Cpl. Sergio Pina was exonerated of acting improperly when he deleted files off the flash drive of a former Bunnell cop that had been turned into the department. Lt. Randy Burke was cited for “improper procedure” without malice.
Saturday Afternoon With The Artists Returns At the Art League, Beckoning Inquisitors
The Flagler County Art League’s annual show, opening Saturday at 4 p.m., is your chance not only to let your eyes wander the walls of a new art show—this one featuring some 70 works—but to meet the artists in person and quiz them about their own work.
Expedia v. Florida: Claims of Harassment And Privilege in Online Booking Tax Brawl
Rep. Rick Kriseman, the St. Petersburg Republican, distributed Expedia documents that showed the company knew as early as 2003 that it should pay Florida’s bed taxes. The company wants him to explain his role in court. The Legislature is claiming that lawmakers cannot be forced to testify about issues in the legislative process.
Walmart Wants To Be Your Health Care Provider
Walmart wants to become by “the largest provider of primary healthcare services in the nation,” according to a request for information from potential partners sent the same week Walmart–the nation’s largest private employer–scaled back its health coverage for employees.
Moorman and Cross Concede, McGuire Puts Landon on Notice: “He Should Be Nervous”
The Palm Coast City Council is gaining two outspoken voices at odds with the council’s laid-back make-up until now, while Jon Netts is the last member of the council who’d voted to hire Jim Landon, raising questions about the city manager’s future.
McGuire Ahead of Moorman by 54 Votes, DeLorenzo Ahead of Cross by 37
Our earlier report that Holsey Moorman had won the election may have been premature. An additional tally by the Supervisor of Elections, this one including absentee ballots, shows McGuire beating Moorman by 54 votes, and Jason DeLorenzo beating Dennis Cross just under 40 votes.
Too Close to Call: Early Voting Gives Slim Lead to Moorman, Cross and DeLorenzo Closer
Results of the Palm Coast City Council election between Holsey Moorman and Bill McGuire, and Jason DeLorenzo and Dennis Cross.
Turnout for Palm Coast Election Poor To Dismal Again as Polls Close; Results Soon
By 4 p.m., tallies–including early voting and absentee–had still not totaled the 5,248 voters who turned out for the mayoral election in September, the worst in the city’s history by turnout.
Revels + 8 As Commission Appoints Economic Development Council, With Dash of Snub
The seven men and two women on the economic development council have more business than racial, political or geographic diversity, with one voice from western Flagler and one–Revels–from Flagler Beach.
Secret Donors, Unlimited Contributions, Super-PAC Elections as FEC Stalemates
Nearly two years after a U.S. Supreme Court decision struck down key restrictions in campaign finance law, the Fderal Elections Commission still hasn’t begun the process of changing its regulations to comply with the ruling.
On Election Eve, DeLorenzo Contributions Surge–Including $100 from Waste Pro Rival
The latest campaign-finance reports cover the last two weeks of October. The donation to DeLorenzo from waste hauler Republic’s marketing manager was recorded eight days after the one from Waste Pro.
Young Father in Jail Over Severe Head, Eye and Leg Injuries to His 17-Week-Old Child
Edward Parker, 18, of the Mondex, was preparing for a run when his son began crying. The child was taken to the hospital with a brain hemorrhage, a contusion to the eye and a fractured femur.
Rick Scott’s Liability to Taxpayers: As Lawsuits Against His Policies Mount, So Do Costs
A slew of Gov. Rick Scott-backed laws, from drug-testing welfare recipients to privatizing prisons and restricting voter registration and access have triggered costly lawsuits with potentially costlier hits to the treasury, reflecting the law’s extremism.
Running on Faith: Flagler County’s Free Clinic Is a Refuge For Health Care’s Untouchables
The Flagler County Free Clinic in Bunnell has been a commitment of grit and conviction by cancer survivor Faith Coleman and Dr. John Canakaris for the past six years. Now Coleman’s cancer is back, and like all her patients, she has no insurance.
This Week in Flagler and Tallahassee: Elections, Weldon Ryan, Tommy Tant
Weldon Ryan, the Flagler County Artist of the Year, opens at the Hollingsworth Gallery Saturday, the annual Tommy Tant Surf Classic is this weekend, governments are on low simmer.
Veterans Day Ceremonies in Flagler and Palm Coast’s Heroes Park
This Friday’s Veterans Day ceremonies will be held at 8:30 a.m. at Palm Coast’s Heroes Park and at 10 a.m. in front of the county administration building in Bunnell.
Sheriff’s In for $5,000, Tax Collector for $6,000; Let’s Do Our Part for Feed Flagler
The third annual Team Feed Flagler challenge kicks off, raising money and food for 4,000 free meals the day before Thanksgiving. Help us rival Tax Collector Suzanne Johnston, last year’s fund-raising winner.
Flagler 911: The Live Crime Blotter
A car stolen at Florida Hospital Flagler (and recovered), an arrest at McCharacter’s turns violent, a fight at Finn’s turns violent, too, horny Halloween teen shoplifters, and more.
NFL Teams Blacked Out in Local Florida Markets Would Be Fined $125,000 Per Game
Last season, eight home games were blacked out because of poor ticket sales even as professional sports franchises reap millions in taxpayer subsidies every year.
Holsey Moorman: The Live Interview
Holsey Moorman is running for Palm Coast City Council against Bill McGuire. He answers 14 questions and a few follow-ups on a broad range of issues.
Bill McGuire: The Live Interview
Bill McGuire is running for Palm Coast City Council against Holsey Moorman. He answers 14 questions and a few follow-ups on a broad range of issues.
Palm Coast City Council Election:
The Live Candidate Interviews
For background on the Live interview, go here. For the Charlie Ericksen interview, go here. And if you’d like to take the Palm Coast mayor poll, or see those results, go here.
Jason DeLorenzo: The Live Interview
Jason DeLorenzo is running for Palm Coast City Council against Dennis Cross. He answers 14 questions and a few follow-ups on a broad range of issues.
Dennis Cross: The Live Interview
Dennis Cross is running for Palm Coast City Council against Jason DeLorenzo. He answers 14 questions and a few follow-ups on a broad range of issues.
From Quiet Alabama and Unquiet Daytona, Georgia Turner Is Flagler’s New Tourism Chief
Georgia Turner, a sharp, congenial 30-year veteran of public relations and marketing hired out of the Daytona Beach Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, follows Peggy Heiser, who resigned two weeks ago from the $65,000-a-year job.
Backyard Beirut: Florida’s NRA-Loaded Gun Rules Drill Bullets In Local Ordinances
Guns in child care centers. Guns in county parks. Guns at city hall. All allowed now in Florida. So is your neighbor’s right to shoot off guns in the backyard, even if bullets stray over to yours as Florida’s NRA-inspired gun laws pre-empt local reason.
News-Journal Circulation Drops Another 4.5%, Now Below 9,000 in Flagler Households
The News-Journal’s losses–the paper now reaches just a fifth of Flagler households–are at odds with gains at the St. Augustine Record and an end to declines, for now, at the Orlando Sentinel and the Jacksonville Times-Union.
Darrell Smith’s Coda to Flagler Beach’s New Doggie Dining Menu
“I’m sorry,” Writes Smitty, “I didn’t think it would go this far. Look at what I filmed at an unnamed Flagler Beach restaurant yesterday.” He graciously apologizes, too.
Flagler County Jail Daily Bookings: Oct. 29-Nov. 4, 2011
Flagler County jail daily bookings for the week of Oct. 28-Nov. 4, 2011. With links to inmate search functions, visitation rules and correspondence requirements.
Unemployment Dips to 9%, Job Creation at 80,000, Private Sector Getting Stronger
The U.S. unemployment rate dropped to 9 percent, the first drop in three months, as 80,000 jobs were created in October and figures for August and September were revised upward, adding 102,000 jobs to previous totals.
200 Opponents of a Matanzas Woods Complex Tantalized By City Hints of a Solution
Palm Coast Manager Jim Landon told opponents of the Sawgrass Villas project that the city might entice the bank that owns the land to open a branch on SR100, buying city land and enabling the city to buy the Matanzas Woods property.
49-Year-Old Arrested on I-95 for Lewd and Lascivious Acts on 14-Year-Old Runaway
Todd Blanchard of Jacksonville was stopped just north of the Palm Coast Parkway Wednesday morning as he drove shirtless and allegedly masturbating a 14-year-old Orlando runaway in the passenger seat.
CAIR-Off: Tea Party’s Daytona Beach Convention Mired in Islamophobic Controversy
Pam Geller, an anti-Muslim blogger, is a speaker at this weekend’s tea party convention in Daytona Beach. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) was invited to respond, then dis-invited.
Art Icons, American Voices and Cocktails: Culture Worth the Miles
A Fall Fiesta in the Park, Florida Icons of Art in Lake Eustis, the Orlando Philharmonic’s epic concert of music, poetry and song, and much more.
4 Life Terms as Jury Finds Bloods Gang Leader Brandon Washington Guilty on All Charges
Brandon Elshawon Washington was found guilty of second degree murder, racketeering, armed burglary and attempted home invasion by a jury that deliberated just two hours after an eight-day trial. He was sentenced to four life terms.
With Pomp and Yakety Yak, Flagler Auditorium Celebrates Its 20th Anniversary Tonight
The free concert by the Cornell Gunter’s Coasters of “Charlie Brown” and “YaketyYak” fame at 7 p.m. will follow an hour’s celebration and remembrances by local officials who lit the way of the Flagler Auditorium’s growth.
Bunnell Commission, With 14 Jobs in Jeopardy, Calls Emergency Meeting for Today
The Florida Department of Transportation has contracted with Bunnell for the past six years for road maintenance. Now Bunnell is one of 24 bidders on the same contract, and it’s heavily disfavored as Gov. Rick Scott pushes for privatization.
School Prayer Cloaked as Student-Led Making Another Contested Run at Legalization
The latest school-prayer proposal proposal before the Florida Legislature would let local school boards adopt prayer-enabling resolutions, letting students lead audiences in prayer at games or graduations or other non-compulsory events.
Small Crowd, Loud Responses as Awake the State Demonstration Occupies Palm Coast
Some 50 to 60 protesters grabbed drivers’ attention at Palm Coast Parkway and Belle Terre Tuesday afternoon, echoing in signs much of the outrage that the Occupy Wall Street movement is making familiar across the nation.
Early Voting for Palm Coast Council Exceeds Previous Election’s With 5 Days to Go
By day’s end Tuesday 1,862 votes were recorded, exceeded by 148 the total early-vote tally in last month’s mayoral race, though turnout remains low relative to Palm Coast’s 50,000 registered voters.
Those Airport X-Ray Machines? Cancer Risk. Yet Government Dismisses Cautions
Airport X-ray scanners could give cancer to six to 100 U.S. airline passengers each year, research suggests, yet the TSA still calls scanners safe, glossing over evidence that even low-dose radiation increases cancer risks. European airports ban their use.
Occupy Flagler Awakes the State Today as Movements Merge in Defense of Middle Class
The Occupy Flagler-Awake the State demonstration is taking place today at Belle Terre Parkway and Palm Coast Parkway, on the Kohl’s side of the street, from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.
With $16 Million in Incentives, Florida Lands Boeing’s Manned Space Flight Venture
Boeing’s Crew Space Transportation-100 or CST-100, might employ 500 by 2015, when the space shuttle replacement vehicle would begin commercial launches as part of the private-public Space Florida venture at the Kennedy Space Center.
Council Candidate DeLorenzo Takes $500 From Waste Pro Even as City Mulls Garbage Contract
Jason DeLorenzo defended the decision to take the money, one of two of his largest contributions, saying he hadn’t seen it as a conflict nor had he thought about it, but conceding in retrospect that it was “a bad decision.”
This Week in Flagler and Tallahassee: Women Take Over Flagler’s Stages
A dull week in politics, not a dull week on stage: It might as well be Seneca Falls in Flagler County this week as women take over at the City Repertory Theatre (“Talking With…” and the Flagler Playhouse (“Steel Magnolias”). Plus, First Fridays in Flagler Beach and celebrations at Washington Oaks.
Flagler 911: The Live Crime Blotter
Squatters arrested on Milwaukee Ave., chasing an undocumented alien in Holland Park, midnight obscenities in the Mondex, a probation violation on speed, and the usual thefts from unlocked cars.
Heist in Print: How Newspapers Sold Their Soul to Business Brigands
Ethics in newspaper media, such as the once-inviolable church-state wall between newsrooms and the business department, are for the most part history as newspapers seek profits at the expense of public trust, Donald Kaul argues.
Marco Rubio’s Lies, Shoe-Thrower’s Index, Coal Thugs: The Live Wire
Marco Rubio’s lies about his parents’ “exile” and Cuban journeys unravel, the Arab Spring’s shoe-thrower’s index, GOP presidential hopefuls are delirious with flat tax fever, and more.
In “Talking With…,” Yet Another Triumph for Palm Coast’s Embryonic City Repertory Theatre
Jane Martin’s “Talking With…” is an emotional roller-coaster of laughs and sorrows through 11 women’s monologues, superbly pulled off in Palm Coast’s City Repertory Theatre’s newest production at Hollingsworth Gallery.
Proposed Amendment to End Ban on Government Funding of Religion is Challenged
Proposed Amendment 7 on the 2012 ballot deletes a provision in the Florida constitution that bars government funding of religious institutions, replacing it with a prohibition against denying funds to anyone based on religious identity or belief.