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Sprawling Vacation Rentals Becoming a Nuisance to Palm Coast Residents. City’s Answer: ‘Our Hands Are Tied.’

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As resident after resident complained about short-term renters next door–the noise, the partying, the traffic, the garbage, the unexpected–the Palm Coast City Council chambers Tuesday evening sounded more like a scene transplanted from the County Commission a decade ago, or legislative committees in Tallahassee every year since. But the legislature just passed a new law that forbids cities like Palm Coast from imposing stricter regulations on vacation rentals than they would on permanent residents.

Ex-Marine Had It In for Sheriff Staly As He Compared Son’s Arrest to Donald Trump’s in a ‘Dying’ America

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Robert Shawn Detherow, 55, threatened to dismember the sheriff’s deputy taking him to the Flagler County jail after he held off deputies in a six-hour standoff Wednesday, three days after posting a series of video exhorting people to join him to pray, to confront Sheriff Rick Staly, who he said should be arrested, and to ward off a civil war in the United States. He was upset over his son’s arrest in March, which he compared to the arrest of Donald Trump.

Palm Coast Drainage Committee Holds 1st Meeting Amid Some Perplexity Over Ability to Accomplish More Than City Staff

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Palm Coast government’s drainage advisory committee held its first meeting Tuesday afternoon at City Hall. There were two people in the audience, neither from Palm Coast. To say that the committee will find a way to address drainage problems more clearly, better, or beyond what the city administration has already done would be premature: even some of its members are “perplexed” as to the committee’s direction,

Rangers Led the Way in the D-Day Landings 80 Years Ago

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Among the 150,000 soldiers who landed on and fought across the hostile beaches of Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944, were 1,000 members of a new, specially trained unit – the U.S. Army Rangers. Most of them fought across the German beachfront defenses, supported by nearly 7,000 naval vessels and 11,000 Allied aircraft. More than 200 Rangers fought vertically – up the sheer cliff face of Pointe du Hoc.

Standoff with ‘Religious Fanatic Survivalist’ on Palm Coast’s Forsythe Lane Ends With Arrests

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Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly described the man holed up inside the house at 94 Forsythe Lane in Palm Coast’s F-Section since late this morning as a “religious fanatic survivalist” who had earlier been causing a disturbance and assaulting law enforcement officers. The man has “also alluded that he wanted to do suicide by cop,” Staly said. The man was taken into custody around 2 p.m.

Yes, Donald Trump Has a Point About Political Prosecution

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New York’s prosecution of Donald Trump can be, and has been, characterized long before today by some as a “political prosecution” because of the strong belief that a case on an allegedly false record would never have been brought if Trump were not running for president. Justice Jackson warned that such a case, without an apparent victim, could undermine the public’s perception of the prosecution’s legitimacy.

Sally Hunt Confirms She’ll Resign, But Late Enough To Ensure DeSantis, Not Voters, Will Choose Replacement

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Flagler County School Board member Sally Hunt today confirmed that she will resign her seat before November. She did not say when precisely between now and then. She appears to be purposefully doing so late enough to have prevented an election to fill the remaining two years of her terms. Gov. Ron DeSantis would fill the seat with his own appointment, which could take months after the seat becomes vacant.

Flagler Seeks New Countywide Tax of Homes and Businesses for Beach Protection, But Cities’ Support Is Key

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In a “dramatic change for the county,” the County Commission on Monday agreed unanimously to seek a new levy on residents and businesses to pay for $7 million in annual beach reconstruction and protection–for ever. It is the county’s surrender to an unavoidable reality: to preserve the beaches, considered to be Flagler County’s greatest asset, residents across the county will have to shoulder a share of the cost in the same way that they pay for garbage services and stormwater protection.

For Flagler County, New Tax to Raise $7 Million a Year to Preserve Beaches Concedes Realities of Climate Change

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Monday’s milestone by the Flagler County Commission–seeking a new funding mechanism to rebuild and maintain the county’s 18 miles of beaches–was the culmination of a four-year process. It would put in place a method to pay for expected beach maintenance for decades as the county faces a new reality of rising seas and relentless erosion. Here’s how consultants arrived at the proposal, and what it would pay for.

When the Racist Immigration Act of 1924 Closed America’s Door

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One hundred years ago, the U.S. Congress enacted the most notorious immigration legislation in American history. Signed by President Calvin Coolidge, the Immigration Act of 1924 dramatically reduced immigration from eastern and southern Europe and practically barred it from Asia. The new law was unabashedly racist, seeking to roll back the demographic tide. One of its sponsors, U.S. Rep. Albert Johnson, warned the House Committee on Immigration that “a stream of alien blood” was poisoning the nation.

Down-Ballot Effect in Florida of Trump Conviction Is Unlikely, But It’s a Fund-Raising Boon to Ex-President

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Political experts don’t anticipate last week’s conviction of former President Donald Trump in New York will create significant down-ballot momentum — either way — for candidates in Florida. Fundraising has ratcheted up after Trump’s conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records, but experts in Florida pointed to issues such as voters already having their minds made up.

Covenants May Be Hurdle to Palm Coast’s Plan for YMCA on Town Center Land Pledged for the Arts

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As Palm Coast government plans for a long-awaited YMCA in Town Center, albeit without a pool for now, a covenant restriction requiring the land to be used only for arts and cultural purposes may stand in the way. It isn’t an immovable restriction. But to get around it, the city may either have to pay back some state grant money that helped build a stage there, or it would have to use creative–to not say Orwellian–maneuvering that would allow it to redefine Y spaces as an arts and culture venue.

Sea Level Rise Make Florida’s ‘Beach Renourishments’ More Frequent, Expensive and Vain

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The barrier islands keep moving, which foolish humans label “beach erosion” as they keep trying to bend nature to their will by trucking or dredging in lots of sand from somewhere else for millions of dollars. The Corps of Engineers, the government agency in charge of playing in such big sandboxes, always claims they’re “saving” the beach from disappearing. They aren’t. They’re just saving a lot of people’s investments as “fiscal conservatives” spend tax money on beaches sure washed away in the next storm.

Mary McLeod Bethune, The Unifier

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Mary McLeod Bethune rose to become one of the most influential Black women of the 20th century. In 1904, she founded a small school for girls in Daytona Beach. That school later became Bethune-Cookman University. While living in Washington, D.C., where she moved to work with the Roosevelt administration and National Council of Negro Women, she worked alongside Carter G. Woodson, the founder of what we now know to be Black History Month,

Flagler Sheriff Offers Vacation Watch Program for Your Home

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Through this community safety program, each household can receive up to 20 vacation house watch checks per year. During these checks, the uniformed FCSO Citizen Observer Patrol members survey the outside of the home to make sure it is secure. If anything looks suspicious the C.O.P then notifies the homeowner.

The ‘Model Minority’ Myth Harms Asian Americans

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May is Asian and Pacific American Heritage Month, a time when Americans celebrate the profound contributions of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders – a group that is commonly abbreviated as AAPI – to U.S. society. The focus on AAPI communities this month provides an excellent occasion to push back against a stereotype that has long misrepresented and marginalized a diverse range of people: the myth of the “model minority.”

Lured by State’s $3,000 ‘Civics’ Bonus, Thousands of Florida Teachers Train in Christian Nationalist Tenets

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Training materials produced by the Florida Department of Education direct middle and high school teachers to indoctrinate students in the tenets of Christian nationalism, a right-wing effort to merge Christian and American identities. Thousands of Florida teachers, lured by cash stipends, have attended trainings featuring these materials.  

Among Florida Politicians, Trump Verdict Draws Predictable Outrage from GOP, Praise from Democrats

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Florida Republicans on Thursday quickly attacked the conviction of former President Donald Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records, while Democrats said the verdict showed nobody is above the law. A 12-member jury returned the verdict more than a month after the criminal hush-money trial began in New York and after just one day of deliberations. Trump is the first former president to be convicted of a crime after leaving office.

Palm Coast Government Will Award Forensic Audit ‘Education’ Contract to MSL, an Orlando Accounting Firm

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As the Palm Coast City Council seeks an education on forensic audits–either to conduct one or to learn that it may be too prohibitively, unnecessarily expensive absent imperative reasons to do one–Palm Coast government intends to award the contract for such an education to Orlando-based MSL, P.A. The accounting company specializes in audits, including fraud and forensic audits, business, tax and financial consultancies.

Nearly $1 Billion in New Construction Raises Flagler County Taxable Values 12% Over Last Year, a Salve to Budgets

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“Humming along” is how Flagler County Property Appraiser Jay Gardner describes the year’s property values: powered by nearly $1 billion in new construction alone, $631 million of it in Palm Coast, taxable property values in Flagler County rose around 12 percent this year, and 13 percent in Palm Coast, about the same as last year. The estimates being finalized this week play a central role in local governments’ budgeting and taxing decisions.

Developer of Proposed 204-Boat Storage Facility in Hammock on Collision Course with County and Residents

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Flagler County government, the Hammock Community Association and Hammock Barbour, the proposed development of a 204-boat storage facility and restaurant on A1A in the Hammock, are heading for another likely collision in court. A nearly four-hour mediation session that started this morning and stretched into afternoon, involving the three parties, failed.

Florida High School Athletic Association Replaces Word ‘Gender’ With ‘Sex’ in Snub at Anti-Discrimination Guidelines

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The State Board of Education on Wednesday approved changes in the Florida High School Athletic Association’s bylaws that include replacing mentions of the word “gender” with the word “sex,” amid a larger dispute between federal and state officials. The changes came as Florida and other Republican-led states are challenging a Biden administration rule that would help carry out Title IX, a decades-old law that bars discrimination in education programs based on sex.

Old Dixie Motel Owners Tell Skeptical Judge They Have No Intention of Abiding by Repair Contract with County

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Flagler County government and the attorney representing the always-mysterious owners of the derelict Old Dixie Motel argued in front of Circuit Judge Chris France today about a three-year-old contract requiring safety and construction benchmarks. The county considers the contract valid. The owners do not. The county considers the contract valid. The owners do not. The judge will issue a ruling in the near future, though if his questions were any indication today, France is skeptical of the motel owners’ position.

Judge Rules Luke Ingram, 21, Legally Insane at Time of Brutal Killing of His Grandfather; Family’s Pain Unravels

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Circuit Judge Terence Perkins in a short bench trial this morning found Luke Ingram not guilty by reason of insanity in the brutal killing, mutilation and raping of his grandfather Darwin Graham, 85, on Clermont Court in Palm Coast in November 2022. The short trial was also an occasion for family members to fill in, publicly for the first time, the distinguished life that Darwin Ingram had lived, and include for the court record some of the atrocities Luke Ingram committed that morning.

Scott DuPont Booted Off Ballot as Judge Rose Marie Preddy Prevails in Challenge Over Eligibility to Run

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Circuit Judge Rose Marie Preddy, who sits in Putnam County, will not face an opponent in her bid to retain her seat as a judge today threw out Scott DuPont–a former judge–off the August ballot. DuPont, a former judge in the circuit, was removed from the bench by the Supreme Court in 2018, then suspended from the Bar for several months. That suspension meant he could not be eligible for a judgeship until 2026.