Barrientos was recently accused by an investigating judge in Chile of the murder in September of 1973 of the internationally popular theater director, teacher and folk/protest singer Victor Jara, then 40 years old.
Beyond
Obama Rule Gives 1 Million Undocumented Immigrants Clearer Path to Legal Status
Many of Florida’s 700,000 undocumented immigrants would be eligible for the new path to the permanent residency status that is also a step toward citizenship as the Obama administration recalibrates the immigration issue.
Mondex’s Kenneth Morrow Is Shot and Killed in a Suicidal Confrontation With Volusia Cops
Volusia County Sheriff’s deputies attempting to negotiate with a suicidal man armed with a handgun opened fire and killed 52-year-old Kenneth Morrow of Daytona North Wednesday evening in Ormond Beach after Morrow “advanced” on deputies while brandishing a gun, according to the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office.
That New Year Resolution to Exercise? Your Local State Park Wants You.
Rangers at Washington Oaks Gardens State Park and Faver-Dykes State Park are organizing guided walking tours on New Year’s Day for those who have resolved to exercise more.
Abuse of Girls at Milton Detention Facility Exposes Flaws in Florida’s Juvenile Justice
The Florida juvenile prison for girls got a 100 percent satisfactory rating from the state a year ago, though two staffers have been accused of abusing girls there, and one was caught on video.
The Soft-Core Terrorism
Of Florida’s Gun Worship
Florida’s gun-worship is part of a lethal, juvenile romance for guns and a national disease that doesn’t hesitate to lock and load the words “gun” and “hobby” in the same chamber while vilifying those who’d imply a connection with the consequences.
Title IX Lets Girls Be Both Quarterback and Homecoming Queen
Erin DiMeglio made history as the first female in Florida to play quarterback in a varsity high school game, and was elected South Plantation High’s homecoming queen. That wouldn’t have happened without Title IX, the landmark legislation assuring females the same opportunities as boys at both the high school and college levels.
Three Students Hospitalized, One With Head Trauma, After A1A Crash in Ormond Beach
Toni J. Kilgore-Byriel, 45, of Ormond Beach, was driving south on Oceanshore Boulevard and taking her son and two other boys to school at Seabreeze High School this morning when she was struck by Jacob Shannon, 26, who was driving a Nissan.
Mazel Not: Israel and the United States, Married on the Wrong Side of History
Israel likes to claim that Palestinians deny Israel’s right to exist. the reality is the opposite. Israel has spent the last six decades denying Palestinians’ right to exist in fact, going as far as denying them their history and identity. The UN vote for Palestinian statehood begins to right the injustice.
For African-American Voter Turnout, a New Normal
Ever since the process toward full citizenship of African Americans began with the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation, politicians and others have been trying to stop us from exercising the hard fought, hard won right to vote, writes Leslie Watson Malachie. It’s not working anymore.
Taxes Lower Than in the Reagan Era, Baldwin on Malcom X, Bach’s Purity: Five Reads Friday
Your taxes are lower today than during Reagan’s 80s, Israel’s cynical retaliations in Jerusalem, James Baldwin on Malcolm X, women in Congress, America’s Cold War plans to nuke the Moon, cancer in every food, and Johan Sebastian Bach, pure and impure, plus Flagler jail bookings.
For FPL Customers, Bills $20 Higher in 2013 for Nuke-Plant Construction That May Never Happen
Flagler County customers of FPL will pay an additional $1.69 a month, or $20 for the year in 2013, for nuclear-plant construction slated for the distant future, and that may never take place. It’s the third year in a row that customers are paying those up-front costs.
Mocking the Pledge of Allegiance
A reporter is fired after only reluctantly mentioning that a city councilman refused to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance in the latest example of ignorance replacing the very values the Pledge stands for, values that apply especially for those who choose to sit it out.
Do Prisoners Have a Constitutional Right to Dental Floss?
In Florida, five inmates have separately sued Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw in federal court, claiming deprivation of federally protected civil rights through the denial of dental floss. The sheriff is denying it to them. Angel Castillo argues the sheriff is wrong.
Astronaut Suni Williams Enthralls 1,000 Flagler Students in a Ham Radio Chat From ISS
Suni Williams, one of the most decorated American astronauts, was 210 miles above Florida as she fielded some 20 questions for 10 minutes from students before a packed audience of 1,000 at Indian Trails Middle School today, in a thrilling, old-fashioned hook up made possible by the Flagler Palm Coast Amateur Radio Club.
Unemployment Drops Sharply in Flagler, to 11.3%, as State and U.S. Trends Also Improve
Flagler County’s unemployment rate in September dropped sharply to 11.3 percent, from a revised 12 percent in August, as improving economies statewide and in the country continue to to trickle down. Flagler’s 11.3 percent rate is the lowest in four years: it was last at 11.3 in November 2008.
Corporal Punishment: When a Religious Exemption Becomes a License to Brutalize
A harrowing recent series in the Tampa Bay Times detailed how for 30 years a handful of homes for troubled youth have used a misguided exemption in Florida law to get away with all manner of abuses by using religion as a shield.
Amendment Shock: A More Tolerant Nation Is By-Passing Smug, Regressive Florida
Many of Tuesday’s 176 popular referendum that passed speak of a more tolerant, more freedom-loving nation. Except in Florida, where the Legislature’s 11 proposals put the state at odds with national trenbds–and the Florida Legislature at odds with the people it claims to represent.
Central Florida Helps Democrats Erode GOP’s Legislative Majority as State Realigns
For the first time in three decades, Democrats get a net increase in Florida Senate seats. They reduced the GOP majority in the house from 81-38 to 76-44, despite redistricting, and the state’s direction appears no longer to favor Republicans as easily as it has.
Obama Clings to Smallest Lead in Florida, But His Ohio Margin May Make Florida Irrelevant
The latest Quinnipiac/New York Times/CBS News poll–one of the more reliable polls tracking the swing-state electorate–shows President Obama again in the lead in Florida. A larger lead in Ohio may make Florida irrelevant to Obama’s path to 270 electoral votes.
Republican Presumptions Aside, Florida Is Not a One-Party State Yet
Florida is dominated by Republicans, but to argue against the election of a Democrat to the Florida House–as the GOP’s Travis Hutson is arguing in his bid against Milissa Holland–is a reflection of the arrogance of a majority party that considers minorities, if not democracy, irrelevant, and that assumes that once a majority, always a majority.
Free Morgan: A Killer Whale’s Punishing Captivity Gets Its Day in Court
In June 2010, Morgan, an orca, or killer whale, was captured from the North Atlantic and rehabilitated, but instead of being returned to the wild, was sent to an amusement park. A judge may decide its fate on Nov. 1.
Environmentalist Lawyer Clay Henderson Is Stetson’s George and Mary Hood Award Recipient
Clay Henderson, the New Smyrna Beach lawyer and environmentalist who’s leaving his mark on Florida’s geography, is the 2012 recipient of Stetson University’s George and Mary Hood Award, one of the university’s most prestigious honors.
For Opponents of Amendment 8, “Religious Freedom” Has Never Been Under Threat
The so-called “religious freedom” proposal to amend the Florida constitution would create a government bureaucracy to channel tax dollars to religious organizations, its opponents say, jeopardizing the very religious freedoms it claims to be protecting.
A Radio Voice of America from Palm Coast: Mario Jr. Alive and Green, and National
Palm Coast’s 14-year-old Mario Ridgley has been hosting “Mario Jr. Alive and Green,” a radio show on Voice of America Kids, since he was 10. Columnist Frank Gromling was a guest on his show, and relates the tale.
Flagler Tax Collector Suzanne Johnston Criticizes State’s License Plate Rule Changes
Citing a likely drop in customer service and an eventual increase in costs, Flagler County Tax Collector Suzanne Johnston joined tax collectors across the state to criticize parts of Florida’s plans to redesign the state’s license plates and end local residents’ ability to get their plates locally and immediately.
Three Florida Supreme Court Justices Fire Back at Attempted Conservative Putsch
Justices R. Fred Lewis, Barbara Pariente and Peggy Quince pushed back against a campaign to push them off the bench that has spread from a conservative grass-roots uprising to a denouncing of the three by the Republican Party of Florida. The justices spoke to an audience at the FSU College of Law comprised mostly of students.
Reported Abduction Trails Up I-95 Before Getaway Near Flagler Border
Ormond Beach Police were called this morning by a man who reported that he was abducted early today in Boynton Beach, Fla., and forced to drive some 220 miles north on I-95, to Ormond Beach, where the man executed a getaway. Police are looking for a suspect in the area.
The News-Journal’s Predatory Sensationalism On Sex Offenders Near Local Schools
A News-Journal article on 445 registered sex offenders living near Flagler and Volusia elementary schools was dangerously alarming and misleading, argues George Griffin, and perpetuates numerous myths about sex offenders, encouraging bad laws.
Canaveral Seashore Plein Air Paint Out on Oct. 21-27 Gets Its Poster Child
Throughout the six-day Canaveral Seashore Plein Air Paint Out, as artists work from dawn to dusk, visitors can enjoy the seashore and to be a part of the art, talking to artists as they paint unique works of art at the many picturesque locations.
In Recession’s Depth, 2,362 Millionaires Got Unemployment Benefits
Brace yourselves: in 2009, no fewer than 2,362 millionaires got unemployment benefits. The year before, 2,840 did, raising questions about whether unemployment insurance should be means-tested. Five such proposals are pending in Congress.
News-Journal Puts Up $120 Barrier to Online Access in Hopes of Improving Bottom Line
The News-Journal’s $120-a-year paywall for online readers follows the lead of more than 160 newspapers that have ended unlimited free access to websites to stop hemorrhaging print readers, where, most of the advertising revenue remains.
Al Williams, Volusia County School Board Chairman, Dies at 70
Volusia County School Board Chairman Al Williams, who’d just been re-elected to the board in August, died this morning (Oct. 1) at Halifax hospital in Daytona Beach after he fell ill last month as his health was deteriorating.
The Palm Coast City Council’s Disturbing Synthetic Marijuana High
On synthetic pot, the Palm Coast City Council and other local governments are being had, as governments trample due process to enforce a legal shortcut against a ghost epidemic–the latest hysteria in the derelict war on drugs.
Florida Conservation Groups Mobilize for National Public Lands Day Saturday
A coalition of Northeast Florida’s leading conservation organizations are using this occasion to raise awareness about the importance of publicly-owned conservation lands and to encourage the community to explore, volunteer and advocate for the protection of these vital natural resources.
From Red Lights to School Buses: Florida Looks For Traffic Spy Cameras’ Next Perch
Despite having by far the safest record of any mode of transportation, including in Flagler, Florida school officials are looking to add spy-and-snap cameras on school buses similar to red-light cameras at Palm Coast and other cities’ intersections. School districts would reap most of the cash benefits from fines.
Carjacking Followed by Bank Robbery in Ormond Beach; One Suspect in Custody
A Gray Kia Sportage was carjacked in Holly Hill at 11 Friday morning, then spotted outside a Bank of America on Nova Road that was being robbed. The, Glenn A. Neal, crashed the car during a police chase, was was taken to the hospital, injured.
In a Reversal, Florida Won’t End Benefits To Recipients With Underliverable Addresses
The Florida Department of Children and Families on Friday scrapped a controversial change that would have halted food stamps, Medicaid and welfare benefits for people whose mail is returned to the agency as undeliverable.
Avoiding F-16 Intercept, Teens-in-Flight Team Delivers Aurora Gift and Heads Home
Jack Howell’s Teens-in-Flight mission to deliver $10,000 to defray the medical expenses of the victims of the Aurora, Colo., movie theater shooting culminated on Saturday. The trio aboard the Cessna began the flight home early Sunday.
When Riots In Defense of Islam Are More Vile Than Any Parody of the Prophet
“Innocence of Muslims” is a vile movie about Islam, but its movie maker had every right to make it, and it is far less vile than the murderous riots Muslim fundamentalists have launched as a result–or Mitt Romney’s political opportunism over the crisis.
We’re All Vikings Fans Today: Chris Kluwe Kicks Emmett Burns’s Gay Marriage Bigotries
Maryland lawmaker Emmett Burns wrote a bullying letter to the Baltimore Ravens owner asking him to silence Brendon Ayanbadejo’s support for gay marriage. Chris Kluwe kicked back the most winning answer of the year.
What Makes Us Exceptional
It is not that American Exceptionalism is being lost, it’s that those who want to “tabe back America” have lost sight of what has made America exceptional, argues Dan Gelber after watching the Republican National Convention.
The Tea Party, Missing from the Republican National Convention’s Big Tent
Despite cluelessness by liberals and Democrats, those outside the tea party movement still don’t grasp that “people like me are the absolute last folks who would be invited to the RNC,” argues tea party leader Henry Kelley.
“Just Stop Acting Stupid,” Jeb Bush Tells Republicans Over Immigration Extremism
Worried about losing the Latino vote, Bush and other Republicans nevertheless brushed off questions about whether the still-extremist immigration plank of the Republican Party could prove to be too much of a hurdle for the presidential campaign of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
Palm Coast Child Specialist at Rehab Center for Adolescents Arrested on Molestation Charges
Corey Hodges, 34, a resident of 36 Barrington Drive in Palm Coast, was arrested on charges stemming from interaction with teen-age girls at Stewart-Marchman-Act Behavioral Healthcare in Volusia, where Hodges worked. Stewart-Marchman fired Hodges. The charges are the result of a complaint by a 15-year-old girl, a client at the center’s Residential Adolescent Program, where Hodges had started working in February.
Isaac, Now a Category 1 Hurricane, Makes Louisiana Landfall With Huge Storm Surge
Isaac became a Category 1 Hurricane Tuesday. The vast, slow-moving hurricane is combing with high tides to produce enormous storm surges as Isaac threatenes New Orleans and coastal areas stretching to Florida’s Gulf coasts.
Rachel Corrie: Death, Court Case and Legacy of a Pro-Palestinian Activist
Rachel Corrie was a 23-year-old American pro-Palestinian peace activist crushed to death by a bulldozer driven by an Israeli army soldier as she protested the illegal demolition of Palestinian homes by the Israeli military in Gaza.
A Micro-Bump for Romney in Florida, But Obama Still Leads, Especially on Medicare
The latest Quinnipiac polls in swing states show President Obama maintaining diminishing leads over Mitt Romney despite voters saying Obama will do a better job on Medicare. The polls reflect Romney’s pick of Wisconsin’s Paul Ryan.
News-Journal Dynasty’s Post-Mortem: Federal Judge Snips Golden Parachutes’ Last Lines
A federal district judge ruled that Georgia Kaney, the News-Journal’s former publisher, and David R. Kendall, its former chief financial officer, must pay almost half a million dollars in legal fees Cox Newspapers incurred to avoid paying the pair $5.5 million in severance, the latest wrinkle in the collapse of the local newspaper dynasty.
You’ll Shop for 43 Minutes a Day, But You Won’t Take 15 Minutes to Vote Every Two Years
Less than 16 percent of Florida’s eligible voters, and 20 percent of Flagler’s, cast a ballot in last Tuesday’s primary, once again reminding the world that Americans’s interest in community and citizenship is among the lowest of any democracies. Perhaps it’s time to make voting mandatory.