John Sbordone and Diane Ellertsen had been associated with the transformation of the erratic Little Theater of Palm Coast into the successful Flagler Playhouse, including unparalleled sell-out shows this season. They resigned over differences with the Playhouse board of directors.
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Heroes Park, Site of Monument Vandalism, Will Get a Motion-Activated Alert System
The $5,000 laser-perimeter system is similar to security installations at other city properties. It connects directly to a security operator who then has the option of alerting police dispatch.
Meeker on Economic Development: Mountains Of Questions Before the Next Summit
Frank Meeker, the Palm Coast city councilman, frames the next countywide economic development summit in a set of questions–and a few answers of his own.
Florida Tackles Bra Straps, Privatization on Steroids, Boys in Pink: The Live Wire
Why politicians should be professorial, why Obama is so 70s, women re-gaining just 1 job in 20, Bertrand Russell’s message to the future, and more.
63-Year-Old Man Lost in Palm Coast’s P-Section Since Morning Found at 2:30p
Jan Jablonski and his dog, lost from their home on Patrick Place in Palm Coast’s P Section since 8 a.m. today, were found at 2:30 p.m. in good condition behind the Belle Terre Swim and Racquet Club at 73 Patricia Drive.
Tense Community Meeting on Homeless in Bunnell Yields to Problem-Solving
Businesses had complained that the shelter was a magnet for problems while advocates disputed turning their mission into a scapegoat for problems beyond the shelter. The meeting diffused tensions as both sides agreed to keep talking.
As County Health Departments Brace For Cuts in Vital Services, Flagler’s Makes Its Case
The Flagler County Health Department sees an average of 136 people a day, providing clinical, dental and maternal services, among other things, that no other agency provides. That safety net is in jeopardy.
Despite Successes, Flagler Auditorium Loses Out on at Least $15,000 in Tourism Funding
The first $10,000 were lost when the tourism council’s logo did not appear in a TV ad. Another $10,000 are in jeopardy because of a missed deadline, though the auditorium is having a successful year, with three sold-out shows so far.
My Favorite Republican: A Look Back at Eisenhower’s Otherworldly Farewell Address
On the 50th anniversary of Eisenhower’s farewell address, what’s striking about the speech today, Donald Kaul argues, is its tone of balance and moderation. It sounds like a speech not merely from another era but from another planet.
Florida to Jobless: Tough Luck.
Benefits To be Cut. Businesses To Get a Bye.
Driven by Florida businesses, the Legislature is preparing to cut eligibility for the jobless and making it harder to claim benefits. Flagler’s unemployment rate is hovering around 16%, Florida’s around 12%.
Hopeless Mrs. Clinton, Boobs on Facebook, Toni Morrison’s 80th: The Live Wire
Florida’s primary schedule snippiness, the Death of Calyx Schenecker, industrial chicken factories, our Soviet security state, a Medicare primer, Christopher Hitchens answers your questions, and more.
N-Word Reckonings: Wrestling With An Incendiary Word In and Out of Context
This essay on the history of the n-word as weapon is a postscript to the Mockingbird controversy and an introduction to next weekend’s performances. It is presented in the spirit of education, discussion—and, hopefully, debate.
A Nation of Bullies: Our Children Are Watching. And Waiting.
From Columbine to Tucson, Americans have been watching and waiting for the nation to take bullying seriously. Heather Beaven argues that as victims keep falling, the nation is still waiting.
Commissioner Flynt’s Election-Qualifying Check Bounces, But Not His Candidacy
Flynt made good on the check as soon as the city clerk informed him of the bounce, 20 days after qualifying ended, but did so with cash. State law requires the payment to be made with a cashier’s check, “the end of qualifying notwithstanding.”
Reality Check: Rick Scott vs. Florida
It’s become one of Governor Rick Scott’s favorite clichés: “Government has no resources of its own. Government can only give to us what is previously taken from us.” He’s in the wrong country.
Gallery Whales: Rick Cannizzaro’s Giants Opening at Ocean Publishing
The third in a series of gallery shows that tie art to books (and a cause), Rick Cannizzaro’s “Ocean Giants” features 11 new paintings of whales, along with a few works from previous shows.
Saving Carver Gym: Breakthrough In Sight, Barbara Revels Battles One Last Obstacle
County Commissioner Revels is preparing to submit a plan to the commission that would blend financial responsibility and management of Carver Gym between various groups while diminishing two existing employees’ direct control.
A Morning Memorial on A1A for Jigme Norbu Before His Walk Resumes By Other Steps
The Dalai Lama’s nephew’s body was flying back to his home in Indiana as a group of friends and supporters gathered at the accident site in the Hammock before resuming his Walk for Tibet-Florida, ending in West Palm Beach later this month.
Cops Recoil Over Florida Pension Reforms; Deferred Retirement (DROP) Slated to End
Senate plans introduced Wednesday would replace traditional state pension plans with 401(k)-style systems, and would end the deferred retirement option plan known as DROP.
Dalai Lama’s Nephew’s Last Day: Jigme Norbu Remembered, and His Mission Honored
Jigme Norbu’s Florida walk for Tibet will continue, starting with a prayer ceremony on A1A in the Hammock Thursday morning in honor of Norbu, the Dalai Lama’s nephew killed there Monday evening.
Despite Potential for 14,000 Jobs, Scott Rejects $2.4 Billion in High-Speed Rail Money
SunRail in Volusia and the passenger rail line between Jacksonville and Miami are also in jeopardy as Gov. Rick Scott announces focus on roads and seaports.
$75-an-Hour Fee Wrecks on Council Shoals As Beach Clean-Up Plan Is Rejected Again
In a 4-3 vote, the Flagler County Tourist Development Council turned back a $15,000 request for beach clean-ups by the Friends of A1A Scenic and Historical Byway group. The group’s third try in four months is its last.
Leon Redbone, Anne Frank and Orlando’s Art & Living Expo: Culture Worth the Miles
Winter Park’s Morse Museum is expanding, Orlando’s Downton Art Living Expo, Leon Redbone at the Plaza Theatre, and the “Diary of Anne Frank” at the Breakthrough Theatre of Winter Park.
Medicaid Changes For 2.9 Million Floridians: Fewer Choices, More HMOs
A Florida Senate proposal would vastly increase the role of managed care in Florida’s $20 billion Medicaid program, and pull out of the federal system if the federal government doesn’t approve it.
Behind the Story: Jigme Norbu’s Death–and Flagler’s Responsibility to His Last Steps
Flagler County is a small world, often too impressed by its own smallness. It would be compounding loss upon loss if Jigme Norbu’s death had a greater effect elsewhere than in what will always be the grounds of his very last steps.
Dalai Lama’s Nephew Killed by a Car While Walking for Tibet on A1A in the Hammock
Jigme Norbu, nephew to the Dalai Lama, had walked or biked 7,800 miles for Tibet on several continents, and had just started his 20th walk, and first in Florida, when he was struck and killed near Palm Coast.
Chamber Survey: 21% of Floridians Would Leave; Business, Government Equally Blamed
The annual Sunshine State Survey finds 65 percent of Floridians saying the state is worse or the same as five years ago, and 69 percent saying business leaders do the right thing only some of the time or never, about as much as government leaders. The full results.
State Attorney Larizza on Bunnell’s Ghetto Spy-Cams: Should Be a Cost-Benefit Thing
State Attorney R.J. Larizza echoed comments by Public Defender Jim Purdy and Bunnell Commissioner Elbert Tucker on the economics of spy cameras, though a majority of the commission appears sold on the idea.
Donald Flynt, Son of Bunnell Commissioner, Jailed on Fraud Charge
Donald Flynt, the 25-year-old son of Bunnell City Commissioner Jimmy Flynt, was jailed on Friday on a charge of obtaining property by fraud.
Florida’s War on the Jobless, Obama’s Budget, Russian Gun Porn: The Live Wire
Journalists, Anderson Cooper and “objectivity, rethinking education, when parents kill their adolescents, the end of sex in movies, Stan Drescher’s latest poem, and more.
Don’t Be Alarmed: Smoke-Testing in Palm Coast’s P-Section Sewers Feb. 21-25
Some residents may see smoke rising from yards, streets or drains, signaling faulty sewer lines or plumbing. Residents may experience caughing, but the city says the smoke is not hazardous to health and dissipates within 15 minutes.
A First for Matanzas High School: Rebecca Wight a National Merit Finalist
Matanzas High School senior Rebecca Wight is one of 15,000 finalists across the United States, a little more than half of whom will be selected for an award in march.
Memories of River City: “The Music Man” Then and Now
Caren Umbarger, artistic director of the Flagler Youth Orchestra, grew up in Mason City, the real setting for “The Music Man”‘s River City, and both her grandfather knew Meredith Willson, the musical’s author, personally. She recalls her youth–and previews the show.
More Charter Schools, Less District Oversight: Where Rick Scott and Jeb Bush Merge
Gov. Rick Scott and former Gov. Jeb Bush’s education foundation are teaming up for a concerted push to open more charter schools while reducing or eliminating local school district approval and oversight, among other plans under the school “choice” umbrella.
Gumbo Humanitarian: Sauce Boss
Crusade for the Poor Blues Up Flagler
Sauce Boss Bill Wharton: a blues-singing, gumbo-cooking humanitarian for the needy feeds the homeless Friday and performs at the Florida Agricultural Museum Saturday in a fundraiser for the museum and the needy. A profile.
Fearful of Obstructing Pier Restaurant Deal, Flagler Beach Kills Lifeguard Tower
After eight years of trying, winning an $80,000 federal grant, and spending $51,600 on construction, commissioners reversed course on a lifeguard tower to satisfy the Pier Restaurant’s potential new owner, who worried about blocked view.
Two Down. Twenty To Go.
It’s a great day for Egypt, a great day for the Middle East. It’s only a beginning. American-backed dictatorships are still the rule in the region. It’s time for a wholesale reckoning.
FPC’s Delegates Win 2nd Place and Score Hat Trick at Tallahassee Model UN
FPC’s Model United Nations team took on the world and brought home a batch of awards at a conference hosted at the State Capitol Feb. 11. Kyle Russell live-blogged the entire day.
Premature Celebrations: Scott Silent on Park Closures. Legislature May Still Ax Some.
State parks such as Washington Oaks Gardens appear to have been spared closure in Gov. Rick Scott’s budget, but they’re far from safe as the Legislature begins to look for ways to close a $4 billion deficit.
In Your Face: Palms and Heads Color Hollingsworth Gallery Opening
Opening Feb. 11, the portraits of New Smyrna Beach artist Patricia Zalisko and the landscapes of Ormond Beach artist Karlene McConnell, and both their adventures with color and space, are the subject of their show at Hollingsworth gallery through March 1.
SB6 Redux: Teacher Merit Pay Bill Advances, But With None of Last Year’s Opposition
The replay of last year’s battle over Senate Bill 6 has been more subdued, the means by which teachers would be evaluated more vague, giving local school districts more say.
Facing $3.5 Million Deficit, Flagler Schools Eye Shorter Calendar, Bus Routes, Reserves
School Superintendent Janet Valentine says many options are on the table as Gov. Rick Scott’s proposed budget cuts force additional reductions on top of the $7.5 million the district has cut since 2007.
Ronald Reagan Fetish, Rick Scott Bully, Stoning Valentine Couples: The Live Wire
Setting the Reagan legacy straight, setting the Muslim Brotherhood straight, setting American manufacturing straight, setting overly despicable Valentine’s Day couples straight, and more.
Who’s Afraid of the Muslim Brotherhood?
The biggest bogeyman in Egypt is the Muslim Brotherhood, whose influence extends across the Arab and Islamic world, and whose name sheds fear and misconception in the United States. Analyst Mohammed Khan dispels myths.
Murray Sedich of Palm Coast Killed in Panhandle Accident, in Wewahitchka
Murray Edwin Sedich, 26, of Palm Coast, was walking north along 2nd Street in the small Panhandle town of Wewahitchka Tuesday when a car driven by Lloyd Husbands, 52, veered off the highway and hit Sedich.
Boys Basketball Playoffs: FPC’s Bulldogs Rally to Beat Mainland, 45-39
Down 11 points well into the 3rd quarter, the Bulldogs rallied behind Tyler Hopkins’s three-point shooting and Michael McDonald to defeat rivals Buccaneers at Mainland in the district quarterfinals Wednesday.
You Can’t Stop the Beat: Flagler Playhouse’s “Hairspray” Sells Out Extended Run
Director John Sbordone calls “Hairspray” the Flagler Playhouse’s most popular show in the theater’s history, but he won’t extend the run yet again: actors are preparing for the next show. Actors talk about their time on stage.
So Much for Pill-Mill Policing: Citing Privacy, Florida Verges Away From Abusers’ Database
The matter is of immediate relevance in Flagler County, where local governments passed ordinances imposing moratoriums on new pain clinics while awaiting stronger state regulations. The state’s direction would effectively invalidate the moratoriums’ justification.
Unemployment Lines: Throngs Turn Up for 220 Jobs at Red Lobster and Olive Garden
More than 1,000 applicants–about a fifth of the county’s total unemployed–were expected on Wednesday alone, the first day of hiring at the two new restaurants, in an sign of enduring economic hardship.
Landon and Council Say Palm Coast City Hall Is Not a Done Deal. Plans Say Otherwise.
City Manager Jim Landon says he’s “not convinced the community is ready for it,” but he’s sticking by a timeline that would have city hall construction beginning in summer and occupancy in late 2012.