The United States may regard itself as a “leader of the free world,” but an index of development released in July 2022 places the country much farther down the list, ranking between Cuba and Bulgaria. Both are widely regarded as developing countries..
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DeSantis Defends Martha’s Vineyard Migrant Flight But Details of ‘Repulsive’ and ‘Cruel Ruse’ Scant
Saying undocumented immigrants were sent to “greener pastures,” Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday defended Florida’s participation in a pair of flights carrying about 50 migrants, including children, that landed Wednesday at Martha’s Vineyard Airport.
A1A International Coastal Cleanup on Saturday
International Coastal Clean-Up Day is scheduled for Saturday, September 17, from 8 to 11 a.m. up and down the Flagler coast along State Road A1A. The event is organized and sponsored locally by Friends of A1A Scenic & Historic Coastal Byway.
Only One Bid Filed Near Deadline for Green Lion Restaurant Replacement, so City Extends Window
Palm Coast government issued a request for proposals on Aug. 24 to replace the Green Lion Cafe at Palm Harbor Golf Club. It did not receive a single bid. So it is extending the bidding window to September 29, based at least on some interest shown by two parties.
Man, 40, Killed at Old Dixie Roundabout in First Fatal Crash There Since Structure’s Completion
A 40-year-old Ormond Beach man lost his life in a single-vehicle car crash at the roundabout at U.S. 1 and Old Dixie Highway in the early hours of Wednesday (Sept. 14), the Florida Highway Patrol reports.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, September 15, 2022
Drug court, “Pippin,” at the Daytona Playhouse, a tropical depression nearing the Leeward Islands is far from a tropical storm, William Howard Taft, John Hinkley and “Ideology Masquerading as Medicine.”
Child Poverty Falls to Record Low Thanks to Government Help
The U.S. government’s most accurate measure of child poverty fell to 5.2% in 2021, the lowest level on record and a decline of 4.5 percentage points from a year earlier. This sharp reduction was due, in large part, to generous government benefits. The decline would have been even larger had the government made it easier for families to receive those benefits.
Another DeSantis ‘Press’ Conference Basks in Applause and Takes No Questions
Gov. Ron DeSantis opened the floor for questions at the end of a Jacksonville news conference Monday and left after allowing a single person in the crowd to shout what sounded like, “We love you.”
A Non-Existent Eagle’s Nest in Palm Coast Plantation Leads County to Improvise Risky Rule-Making
A couple wants to build a home in Palm Coast Plantation that would partly violate an existing eagle-protection zone. The Flagler County Planning Board on Tuesday gave it the go-ahead, reasoning that the eagles haven’t been seen in the area for years, and that the protection zone should be scrapped anyway. But that’s not the planning board’s call.
Westward Ho, Palm Coast Mayor David Alfin Tells Realtors, with View to Double City’s Footprint
Palm Coast Mayor offered a bullish vision of Palm Coast’s westward expansion past U.S. 1 while speaking to fellow-Realtors at the annual Meet the Mayors event Wednesday, along side County Commissioner Greg Hansen, Bunnell mayor Catherine Robinson, Flagler Beach Mayor Suzie Johnston and Beverly beach Mayor Steve Emmett.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Wednesday, September 14, 2022
The Flagler County Association of Realtors hosts its 14th annual Meet the Mayors, Devandre Williams is in pre-trial, Dante in search of his own circle of hell, Adam Begley on Ian McEwan.
The Catholic Church Is Diversifying Down to Its Controversies
Tribalism, debates over LGBTQ rights, polygamy, the ordaining of women, along with poverty, adapting to local culture, sexuality and gender, church governance and the continuing sexual abuse crisis are all part of a changing Catholic Church.
Flagler County Takes Three National Awards from Two Associations
Flagler County was honored with National Association of Counties (NACo) 2022 Achievement Awards in two categories, Health and Libraries in July, and in August it received a 2022 Award of Excellence by the National Association of County Information Officers (NACIO) in the category Internal Publications.
Flagler Open Arms Recovery Services’s 2nd Annual Music Festival Saturday in Flagler Beach
Flagler Open Arms Recovery Services will host its 2nd Annual Music Festival for recovery this weekend. The festival will be held at Veterans Park, 101 N Ocean Shore Blvd., Flagler Beach from 4:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 17th.
Palm Coast Seeks to Permanently Protect Canopy Along Parkway and Buy Old Indian Mound Among Huge Asks
Local officials are openly and nakedly salivating at the prospect of having a spigot of state money in Paul Renner as Speaker of the House. The Palm Coast City Council is submitting a wish list of 10 expensive items, including new projects that would resonate with residents’ affections for Palm Coast’s tree canopy and its attachment to environmentally sensitive lands.
Bunnell Commission Votes 3-1 to Leave Seat Vacant Despite Charter’s Command to Fill It
The Bunnell City Commission voted 3-1 to leave vacant a seat on its panel for what will amount to eight months by the time a special election to fill it is held on March 7, even though the city charter explicitly requires that the seat be filled. Bunnell voters will be electing three candidates in March instead of two.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Tuesday, September 13, 2022
The Palm Coast City Council talks legislative priorities and meeting times, Kwentel Moultrie has a pre-trial, The Flagler County Planning Board meets, remembering, not fondly, John Rocker, the Number 7 subway line and Edward Gibbon’s echoes.
Three Flagler Commissioners Largely Indifferent to Consequences Of Budget ‘Blown Up at the Last Minute’
The three Flagler County Commissioners who blew up the budget last Wednesday–Don O’Brien, Greg Hansen and Joe Mullins–were not interested in a detailed discussion of the consequences of their actions even as the county administrator had prepared a set of options to deal with their action and conditions, and constitutional officers even today were begging commissioners to let them know what their budget would be.
1st a Law Gagging Talk of Gender. Now a Gag Order on Lawsuit Information. Plaintiffs Complain.
Plaintiffs challenging a Florida law restricting instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation in schools are asking a judge to reverse an order stalling their ability to gather information in the case, arguing that the law is being used throughout the state to “censor any positive or supportive reference to LGBT people.”
Barbara Ehrenreich Made Not Getting By in America Visible
Barbara Ehrenreich, who died on Sept. 1, is best known for her 2001 book “Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America.” Ehrenreich’s ability to document in clear, accessible prose exactly how low-wage work forced people into an unavoidable grind remains a revelation of a wide divide on how the other half lives.
Stetson Ranked in Top 5 Regional Universities by U.S. News & World Report
Stetson University moved up higher in the Top 5 of Best Regional Universities (South) in the 2023 rankings by U.S. News & World Report. Stetson ranked No. 4, up from No. 5 last year, on the list of Best Regional Universities (South), which includes 135 schools.
Randy Alexandre, 22, Now Faces Attempted Murder Charge in K-Section Incident, and October Trial
Randy Alexandre, 22, one of three men allegedly responsible for a shooting spree on Kalamazoo Trail nearly two years ago–Jamey Bennett has since been killed, Paul Pajotte is in prison–will go on trial next month on an attempted second degree murder charge. He faces up to life in prison if convicted. Prosecutors upgraded the charge only six weeks ago.
60 Participants Take Part in Memorial Stair Climb Honoring 9/11 Firefighters
For the second year Flagler County and the Hammock Beach Golf Resort and Spa came together to host a “Memorial Stair Climb” in honor of the 343 New York City Fire Department (FDNY) firefighters who heroically gave their lives trying save others when they rushed into the World Trade Center 21 years ago.
Commemorating Memory’s Resilience and a Fire Chief’s Honor at Palm Coast’s 9/11 Ceremony
As an entire generation has now been born since the 9/11 attacks, the Palm Coast Fire Department’s commemoration of 9/11 on its 21st anniversary focused on a callery tree’s rebirth and the 2022 Tunnel to Towers Follow the Footsteps Award to Chief Jerry Forte.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, September 12, 2022
The Flagler County Commission meets to consider the latest budget-cut proposal by its administration in light of the tax rate reduction, on Alfred A. Knopf, America’s greatest publisher, Florian Ross’ Architexture.
The Southern Ocean Is Absorbing Too Much Heat
This Southern Ocean warming and its associated impacts are effectively irreversible on human time scales, because it takes millennia for heat trapped deep in the ocean to be released back into the atmosphere.
County Scrambles to Make Budget Cuts of $1.9 to $2.4 Million, and Gets Unexpected $600,000 Revenue
County government’s top staff burned the midnight oil since Thursday and through this weekend after the County Commission last Wednesday forced its own administration to cut between $1.9 to $2.4 million from the budget by Monday. A silver lining: the county is getting an unexpected infusion of $600,000 in new revenue because of a glitch in property appraiser calculations.
Three High School Teachers Arrested in Testing Scheme for Students
Teachers Harold “Jim” Martin, Robert Herrington and Kathleen Troutman allegedly ran a scheme that involved the teachers taking the exams together and later providing what were essentially exact copies as “study guides” to students.
Palm Coast Yacht Club Holding Halloween Fundraiser for ‘Neighbors to Families’
The Palm Coast Yacht Club will host a lively Halloween party to raise money for Neighbors To Family, Inc., revolutionizing child welfare by keeping siblings together in foster care and building healthier families and communities. The event will be held at the Pine Lakes Golf Club on October 28 from six to 10 p.m.
Abort Artemis
Nothing justifies the bloated, over-budget, six-year late Artemis moon-shot program–not science, not discovery, certainly not costs or safety risks, when private companies and unmanned space flights are light years ahead of NASA’s arrested development mentality.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, September 11, 2022
The Palm Coast Fire Department’s Sept. 11 commemoration at heroes Park, “Pippin,” at the Daytona Playhouse, Walt Whitman on Manhattan’s resilience, Martin Amis on Mohammad Atta.
Burning Man’s Hold on Our Primordial Need for Ritual
The overwhelming majority of the 70,000 people who attend the Burning man festival each year in Nevada identify as nonreligious, yet the deeply spiritual experiences they report resemble those of religious groups. Indeed, the similarities with religion are no accident.
The Tragedy of Turning Florida’s Rural Lands Into Urban Sprawl
Lately, it seems Florida’s big-money developers, aided by politicians from the governor on down, have put a target on every rural spot that’s left on the map of Florida. From the Panhandle to the Keys, they want to change everything that’s now slow-paced and softly green to match the cookie-cutter concrete sprawl found everywhere else.
September 11 Commemorative Ceremony at Heroes Park Sunday in Palm Coast
The Palm Coast Fire Department invites the community to attend the September 11th Remembrance Ceremony in commemoration of the 21st Anniversary of the September 11th Terrorist Attacks on Sunday, September 11, 2022, at 6:30 p.m. at Heroes Memorial Park in Palm Coast.
Lori Gold Is Women United Flagler’s Woman of the Year at Celebration That Raised Over $14,000
Lori Gold received the award at the 14th Annual Flagler Power of the Purse VIP Preview event on Aug. 29 at Elite Dance and Travel in Palm Coast. The event raised $14,000, bringing the total raised by the organization over the past 12 years to $135,587.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, September 10, 2022
Gamble Jam at Gamble Rogers Memorial State Recreation Area, “Pippin,” at the Daytona Playhouse, Picasso, Niebuhr and Jesse Jackson react to men walking on the moon.
Can A ‘Christian’ Wedding Website Designer Deny Service to Same-Sex Couples?
Lorie Smith designs websites. She intends to begin designing wedding websites and is unwilling to create them for same-sex couples, saying it would go against her Christian beliefs. Under Colorado’s Anti-Discrimination Act, though, it is discriminatory and illegal to refuse services to someone based on “disability, race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, or ancestry.”
Federal Judge Clears UCF Prof Robert Cassanello to Sue Over DeSantis’s ‘Stop Woke Act’
Cassanello, a history professor at UCF, and other plaintiffs, including public-school teachers and a student, filed the lawsuit in April after DeSantis signed the law (HB 7), arguing that it violated First Amendment rights and was unconstitutionally vague.
Building on Versatile Record, Jason DeLorenzo Is Elevated to Palm Coast Administration’s Chief of Staff
Jason DeLorenzo has had a versatile career in very different if related fields: he was for many years the government affairs director of the Flagler Home Builders Association. He remained so as he served five years as a Palm Coast City Council member, when he was the traditionally gray council’s youngest and only member with a school-age child.
Flagler School Board Won’t Arm Civilians or Staffers This Year as Questions and Divisions Persist
The state gave the Sheriff’s Office only seven days to complete an application required to tap into training grants for arming civilians on campuses, and the Flagler County School Board still has a series of unanswered questions. Election re-alignments also add another level of uncertainty about whether there’s a real desire to go the route of armed civilians in schools.
14 Months in Prison and 3 Years’ Probation for Palm Coast Man’s Sadistic Acts Toward Stepchild
Craig Allen Ripple, the now 57-year-old former resident of Wellford Lane in Palm Coast arrested two years ago on two felony child neglect charges after spiking his step-child’s medication with laxatives, out of spite, was sentenced to 14 months in prison followed by three years on probation.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Friday, September 9, 2022
Desiree Rodriguez is sentenced, the sales tax holiday continues until midnight, “Pippin” at the Daytona Playhouse, when Russell Baker covered the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.
UNF Presents 2022 MedNexus Innovation Challenge for Palm Coast Area High School Students
The University of North Florida, in partnership with the City of Palm Coast and Flagler Schools, has opened applications for the 2022 MedNexus Innovation Challenge. The challenge is a team-based entrepreneurship competition that will showcase regional high school students selected to pitch their solutions to address sleep deprivation in teenagers.
Queen Elizabeth II: The Moderniser who Steered the British Monarchy Into the 21st Century
Elizabeth II, whose 70-year reign makes her the longest reigning monarch in British history, leaves her successor with a sort of British monarchical republic, in which the proportions of its ingredients of mystique, ceremony, populism and openness have been constantly changed in order to keep it essentially the same.
Florida Supreme Court Issues, then Retracts, Order on Anti-Abortion Law
The Florida Supreme Court issued an order rejecting a request by abortion providers to block enforcement of the state’s 15-week abortion ban — and then withdrew it, blaming an error by the court’s clerk’s office in releasing the order.
State Attorney Files 5 Life Felonies Against Andrew Sharp, 21, in Sex Abuse Cases Involving Pre-Teens
Donald Andrew Sharp, a 21-year-old resident of Huntington, W.Va., who lived with relatives in Palm Coast’s P Section, faces five life felony charges stemming from acts of sexual abuse he would have two pre-teens commit before his eyes or rapes he himself committed against them.
Decrying Misinformation in Face of Another Wave of Opposition, Palm Coast Approves Budget and Tax Hike, 4-1
Rejecting the second wave of pleas and demands from residents this week for a substantial property tax cut, and decrying disinformation, the Palm Coast City Council this evening voted 4-1 to adopt a budget that would keep the city’s tax rate flat, but equate on paper to a somewhat misleading 15 percent tax increase.
Swords Sheathed, County, Cities and District Resolve Clash Over Developers’ Dues for School Construction
This morning’s meeting of the so-called ILA (or inter-local agreement) Oversight Committee, gathering elected officials from the school district and other local governments, was distinctly more relaxed as a year-long clash over what some developers must pay, and when, to ensure school capacity for new students, was over.
Wadsworth Park Employee’s Vigilance Leads to Veteran Felon and Bleacher Stealer’s Arrest in 2 Hours
Ronald Schmitt, 56, of Flagler Beach, was stealing bleachers used by children at Wadsworth park when County park employee Ryan Belhumeur confronted him and relayed all the necessary information to law enforcement that led to Schmitt getting apprehended at a scrap yard south of Bunnell two hours later.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, September 8, 2022
The ILA oversight committee meets, the Palm Coast City Council meets in the first of two public hearings on its tax and budget proposals, as does the Flagler Beach City Commission, which also meets in a regular session after the hearing.