Bunnell’s downtown won’t be lacking in traffic in the future. The real battle is over a mega-developer’s road-improvement funds.
Economy
Flagler Beach Dumps Desalination Group
The Flagler Beach City Commission cited costs and its own ready water supply as reasons to drop out of the Coquina desalination consortium.
Desalination’s Future Brackish as Costs Soar for Palm Coast
Hopes for a desalination plant are down to whether Palm Coast can bear the burden of mounting costs mostly by itself as other governments drop out of the colossally expensive consortium.
$75 Billion Mortgage Modification Program Is $74.76 Billion Behind
The Obama administration committed to spend up to $75 billion on its foreclosure-prevention program. More than a year later, only about $242 million had actually been paid out.
Hell Freezes Over: Flagler Chamber Wants To Hike Your Taxes
The Flagler Chamber of Commerce is pushing for a property tax increase to pay for business infrastructure and economic development.
Florida’s Small-Business Health Insurance Exchange a 2-Year Bust
Two years after GOP lawmakers launched it as a way to deregulate the health-care market for small businesses, Florida Health Choices still offers no coverage and faces an uncertain future.
Palm Coast Hops on Bunnell Train Station Bandwagon
Palm Coast was absent from the May 1 Amtrak attention-grabber in Bunnell, but the city council is making amends with a resolution of support.
County Employees’ New Health Plan: Higher Premiums, Lower Out-of-Pocket
County government is edging toward opening an in-house clinic for employees and dependents, but premiums would rise.
DOT Bypass “A Stake Right Through Bunnell’s Heart”
The bypass would accommodate a traffic surge from a Palm Coast development but might also accelerate Bunnell’s decline.
Construction Update: What’s Going Up, Where, When
From the movie theater in Town Center to Wal Mart to Red Lobster, Olive Garden and ABC liquors, a summary of visible and planned construction around Palm Coast.
Wildfire Spares Homes on Esperanto Dr.; Expect More Smoke
A wildfire on Esperanto Drive in Palm Coast broke out at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, forcing the evacuation of eight homes. None were charred.
Socialism, Capitalism, and Other Fallen Stock
We can rail about socialism’s evil and worship capitalism all we like. It won’t get us out of the hole we spent the last 30 years digging. History and Adam Smith are better guides.
Florida Regulators Stop Admissions to Troubled Youth Facility
Officials cut off admissions to Manatee Palms Youth Services, a 60-bed facility that serves 6 to 17 year olds when the facility failed to address violations.
Boners for Business
The Pat Rice era began at the $218-a-year News-Journal in late April. That’ll buy you a whole lot of Twinkies.
Job Creation Soars by 290,000,
Unemployment at 9.9%
Job creation improved by the largest margin in four years in May, solidifying gains of 559,000 jobs in the past three months.
Two Children Die in Dental Chair. Why?
Does parents’ desire to spare their children the anxiety of dental care lead them into taking unnecessary risks?
City Walk, Home of Palm Coast Government, in Foreclosure
City government officials have kept mum for a year since foreclosure proceedings began on much of the 167,000-square-foot development.
10 Named to Flagler’s Manatee Rules Panel
A county-appointed rules committee has 60 days to recommend whether manatee speed zones are needed in Flagler’s waterways.
How Old Kings Road Was Re-Routed for Wal Mart
An aerial view of the old Old Kings Road and its new route nearer I-95, in preparation for Wal Mart construction.
Old Kings Road Reopens, Speeding Past History
Old Kings Road in Palm Coast reopens wider and newer, but also more distant from the history and intimacy that gave it its name.
Palm Coast Opens Fiber Optic Network To Local Companies
In a first for Florida, Palm Coast is opening its fiber optic network to business use beginning in hopes of spurring commerce.
Bunnell Bails from Billion-$ Desalination Band
Bunnell joins Flagler County, and possibly Flagler Beach soon, in dropping out of the $1 billion project.
Palm Coast Glows Red:
2010 Revenue $4 Million Below Budget
The city’s money pots face severe revenue shortfalls that are, for now, being offset by dips into reserves and severe spending cuts.
Of People’s Parks and Parked Reporters
When Catholic priests boff young boys, turf wars and fire engines, the editorial page brings out Ed Meese from his crypt, and the local page discovers “scenic” Palm Coast.
US To Florida: Health Care Opt-Out Is Not an Option
Hours after the Legislature voted on party lines to “opt out” of the new federal health law, the Obama administration said that will not be permitted.
Arizona Boots Up Brown Immigrants’ Guantanamo
The virus that led to Arizona’s anti-immigration law has crossed Arizona’s borders into the rest of America. Its carrier is as white as a bed sheet and by far the greater threat to America’s character than anything that ever crossed the Rio Grande.
Great Ocean View, Fun Pier, 5,000 Landlords. $3,329/mo. (Big Chains Need Not Apply)
Flagler Beach’s government is advertising for anyone interested in taking over the 20-year lease of the Pier Restaurant on the city’s landmark waterfront.
Gel Raising at Medallion of Excellence
That 4.5 tremor on the Richter scale you felt last night? That was the Davidsons rolling in their graves when Michael Redding replaced them at a Medallion of Excellence banquet.
Legislature’s Roadkill: Raiding Trust Funds
The Florida Legislature has balanced the budget by taking money from the transportation trust fund. It’s a short-sighted solution with dire consequences, argues Mark Wilson, president of the Florida Chamber of Commerce.
Splayed Girls and Smackdowns
A five-minute summary of what you’re missing in the paper, from overplayed snakebites to underplayed blowbacks against Volusia’s biggest development.
How Ginn Corp. Stuck Flagler Taxpayers With a $2 Million White Elephant
Once seen as a magic bullet, Ginn Development Corp. had Flagler County build it a $2 million palace at the county airport. Then Ginn defaulted. Taxpayers are now taking a bullet between the eyes.
Briefing: Florida’s Qualified Target Industry Tax Refund Program
Explanation of Florida’s $3,000-per-job tax rebate for companies creating new jobs in certain industries. The program is used by Flagler County and Palm Coast.
What Are They Building On Seminole Woods & SR100?
Actually, nothing–for now. The site is being cleared and drained for eventual development.
Sara Palin’s Cafeteria Christianity
Russell A. Pizer gives the once and future queen of reactionary Republicans a lesson in the Declaration of Independence and other spelling tips.
At 16.6%, Flagler Unemployment Crawls Lower
While Florida’s unemployment rate continues to break post-Depression records, Flagler’s may be steadying downward.
Rockwell Meets Rubio: A Tea Party Photo Gallery
Norman Rockwell reckognized a compelling subject when he saw one. Chances are he’d have recognized an equally worthy subject in the Tea Party movement, whatever its stripes.
Lawrence: Flagler Tea Party’s Four Values–and Aims
Tom Lawrence, chairman of Palm Coast’s Tea Party movement, sums up the 4 values of the movement as it conceives itself locally, and its aims in the next six months.
Old Kings Road Re-Opens on May 1
Closed since February 2009, the 1.5-mile, four-lane stretch is re-opening to traffic three months behind schedule.
Health Reform’s Bigger Windfalls for Florida
while there are still many unknowns about how the new federal health-care laws will be implemented, Florida stands to do very well financially and socially.
Florida House: Medicaid “Reform” for All?
House leaders late Monday released a proposal that would require almost all beneficiaries statewide to enroll in managed-care plans — including seniors who need long-term care.
US Economy Adds 162,000 Jobs, 1st Increase Since 2007
U.S. employers added 162,000 jobs in March, the first time the economy adds a significant number of jobs since November 2007, when it added 94,000. The March unemployment rate was unchanged, at 9.7 percent, with some 15 million people unemployed (compared with 13.3 million unemployed a year ago). The situation remains grim for the long-term […]
Rubio’s Health Care “Model” Isn’t Functioning
Marco Rubio says the nation should adopt his Florida Health Choices, claiming its market approach is “happening right now.” He’s wrong. Florida Health Choices has yet to insure anyone.
Weimar Germany’s Shadow Creep on Main Street
Philip A. Farruggio argues that the United States is forgetting the lessons of 1930s Germany–and Sinclair Lewis’ prophetic warnings–at its own risk.
He Had His Moments, But…
There’s too much reaching for the old magic–which is just the problem: this lunge for “magic,” this desire to make the impossible real, when it should be the other way around.
16.9% Unemployment in Flagler, 11.6% in Fla.
One in six working-age adult is out of work in Flagler County, the highest proportion in the county’s history.
Now Showing: Coming Theater Near You
Palm Coast’s 14-screen movie theater is rising fast in Town Center, but questions remain whether the county can support a major cineplex.
Black Crow Sued Over $38.9 Million Debt
GE Capital wants its own receiver to take over Black Crow Media and recover GE’s $38.9 million loan.
Brighthouse, Worst Company in Florida
Brighthouse puts a happy face on its business. For customers of cable and internet service, Brighthouse can be a miserable experience. If it’s customer care you’re looking for, it ain’t there.
Disney’s Monorail System Goes Off Course
An accident, a death, 300 stranded passengers: Disney’s monorail system is in disarray. 911 calls included.
Teddy Roosevelt on Socialism
Many of the men who call themselves Socialists to-day are in reality merely radical social reformers, with whom on many points good citizens can and ought to work in hearty general agreement.