The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office has issued a Silver Alert for Thomas Fuilts, 81, of Palm Coast, driving a white, four-door Nissan Sentra, tag number L382SZ.
U.S. Unemployment Rate Falls to 9.4%, But Underlying Improvement Is Limited
The economy added 103,000 jobs in December, but the falling unemployment rate masks persistently bad numbers for the long-term unemployed, including 2.6 million workers no longer counted in the unemployment rate.
Flagler Sheriff Bans Inmates From Writing Or Receiving Personal Mail Other Than Postcards
Citing savings and security, the sheriff is banning non-postcard correspondence beginning Jan. 15. The ban costs inmates money and chills their speech, a federal lawsuit filed over a similar policy in Santa Rosa County charges.
On Point: Color Splash from Hollingsworth To the Art League
On Point with Charlotte Marten recaps the week’s main events and in a special report, previews two new shows opening at Palm Coast’s art galleries: Daytona Beach artist Beth Garren at Hollingsworth Gallery, where Garren’s work will be shown with that of JJ Graham, and “Color Splash” at the Flagler County Art League.
9.5-Inch Rain Deficit at Year’s End, Falling Aquifer: Hydrologic Summary for July-December
The latest bi-annual report on water conditions in the region: a severe drought netting a 9.52-inch deficit at year’s end, lower flows on the St. Johns, and a still-declining aquifer.
Nine Ways Health Care Reform
May Affect You in 2011 BB (Before Boehner)
Lower prescription costs for seniors, calorie counters in restaurant menus, higher Medicare premiums, more restrictions on health savings accounts: some of the changes you can expect this year, and more.
FPC Bulldogs’ Big Win, Foreclosure Bandits, John McCain’s Crankiness: The Live Wire, Jan. 6
The FPC Bulldogs basketball team beats Mainland at Mainland, how the recession smashed up state budgets, the war on journalists, Facebook vs. Twitter, a look at Damascus and Jerusalem in 1938, and more.
FPC Graduate Kristen Hadeed’s Student Maid Co. Tapped for ABC TV’s “Extreme Makeover”
Kristen Hadeed, a 2006 FPC graduate, built Student Maid, a Gainesville-based cleaning service, from scratch in the last two years. A crew of 30 will donate its time to ABC’s “Extreme Makeover” shoot in Clay County later this month.
Edouard Manet: “Olympia” (1863)
Edouart Manet’s “Olympia” (1863)
Between Authority and Authoritarianism: Conklin and Pryor Clash Over Principal Power
The school board is debating a new policy and procedure controlling the staging of controversial plays. Matanzas Principal Chris Pryor doesn’t want to be “second-guessed.” Board member Conklin doesn’t want unilateral decision-making.
Rick Scott’s Forgettable Inaugural, a GOP Welcome, JailinG girls for Men’s Crimes: The Live Wire, Jan. 5
Also, David Brooks as the Babbitt of Bobos, Oprah’s fake love of Dickens, the wussification of America, the importance of analytical reporting, and more.
A Cabaret in Winter Park, Bryce Hammond Returns to New Smyrna: Culture Worth the Miles
Artist Bryce Hammond returns to his native New Smyrna’s Arts on Douglas Gallery, Heather Alexander is Born to Entertain at the Winter Park Playhouse, brash talent at the he Breakthrough Theatre of Winter Park and the Toronto Symphony.
For Jobless Flagler, 3 Economic Development Plans But Little Direction or Unity
As joblessness persists in Flagler County, local governments want to increase their role in economic development, but there’s no agreement about who would lead, and how.
News-Journal Circulation Plummets 10% in First 6 Months Under New Ownership
The News-Journal circulation has fallen by more than 41,000 copies, or 39 percent since 2005 though its recent, accelerating decline is far steeper than losses the newspaper industry is experiencing across the country.
Florida Corruptions, Grayson’s Farewell, Disney’s Mammoth: The Live Wire, Jan. 4
Florida’s foreclosure mediation is less than advertised, Scalia has weird ideas on equal protection, Chinese breast stimulators are very funny, going from birth to 10 in a time-lapse video, and more.
Georgia Aquarium Buys Marineland’s Dolphin Attraction and Takes It Off the Tax Rolls
The $9.1 million acquisition from Jim Jacoby–who bought the Marineland attraction in 2001 for $1.9 million–took place just before the New Year. It’ll be run as a non-profit, so Marineland as a town will lose a third of its tax revenue.
Revels Plan Would Resurrect Carver Gym—If It Can Surmount Buck-Passing
The county and the school board appear ready to commit their recurring share of Carver Gym’s annual bill. Bunnell, where the gym is located, and other groups are either less committed or less certain about their capabilities.
Extreme Drought Conditions Prompt Flagler To Extend State of Emergency Indefinitely
Flagler County is among a handful of regions in the United States facing extreme drought conditions. The burn ban is designed to stem what could be an active and dangerous wildfire season, starting much earlier than normal.
School Uniforms in Alachua, Rick Scott’s 70s Nostalgia, Junk-Touching Diagrammed: The Live Wire, Jan. 3
Also, a Florida appeals court throws out a conviction against pill pushers, Shel Silverstein reads the Giving Tree, a Christmas rewind from the Flagler Fire Department and more.
From DuPont to ITT: A Century of Marketing Flagler County to Northern Chill Migrants
Marketing Flagler County: Sisco Deen tells the story of the DuPont Land Co.’s — and other development companies’ — marketing schemes to get northerners to buy in Flagler County, long before ITT industrialized the process.
Happy 2011! A Year-End Report from FlaglerLive Editor Pierre Tristam
A summary of FlaglerLive’s first seven months: some explanation about how we grew to 3,200 visits a day and some speculation as to why, and a look back at the site’s highlights, accomplishments and limitations.
Bleeding Dangers: Has Your Dialysis Clinic Been Inspected Lately? Not Likely
The United States spends $20 billion a year to care for some 400,000 Americans who rely on chronic dialysis to live. Inspection rates vary from higher than 40 percent per year in some states to lower than 10 percent in others.
Your New Year’s Resolutions
–and How To Keep Them
Besides the week’s somewhat fiery highlights (a shooting and a couple of fires) Charlotte Marten asks a few people around town what their New Year resolutions are, and how they intend to keep them.
Flagler Lays Off Sex as Births Fall For First Time in 16 Years; Deaths Also Dip
Flagler County’s old norms keep dying. Used to be that property values never fell. And for more than two decades, they didn’t. They only increased. That changed in 2008, when they fell 8.5 percent, and kept falling more steeply the next two years. Values are set to fall again next year, if the last six […]
Floridians, Start Your Orwells: Rick Scott’s Buzzword-Assault on State Health Care
Judging from a 68-page transition team report, Rick Scott will seek to accelerate privatization of state health services. He has a willing audience among business-friendly Republican legislative leaders.
Christmas Eve Shooting Update: Victim, With Long Rap Sheet, Had Just Posted Bond
Christian Grasso, the 28-year-old victim of a shooting on a Flagler Beach street on Christmas eve, has been in and out of jail almost a dozen times in Flagler and Volusia counties since 2005.
Fire Demolishes Half a House on Forsythe; Oxygen Mask for 10-Year-Old Cat
The fire at 104 Forsythe Ln. off of Old Kings Road in North Palm Coast was called in by a neighbor. Neither owner was home. But two dogs and a cat were.
Shooting Shatters Christmas Eve Calm in Flagler Beach; Suspect Still at Large
One man was shot at 8:50 p.m. Friday, leaving a pool of blood in the middle of the street on South Central Avenue between 20th and 21st Streets. Police had no information regarding motives. The shooter got away.
Christmas Rescue: Flagler Beach Firemen Save Knocked-Out Veteran From Blazing Home
The Flagler Beach Fire Department’s Scott Jackson and Alex Wilhite pulled unconscious 44-year-old Roy Davis out of his burning home at The Village apartments Thursday morning. Includes photo gallery.
Negotiations Over New Pier Restaurant Lease Crawl Between Nods and Deal-Breakers
A marathon negotiating session over a new Pier Restaurant lease between the Flagler Beach City Commission and restaurateur Raymond Barshay left several issues unsettled.
The Week’s Highlights: FlaglerLive’s Video Recap
On Point reviews the week’s main events, including new and surprising Census numbers for Palm Coast and Flagler County, Flagler Beach’s attempt to find a new tenant for the Pier Restaurant, and more.
Open Field: Ron Vath and Joy McGrew Will Not Run Again for Flagler Beach Commission
Between them Vath and McGrew had 15 years’ experience on the city commission. McGrew was also the commission’s most influential swing voter. Their departure will likely invite a large field of candidates.
Florida Bulks Up, FCAT Hype, Adam Putnam’s Bosses, Eclipse Toons: The Live Wire, Dec. 22
Also, graphing your own Census, Medicare’s therapy fraud express, the Smithsonian’s new culture wars, buzzrords of 2010, F. Scott Fitzgerald reading Keats, and more.
Culture for the Visiting In-Laws
Arts columnist Josh Garrick saves the day with a list of suggestions, should you find yourself stuck with in-laws (or any extended family) and the perennial question: “What else is there to see?”
How Sheriff Fleming and FDLE Are Manipulating Press and Public Over Pill Mills
Sheriff Don Fleming on Tuesday led one of of three simultaneous news conferences on prescription-drug related arrests in 10 northeast Florida counties. It was more hype than news, much of it recycled.
Two Wrecks in 18-Hour Span on Flagler Roads Send 3 to Hospital in Critical Condition
Jessica Vides, a 2005 FPC graduate, and–separately–Joseph Edward O’Guin and Cacilia Carter of Bunnell, were critically injured victims of the wrecks–one on US1 and CR13, one on Colbert Lane in Palm Coast.
Greasy Spoon No More? Flagler Beach Ready to Negotiate New Lease for Pier Restaurant
A year of indecision later, Flagler Beach city commissioners will discuss a 31-year lease with Ormond Beach restaurant owner Raymond Barshay at a special meeting of the commission on Dec. 22.
Ready for Prime Time: Back Home at FPC, IB Conquerors Claim Their Diplomas
A majority of Flagler Palm Coast High School’s IB class of 2010–32 students, all of them now in college–returned on Monday afternoon for their diploma ceremony, an occasion small in numbers but oversize in achievements.
FPC at EPCOT, George Hanns as Burt Reynolds, a Lunar Eclipse and Tiger’s Sex: The Live Wire, Dec. 20
Your police state (and local police agencies) on steroids, how Facebook is more dangerous to soldiers than Wikileaks, WNZF soars higher, when China overtakes America, and more.
Julian Assange’s Greatest Leak: Americans Prefer Their Government Mostly Masked
The case against Julian Assange and Wikileaks is nonexistent, Darrell Smith argues in a column. What case has been built against him unravels the false claim that Americans prefer their government to be transparent.
All Eyes on Pensacola Federal Judge Roger Vinson as Health Reform Faces Its Next Bug
Pensacola-based federal District Judge Roger Vinson will be ruling soon on the constitutionality of Obama’s health care reform. He’s likely to rule it unconstitutional, further weakening the law’s legitimacy as it moves toward the U.S. Supreme Court.
Messy Proposal: Scenic A1A Group’s $15,000 Beach-Cleanup Request Turned Down Again
Friends of Scenic A1A are seeking the $15,000 to conduct monthly cleanups of beaches along Flagler. The Tourist Development Council has been unimpressed with the proposal’s lack of clarity and accountability.
How Tallahassee’s Addiction to Cost-Benefit Analyses Delays Pill Mills Crackdown
Why are pill mills still proliferating despite new rules? More than 600 regulatory rules are on hold throughout state government because a new law requires every single one of them to be analyzed for jobs gained or lost.
Flagler Unemployment Spikes Back Up to 16.6% and Florida’s Back Up to 12%
Just as Congress sent an $801 billion tax cut package that includes $57 billion in extended unemployment benefits, Florida’s and Flagler’s unemployment rates resume their climb. That climb should be brief, however.
Flagler 911: The Live Crime Blotter, Dec. 10-14, 2010
Must be Christmas: a slew of shoplifting–wine and cheese at Publix, shoes at Bealls, beer at target, some toy at Walmart–plus an angry dog, an unlucky jailbird, and more.
A.J. Neste and Hollingsworth Gallery Frame Young Photographers’ Voices in 1-Night Show
The 15 photographers in the Florida Endowment Foundation’s “Voice” program learned to frame, shoot and market their work all the way to Palm Coast’s premier gallery, where they had a brush with the feel of an art show opening.
Saluting FPC’s Student Government, Developers’ Psyche, USB’s New Dress Code: The Live Wire, Dec. 16
BP’s other blow-outs, are developers greedy or misunderstood?, your answers if you want to be a journalist, debating Islam, how relationships die, and more.
Break-In at Leah’s Jewelry and Pawn Shop on Old Kings Road
The robber was still at the shop when deputies arrived. He fled, jumping a chain link fence, and disappeared into the woods. A search with K-9 units and a helicopter did not locate him.
Fact Check: How Forbes Got Palm Coast’s “Fastest-Growing City” Distinction Wrong
Forbes listed Palm Coast as the 4th-fastest growing small metropolitan town in the nation. The numbers are based on a Census Bureau quirk that confuses Palm Coast with Flagler County. The actual numbers are quite different.
Bunnell Bull Run: Which Is Better, The North or the South? Answer: a Stabbing
Four men were riding in a car around Palm Coast and Bunnell. Two of them started arguing about the North and the South. It escalated. One of them then stabbed the other.