The state of local emergency does not release state or federal aid dollars, but it gives the city more freedom and authority to address the storm’s aftermath such as expediting permitting, scheduling more debris and trash removal than normal and applying for state support.
Cops/Courts
Cops’ Extra Presence in Palm Coast’s Tornado-Damaged B-Section Helps Lead to Hit-and-Run Arrest
Wendy Labell, 55, was arrested at her Baydside Drive home early Sunday morning when a sheriff’s deputy helping with the storm’s aftermath there noticed her driving her car erratically into her driveway–and matched the car’s description to a hit-and-run incident that had felled a bicyclist a short time earlier at Belle Terre and Palm Coast Parkway.
Warning Shot Bill: Public Defenders Back a Revised Version of Marissa Alexander-Inspired Measure
Polk County Rep. Neil Combee sponsored the 2013 bill after hearing about Marissa Alexander, a Jacksonville woman who was sentenced to 20 years in prison under the 10-20-Life sentencing law for firing a gun into a wall during a fight with her husband. Combee said her sentence was an example of the “negative unintended consequences” of 10-20-Life, which requires mandatory-minimum prison terms for gun-related crimes.
Palm Coast’s B-Section Residents Awake to Tornado’s Wreckage; Severe Damage Is Limited; City Ready to Help
Residents of Palm Coast’s B-Section awoke Sunday to a morning soggy with the wreckage of Saturday night’s tornado. One resident, who was hosting a birthday party for her 12-year-old son, compared the tornado to “a front on steroids.”
Family of Four From Palm Coast’s Woodlands Among 32 Arrested or Sought for Pill-Pushing
The Bridewell family of 7 Blackberry Place in Palm Coast were part of a vast drug sweep Friday morning by the Flagler County Sheridff’s Office. The sweep targeted 32 individuals involved in one form of drug infraction or another. The sweep netted 19 arrests, all but one in Palm Coast.
They Don’t Only Shoot Them: Sheriff’s Deputy Bret Wood Saves Raccoon Stuck in Tree
When a 12-year-old student on his way to school this morning noticed a raccoon stuck in a tree on Palm Coast’s Florida Park Drive, deputies were called in, and as Animal Control would not respond, deputy Bret Wood used a car jack to pry the imprisoning branches apart and free the raccoon.
Chris Molumby, 27, Dies From Injuries Sustained in Single-Car Wreck on I-95
Christopher W. Molumby, a 27-year-old resident of Palm Coast’s W Section, is in critical condition at Shands Hospital in Jacksonville following a single-car wreck Monday afternoon on I-95 just north of the Flagler-St. Johns County line.
Police and Firefighters’ Unions Troubled by Plan to Give Local Governments Freer Hand in Pensions
A Senate committee pushed forward Wednesday with a bill that would overhaul how local governments fund pensions for police officers and firefighters, hoping that a different political climate in 2014 will allow the legislation to succeed after it died in the House during the spring legislative session.
Florida Sentencing Guidelines
Overview of Florida’s sentencing policies, guidelines, first, second and third degree felonies, life sentences.
Twin-Engine Plane Crash-Lands at Flagler County Airport as Nose Gear Collapses
A small twin-engine plane crash-landed on runway 24 at the Flagler County Airport at 12:50 p.m. Tuesday after the plane’s landing gear failed. There are no reports of injuries at the moment. The runway is closed, but the airport is not.