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.
In a Switch, Flagler Beach Backs Doggie Dining At Some Restaurants, With Regulations
Dog-friendly dining in Flagler Beach, never exactly absent from some restaurants, is now entirely legal and embraced by the city commission that had sought to ban it just a few weeks ago.
Nuisance Bust in Palm Coast’s R Section Has Neighbors Cheering as 5 Are Arrested
The house at 20 Rockne Lane is in foreclosure and severely damaged inside, and was allegedly used for minor drug activity. Five people were arrested there.
Red-Light Cameras Draw Class-Action Lawsuit Citing Constitutional Violations
If successful, the lawsuit would have far-reaching consequences as it seeks reimbursements for all ticket fines, which in Palm Coast exceed $1.35 million since 2008.
Swell of Surfers Beats Back Flagler Beach Bid to Broaden Pier’s No-Go Zone, For Now
Flagler Beach’s proposal to double the no-surf zone to 300 feet around the Flagler Beach pier petered out before it was considered, with a caveat: commissioners want more self-policing from surfers, or else.
Foreclosure Tale: When Renters, Despite Protections, Are Intimidated Into Leaving
Palm Coast’s Genis family–mother, father, six children–was duly paying rent on its Smith Trail home when it was sold by the court and the family was given 10 days to clear out, even though it never saw an eviction notice.
68-Year-Old Driver Jailed in Flagler After Eluding 5 Cop Agencies and Ramming a Cruiser
Ronald Pinkerton, 68, was chased by Port Orange, Holly Hill, Ormond Beach, Volusia and Flagler cops early Thursday before finally be stopped by Flagler deputies and taken to jail, his face lacerated and bloodied.
Visitor in Critical Condition After Car Strikes Him Near the Flagler Beach Pier
Antonio Branca was walking back to his car near the pier in Flagler Beach was struck by a Cadillac Thursday afternoon and taken to Halifax hospital in critical condition.
Judge Casts Serious Doubt on 3% Pension Contribution by Public Employees
The 3 percent contribution and the end of cost of living adjustments to public employees’ pensions may not be legal; if reversed, the state would see an almost $1 billion hole open up. Local governments would also be affected.
Sunset Symphony, Partying Like Cavemen and Comedy with Class: Culture Worth the Miles
The Orlando Philharmonic at Bok Tower Gardens, Disney Bargains, the Orlando Science Center’s Neanderthal Ball, a festival of new plays at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater, and more.
DCF Warning About People Impersonating Child Protection Agency’s Investigators
Impersonators of DCF investigators have the Sheriff’s offices in Santa Rosa and Bay counties on the look-out, and the Florida Department of Children and Families warning parents against engaging with individuals lacking proper credentials from DCF.
Drawing Mayor’s Rebuke, Palm Coast Manager’s Trash Talk Skips Agenda Notice
Palm Coast City Manager Jim Landon drew up bid restrictions for the city’s $35 million trash contract designed to favor Waste Pro, the current hauler, while virtually disqualifying others–and preventing two potential new city council members from having a say in the contract.
Ethics Commission Finds Against Oel Wingo, ex-Palm Coast Deputy Manager, on Various Charges
The Florida Ethics Commission found probable cause that Oel Wingo, in her brief tenure as Holly Hill city manager last year, misused her position, falsified and destroyed public records. Wingo served in Palm Coast for a decade.
Unaccountability and Unproven Quality in Rush Toward Virtual Education in Florida
A new study, citing Florida and other virtual school pioneers, says for-profit companies are pushing states to offer full-time virtual instruction paid for by state tax dollars with little research on the quality of these programs.
Jesus and Wall Street, Zero Tolerance, Zero Intelligence, 9/11’s Controversial Photo: The Live Wire
Judge Steve Teske and the stupidity of zero tolerance policies, Thomas Hoepker’s controversial 9/11 photo from the Brooklyn waterfront revisited.
Subtle Revelations as Commissioners Speed-Date Through 15 Job Council Candidates
An inside look at today’s rapid-fire one-on-one job interviews with 15 of the 36 candidates looking to fill the county commission’s nine-member economic development council.
Herman Cain’s Mark Block Smokes Up a Foggy Campaign
Herman Cain’s latest campaign ad, featuring Mark Block, his campaign manager, lustily smoking a cigarette, is a great send-up of the self-righteous culture of hyper-health.
Florida Lawmaker Proposes Broader GPS Tracking of Juvenile Offenders
Florida’s Juvenile Justice system eliminated its ankle-monitoring system in 2004. GPS tracking would be cheaper, but also possibly more pervasive, and paid for out of local dollars set aside for various court initiatives.