Flagler Broadcasting will host the Neighbors Helping Neighbors Help-A-Thon this Friday to raise $25,000 for the Flagler Cares Barrier Fund. The event, simulcast on four local stations, encourages businesses to donate in-kind services and funds to help residents overcome sudden life-derailing obstacles. By providing “hand up” assistance rather than permanent welfare, the initiative seeks to stabilize families and foster a self-sustaining local community.
Local Media
Flager Cares Impact: How Care Coordination Helped a Person in Need Move From Silence to Connection
Flagler Cares provides essential one-on-one support to community members facing complex barriers. When a deaf client struggled to complete mandatory interviews for food assistance, a care coordinator facilitated the process through lip-reading and secured her benefits. The support extended further as the agency helped her obtain free assistive phone-captioning technology, restoring her independence and ensuring she remains connected to vital services and family.
Potential Litigation Over Flagler Beach’s Annexation of Veranda Bay Isn’t Over Until Kim Carney Says It Is
Flagler County officials are reconsidering a previously assumed universal settlement regarding the Veranda Bay annexation. Commissioner Kim Carney, citing missing resident petitions, contends the annexation is illegal. Despite warnings from the county attorney about losing mitigation funds and a 153-acre conservation deal, the commission will hold a workshop to discuss legal action. The move, with guarded support from Commission Chair Leann Pennington, pending further deliberations, threatens to reignite conflict between Flagler Beach and the county.
Trump’s Media-Muzzling Lawsuits Threaten America’s Free Press
Trump has always been litigious. Over the course of his life, he has been involved in more than 4,000 lawsuits. Many of these involved Trump suing for defamation over perceived threats to his reputation. Relatively few, however, have been successful, if success is defined as prevailing in courts of law. But using litigation as a tool for intimidation can produce other results that can count as victory. The president may be using the courts as a tool not to correct the record but to muzzle potential watchdogs and deprive the public of the facts they need to hold him accountable.
Thank You, Palm Coast and Flagler County
It’s been a difficult year for the country and for the freedom to report about it yet FlaglerLive’s fundraiser this Christmas season once again exceeded its goal in this red county, which humbles me and fills me with hope about the community we are–despite and still, to borrow the words of Robert Graves.
Bill Cotterell, an ‘Institution’ in Political Coverage and a Long-Time Columnist, Dies
Bill Cotterell, a reporter and columnist who covered Florida government and politics for more than four decades with a blend of doggedness and humor, died Monday as he tried to recover at a rehabilitation center from norovirus and a bleeding ulcer. Cotterell, 82, who for the past two years wrote a once-a-week column for The News Service of Florida that was distributed statewide, was a newshound. He could be curmudgeonly and sometimes wasn’t politically correct. But he also stood behind the First Amendment and tried to tell the truth about what was happening in government.
The Future of Watchdog Journalism
At the University of Florida’s College of Journalism & Communications, part of my research involves unpacking the importance of decentralized networks of local outlets that cover stories from underrepresented areas of the country. Pablo Torre’s work as a clear example of the growing need for this kind of bottom-up, citizen journalism – particularly given media industry trends.
Flagler County Appropriates $50,000 in Emergency Aid to Local Food Pantries to Help Counter SNAP Cut
Flagler County government will be appropriating $50,000 from its reserves to be split among the county’s food banks, based on the volume of clients they serve, county officials announced this morning on Flagler Broadcasting’s Food-A-Thon. County Commissioner Kim Carney made the announcement alongside County Administrator Heidi Petito and Deputy County Administrator Percy Sayles. The appropriation follows in the wake of the St. Johns County Commission on Tuesday voting to appropriate $200,000 in emergency funds.
For WNZF and Grace Community Pantry, a Food-A-Thon with Urgency as Food Stamps Vanish For Thousands of Families
With the government shutdown, there’s obviously something very different about this year’s Food-A-Thon, the fourth organized by Flagler Broadcasting’s David Ayres since 2022. There’s a food crisis in the country as the Trump administration, defying a judge’s order, has stopped providing food stamps benefits known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, compounding a decrease in food aid from the USDA even before the shutdown. The Food-A-Thon is broadcasting Friday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on WNZF and three other local radion stations.
Town Center Developer Sues Palm Coast, Accusing City of Breaking Promise on Water and Sewer Capacity
The developer of Palm Coast’s Town Center is suing the city for breach of contract, alleging that Palm Coast government has failed to guarantee water and sewer service for Town Center holdings it was planning to sell. Palm Coast Holdings, the successor to Florida Landmark Communities and a subsidiary of Duluth, Minn.-based Allete Corp., sued Palm Coast in Circuit Court in Bunnell on Oct. 23. They are asking a judge to enforce the city’s promise of providing water and sewer service to Town Center, or require it to pay unspecified damages.
Israel’s Murderous Targeting of Journalists in Gaza
The Israeli government has denied international journalists access to Gaza. Its murders of Palestinian media workers fit a pattern of trying to eliminate witnesses to its heinous human rights violations. Nearly 270 journalists and media workers, the vast majority of them Palestinians, have been killed by Israel since October 7, 2023. They are not “collateral damage” — they’re being hunted.
State Regulators Put On Hold Case Over FPL’s $2.5 Billion Rate Increase in Light of ‘Settlement’
State regulators Monday paused a closely watched case about increasing Florida Power & Light’s base electric rates after the utility and numerous parties announced Friday they had reached a “settlement in principle.” Details of the potential settlement have not been released, and some parties in the case — including the state Office of Public Counsel, which is designated by law to represent consumers — have not signed on.
Federal Funding for PBS and NPR Nears Fadeout
The U.S. House cleared legislation just after midnight Friday that will cancel $9 billion in previously approved spending for public broadcasting and foreign aid, marking only the second time in more than three decades Congress has approved a presidential rescissions request.
Pulitzer Prize Board Appeals to Supreme Court to Halt Trump Defamation Lawsuit
Pulitzer Prize board members have gone to the Florida Supreme Court as they seek to halt a defamation lawsuit that President Donald Trump filed after the board refused to rescind a 2018 award to The New York Times and The Washington Post.
Diane Rado Appointed Executive Editor of Florida Trident, Barbara Petersen Will Serve as Publisher
Statewide investigative news outlet, The Florida Trident, published by the Florida Center for Government Accountability, announced today two significant changes. Co-founder and CEO, Barbara Petersen will now serve as Publisher and Diane Rado has joined the team as Executive Editor. Rado is an award-winning journalist who has covered government, education, policy and politics for over 30 years.
When Democracy Dies in Broad Daylight
While Trump openly bellows whatever imperial fever dreams about Greenland, Canada, the Panama Canal and the Gulf of Mexico visit him in the dark of night, once proud institutional bulwarks rush to prostrate themselves before him in advance of any demand that they do so. Alas, the mainstream media is not immune to this siren-call of cowardice.
Veranda Bay Developer Pauses Annexation into Flagler Beach to Draft Litigation Threat Workaround
The Flagler Beach City Commission Thursday evening agreed to pause indefinitely further annexation steps involving Veranda Bay, the large development along John Anderson Highway. The city did so at the developer’s request. The pause and its indefinite timeline look more dramatic than they are. In fact, the pause appears to be more of a strategic retreat allowing the developer to redraw annexation plans in light of the threat of a lawsuit by opponents of annexation, had the original plan gone forward.
Is News Bias Fueled by Journalists or Readers?
Demand-driven bias happens when newspapers offer slanted news to appeal to readers. Supply-driven bias stems from the ideological leanings of owners or employees. Both had influenced decision-making at The New York Times. The former top editor of The New York Times’ editorial page wrote that slanted coverage at the institution is “pervasive.”
Developer of Cascades in Seminole Woods Readies to Sue Palm Coast Over 416-Home Limit, Instead of 850
The Palm Coast City Council on Wednesday got warning from a developer that the city may soon face a lawsuit to make up for over $12 million in estimated losses from a council decision to limit a development to less than half the housing units applied for at the Cascades, the Seminole Woods development the council approved earlier this year. The applicant had asked for 850 housing units, including apartments. The council limited the development to 416.
Touch-and-Go Noise Around Flagler County Airport: Residents Hear Facts, and Contempt
A group of residents surrounding the Flagler County airport in Palm Coast have for years complained about the constant stream of touch-and-go student flights, about noise, about pollution, and about the county’s own dismissive attitude toward them. On Monday, the group got more of the same, with at times overt contempt from Airport Director Roy Sieger.
Miller’s Ale House Preps Opening Aug. 5 Ahead of BJ’s Warehouse, With Luring Appetizer for First Guests
Miller’s Ale House is opening its 113th restaurant in Palm Coast on Aug. 5, in one of the five satellite businesses in front of BJ’s Wholesale Club, which opens a few weeks later. Miller’s Ale will host a ceremonial ribbon-cutting and offer recurring goodies to the first 100 guests that day.
10 Years and 520 Shows Later, Toby Tobin and WNZF Cross a Milestone of Real Estate Matters in Flagler
WNZF and Don Tobin, better known to Flagler County and the world as Toby Tobin, today marked the 10th anniversary and the 520th show of Tobin’s Real Estate Matters, on the air weekly since 2014. The occasion was marked with a cake, vodka, a mini-reunion of past co-hosts and the introduction of Tobin’s latest co-host, Annamaria Long, executive officer of the Flagler Home Builders Association.
Law Still Blurry as Supreme Court Punts on Florida’s Social Media Law
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday vacated appeals court decisions involving Florida and Texas laws designed to restrict the power of social media companies to curb content that those platforms consider objectionable, sending Florida’s case back to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and the Texas case to the Fifth Circuit.
Flagler County’s Unemployment Rate Declines to 3.6%, But Growth in Working-Age Labor Force Stalls
Flagler County’s May unemployment rate was 3.6 percent, down from 3.9 percent in April, as the rate continues to oscillate within the same narrow band it has for a year and a half. Previously steady growth in the labor force, however, has stalled. After rising earlier this year, it declined for the second month in a row, to 51,383, almost exactly where it stood a year ago. The labor force reflects working-age adults with families as opposed to children or retirees, who account for 60 percent of the county’s population.
Flagler County’s Beach Protection Tax: Right Idea. Wrong Execution.
The county has the right idea: we need a new tax to pay for expensive beach protection, or we’ll lose the beach. But the county’s execution is hurried, the plan is poorly thought-out, it is riddled with holes and inconsistencies, and it has included zero public participation and zero preparatory discussions with other governments. That’s a recipe for failure, deservedly so: the county is taking the public and its sister governments for granted, if not punting to the cities to do the heavy lifting.
Reporters Without Borders Condemns Wave of Arrests and Violence Against Journalists Covering Campus Protests
Four journalists have been arrested by police and four others attacked in the course of covering university campus protests in the past week. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns this wave of arrests, criminal charges, and violence against journalists and urges law enforcement agencies and school administrators to protect and respect the rights of all journalists, including student media.
Veranda Bay Says It’s Ready to Annex Into Flagler Beach; Its 2,700 Future Homes Will Double City’s Size
Ken Belshe, who represents Veranda Bay, the planned 2700-home development along John Anderson Highway, told Flagler Beach’s city attorney in an email that voluntary annexation is a go. The city had been assiduously pursuing Veranda Bay to annex, amending its annexation ordinance to make it possible, courting Belshe with what amounted to a love letter, and with not a little bit of anticipatory drool, sharply increasing its development impact fees that would disproportionately be generated from Veranda Bay.
Tucker Carlson, Propaganda and Journalism
Tucker Carlson’s work provides an opportunity for public education in distinguishing between propaganda and journalism. Some Americans, primarily Carlson’s fans, will view the videos as accurate reportage. Others, primarily Carlson’s detractors, will reject them as mendacious propaganda.
The New York Times v. ChatGPT
On Dec. 27, 2023, The New York Times filed a lawsuit against OpenAI alleging that the company committed willful copyright infringement through its generative AI tool ChatGPT. The Times claimed both that ChatGPT was unlawfully trained on vast amounts of text from its articles and that ChatGPT’s output contained language directly taken from its articles.
Misinformation: Fact-Checking Journalism’s Evolution and Impact
A series of studies published over recent years have shown that, while fact-checks will, of course, not alter an individual’s long-held worldview, they can and do have “significantly positive overall influence” on reader’s factual understanding and “reduce belief in misinformation, often durably so.” Two recent studies have shown that so-called “warning labels” attached to online content “effectively reduce belief and spread of misinformation” and do so “even for those most distrusting of fact-checkers.”
How Pundits Help, Hurt and Reflect Democracy
Pundits can play a productive role by focusing on issues rather than identities. They contribute to democratic backsliding when they cultivate dystopian views of politics. The best example is the relentless negativity that characterized commentary on presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in 2016.
Americans Need to Hear More Palestinian Voices
The absence of Palestinians and their advocates from news coverage isn’t just unfair. Sarah Gertler, a Jewish American, argues it is harmful, silencing criticism of Israel and making news media complicit in war atrocities.
Local Newspapers Are Disappearing, But Don’t Romanticize Their Role Too Much
Taking one newspaper’s history as a prism, local newspapers didn’t always fulfill their watchdog role, lavishing attention on their community sometimes with a paternalism that chose to conceal problems and fostering a certain coziness with the area’s power players. Boosterism and conflicts of interest occasionally interfered with telling the full story.
Sheriff Chitwood’s Dangerous, Irresponsible Attacks on News-Journal’s Frank Fernandez
Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood’s repeated, vilifying and unjustified attacks on News-Journal reporter Frank Fernandez irresponsibly and dangerously inflame his social media base at a time when reporters’ safety is nothing to take lightly–the more so when a law enforcement chief who should know better is stoking the flames. Volusia County media should respond in concert.
U.S. Supreme Court Will Hear Challenge to Florida Law Forcing Social Media to Carry Objectionable Content
The Texas and Florida legislatures passed the laws at the center of the disputes in 2021. The Florida law, known as S.B. 7072 or the Stop Social Media Censorship Act, prohibits social-media companies from banning political candidates and “journalistic enterprises.” The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to weigh in on the constitutionality of the controversial laws.
Remembering Lucy Morgan, Florida’s Most Feared Journalist
When Lucy Morgan started out, female reporters were usually confined to the food and style pages. She was the machete clearing the trail for many women in Florida, not the first pioneering newspaperwoman but surely the most significant. Causing trouble — for the powerful, at least — was her job, and she mentored generations of journalists.
Florida Icon and Pulitzer Prize Winner Lucy Morgan Dies at 82
Lucy Morgan, an icon in Florida politics and American journalism, has died. She was a Pulitzer Prize winner and chief of the St. Petersburg (now Tampa Bay) Times capital bureau in Tallahassee for 20 years, retiring in 2006 and serving as senior correspondent until 2013.
Great News: Brian and Hailey McMillan Buy the Palm Coast and Ormond Beach Observer
Hailey and Brian McMillan are the new co-owners of the Palm Coast and Ormond Beach Observer, an acquisition roundly applauded by the paper’s staff, community leaders and competitors. Matt and John Walsh founded the Observer in late 2009 and hired McMillan as their first editor. He’d led the paper until his reluctant departure 2022.
Mayor David Alfin and Dr. Steven Bickel’s Arm-Wrestling Match Will Launch $1 Million Food-A-Thon
Dr. Stephen Bickel, the medical director at the Flagler Health Department and the county’s leading philanthropist, will arm-wrestle in a best-of-three match with Palm Coast Mayor David Alfin to launch this year’s $1 million Food-a-Thon, an effort to raise $200,000 that will e leveraged into $1 million worth of food for needy families, through Grace Tabernacle Food Pantry.
How the Wall Street Journal Accused ProPublica of Misleading Readers in a Story It Had Not Yet Published
Behind the scenes of Justice Samuel Alito’s unprecedented Wall Street Journal pre-buttal, Alito’s behavior underscores that the “no surprises” approach involves taking a risk, allowing subjects to “spit in our soup,” as Paul Steiger, the former Journal editor who founded ProPublica, liked to say.
Flagler’s Vacation-Rental Regulations Again Survive at Last Minute as Lawmakers End Session
For the ninth year running, local regulations of short-term vacation rentals in Flagler County and across the survived a legislative attempt at dilution and pre-emption by the state, though it came down to a last-minute escape as lawmakers finalized a $117 billion budget and ended the session.
Dominion’s Defamation Case Against Fox Is Not Easy to Prove
The statements against Dominion have already been proved false. The question now is whether the statements harmed Dominion’s reputation enough to rise to the level of defamation. But it is far easier to throw around as an accusation than it is to actually prove fault.
Fox News ‘Journalists’ Lied With Impunity. It’s Their Business Model.
Businesses exist primarily to make a profit and doing actual news isn’t essential. Adam Serwer, reporting for The Atlantic, wrote “sources at Fox told me to think of it not as a network per se, but as a profit machine.” Profit machines can hire anybody who falls off a turnip truck and label them journalists because the job has no standardized requirements.
Ignoring Constitutional Cautions, Florida Lawmakers Seek to Make It Easier to Sue News Organizations
Ignoring arguments that the bill is unconstitutional, a House panel on Tuesday approved a controversial proposal that would make it easier for people to sue news organizations for defamation. The measure seeks to limit the “actual malice” standard that for decades has protected journalists writing about powerful government officials.
Florida Bill Would Require Bloggers to ‘Register’ With State and Turn Over Financial Accounts
The bill, which has no chance of becoming law, would require bloggers who write about Gov. Ron DeSantis and other elected state officials to register with the government and provide monthly financial income reports. The National Review today called the bill’s GOP author a “moron.”
The Wall Street Journal, Economist and Financial Times All Now Have Female Editors. What Does It mean for Business?
More women at the top increases the likelihood of women rising through the ranks. These media appointments may even be more important in one respect than the increased number of women on corporate boards.
2,000 Articles, 2 Million Words, Countless Revelations in ’22: Help FlaglerLive Keep You Richly Informed in ’23
If you are reading these words right now, consider yourself very fortunate: You are NOT a resident of one of the hundreds of U.S. cities, towns and counties that have no local, reliable print or online source of news. But it takes your help to keep your community from becoming a news desert.
My Newspaper Died
Our papers are getting worse at a time we desperately need them to get better. Why? Because they are no longer mediums of journalism, civic purpose, or local identity. Rather, they’ve been reduced to little more than profit siphons, steadily piping local money to a handful of distant, high-finance syndicates.
Republicans Complain About WESH-2’s Requirement That Debate Candidates Be Vaccinated
Scotty Moore, Republican nominee challenging incumbent Democrat Darren Soto in Congressional District 9 in Central Florida, declined an offer by WESH-2 in Orlando to participate in a virtual debate after he refused to adhere to the news outlet’s vaccine requirement.
Nightmare Over
As we reflect on Flagler County’s resounding rejection of the bigotry, lies and posturing of its County Commission Chairman Joe Mullins, Steve Robinson—a board member of FlaglerLive—weighs in on FlaglerLive’s coverage of this man.