in western Flagler. Two employees had minor injuries.
Phoenix Will Close as All But Handful of Students Sign Up for Wadsworth’s New STEM Academy
An open house to introduce Phoenix Parents to Wadsworth’s new STEM Academy, and sell them on enrolling their children, was hugely successful Wednesday evening, sealing the fate of Phoenix for good.
Following Her Dog, a 2-Year-Old Girl Wanders Across Belle Terre Parkway As Her Mother Sleeps
Heather Seils, the 24-year-old mother of a 2-year-old girl and a 3-year-old boy, was asleep Saturday morning in her B-Section home in Palm Coast when, somehow, her daughter manager to wander out of the house unattended.
Supreme Court Upholds Obamacare Subsidies, 6-3, Protecting Benefits For 1.3 Million Floridians
Some 1.3 million Floridians and millions more across the country will not lose their health insurance subsidies as the U.S. Supreme Court this morning ruled decisively, by a 6-3 vote, that the subsidies are legal and must remain in place, even in states that have not established their own health insurance exchanges.
Thursday Briefing: Regulating Flagler Beach’s Farmer’s Market, Amazon’s Lovably Stupid Alexa, Flagler Cigar Launch
The Flagler Beach City Commission again tries to regulate farmer markets after its clumsy and failed attempt in September, the launch of the Flagler Cigar Company’s own cigars, evaluating Amazon’d Alexa.
Judge Considering Temporary Block of Florida’s New 24-Hour Abortion Waiting Period
A judge is considering halting the law from going in effect July 1 while a constitutional challenge goes forward. The challenge was filed by the Florida ACLU.
Three Adults and a Child Hospitalized After Two-Vehicle Wreck on SR100 and CR305
A pick-up truck attempted to pass a Toyota in a no-passing zone as the Toyota was making the turn, triggering the wreck at 3:30 p.m. The road was reopened by 5:30 p.m.
Confrontation at Flagler Jail Nets New Felony Charge for One Inmate and 12 Stitches For Another
Kevin Harris Jr. of Bunnell is accused of attacking inmate Anthony M. Petrillo and calling him a ‘police ass cracker’. Harris is serving 270 days in a Volusia jail, and was brought to Flagler for breaking his probation on an earlier case.
Believe It: Trump, in 2nd Place, Is Within 3 Points of Bush in New Hampshire Poll
Bush was favored by 14 percent of the 500 likely primary voters surveyed, with 11 percent preferring Trump, even though only 37 percent of those surveyed viewed Trump favorably compared to 49 percent who had an unfavorable opinion of him.
Scott’s Veto Pen Hits Flagler’s Top Priority, Sinking $600,000 For Malacompra Drainage
The $600,000 appropriation for the Malacompra drainage project was among the 450 line-items and $461 million he vetoed as he approved a $78.2 billion budget.
Wednesday Briefing: Open House on Phoenix Academy’s Likely Closure, Home-Grown Extremism’s Death Tally, Don Lemon Whiffs
A 6 p.m. open house on the likely closure of Phoenix Academy as it “transitions” to Wadsworth Elementary’s STEM Academy is scheduled at Wadsworth’s media center, the truth about American right-wing extremists, in numbers, Don Lemon’s outrageous advantages to CNN.
The Climate Pope’s Message: Reversing Global Warming is Humanity’s Responsibility
If we do not change our behavior quickly, we may well lose the environmental stability upon which our planet – and our lives – depends. This is the main message of the pope’s encyclical.
Flagler Looking to Raise Tourism Tax For 2nd Time in Four Years Despite Surging Revenue
Flagler County wants to raise the local sales surtax on hotel and motel stays to 5%, from 4%, even though revenue has grown ten-fold over the past decade.
Environmentalists Sue Florida Lawmakers Over Amendment 1, Claiming Misuse of Dollars
The suit seeks a court declaration that money from the state’s Land Acquisition Trust Fund, which will handle all the Amendment 1 funding, may not be substituted for general-revenue funds or used to pay for other services and programs.
Tuesday Briefing: How to Evaluate Teachers, The Supreme Court’s Surprising Left Tilt, Suing Over Amendment 1
The Flagler School Board continues to wrestle with a teacher evaluation system, environmentalists sue over the Legislature’s perceived misinterpretation of Amendment 1, the U.S. Supreme Court moves left.
Lawmakers Again Refuse to Extend KidCare Coverage to Children of Legal Immigrants
The proposal in the Florida Legislature would have eliminated a 5-year waiting period for lawful immigrants to qualify for the subsidized insurance program that serves children from low- and moderate-income families.
“Oh, Brother”: 165 Seconds of Errors as Candidate Richter Berates Commissioners Then Zips Out Before Corrections
Mark Richter, the first announced candidate for Flagler County Commission in 2016, was seriously fact-challenged in a brief appearance before commissioners today as he took on jail costs and the planned jail expansion.
Monday Briefing: Varn Park Flush With Colors, Bunnell Garbage Costs, Confederate Battle Flag Embattled
Varn Park’s renovations are celebrated at 1 p.m. today in a ribbon-cutting, Bunnell recalibrates its garbage rate for the school board, Marco Rubio veils his support for the Confederate flag.
Flagler Chamber Seeks Applicants for Leadership Flagler’s Next Class
The Flagler County Chamber of Commerce is currently accepting applications for Leadership Flagler, a program that nurtures and engages the leadership skills of potential and current community leaders.
$780 Million More for Education in Florida, But a $500 Million Property Tax Increase
The special session’s much-touted tax cut of $427 million is wiped out by a nearly $500 million tax increase to pay for education funding increases.
That Other American Exceptionalism:
Right-Wing Terrorism
For all the wasted blood spilled on ISIS and al-Qaeda, the real terrorist threat is neither far away nor foreign. It speaks English. It’s white. It’s American. And it’s sanctified by the NRA’s liturgy of guns today, guns tomorrow, guns forever.
Taxpayers’ Tab in Gov. Scott’s Losing Drug-Testing Lawsuits: $1.5 Million
The $1.5 million in legal fees, including nearly $1 million to civil-rights lawyers, are because of Gov. Scott’s failed push to force welfare applicants and tens of thousands of state workers to submit to suspicionless drug tests.
Arson Suspected in Mondex Fire That Demolishes Family Home on Elder Street
Authorities termed suspicious a fire that engulfed a single-family house in the Mondex Friday morning, and brought in arson dogs to sniff for evidence of fuel or accelerants used in the blaze.
Two Are Killed, a Third Injured in 3-Vehicle Wreck at Cody’s Corner at SR 11 and CR 304
Two people are dead, a third was taken to Halifax hospital in Daytona Beach, after one car T-boned another and catapulted it against a loaded logging truck. The driver of the logging truck was not hurt.
Unemployment in May Ticks Up in Flagler and Florida, But Overall Trends Remain Solid
In Flagler unemployment went up to 6.6 percent, from 6.2 percent the month before, despite a net gain of 220 people holding jobs. Again, the reason the unemployment rate went up is because of the growing workforce.
Weekend Briefing: Lynching By Gun in Charleston, “Mental Illness” Lies, Health Fair at AACS
The terrorist attack on a black church in Charleston is a modern-day lynching, Obama, Stephen King and Jon Stewart take on a culture of complicity, and other local happenings.
Just as Flagler County Resolves Against Fracking, Ratepayers Will Underwrite FPL’s Fracking Bills
FPL can invest $500 million in fracking ventures at ratepayers’ expense, making it the first utility in the nation–according to an analysis by the Public Service Commission–to spend ratepayers dollars on “non-regulated risk.”
Florida’s Nature Conservancy Gets It:
It’s About Land Management
Most Florida environmental groups this special session made a lot of noise and spent a lot of money, but came away empty-handed and unhappy. Not The Nature Conservancy.
Male Prostitute, 42, Faces Felony Charge of Assaulting Client, 69, in Palm Coast’s W-Section
A deputy had to threaten a naked Charles Hines, 42, with a Taser to force him out of the client’s house, naked, during a commotion that drew several neighbors’ attention Wednesday evening.
Giuseppe Verdone Is Found Guilty on All Charges in Brutal Assault of Chinese Food Delivery Driver; He Faces Life in Prison
The jury took barely 50 minutes to reach a verdict of guilty on all five felony counts in the case of Giuseppe Verdone, the 24-year-old Palm Coast resident who two years ago was accused of assaulting and kidnapping the co-owner of a Chinese food restaurant in November 2013.
Palm Coast’s Jim Landon Retaliates Against County in Series of Accusations, Then Says Conflict Is All But Resolved
Landon put the city’s trust of the county in question, implied the county runs a less professional organization than the city, accused the county of deceiving a state agency, and accused the county manager of using bullying tactics before conceding that all is just about well between the two sides.
Thursday Briefing: Vote For Office Divvy’s Grant, World’s Largest Swim Lesson at Frieda Zamba, Home Prices Stabilize
Palm Coast’s Office Divvy wants your vote, the largest swim lesson at Frieda Zamba pool this morning, Job Bush slow-jams the news, Jon Stewart thanks Donald Trump.
Quit Turning Your Backs on Desperate Migrants. Help Them Instead.
Like Americans’ ancestors, migrants are fleeing poverty, war, or oppression, or are searching for a better life in a new land. Blocking that flow, argues Kofi Anann, is bound to fail, with disastrous consequences for human lives.
Gov. Scott Signs $429 Million Tax-Cut Package, Saving Average Floridians a Few Dollars a Year
The tax savings are projected at less than $2 a month for people paying $100 a month for phone or TV services. The package reduces costs on cell-phone bills, cable TV bills, gun club memberships, college textbooks and luxury boat repairs.
Flagler County’s Dust-Bowl Era Soil and Water Conservation Board Is Dissolved For Inaction
Florida’s Agriculture Commissioner ordered the 5-member elected board, established in 1937, dissolved for not complying with reporting requirements. It had not met in years.
The End of Phoenix: Divided School Board Votes to Replace It With STEM Academy at Wadsworth
A contentious vote reflecting the board’s unhappiness with lack of transparency nevertheless led to the creation of a new STEM academy at Wadsworth, closing the long-embattled Phoenix Academy next fall.
Clinton Still Leads Rubio and Bush in Florida, But Most Voters Call Her Dishonest
Te gender gap is working strongly in Hillary Clinton’s favor: she has a double-digit lead among women when matched against Rubio or Bush, though her overall numbers have weakened since late last year.
Tractor Trailer Crashes Into 3 Parked, Mostly Empty School Buses on I-95, Four Injured
A tractor trailer on a route from Miami to Jacksonville crashed into three parked and empty school buses as the buses’ drivers were working on one of them on the side of I-95 just north of the Palm Coast Parkway exit at 11 p.m. Tuesday.
Wednesday Briefing: Benefit Concert For Flagler Beach Family in House Fire, the TDC’s Empty Kitty, Extinct Cougar
A fund-raiser for the the Johnson-Ghormley family twho lost their home in May is at the Beach Front Grille in Flagler Beach at 5:30 p.m. The Flagler Tourist Development Council is out of money for certain grants. The federal government is ready to declare the eastern cougar extinct.
School Board Seals Agreement Reforming Disciplining of Black Students, Ending Civil Rights Complaint
The Flagler County School Board this evening voted 5-0 to ratify an agreement with the Southern Poverty Law Center that seeks to eliminate racial disparities in school discipline, resolving a federal civil rights complaint the center filed three years ago.