Adam Christian Mathews, a 34-year-old resident of Jacksonville, was killed early Sunday morning just north of Palm Coast Parkway on I-95, and Gena E. Coursen was in critical condition, when their Porsche struck a motorcyclist then veered into the woods, striking a tree and triggering a fire.
Beyond
Massive Police Search Just North of Flagler-St. Johns County Line, But Only For Fraudster
That heavy police presence–involving several local and state police agencies–motorists in and out of Flagler County are seeing on I-95, in the area of mile marker 315, is all for a suspect involved in… the fraudulent use of a credit card.
GOP’s Jolly Beats Sink in Congressional Election That Augurs Trouble for Democrats’ Midterms
Both parties viewed the special election to replace Rep Bill Young as a critical test of their chances for success in the mid-term elections in November. The result spells trouble for Democrats, who are expected to lose seats in the House–amplifying the Republican majority–and possibly lose the Senate, which they’ve held since 2006.
Angel’s Diner in Palatka: Radiant Relay
Angel’s Diner in Palatka is reported to be the oldest diner in Florida, across the street from the stately Larimer Arts Center and a toast’s throw from the St. Johns River. It’s also proving to be the ideal relay on the way to a nuking.
Enterprise Florida’s Version of Economic Development: Lavish Perks at Steakhouses, Hotels and Yankee Stadium
Enterprise Florida, The state’s economic development agency, is under fire again. This time, a recent report highlighted lavish spending by its staff, which prompted a watchdog group to ask the governor to launch an investigation.
Permanent Temp Workers in the U.S. Are at the Mercy of Some of the Weakest Labor-Protection Laws in the West
“Permatemping’ cases highlight a lack of U.S. protections for temp workers., who are exposed to more dangers in return for far less job protection or benefits. Other countries limit the length of temp jobs, guarantee equal pay and restrict dangerous work.
Politicians’ Pot Dilemma: Whether To Inhale Florida’s Medical Marijuana Joint
The elevation of medical marijuana to a theological level is not unique to Florida. Many legislators from Georgia to Kentucky to Iowa have invoked conversations with God as they came to embrace medical pot.
Flagler Beach Woman and St. Johns Man Face Capital Charges of Raping 2 Girls Younger Than 12
Rhonda Lynn Wilkerson, 49, of Flagler Beach, faces one rape charge and William C. Dillow, 27, of St. Augustine, faces two rape charges, after girls in a Flagler County school revealed the alleged incidents to staff. The incidents took place in St. Johns County.
Ex-Con Believed To Have Carjacked Orlando Couple Is Arrested in Flagler After Chase and Crash
Dyson Graham, who will be turning 25 on Friday, was released from state prison 11 months ago after serving three years on a conviction for carrying a concealed weapon as a convicted felon. Sunday morning, Graham and a 16-year-old girl missing from Hillsborough County were arrested in Flagler County following a carjacking in Orange County and a car crash in Palm Coast.
Matanzas and Flagler Palm Coast High Learn Of Suicide of Senior Alexandria Rodriguez
On Tuesday, the grandfather of Alexandria Rodriguez, an 18-year-old senior who’d attended Matanzas High School last year and Flagler Palm Coast High School until Thanksgiving, came to FPC to retrieve her two younger sisters and inform the administration that Alex, as she was known, had committed suicide that morning.
The Dark Money Man: How Sean Noble Moved the Kochs’ Cash into Politics and Made Millions
Sean Noble was a former congressional aide just starting as a political consultant when he was recruited to help run the Kochtopus — Charles and David Koch’s multi-layered political network.
FDLE Arrests Crime Lab Chemist Joseph Graves in Evidence-Theft Case Affecting 35 Counties
Former Pensacola crime laboratory chemist Joseph Graves was arrested Tuesday evening, three days after revealing that crime evidence at an FDLE crime lab may have compromised cases in up to 35 counties statewide. Flagler County is not among those counties.
Magpul Gun Company Mutes Its Connection To Sandy Hook, and Media Comply
After rushing to every microphone in Colorado during a battle against gun control, Magpul had nothing to say to reporters about its connection to the Newtown shooting, even when photos of its magazines, used by the shooter, were released in December.
Flagler Cases Not Among Those Affected By Extensive Drug-Evidence Theft at FDLE Crime Lab
A chemist who worked nearly 2,600 cases for 80 law enforcement agencies spanning 35 counties and 12 judicial circuits is on paid leave pending an investigation into pain-killer pills stolen from an FDLE evidence vault and replaced with over-the-counter drugs.
Ex-Flagler Beach Cop Juratovac Sentenced to 4 Years in Prison in Attempted Murder of Flagler Firefighter
Nathaniel Juratovac, the 41-year-old ex-Flagler Beach cop who twice shot an unarmed Flagler County firefighter in what was then termed a road-rage incident by the side of U.S. 1 was sentenced this afternoon to 51 months in prison in a plea agreement. Had he been convicted at trial, he could have faced up to 25 years in prison on the attempted murder charge.
A Palm Coast-Based Referee, 66, Is Accused of Inappropriately Touching a Star 14-Year-Old Girl During a Game, and a Team Is Rattled
Marion Al Jennings, a Palm Coast retiree who officiates with A-1 Officials Association, faces a battery charge for allegedly grabbing a 14-year-old girl’s buttocks and rubbing her breast as he officiated her game earlier this month at Calvary Christian Academy. A-1 referees also officiate at Matanzas and Flagler Palm Coast High School.
From Buddy Holly to Dr. Seuss, the Jacksonville Symphony Goes Winter Dance Sneetching
It’s the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra as you’ve never heard it before in two end-of-month concerts, with a tribute to Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper on Jan. 24-25, and Dr. Seuss’s “The Sneetches” on Jan. 26.
Martin Luther King’s Nightmare: The Inequality Behind Forbes’ Richest 400
The net worth of just 400 billionaires is on par with the collective wealth of our more than 14 million African- American households. Both groups possess some $2 trillion, about three percent of our national net worth, an economic injustice Martin Luther King would have decried, argues Bob Lord.
The Slow-Motion Lynching Of President Barack Obama
If this country will lynch a brilliant, civil, kind, humble, compassionate, moderate, articulate, black intellectual we’re lucky enough to have in the White House, argues Frank Schaeffer, we’ll lynch anyone. What chance does an anonymous black man pulled over in a traffic stop have of fair treatment when the former editor of the Harvard Law Review is being lynched?
Askari Muhammad Is Executed After 38 Years on Death Row and Numerous Legal Bungles
Muhammad was sentenced to death in 1975 for the murder in July 1974 of Sydney and Lillian Gans near Miami, and, after that sentencing was thrown out, sentenced to death for the murder of prison guard James Burke in 1980. He is the 13th individual executed on Gov. Rick Scott’s watch since 2011.
Volusia-Flagler Non-Profit Hosting Annual Eating-Disorder Symposium on Feb. 15
COPE–Community Outreach for the Prevention of Eating Disorders–is hosting its annual public health symposium for education, awareness and prevention of eating disorders, Saturday, Feb. 15, at Renew Yoga Studio at 220 S. Beach Street in Daytona Beach.
Florida Loses Out on FAA Drone Testing In Latest Blow to Kennedy Space Center
Space Florida’s $1.4 million proposal wasn’t among the six chosen Monday by the Federal Aviation Administration to develop technologies so drones could share airspace with existing traffic.
FHP Trooper Is Shot in the Face Then Kills Assailants in Palatka; 2nd Suspect Still at Large
Florida Highway Patrol trooper Lawrence Andrew Litzell, an 11-year veteran, was shot in the face following what had started as a routine traffic stop in Palatka after midnight today. Litzell was able to return fire, FHP reports, and killed one of two assailants, Somourian Jamal Wingo, who had turned 24 today. The second suspect is at large.
88,000 Floridians Lose Emergency Jobless Benefits Today as Congressional Deal Skirts By
The emergency benefits, begun in 2008 under President George W. Bush, were created to help unemployed workers who had exhausted their state jobless benefits during the economic recession. But about 1.3 million Americans’ unemployment checks weren’t part of the bipartisan budget deal passed by Congress last week and signed by President Obama on Thursday.
Putting Bach Back in Christmas
Rather than cheat Christmas by limiting it to December 25, WKCR’s annual BachFest is a 240-hour celebration of the holiday through the music of Johan Sebastian Bach. It’s also a front seat at the Creation.
Deemed “Grossly Offensive,” Satanic Display Is Barred from Florida Capitol’s Christmas Gallery
The state Department of Management Services on Wednesday denied an attempt by “Satanists” to put up a display in the Florida Capitol, which currently showcases a Nativity scene, a Festivus pole made of beer cans, posters from atheists, and a crudely-made Flying Spaghetti Monster.
Holding a Candle to a Citizenship Oath
Twenty-seven ago today I was one among a few hundred Technicolor-skinned and Babel-tongued immigrants who jammed into an enormous hall in Federal District Court in Brooklyn and recited the oath of citizenship. A candle-lighting has marked the occasion every year since.
Nativity Scene in Florida Capitol Will Share Space With Beer-Can Pole Celebrating Festivus
A nearly 6-foot-tall pole made from emptied Pabst Blue Ribbon beer cans, marking the Festivus holiday once parodied on Seinfeld, will be put up in the Florida Capitol this week as a not-so-subtle protest to the recent placement of a Christian nativity scene by the Florida Prayer Network.
Nelson Mandela, 1918-2013
Forgive, But Don’t Forget
Nelson Mandela, one of the towering figures of the 20th century and the liberator of South Africa from apartheid, died today–Dec. 5–at 8:50 p.m. in Johannesburg. He was 95. Here are exts from his own pen, which speak more eloquently than obituaries about his vision for a world of equality, human rights and dignity unobscured by illusions.
Proposed Monument Honoring Union Soldiers at Florida’s Olustee Battlefield Sparks Outrage
The bid to add a Union monument to the Olustee Battlefield Historic State Park near Lake City, site of the Civil War’s largest battle in Florida, turned a public hearing into a three-hour bout of recriminations that re-enacted some of the Civil War’s deepest passions.
Obama’s Free Press Problem: Why Reporters in the U.S. Now Need Protection
The Obama administration has made the most concerted effort since the Nixon years to intimidate officials from talking to a reporter. Paul Steiger, Paul Steiger recipient of this year’s the Burton Benjamin Memorial award from the Committee to Protect Journalists, argues for a response.
Of Thanksgiving Day Parades and Friends in Exile
Watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on CBS was a bit like being waterboarded, but matters improved very quickly when the channel changed and the aromas of the day began invading the house, along with just the right spirits: Praise be to Beaujolais Nouveau.
Monique Haddad Branon
Beirut 1938 – Palm Coast 2013
Monique Haddad-Branon, née Safa, who died peacefully on the evening of Sunday 17 November 2013 in Palm Coast, had been a fixture in Lebanon’s media of the 1960s, 70s and 80s as a television and radio and newspaper reporter and columnist before evolving into a novelist and poet in her American years.
William Styffe, 33, Suspected Bank Robber, Is Dead 7 Weeks After Suicide Attempt in Jail
William Carl Styffe, who was accused of trying to rob Hancock Bank in Palm Coast and robbing a Sun Trust Bank in Ormond Beach on Aug. 30, then a Compass Bank in St. Johns County a few days later, died over the weekend subsequent to injuries he sustained during a suicide attempt at the Volusia County Branch Jail on Sept. 18.
The Trouble With Veterans Day
It’s hard to see how, if a war is unjust, it can be heroic to wage it. So it’s flat-out preposterous to claim that everyone who has ever been in the U.S. military is a hero, argues Arnold Oliver, a Vietnam veteran who finds it troubling that Veterans Day has devolved into a hyper-nationalistic worship service of militarism.
Cowardice as Culture: Richie Incognito’s NFL and the Adulation of Brutality
For years, in college and in the NFL, lineman Richie Incognito behaving loutishly and unaccountably on and off the field in an NFL culture that rewards and protects brutality. Jonathan Martin is the rare whistle-blower who reveals ugly truths the league and its fans would too often prefer not to acknowledge, argues Steve Robinson.
What Government Shutdown? U.S. Economy Adds 204,000 Jobs, Beating Expectations
The three-month tally of 605,000 jobs is the best three-month total in almost two years, though the unemployment rate still went up by a decimal point, to 7.3 percent as the labor force shrank by 720,000 in October, a reflection of the government shutdown.
1963’s Familiar Bloodstains: Far Right Politics from JFK to Barack Obama
John F. Kennedy was called treasonous and was the target of a relentless far-right campaign to vilify and demolish his presidency by demagogues and media barons whose ideological descendants have unleashed the same tactics on Barack Obama, writes Steve Robinson.
From Romance to Hassle: For Younger Generations, the Car Runs Out of Rhymes
Love of the automobile seems to be the province of old guys, writes Steve Robinson, as expenses, carbon footprints and other means of staying in touch have made an anachronism of getting behind the wheel of a car simply to feel the wind in one’s hair.
Say Farewell to “Antiquated” Highway Call Boxes: Cell-Flush Florida Junks Them
The state Department of Transportation is removing all but a few of the 2,752 push button call boxes from along its highways as personal cell phones have reduced the need for the roadside phones. The removal, estimated to cost around $200,000, has already started.
Favoring Defense Industry Over Human Rights, Obama Loosens Restrictions on Arms Exports
The United States is loosening controls over military exports, in a shift that former U.S. officials and human rights advocates say could increase the flow of American-made military parts to the world’s conflicts and make it harder to enforce arms sanctions. In 2011, the U.S. concluded $66 billion in arms sales agreements, nearly 80 percent of the global market.
Hubert L. Grimes, First Black Judge in 7th Circuit, Will Retire After 25 Years on the Bench
Volusia County Circuit Judge Hubert L. Grimes, the first black judge to serve on County Court, will retire from the Seventh Judicial Circuit, effective Jan. 30, 2014, after 25 years on the bench. The Seventh Circuit includes Volusia, Flagler, St. Johns and Putnam counties.
Florida’s U.S. Rep. C.W. Bill Young, Immoderate Only in Longevity, Is Dead at 82
U.S. Rep. C.W. “Bill” Young of Pinellas County, the longest serving Republican in Congress, was a political icon in the Tampa Bay area and a moderate who had only announced earlier this month that he wouldn’t seek a 23rd term in Congress next year.
Rebecca Sedwick Suicide: Two Middle School Girls, 12 and 14, Arrested on Aggravated Stalking Charges
12-year-old Rebecca Sedwick’s suicide in Lakeland on Sept. 10 was the latest of a growing list of children taking their own life after being maligned, threatened and taunted online, mostly through a new collection of texting and photo-sharing cellphone applications.
Florida GOP Rep. Dennis Baxley Compares Gay Parents to Drunks and Drug Abusers
Florida’s Dennis Baxley, a Republican member of the Florida House representing the Ocala region, made the startling comparison of lesbian moms to abusers and dysfunctional parents during a House subcommittee meeting on middle school reforms this week.
XBox Murders Ringleader Victorino Closer to Execution as He Loses Supreme Court Appeal
Troy Victorino lost his latest appear in a unanimous decision by the Supreme Court Thursday. He was convicted of six counts of first-degree murder and numerous other charges, including the abuse of a dead human body, and sentenced to death for the killings at a Deltona home in 2004.
Kathleen Sebelius to Florida Legislature: That $51 Billion Offer Is Still Good for the Taking
Kathleen Sebelius has visited Florida half a dozen times since June, trying to get the word out to the state’s millions of uninsured to sign up for a health plan., but she hopes the Florida Legislature reverses its opposition to expanding Medicaid and accepting $51 billion over the next 10 years.
A Confederacy of Choices: Marketplace Plans Vary Widely In Costs, In Counties And Across U.S.
Consumers shopping in the new health insurance marketplaces will face a bewildering array of competing plans in some counties and sparse options in other places, with people in some areas of the country having to pay much more for the identical level of coverage than consumers elsewhere.
The GOP’s Shutdown Zealotry: What John Boehner and Yasser Arafat Have In Common
Republicans’ reincarnation of Know-Nothings have let their tea party zealots control them at the expense of the nation’s welfare, and of their own party, argues Steve Robinson, consigning themselves to the dustbin of political hacks.
Shutdown Hits Home: Castillo de San Marcos and Ft. Matanzas Among Parks Off Limits
Starting Tuesday, the National Park Service closed all 401 national parks, including Castillo de San Marcos and Fort Matanzas National Monuments in St. Augustine, affecting the local tourism economy. Potential foreign visitors’ visas are facing processing delays.
