A day after securing a least to run its program at Rymfire Elementary, the Boys & Girls Club voted to leave Carver Gym, where it says it’s unwanted and unappreciated.
Carousel
Andy Dance’s Two Masters: Voting for a Tax at the Chamber, Against One at the School Board
Dance says a perceived conflict between his positions on two tax proposals is unfortunate, but he’s still exploring the school option.
School Board Candidates Tread Gulf Between Ideal and Reality in Chamber Forum
The five candidates fielded relatively straight-forward questions but with key exceptions answered in generalities that revealed more of what they didn’t know than what they did.
News-Journal Dealer and 71-Year-Old Who “Had 2 Beers, Maybe 3,” in US1 Smash-Up
The News-Journal dealer was driving north when an elderly man who’d just been at the White Eagle Lounge pulled out of the driveway, causing the wreck. Neither was seriously injured.
In Shifty Budget, Palm Coast Projects Peter Pots Paying Paul Pots and 12-15 Lay-Offs
Next year’s city budget is heavy on shifts, cuts and one pot of money subsidizing another while keeping the tax rate where it’s been.
Speaking of Sex In (and Out of) Flagler Schools: Butterfly Project Shows Adults How It’s Done
Teens educating teens about sex, the pitfalls of young romance, and the eternity of sexually transmitted diseases, while the school district explores how to go beyond abstinence only.
Arrested for Trying to Take a Child While Impersonating Police
One of the two men is the father of a child barely a few months old, whom the two men tried to take away from her grandmother.
This Week in Orlando: Godot and Culture Worth the Miles
Mark Twain and Henry James works are still happily haunting Orlando stages, while “Waiting for Godot” is coming to the Lowndes Shakespeare Center. Plus something about a boat show? Really? Plus Haydn, Dvorak and more.
Party On: District Opens Schools to
Political Events, With Some Limits
The school board’s revised policy on school-building uses means almost any political group is welcome in off hours, as long as the superintendent approves.
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.
Tax-Free Days: Aug. 13-15, But Applicable Items Are Limited
Everything you need to know about the back-to-school tax-free days this year. But don’t expect to get the tax break at Disney.
Florida Tax-Free Days: The Fine Print
The tax-free holiday in all its details: what’s tax-free, what’s not, according to Florida’s tax revenue department.
Questions of Relevance and Relevant Questions Over Shooting at Sheriff’s Capt.’s House
Wagons circled around a sheriff’s captain after we reported on a shooting at his house, revealing a disturbing double-standard when law enforcement isn’t in the best light.
Under Threat of Lawsuit from Universal®, City Walk in Palm Coast Will Change Its Name
City Walk, the beleaguered strip mall and home to Palm Coast city offices, will change its name to get away from Universal’s trademark strips in Orlando and Hollywood.
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.
Coming Soon: A Rickshaw Service for Flagler Beach
It’s zero emission. It’s available in many big cities. And it’ll be offered in Flagler Beach in August.
Palm Coast Goals: No Tax Hike, 8-10% Cuts, 10-15 Jobs Gone; City Hall Plans Unscathed
The Palm Coast City Council wants to keep property taxes the same, compensating for revenue with fees, fines, loans and reserves, and still build a new city hall.
Ormond’s River Grille Owner Closer to Taking Over Flagler Beach’s Pier Restaurant
The iconic Pier Restaurant’s lease is up in two years. The city owns it. The city will negotiate with a new owner immediately, to the displeasure of locally owned Flagler Fish Company.
Battling Referendums: School Tax Will Compete With Building Tax in November
In the wost of times, voters will be asked to approve a tax levy to continue existing funding on top of a new tax favored by the chamber of commerce for building commercial properties.
Move Over, Delbrugge: How Janet Valentine Shifted the School Board on a Tax Levy
New School Superintendent Janet Valentine quietly showed her political and parliamentary skills when she turned the board from opposing to approving a school tax referendum.
About That Shooting at Sheriff’s Capt. Mark Carman’s Palm Coast House
In an incident never publicly reported, Jane Carman, the Palm Coast Sheriff’s Captain’s wife, fired two shots at their home while intoxicated and turned on a patrol car’s sirens.
Palm Coast Arts Foundation’s Methods Assailed Again–Unjustly, Its President Says
“They didn’t come up with any substantial numbers, or at least verifiable numbers,” a tourist council member said of the Palm Coast Arts Foundation’s plans for a banquet center.
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.
Palm Coast Data Parent Revenue Drops 21% in 2010, Accelerating to 24% in Last 3 Months
Palm Coast Data, largest of its parent companies’ operations, lost close to $24 million in revenue this year.
Tennis Tourney, Hispanic Festival and Maya Conference Cleared for Tax Subsidies
The $20,500 in bed-tax dollars will help the three organizations publicize their events in coming months.
A Suspicious Death in Bunnell, A Suicide at European Village
The father of three young boy is found dead in his bed after two days, and a 31-year-old woman hangs herself at European Village.
“It Stinks That Flagler County Is Losing You”: School Board Bids Delbrugge Farewell
In an emotional half hour that mixed bawdy humor with Hallmark-quality sorrow, the School Board said goodbye to Superintendent Bill Delbrugge Tuesday evening.
Florida Leads States’ Failures in Reporting Problem Caregivers
Florida leads the nation in ignoring federal database reporting of health professionals who have been disciplined on the job, undermining background and safety checks on frontline caregivers.
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.
School Tax Rising for Second Year, Compensating for Crashing Property Values
The tax rate remains a third below where it stood in the mid-1990s, even though property values have fallen by a third just in the past three years.
Dirt-Bikes Crashing Around Bunnell Send 3 to Hospitals, Including an 11 Year Old
An 11 year old, a 16 year old and a 19 year old ended a late night of speeding around Bunnell on two dirt-bikes with broken limbs.
Black Community Will Protest Against Ceding Carver Gym Either to Bunnell or to Other Clubs
It’s no longer merely about keeping Carver Gym open, but about keeping it in the hands of the community it serves, and out of the hands of Bunnell and the Boys and Girls Club.
On Again: Sheriff Agrees to Terms for Moving to Old Courthouse; $6 Million, Anyone?
The county readies to spend $143,00 for design work that would ease the sheriff’s way to the old courthouse, but the move is still short $6 million.
Flagler Beach Wrangle: Commissioner Settle Demands Apology. Mealy’s Reply: Hell No.
The “fragmented” city commission Jane Mealy referred to last week is becoming more so as a fellow-commissioner calls out Mealy through a letter to the mayor.
Take the Tour of Your Newest School: Buddy Taylor Middle Is Reborn Yet Again
The $13.2 million renovation is complete, and the county’s second-oldest school looks and feels new again. A photo gallery.
Photo Gallery: The Renovated Buddy Taylor Middle School
A photo gallery featuring some 30 images of the renovated school and its surrounding grounds.
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.
Chalking Up Crime-Fighting to Sidewalk Art
Sidewalk chalk artists are summoned to the campus of Flagler Palm Coast High School the evening of Aug. 3 for a contest and much more.
Botox for Historic Holden House, Age 92
The $23,400 renovation will restore one of the county’s oldest buildings’ original color and windows and lend the Flagler historical society’s headquarters even more of a museum feel.
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.
What Bunnell Could Learn from the County’s Courtesy Notices on Government Meetings
County government usually goes out of its way to comply with the spirit as well as the letter of the open-government law. It didn’t when it came to Bunnell’s meeting on Carver Gym.
Flagler Manatee Committee Report Concludes: Against Speed Zones. Just “Education.”
No surprise: a local committee stacked with boating advocates is recommending against most manatee-protecting speed-zone recommendations on the Intracoastal by a state conservation agency.
More Roll Than Smash in Early Morning Crash on U.S. 1 Near Matanzas Woods
A 62-year-old driver from Palm Coast and on her way to work in an SUV rolled once off US1 Thursday morning.
Sheriff’s Budget: Few New Deputies, No Raises, More Bottled Water and Drug Money
The 2011 budget, reflecting the enduring recession, is almost the same as it was this year, leaving the number of deputies on patrol virtually static.
Mandatory Mediation on Home Mortgage Foreclosures To Start in Flagler July 19
Mediation is designed to reduce the caseload on the court system and help people stay in their homes. Whether it actually works is open to question.
Beyond Sunshine: Maneuvers Over Carver Gym Reopen Wounds Flagler Claims to be Mending
Bunnell Commissioner Jenny Crain-Brady’s well-intentioned but half-secret meeting over Carver Gym undermined the very trust she claims to be building toward keeping the gym open.
Your Water Management District Tax Next Year: $42 (On Average, Anyway)
The tentative $247.4 million budget is 21 percent, or $65.8 million, less than the current fiscal year’s amended budget. Half the budget is made up of your property taxes.