A comprehensive update on the latest in Hurricane Matthew recovery operations in Flagler County and its cities, including essential information from FEMA and debris removal requirements.
Economy
Flagler Damages to Homes and Businesses Estimated at $73 Million; 11 Homes Destroyed, 500 Damaged; Utilities Grinding to Normal
The price tag is very likely to exceed $100 million when damage to government infrastructure is eventually included. yet the sum total of the damage is far below what was feared from a direct hit of Hurricane Matthew.
FPL Overpromised: Thousands of Flagler’s Residents Still Without Power; Gov. Scott Due in Flagler Beach in Late Morning
Some 17,000 Flagler customers remained without power Monday morning, and schools were closed. Gov. Rick Scott was to make an appearance in Flagler Beach with various officials.
Hurricane Matthew: The Stories Until Storm Day
Hurricane Matthew from the time it began threatening the Caribbean to its churn toward Florida and the coast of Flagler.
Carnage Embroidered in Pink Hope at Flag-Raising for Breast-Cancer Awareness
Flagler County Fire Rescue had coated an entire firetruck in pink to mark the month-long Pink Army campaign, aimed at raising money and awareness for breast-cancer prevention, detection and research.
Taxes Will Stay Flat For Most Property Owners in Flagler and Its Cities in 2017
Taxes have increased in Flagler County and in all five cities, but will be largely offset by a tax decrease in school taxes, while values have increased only marginally.
A 3-Year-Old Boy Attending Roma Court Academy Wanders Into Traffic as Staff Is Oblivious
Staff at Roma Court Academy had no idea the boy had wandered off the property until a Chinese delivery driver and another driver saw him in traffic on Palm Coast Parkway.
Ex-Palm Coast Staples Employee Arrested For Armed Robbery and Assault at the Store
27-year-old Brandon Hubbert had worked at the Palm Coast Staples a few years ago and allegedly used that experience to hide in the store until after closing time last September then assault a supervisor and rob him of about $1,500.
Divided Over Car Sale at FPC that “Violated” Pact and Precedent, School Board Mulls Next Step
Two school board members charge that an agreement signed with the district on the use of FPC was violated when a car “show” turned into a major car sale, but the board is unclear over what to do next.
The Climate Change Debate is Over: Seas and Temperatures Are Rising Dangerously
Increasing major storms and rising sea levels have long been predicted by climate models, and now they’re coming true. Time for deniers to concede defeat and become part of the solution, argues Todd Larsen.
Flagler’s Unemployment Back Down to 5.4% After Brief Rise, Florida’s at 4.7% for 4th Month
When Florida’s under-employed and discouraged workers are included, the state’s unemployment rate zooms up to 10.6 percent, higher than the national rate of 9.6 percent.
Eliminating Florida’s No-Fault Auto Insurance System Could Save $81 a Year Per Car
The findings in a $125,000 study come as critics contend the 2012 reform attempt has failed to meet expectations and that bodily-injury coverage, which most motorists in Florida already have, should be a replacement for no-fault coverage.
In Florida, Citrus Nears Oblivion as Disease and Development Squeeze it to Economy’s Margins
The citrus industry lost 4 percent of its grove land, 21,275 acres, over the past year. Citrus greening disease, which is deadly to the crop, has infected nearly all of Florida’s commercial citrus groves.
Tourism Industry Puts On Happy Face Despite Massacre, Algae, Zika and Alligator Kill
In the past three months, there has been a mass shooting in an Orlando nightclub, a 2-year-old child killed by an alligator at Walt Disney World, toxic algae blooms choking East and West Coast waterways, and the continued spread of the mosquito-borne Zika virus.
School Board Members Blister “Subleasing” of FPC Campus to Out-of-Town Car Dealer, Exposing Problems
This weekend, without the school board’s knowledge, the entire parking lot of Flagler Palm Coast High School will be turned over to Ritchey Auto of Daytona Beach in a giant car and boat sale that has angered local car dealers and school board members, exposing flaws in the district’s use-of-facilities policy.
Federal Appeals Court Rules Against ATS, Palm Coast and Cities in Red-Light Camera Case
The decision by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals is a reminder that Palm Coast is still not clear of the legal shambles that have surrounded the cameras. That class-action suit can now go forward, with drivers claiming they’d been wrongly fined.
Obama Should Tell the Truth About the American Economy
The president and everybody in his administration really must stop talking about how much better off we are today than we were eight years ago. Here is the disastrous truth.
America’s Other Doping Problem: Drugging Up the Elderly in Hospitals
An increasing number of elderly patients are on multiple medications, raising chances of dangerous drug interactions. Often the drugs are prescribed by different specialists who don’t communicate, and hospital doctors add to the list of drugs, sometimes unnecessarily or unsuitably.
Cypress Knoll Golf and Country Club, Under New Ownership, Re-Opens Sept. 10
New owners Doug Brown and Janice Reid re-open Palm Coast’s Cypress Knoll Golf and Country Club on Sept. in in the E Section, with a concert the following day, just two months after the course closed.
Embittered Palm Coast Fires Holland Park Contractor and Takes Over Project Months Behind Schedule
City officials, sensitive to the criticism directed at them over the delays, recast the problem as entirely the fault of the contractor, and themselves as heroes looking out for the city’s budget and local contractors, thus effectively changing the subject: it’s no longer a project behind schedule as much as a city wronged and aggrieved.
One Solar Amendment Passed, Backers and Opponents of November Measure Square Off
The November proposal is more controversial than the one voters approved Tuesday, drawing opposition from groups such as the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy that argue the measure is intended to benefit utilities.
In a First, Blind High School Student Is Matanzas-FPC Football Game’s Radio Commentator
Trent Ferguson, 18, a student at the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind in St. Augustine, will be the color commentator on WNZF Radio of the Matanzas-FPC match at 7 p.m. Friday, a unique experiment for the radio station that may not end there.
Palm Coast Data Parent Posts $10.4 Million Loss, Biggest Since 2009 as Revenue Drops
The losses bode poorly for Palm Coast Data, which at one point a decade ago was the city’s largest private employer. Its parent company’s revenue is now almost synonymous with its own, and it’s a fifth of what it was 10 years ago.
Publix Campaign Politics
Publix contributed at least $306,000 from Aug. 1 to Aug. 12, the latest information posted on the state Division of Elections website. Of that amount, $250,000 went to Florida Chamber of Commerce political committees.
Despite $1.65 Billion Profit in 2015, FPL Seeks 23% Rate Increase Over Next Three Years
The proposal would increase the monthly base rate for a typical residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity from $57 to about $70 by 2020. The Public Service Commission would have to approve.
Long-Time Jeweler Robert Zetrouer Sentenced to 25 Years for Raping Child He Blamed
Palm Coast Jeweler Robert Zetrouer, 65, blamed the 13-year-old girl he raped and claimed he assaulted her only to prepare her for boys: that evidence was revealed today just before he was sentenced to what amounts to a life sentence in prison.
Citizens Insurance May See 6.8% Rate Hike as Water-Damage Claims Spike
In Flagler County, 2 percent of all insured properties were insured by Citizens, or $265.7 million worth of property. That’s less than the 5 percent of properties insured statewide by Citizens.
Hikers, Campers, and the Limits of Leave No Trace
Leave No Trace seems to extend only to the easily visible: trash, toilet paper, bodily functions, and so forth. Anything you can’t see with the naked eye — like sweat, detergent, sunblock, mosquito repellent, pesticides, and other chemicals — seems to get a pass.
Florida Elections Officials Seek to Assure Voters That Machines Are Safe From Hacking
Florida elections officials are pushing back on suggestions that this year’s voting results could be hacked or otherwise threatened by a cyberattack.
Business Briefs: McFarland and Sprague at Grand Living, Ecker at Parkside, McEnaney at Real Living Palm West
Susan McFarland and Karen Sprague have joined Grand Living Realty, Randy Ecker earned his real estate broker’s license, Kathy McEnaney has joined Real Living Palm West Home Realty.
Back to Eden Café, Specializing in Vegetarian and Raw Foods, Re-Opens in Downtown Flagler Beach
Back to Eden Café in Flagler Beach, the organic, vegan, vegetarian, and raw living foods restaurant, has re-opened, manager Maria Serrano said. The restaurant is open for lunch and dinners downtown at at 210 S. Central Ave.
What Slowdown? Jobs Surge to 255,000 in July, Wages Jump, Unemployment at 4.9%
June and July’s numbers have surged again, with 292,000 new jobs in June and 255,000 in July, bringing the year’s total to 1.3 million new jobs, and keeping the unemployment rate at 4.9 percent.
Gov. Scott Says Florida Still a “Safe State” as Zika Travel Advisories Begin to Target the State
A big concern for Florida is the frequency of travel between the state and the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, where more than 4,500 cases have been reported, nearly all contracted through mosquitoes.
Tiffany Edwards Returns to Flagler Chamber as Events and Marketing Director
Edwards’ chief responsibilities will include planning, executing and marketing special events, securing event sponsors and developing new programs as determined by the Chamber board.
The American Dream, Canada-Bound
Our country has historically prided itself on being a socially mobile society, where your ability is more important than the race or class you’re born into. Not anymore. If you forgot to be born into a wealthy family, you’re better off today living in Canada or Northern Europe.
Floridians Have Cut Landlines in Half Since 2011
Florida residents and businesses are continuing to get rid of traditional telephone landlines as they rely on wireless phones and internet technology, according to a state report.
Florida Hospital Will Install Infrared Palm Scan To Improve Patient Identification
The PatientSecure device uses infrared light to painlessly scan the palm, then links the unique biometric trait to each patient’s electronic health record. It’s the latest effort to combat identity theft.
Republicans’ Women Problem
Long before Donald Trump the Republican Party has been relentlessly pushing policies aimed at curtailing women’s reproductive rights, economic freedom, access to health care, and autonomy.
Amazon to Open 1,500-Job Fulfillment Center in Jacksonville, 3rd in Florida
A day after announcing the opening of a 750,000 square-foot shipping center in Romeoville, Ill., Amazon today announced it would open a slightly larger fulfillment center in Jacksonville, employing some 1,500 people. It will be the third Amazon center in Florida. Centers in Lakeland and Ruskin employ a combined 3,000 people.
Forest Grove Drive Access to Old Kings Road North Closes Permanently
This permanent road closure is the final step in the recent construction of the Old Kings Road extension on the west side of Forest Grove and the Palm Harbor Parkway extension on its east side.
Goodbye News-Journal
Rick de Yampert, the former arts writer for the Daytona Beach News-Journal, explains why he cancelled his newspaper subscription for the first time in 43 years.
6 People Rescued From Tugboat on Fire in Ocean Off Marineland
It was not the first recent problem for the Thomas Dann tugboat. Two fireballs were seen from shore, indications of explosions. Its crew was picked up by a fishing vessel, though Flagler County Fire Rescue’s Marine Unit was set to carry out the rescue.
Pyrrhic Vanishing: Democrats Unite, But What Happened To Medicare For All?
Most health policy analysts — including those who are sympathetic to the idea — say moving from the current U.S. public-private hybrid health system to one fully funded by the government in one step is basically impossible. And that’s making a huge assumption that it could get through Congress.
In Debt, Flagler Chamber of Commerce Seeking to Sell Building But Stay Put as Tenant
As debts have caught up with the organization, members of the Flagler Chamber of Commerce and Affiliates this afternoon learned that the chamber is seeking to sell the 10,000 square foot building it has owned, occupied and leased to other tenants since 2006.
Obama Renews Call for Public Option in Health Law to Compete With Private Insurers
Before the public option was dropped in 2010 many liberals hoped — and conservatives feared — that having the government provide insurance alongside private companies would be a step toward a full government-run system.
Latest Florida Newspaper Layoffs Claim Lloyd Dunkelberger of Tallahassee and Recount Fame
Following the latest round of reporter layoffs, they will be replaced, if at all, by younger, cheaper bodies who have not necessarily been taught the difference between putting bylines on news releases and honest reporting, writes Florence Snyder.
Chris Sousa, 21, Matanzas Graduate and Driven Entrepreneur, Struck and Killed by Car in Ormond Beach
Chris Sousa, a Palm Coast resident of Island Estates and a 2013 graduate of Matanzas High School, was killed early this morning as he walked when a vehicle struck him in Ormond Beach.
Economy Returns to Form With 287,000 New Jobs in June, Erasing Previous Month’s Retreat
The national economy in June added 287,000 jobs, its best performance in eight months and a sharp reversal from May’s slumber, when just 11,000 jobs were created–the worst monthly performance since the end of the Great Recession seven years ago.
Don’t Be Fooled: FPL Knocks Off 34-Cent Nukes Charge Only to Prepare for 22.6% Base-Rate Increase
Typical customers will see a 34 cent a month decrease, but FPL is preparing to ask for a huge base-rate increase of 22.6 percent over three years, which will make the savings from the nuclear charge irrelevant.
52 Burglaries Strike Palm Coast’s Major Hotels Overnight, Including Hammock Beach Resort
Some 52 vehicles were targeted in burglaries at four Palm Coast hotels overnight, with smashed windows and stolen belongings in what appears to have been an organized spree.