On July 27, Castillo de San Marcos National Monument will begin mobilizing for construction to replace, raise and rehabilitate the park’s failing seawalls and protect the historic fort and the broader St. Augustine community. Visitor access to the historic fort will be maintained throughout this project, which is expected to take approximately 18 months.
Beyond
Teacher’s Career Hinges On First Amendment Battle After Her Firing Over Charlie Kirk Comments
Kelly Brock-Sanchez, a former Clay County public school teacher fired for making controversial Facebook comments about conservative activist Charlie Kirk, is fighting to save her career after her private posts went viral. She filed a federal lawsuit claiming the punishment violates her First Amendment rights. An administrative hearing will determine whether she permanently loses her Florida teaching certificate.
Red and Blue States Align in Unlikely Bipartisan Push for States’ Rights Against Federal Overreach in Trump Era
Liberals, longtime proponents of a stronger central government, are now championing an ideology that evokes odious memories of slavery and segregation. Many state leaders hope that a renewed focus on federalism could help lower the national political temperature. By shifting more political decisions to the states, they envision a nation less subject to blue-red swings that change the entire course of federal law enforcement, environmental policy and business regulation.
What, Then, Is An American?
The question–what is an American–has been asked for 250 years and has always been more important than the answer. The clue is in the asking. There is no single answer to what cannot be defined, what should not be defined. The moment we answer the question with any kind of finality, the moment we say an American is this, that or the other, we are asking an un-American question
As Route 66 Turns 100, What Is It That We’re Actually Celebrating?
As Route 66 approaches its centennial, the history of the highway reveals a stark division between promotional myths and historical reality. Early civic marketing manufactured an idealized American image of freedom and romance. This legendary status excluded Black and Latino travelers who faced systemic discrimination on the road. The subsequent rise of midcentury interstate highways eventually caused the economic decline of the route.
Trump Spikes Bipartisan Housing Bill Unless Congress Approves New Voting Restrictions
President Donald Trump derailed a housing overhaul which passed the Senate Monday and House Tuesday with wide margins. Trump was set to sign into law Wednesday. He cancelled a signing ceremony for the broadly popular bipartisan bill until Congress passes the controversial SAVE America Act, which addresses the extremely rare phenomenon of noncitizen voting. Republican senators have told Trump there are not enough votes in the chamber for it to pass.
Popular Food Truck Ragga Surf Café Plans Late Summer Return To Marineland on Dolphin Adventure’s Grounds
Ragga Surf Café plans to return to Marineland by the end of summer, setting up at the Dolphin Adventure. The expansion features a refurbished 39-foot bus and will create 30 new jobs. While local officials welcome the end of the area’s food desert, Mayor Buddy Pinder expressed concerns regarding traffic and potential parking issues on A1A. The company will continue its St. Augustine operations.
World Cup Fever
Why do we watch the World Cup? This is a tournament of paradoxes, a too-big-to-fail quadrennial festival of corruption, cheating, profiteering, nationalist chauvinism and mostly crappy soccer. Yet it can hypnotize and transport to a utopia of competition as idealized and convincing as Pelé’s deification of the sport as “the beautiful game.” We watch not so much for the thrill–most games are snoozfests–but for the nostalgia of a game that never existed, but that we reimagine with every match.
West Volusia NAACP Awards David H. Staples Scholarship To Teriauna Carruthers
The West Volusia Branch of the NAACP named Teriauna Carruthers the 2026 recipient of the David H. Staples Scholarship. Carruthers graduated from T. DeWitt Taylor High School with a 3.78 grade-point average. She earned a 3.8 grade-point average at Daytona State College through dual enrollment. The multi-sport athlete and student leader will major in psychology at the University of North Florida this fall.
GOP Delegates at State Convention Hold Moment of Silence for Derek Chauvin, George Floyd’s Convicted Murderer
Christopher Rocco, one of the over 2,000 delegates at Minnesota’s Republican state convention last weekend, called for a 30-second moment of silence for Derek Chauvin, who was convicted of murdering George Floyd in 2020 after kneeling on Floyd’s neck and back for over nine minutes in an arrest over a suspected $20 counterfeit bill. Chauvin is still alive and in prison.
Circle K Clerk Sentenced To Life For Murder Of Edgewater Police Officer David Jewell
An Ormond Beach Circle K clerk received a life sentence today for the murder of an off-duty Edgewater police officer last September. Eduardo Labrado Machado, 24, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder to avoid the death penalty. Surveillance cameras captured Machado shooting David Jewell 20 times inside the convenience store. Machado admitted to planning the unprovoked attack during his drive to work.
GOP Gerrymandering Is Burying the South’s Black Voters
Republican state legislatures across the South, Florida included, are passing new congressional redistricting maps that systematically divide concentrated Black populations into multiple white-majority districts to neutralize minority voting power and limits political representation. It is a regression to Jim Crow-era electoral suppression.
Mandatory One Day Per Week Watering Restrictions Ordered as Drought Worsens
The St. Johns River Water Management District today issued a Phase III Extreme Water Shortage declaration in response to ongoing exceptional drought conditions, declining groundwater levels and reduced surface water flows across northeast and central Florida. The district includes 18 counties from Nassau to the north to Indian River to the south, including Flagler.
Immigration Sweeps Lead to Tens of Thousands More ‘Collateral’ Arrests of Noncriminals in 7 Months
A quarter of immigration arrests since August were labeled by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as “collateral,” a type of arrest and detention that’s been challenged in court as an end run around civil rights. Public outrage and lawsuits over the arrests may be tamping down the large-scale sweeps that foster them, but tens of thousands were arrested this way between August and early March.
Don’t Let Palm Coast’s Westward Invasion Sprawl Over Old Brick Road
Walden Pond serves as a grim cautionary tale for Flagler County preservationists as the colossal western expansion of Palm Coast threatens Old Brick Road. County commissioners are right to demand wide buffers and forbid at-grade crossings. Saving what remains of the historic Dixie Highway requires resisting developer logic that prioritizes proximity over true natural preservation.
Birthright Citizenship Ruling Will Decide Whether America’s 250th Is Celebration or Curtains
A Supreme Court ruling against birthright citizenship is a dangerous stepping stone toward mass denaturalization and the erosion of individual sovereignty. That’s Trump’s endgame. Anything less than a decision demolishing the challenge would disgrace the sestercentennial anniversary we are about to celebrate.
Flagler County Unemployment Jumps to 6 Percent, Highest Rate in Five Years
Flagler County unemployment reached 6 percent in January, the highest rate since October 2020 as labor markets in St. Johns and Volusia counties also showed strains in January. Florida lost 20,000 jobs over the year.
Saturday in Byblos:
Charlie Sheen’s Addictive Book of Hedonism
Charlie Sheen survives his own history of addiction to deliver a surprising memoir in “The Book of Sheen,” a three-voice fugue of stardom, debauchery, and Casanova-like reflections. He skips the Hollywood trap of mawkish regret as his narrative energy and wit recount a life spent mostly in a drug-induced haze.
GOP Rep. Ryan Chamberlin Launches Citizen Initiative To Eliminate Florida Property Taxes By 2028
Florida Republicans have struggled to pass property tax relief despite promises of a constitutional amendment for the November ballot. GOP Representative Ryan Chamberlin is now spearheading a 2028 citizen-led initiative to eliminate property taxes entirely as local officials express concern over lost revenue for essential services. Other states like Georgia and Ohio are similarly debating radical tax shifts.
R.J. Larizza Hosts Former Rivals as Unveiling of 4 State Attorneys’ Portraits Stirs Old Battles and Triumphs
State Attorney R.J. Larizza Friday unveiled a portrait gallery at an event honoring four storied Seventh Judicial Circuit former State Attorneys: Dan Warren, Stephen Boyles, John Tanner and Steve Alexander. Warren’s son Raymond, a former prosecutor and public defender, recalled his father’s role in the summer of 1964, seminal in the state’s civil rights history, and Tanner used the occasion to discuss his 1963 manslaughter indictment by Warren, and subsequent enmity with the state attorney.
Trump Fires Pam Bondi, Ending Combative Tenure as Attorney General
Attorney General Pam Bondi is leaving the Department of Justice and will be replaced for now by President Donald Trump’s former personal defense lawyer, the president announced Thursday.
Voting Rights Groups File Suit as DeSantis Signs Proof-of-Citizenship Law
While Congress remains deadlocked on the SAVE America Act that would require proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote, that requirement will soon become the law of the land in Florida now that Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed the latest “voting integrity ” legislation. The governor signed the bill (HB 991) into law Wednesday in The Villages following its approval by the Florida Legislature last month. The law requires people who are registering to vote to produce evidence of citizenship, such as a valid passport or birth certificate. It will take effect Jan. 1, 2027.
Thousands Of No Kings Protesters Gathered In Red Florida Counties To Challenge Autocracy and War
Thousands of protesters gathered across Florida cities to demonstrate against Donald Trump during the third No Kings event even in Republican strongholds, including Pensacola, Jacksonville, Lakeland and Flagler County. Veterans joined diverse crowds to criticize foreign policy decisions and domestic immigration enforcement. Participants expressed concern regarding government lawlessness and executive overreach.
Over 1,300 ‘No Kings’ Protesters at 3 Locations in Flagler Beach and Palm Coast Proclaim Diversity of Opposition to Trump
Demonstrators gathered in Flagler Beach and two locations in Palm Coast Saturday to participate in the third set of anti-authoritarian “No Kings” protests, part of some 3,100 such protests across the country. More than 1,300 people voiced opposition to the Trump administration through signs and chants. A small counter-protest emerged at Palm Coast Parkway. Participants expressed concerns ranging from civil rights to immigration issues, but the movement’s political effectiveness ahead of the November election is unclear.
As War and ICE Fuel Momentum, Throngs Expected at No Kings Rallies in Palm Coast and Flagler Beach Saturday
Organizers in Flagler County scheduled three separate No Kings rallies in Palm Coast and Flagler Beach, joining millions expected to participate in over 3,000 demonstrations across the nation and beyond Saturday. The non-hierarchical protests draw on thematic opposition to recent foreign and domestic policies and the president’s authoritarianism.
Florida Democrats Flip Two Key Legislative Seats In Biggest Special Election Victory In Recent Years
Florida Democrats flipped two legislative seats during special elections held Tuesday. Navy veteran Brian Nathan secured a narrow victory in a Hillsborough County senate district. Emily Gregory won House District 87, which covers the Mar-a-Lago area. Republican Hilary Holley maintained GOP control of House District 51 in Polk County. These results represent significant momentum for the Democratic party within a traditionally Republican-leaning state legislative landscape.
Florida Gas Average Up 29 Percent In Two Weeks
Pump prices in Florida increased 27 cents over the past week and have grown 82 cents since the on-going war with Iran began. In Palm Coast, gas on Monday was selling for $3.75 at Wawa and $3.99 at RaceTrac on State Road 100, with different stations offering $3.75, $3.79, $3.89 and $3.99 along Palm Coast Parkway, according to GasBuddy.
Florida Eagerly Turns Back the Clock to 1956
Florida’s Legislature is actively rolling back diversity initiatives, voting rights, and LGBTQ+ protections. New educational mandates target perceived Marxist influences in universities and grade schools. State leaders are prohibiting local climate policies to protect industrial interests, all of it intentionally retreating toward the restrictive cultural and environmental standards of 1956.
Florida Senate Unanimously Backed Black History Museum in St. Johns, But Will House Meet The Moment?
Florida’s Senate unanimously passed Senate Bill 308, sponsored by Sen. Tom Leek, to establish a state-funded Museum of Black History in St. Johns County, correcting a historical omission. The proposed museum would offer space for education and heritage tourism on land holding deep personal and historical significance. While the Senate acted decisively, the companion bill currently stalls in the House, leaving lawmakers to choose between symbolic gestures and meaningful action.
Saturday in Byblos:
Raja Shehadeh’s Vanishing Palestine
Florida’s House Bill 31 seeks to rename the West Bank as “Judea and Samaria,” erasing Palestinian history and rights to their land and violating international law. Raja Shehadeh’s “Palestinian Walks,” originally published in 2007, explores the systematic expropriation of Palestinian land through legal chicanery, balkanization, theft and settler vigilantism. But it does so through six walks that, for all the politics and bitter history, also have the transcendent feel of inner discovery of the soul through nature or reverence for the deep roots of genealogy through places as ordinary as a hillside.
Unmask ICE. End the Rittenhousing of America.
Masked ICE agents operate with dangerous impunity typical of paramilitaries and militias in third-world countries. It’s time to take off their masks, end their immunity, require bodycams, and to diminish the undisciplined violence of amateurs, prevent any agent hired within the past year to be in the streets.
Black History Museum Bill Advances
A proposal that would move forward with creating a Florida Museum of Black History in St. Johns County drew support from a second Senate committee Monday but awaits action in the House.
Killing Renee Nicole Good and Stand Your Ground
Seen through Florida’s Stand Your Ground law, the killing of Renee Nicole Good by ICE agent Jonathan Ross in Minnesota highlights the dangerous subjectivity of moment-of-threat self-defense claims and the equally dangerous expansion of law enforcement immunity, which weakens reasonable use-of-force standards and immunizes lethal vigilantism.
Stetson Celebrates Martin Luther King with Week of Action
Stetson University will commemorate the life and legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with its annual MLK Week of Action, a series of on- and off-campus events designed to connect students with the broader DeLand community through service, dialogue and civic engagement. The week’s programming includes opportunities for reflection, facilitated conversation and hands-on service projects that invite participants to practice Dr. King’s vision of peace, justice and the Beloved Community.
‘Soul on Fire”s John O’Leary Keynotes Daytona Regional Chamber’s Event
The Daytona Regional Chamber of Commerce will hold its 106th Annual Meeting on February 2 at the News-Journal Center. The event features the inauguration of 2026 Chair Linda Dubea and honors award winners Premier Resorts & Management and Alan Florez. Burn survivor and Soul on Fire subject John O’Leary will provide the keynote address.
JD Vance Blames Victim in ICE Shooting and Asks for Prayers for Her Killer
“I would appreciate everybody saying a prayer for that agent,” J.D. Vance said, defending the agent’s actions and attacking media over the reporting of the agent’s killing of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, whom he blamed for her death: “I’m not happy that this woman was there at a protest violating the law by interfering with the law enforcement action,” he said.
California Is Banning Masks for Federal Agents. Here’s Why It Could Lose in Court.
A series of immigration raids across California in 2025 had one thing in common: Most of the federal agents detaining people wore masks over their faces. This month, the state of California and its largest county will ban law enforcement officers from covering their faces, with a few exceptions, putting local and state police at odds with masked immigration agents.
Conservationists Seek to Add Florida Black Bear to Threatened Species List
After having what one described as a “significant impact” on Florida’s black bear hunt this month, conservationists could seek to add bears to the federal threatened species list. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission on Tuesday reported 52 bears were killed during the hunt.
52 Bears Killed in State-Sanctioned Hunt, 120 Fewer Than Permitted
The bear population in Florida is estimated at around 4,050. The 2025 hunt was the first since in a decade. The state shut down the last hunt in 2015 at the end of its second day after nearly 300 bears had been killed. The 2025 rules gave hunters the green light to kill bears at game feeding stations, using food to bait the animals. The rules allow hunters to use dogs to assist them in the hunt beginning in 2027.
The Phoenix Declaration’s Serenade of Dog Whistles
The Heritage Foundation’s “Phoenix” doctrine, recently adopted by Florida, is a Christian nationalist manifesto designed to eradicate educational dissent. It prioritizes “parental omnipotence” over children’s intellectual freedom. By diverting public funds to private vouchers and sanitizing history, the doctrine cements a decades-long conservative war against public education and enforces a “pinched, angry” monoculture that suppresses critical thinking in favor of dogmatic, exclusionary patriotism.
Citing ‘Age of Darkness and Deceit,’ DeSantis Moves to Curb AI Growth and Data Centers
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday proposed an artificial intelligence “bill of rights” to stymie unfettered AI growth, crack down on sexual AI chatbots, and restrict AI data centers in Florida. Hinted at for months, these legislative proposals come in sharp contrast to pro-tech push marking President Donald Trump’s second term in office. Trump — allied with technology titans like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg — toyed with an executive order to thwart state-level AI regulations earlier this month.
The U.S. Citizenship Test Shouldn’t Be Like Trivia Night at Tortugas
The new citizenship test “for aspiring Americans” is out. It is supposedly longer and harder than its predecessor. In fact, it’s not a civics test. It’s certainly not a citizenship test. It’s the sort of questions Jay Scherr baritones between nachos at his weekly trivia night at Tortugas, and it is riddled with errors while projecting an unrecognizably chauvinist America.
Thus Spoke Lazarustra
Reports of Democrats’ death, Samuel Clemens telegraphs in Innocents at Home (his Substack), have been greatly exaggerated. But let’s not turn Tuesday’s Democratic sweep into a greatly exaggerated victory just yet. This was Lexington, not Yorktown. And Zohran Mamdani has a distance to go yet for his Hattin: those Christian nationalists have a stranglehold on this unholied America.
More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by ICE and Kicked, Dragged and Detained for Days
Americans have been dragged, tackled, beaten, tased and shot by immigration agents. They’ve had their necks kneeled on. They’ve been held outside in the rain while in their underwear. At least three citizens were pregnant when agents detained them. One of those women had already had the door of her home blown off while Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem watched. About two dozen Americans have said they were held for more than a day without being able to phone lawyers or loved ones.
Sen. Tom Leek Again Files Bill to Create Museum of Black History Board in St. Johns, After Setback Earlier This Year
Sen. Tom Leek of Ormond Beach introduced Senate Bill 308, which would create an Administrative Board that must be formed by July 31, 2026. The panel will oversee the museum’s construction, operation, and administration — a key step in fulfilling the vision outlined in legislation authorizing the museum’s development. Leek had filed a similar bill last year. It cleared every committee unanimously. It cleared the House and Senate unanimously, along $750,000 for actual construction. Gov. DeSantis vetoed the funding, and Leek’s bill died.
Only 3 States Passed License Plate Reader Laws This Year Despite Concerns
Lawmakers in at least 16 states this year introduced bills to regulate the use of automated license plate readers responsible for collecting large amounts of data on drivers across the country. But just three states — Arkansas, Idaho and Virginia — enacted laws this session that establish or amend rules for law enforcement agencies using the high-tech camera systems and the manner in which license plate data should be stored. And this month, California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would have restricted use of such data.
St. Johns County Launches Children’s Advocacy Group
St. Johns County has helped launch IMPACT: Advocating for Children Today, Inc., with community partners to identify the needs, resources, and partnerships to improve the lives of St. Johns County children and their families by advocating for a safe, healthy, and nurturing environment. A community workshop was held in August to proceed forward with program priorities, funding opportunities, and the formation of a board of directors.
Flagler Cares’ Carrie Baird Is Among ‘Women Shaping Florida’s Future’ at State Awards, a First for Flagler County
Close to 200 people gathered at Tallahassee’s DoubleTree Hotel Wednesday evening to honor “women who are shaping Florida’s future, who are leading, innovating and lifting others up as they rise,” as Shevaun Harris, Secretary, Agency for Health Care Administration, a keynote speaker and one of the honorees, told the audience. One of the women was Carrie Baird, Chief Executive Officer of Flagler Cares, the 10-year-old, Palm Coast-based nonprofit. It was the first time that the leader of an organization in Flagler County was the recipient of the News Service of Florida’s annual Above and Beyond Award.
Teacher Who Certified Student as ‘Most Likely to Become Dictator’ Battles Pending Firing
With state Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas vowing to prevent her from teaching again, an Alachua County teacher is fighting a disciplinary case that includes allegations she presented a certificate to a student that said he was the most likely to “become a dictator.”
Republican Push for Snitching on Charlie Kirk Posts Drives Unprecedented Purge of Public Workers
An ongoing purge of public employees is driven in part by Republican elected officials who are encouraging Americans to report co-workers, their children’s teachers and others who make comments seen as crossing the line. They have been egged on by the Trump administration, with Vice President JD Vance urging listeners of Kirk’s podcast to call the employer of anyone “celebrating” his killing.