On Aug. 15, half a million central Floridians, and thousands in Flagler County covered by United Healthcare, including children on medicaid, will be denied insured coverage at Florida Hospital’s facilities, including Florida Hospital Flagler.
Beyond
Opposition to the Mosque “At” Ground Zero Desecrates American Values
Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich and other reactionaries’ opposition to a mosque near ground zero offends liberty at the expense of the dead of 9/11.
Taking Stockman: How Nixon, Reagan, Bush and their GOP Demolished the Economy
David Stockman, Reagan’s former budget director, sums up how his GOP destroyed the American economy through a bogus faith in markets and false promises of fiscal discipline.
How Palm Coast Got Tagged in the Jessi Slaughter Cyberbullying Affair
A Florida girls tries out for fame and becomes a poster-child of cyberbullying instead. If her story were a flag on Iwo Jima, it’d be all red.
The Judge Behind the Decision Striking Down Parts of Arizona’s Anti-Immigration Law
Judge Susan Bolton, responsible for seven suits filed against Arizona’s immigration law, was recommended for the federal bench by a Republican senator, nominated by Bill Clinton and confirmed unanimously in 2000.
More Incitement to Violence Against Florida’s Alan Grayson
A $100 reward is put out to punch Florida Congressman Alan Grayson. A death threat follows, not for the first time.
Don’t Fall For It: The “Obama Mom” College Grant Scam
Obama mom ads are everywhere. But there’s no such thing as an Obama grant for moms, who are eligible for Pell Grants, student loans and other aid like anybody else.
This Week in Orlando: Culture Worth The Miles
The British Invasion’s Peter Blair Denis Bernard Noone, Henry James’ “Washington Square” on stage, Ntozake Shange, play, “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide,” violinists Olga Feroni, and Julia Gessinger in “Strings of Passion,” and much more.
Beat Shuffle at the News-Journal
The paper is making fewer changes than meet the eye while continuing to attempt to do a little more with far less.
Food Safety Inspections End At Florida Hospitals, Child Cares and Nursing Homes
A new law designed to diminish duplication of services ends them instead, as food-preparation for children, the sick and the elderly will go mostly uninspected from now on.
Sunshine Fusion: Florida Art, Music & History Merge in Landmark Symphonic Performance
Mark your calendars for this one: A uniquely Florida, uniquely artistic performance of “A Historic Portrait in Sound” combing painting, music and words Sept. 18-19 in DeLand.
Flagler and Volusia Unemployment Rising Again, Florida’s Dipping for 3rd Month
Flagler’s 15.4 percent unemployment rate makes it the second-worst in the state after Hendry County’s 16.1 percent.
Dan Warren, Conqueror of St. Augustine at Its Bleakest, Still Heroic After All These Years
Dan Warren, who took on and broke the KKK’s grip on St. Augustine in the pivotal summer of 1964, was in Flagler Beach for an evening of conscience-rousing Thursday.
Compact Shuffles Bad Nurses Like Parishes Shuffling Bad Priests
A 24-state nursing compact, which does not include Florida, enables nurses to evade their shady pasts merely by moving to a new job.
State’s Largest Districts Find “Significant Anomalies” in FCAT Results and Demand Halt to Grading
In the latest FCAT testing scandal this year, superintendents want FCAT tests investigated before high-stakes school grades are released.
Florida Beaches Stay Open Despite Tar Balls and Sicknesses
Despite EPA warnings that some Florida beaches may be unsafe, people are taking to them–and getting sick.
BP Texas Refinery Spewed Tons of Toxic Chemicals for 40 Days Just Before Gulf Blowout
From April top Mid-May, a BP refinery in Texas spewed 538,000 pounds of toxic chemicals into the skies for 40 days, and never shut down the refinery.
For a Few Dollars More: How the News-Journal Is Hounding Its Retirees
Retirees’ pension and health plans are in jeopardy as battle continues over who’s owed what first.
Flagler Get Your Gun: Supremes Rule 5-4 That 2nd Amendment Extends to States and Locals
The ruling is more likely to confuse rather than clarify how state and local gun regulations may be written into law.
Senate Tribute to Robert C. Byrd on Casting His 15,000th Vote
A tribute to Robert Byrd, never before published, on his casting his 15,000th vote in the Senate. Byrd died this morning, June 28, at 3 a.m. He was 92.
Watching Team USA Live With Eddie Johnson (US 1, Ghana 2)
We’re covering the US-Ghana World Cup match live with soccer great and Bunnell native Eddie Johnson, from Palm Coast’s Houligan’s.
Drill This: Hundreds in Flagler, Thousands Across Globe’s Sands Link Against Oil
The moment was as symbolic as it was literal: a human chain in Flagler Beach against off-shore oil drilling and for alternatives to fossil fuels.
Hit the Beaches: Solidarity Against Oil As Hands Across the Sands Gets Set for Noon
Colleen Conklin, the school board member, is organizing the event–handing out slips and whistles, synchronizing the human link–along with Carmen Arasknick.
FCAT Scores, A Month Late, to Be Released After Untold Damage to Schools
The Department of Education and testing company Pearson are still playing word games over the cause and extent of the delay, which ruined district and student planning for fall.
Barbary Wars, the Sequel: US Moves On for First Time Since ’94
Live commentary of the critical US-Algeria match, along with the simultaneous and deciding England-Slovenia clash.
CNN Confessions: Not Quite Oprah After the Show
What was supposed to be a leisurely interview on Saturday afternoon turned into its own Deepwater Horizon blowout.
Engaging the Next Generation By Shutting It Up
An exception among metro newspapers, the News-Journal silenced all online comments under the guise of maintaining standards.
Taylor’s Journal, Day Two:
Skits, Robots and Heels
A day’s frenetic wall-to-wall activity, and one team learns that it didn’t make it to the final round. Taylor Tofal is almost live in Lacrosse, Wis.
Live Commentary: Uruguay 0, France 0
Live commentary of the France-Uruguay World Cup match from Cape Town, with Thierry Henry starting on the bench.
World Cup Live: South Africa v. Mexico
Live commentary-coverage of the opening World Cup match between South Africa and Mexico from Johannesburg.
Taylor’s Journal:
FPC’s Problem Solvers in Their Own
World Cup in Wisconsin
FPC’s history-making Community Problem Solvers teams are in their own world finals competition in Wisconsin, June 9-13. Taylor Tofal’s journal gives us an inside look.
Job Creation Soars by 431,000, Almost All Census-Driven; Unemployment Down to 9.7%
Despite the surge in employment, signs are grim for sustained job recovery as private-sector and construction jobs lag.
Ego and Egoer
Two of Volusia’s giant egos, Daytona State’s Kent Sharples and ICI Homes’ Mori Hosseini, have turned the college board into their own little Khe Sanh. The NJ puts in some worthy war reporting.
Graduations from God to America
Graduation speeches are part of the American habit of reinvention. They should be provocative and revealing, even if we don’t all agree with the message.
Emerson: The American Scholar
Emerson’s “American Scholar,” a graduation speech to Harvard’s Phi Beta Kappa, redefined the way Americans saw themselves–as intellectual individuals on their own terms. Take a second look in this season of commencements.
Ten Things You Should Know About the $70.4 Billion Budget Crist Is About To Sign
Undermining Bright Futures, imposing ultrasounds on pregnant women, studying school funding, favoring bikers, and more curiosities from the state budget.
What You Should Know Before You Buy Your Usher, Rihanna and Bieber Tickets in Daytona
Manuel Bornia, head of Daytona’s International Festival, has a growing trail of exaggerations, self-promotion, and outright inventions to his credit–on other people’s dime.
From Times Square to Jacksonville:
When Terrorism Is a Double-Standard
When the target of terrorism is recognizably American, it’s a national crisis. When the target of terrorism is a mosque in Jacksonville, nobody cares. Why is that?
Tea Party Throng Fills FPC’s Dawg House Cafe
The third meeting of the local tea party movement to be held at FPC drew 228 people, but discussions were standard and relatively tame.
Obama, Biden, Kagan: Where Their Pocket Money Comes From
Where does Obama’s, Biden’s and Elena Kagan’s money come from? Look for yourself: complete financial disclosure forms.
$75 Billion Mortgage Modification Program Is $74.76 Billion Behind
The Obama administration committed to spend up to $75 billion on its foreclosure-prevention program. More than a year later, only about $242 million had actually been paid out.
Palm Coast Hops on Bunnell Train Station Bandwagon
Palm Coast was absent from the May 1 Amtrak attention-grabber in Bunnell, but the city council is making amends with a resolution of support.
Gov. George W. Bush’s Jesus Day Proclamation in Texas
In 2000, while thick in his first campaign for the presidency, then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush issued a proclamation declaring June 10 “Jesus Day.” Here’s the full text and an image of the proclamation.
Palm Coast Group Nails Historic Marker on Church-State Wall
The first-ever Day of Inclusivity was held at Palm Coast’s Heroes Park under the umbrella of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
Job Creation Soars by 290,000,
Unemployment at 9.9%
Job creation improved by the largest margin in four years in May, solidifying gains of 559,000 jobs in the past three months.
Stetson University’s Heather Grove a 2010 Udall Scholar
This is the third time in 10 years that a Stetson student has won a prestigious Udall scholarship, named after Morris Udall.
Thomas Jefferson’s “Separation Between Church and State” Letter
Original text of Thomas Jefferson’s separation of church and state letter from Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist association, 1802.
Harry Truman’s National Day of Prayer Proclamation, 1952
Harry Truman was the first American president to declare a National Day of Prayer, in 1952–on July 4 that year.
Barack Obama’s Presidential Proclamation
National Day of Prayer
On April 30, 2010, in contravention to a federal judge’s ruling in Wisconsin, President Obama issued a proclamation designating May 6 a National Day of Prayer.
We Need Drilling. Just Not Where You Think.
The BP rig disaster will spill more oil in the Gulf of Mexico than the Exxon Valdez did in Prince William Sound. Time to cap the follies of cheering for more offshore oil-drilling in Florida.
