The theater will remain at City Marketplace for at least one more year. City Repertory’s future had been in doubt for months with the departure of Hollingsworth gallery, which had been its landlord until its departure this month.
Economy
Thank You for Your Service: How One Company Sues Soldiers Worldwide
With stores near military bases across the country, the retailer USA Discounters offers easy credit to service members. But when those loans go bad, the company uses the local courts near its Virginia headquarters to file suits by the thousands.
Palm Coast’s Tom Hanson and Doug Akins Land Awards for City’s Web Design and Tornado Video
For Tom Hanson and Palm Coast’s TV199, annual awards have become the the norm since he launched the city’s public-access TV station in 2007, enhancing the channel’s lineup with far more than videos of government meetings and functions.
If You Think Businessmen Have Any Business Running Government, Think Again
Government is about essential services; business is about profit. Essential services must be improved, not cut. Government is designed to protect the common good, and has never and will never be successfully run as a business, argues Marc Yacht.
Get Ready For Moonlight Fishing On the Flagler Beach Pier, Starting in September
The Flagler Beach pier’s balance sheet is struggling this year, with a $23,000 deficit the city government–which administers the pier–is trying to close before the end of the year. One idea: starting the first Saturday in September (Sept. 6), the pier will be open to fishing through the night, but for a $6 charge–the same rate fishermen must pay during the day.
Marketing 2 Go and Curley Tail Design Make the Move to Town Center Offices
Kim Fitzgerald’s Curley Tail Design and Cindy Dalecki’s Marketing 2 Go see the move to Town Center as part of a high-tech corridor to come in the area, though their biggest new neighbor will soon be Palm Coast’s City Hall.
Flagship Schools: How Flagler District Is Changing the Way Students Learn, and Prepare for Careers
The goal is to begin the college and career readiness process much earlier and more comprehensively. The program, incorporated into the normal daily curriculum, is based STEM initiatives, with an eye toward preparing students for employment in area industries.
Florida Insurers Owe $41.7 Million in Rebates to Individuals and Companies, Topping Nation
The latest round of paybacks brings Florida’s three-year total from the Affordable Care Act’s rebate program to almost $220 million. This year’s rebate will average $65 per family in Florida, according to the report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Court Authorizes Higher Ambulance Fee For Out-of-State Visitors, Opening Revenue Door
Rejecting arguments that the policy is unconstitutional, a state appeals court said Wednesday that the city of Miami can charge an extra $100 when its rescue crews transport non-residents to hospitals for emergency care.
Daytona State College Celebrating Flagler-Palm Coast Campus Expansion on Aug. 14
Daytona State College will celebrate the expansion of its Flagler-Palm Coast Campus on Thursday, Aug. 14, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony marking completion of a new $7.6 million high-tech classroom and student center that will nearly double the campus’ capacity.
Palm Coast, Flagler and School Tax Bills To Increase About 5% as County and District Set Tentative Rates
For a $175,000 house with a homestead tax exemption of $50,000, the typical tax bill will be $2,574, a saving of $2 from the current rate, when Palm Coast, Flagler, School Board and water management district taxes are combined, before accounting for higher property values of about 5 percent. Totals will be higher in Flagler Beach and Bunnell.
In a Major Blow to Obamacare, Court Rules Health Insurance Subsidies Illegal in 36 States, Including Florida; 2nd Court Disagrees
The decision is a potentially fatal blow to the Affordable Care Act, but it conflicts with an opposite conclusion by a different appeals court on the same day. In Florida, 91 percent of those enrolled get an average monthly subsidy of $278 a month. Most could not afford the premiums without the subsidies, which would disappear if the decision sticks.
In a Boon to Flagler, National Guard Will Bring “Hundreds of Troops” to County Airport in Long-Term Lease Agreement
The Army National Guard’s 10-year lease agreement with Flagler, to be revealed to the County Commission Wednesday, fills a 19,000-square-foot building at the airport, for $15,185 a month, after the county saw four tenants in eight years fail to make good on their leases there.
Florida Blue, State’s Biggest Health Insurer, Will Raise Rates in Response to Obamacare
Florida Blue snagged a third of all new policies under Obamacare, but rates are going up due to a lack of younger and healthy enrollees and a greater-than-expected surge in people seeking expensive health services.
Flagler Film Festival Prepares For 2nd Edition, But More Foreigners Than Locals Send Flicks
Flagler Film Festival Co-Founder Kathy Barry can’t figure it out: of 65 film submissions so far for the January festival, only 20 are from Florida, and none from Flagler-Palm Coast, though she wants the involvement of the much-vaunted video department at FPC.
Flagler Unemployment Ticks Up For 2nd Straight Month, Masking Vast Improvements
Despite traditional unemployment figures, the jobs situation in Flagler County is vastly improved, and continues to improve, with a 38 percent drop in people without jobs since four years ago and a labor force stronger by 3,000.
O Captain! My Captain! Next Leadership Flagler Class Application Deadline Is July 25
The three-month program nurtures, engages and motivates local business professionals and residents to become community leaders, providing insight about Flagler County’s operations while inspiring participants to take active roles as stewards of and advocates for positive change within the community.
Find a Lawyer: Flagler Duo Launches Unique Web Venture Rating Attorneys’ Success Rate
CourtCaseResults.com, the brainchild of Trevor Tucker and Darren McGuire, is a freely accessible website that gives consumers full histories of lawyers’ success and failure rates in Flagler cases. Launched Monday, the site is gradually moving to include cases statewide.
Why Obtaining Your Own Medical Records May Now Cost You a Small Fortune
For-profit companies in the new “release of information” or “disclosure-management” industry now charge $1 a page, in paper or digital format, for what used to be free, while the Florida Board of Medicine is looking to make the $1-a-page standard for all.
How U.S. Taxpayers Are Subsidizing Defense of Alleged Revenge Killers of Palestinian Teen
The tax-exempt donations do not appear to run afoul of U.S. law. But they do put U.S. taxpayers in the position of subsidizing aid to Israelis convicted of politically motivated violence.
Mounting Cost Overruns Latest Challenges To Bedevil Bulldog Drive Expansion
The Palm Coast City Council will approve doubling “contingencies” to $427,000 for the now-$5 million Bulldog Drive project, after approving change orders on the engineering contract that more than doubled the cost to $845,000.
Palm Coast Taxes Will Remain Flat This Year As City Projects “Stale and Boring” Budget
The typical Palm Coast property owner will pay roughly $534 for the year, about the same as this year and possibly a few dollars less, as the Palm Coast City Council prepares to adopt a caretaker budget.
Florida Lottery Spikes to Record $5.3 Billion in Sales; Only $1.4 Billion to Education
The Florida Lottery’s increased revenues stems largely from continued growth in scratch-off ticket sales, which range in price from $1 to $25 and are now available at more than 13,000 locations throughout the state.
Bull Creek Restaurant, Seasoned By Woody’s BBQ Owners, Dedicated at Flagler’s West End
Bull Creek Restaurant on the shores of Dead Lake and in the heart of Bull Creek Camp Ground in western Flagler was dedicated Tuesday morning as the owners of Woody’s BBQ in Palm Coast take on the breakfast, lunch and dinner establishment to the delight of residents at the west end of the county.
Regulators Draw Sharp Criticism Over Controls On Florida’s New Pot Industry
At the top of the complaint list: concerns about a proposed lottery system to award five organizations the chance to grow, manufacture and dispense a type of medical marijuana approved by Florida’s Republican-dominated Legislature this spring.
City Marketplace Softens Tone Against Tenants, But Sheriff Still Disputing New Fees
John C. Bills, the new owner of City Marketplace, sought to mitigate fallout from bad publicity through a memo to tenants that explains sudden, higher costs without retreating from them.
Florida Giving Up 63,800 Jobs By Rejecting Federal Medicaid Expansion
Florida has not accepted the offer of federal funds — estimated at $51 billion over a decade — provided in the Affordable Care Act to cover uninsured people who fall into a gap. Florida has about 850,000 of them.
288,000 New Jobs in June Add Up to 2.5 Million This Year, Most in Eight Years
Unlike in previous months, the bright jobs picture in June was the result of more people getting jobs and fewer people losing them–as opposed to more people dropping out of the labor force.
Bulldog Drive War Over: Palm Coast Settles With Ajram, Paying Him $215,000 More Than It Offered in 2011
Palm Coast agreed to pay GEA Auto owner Gus Ajram $1.15 million for his two properties on Bulldog Drive, $25,000 more than even he was asking three years ago, ending years of acrimony and clearing the way for the city to eventually (and again) widen Bulldog Drive unimpeded.
Lawsuit and Ethics Charge Cite Flagler Commissioner Revels Ties to Business Associate in County’s Old Hospital Buy
A group calling itself the Flagler Palm Coast Watchdogs filed a lawsuit against Flagler County, seeking to stop construction on the old Memorial Hospital property slated to be the sheriff’s headquarters, and alleging that Commissioner Barbara Revels did not disclose owning shares in the bank run by one of the men who sold the hospital to the county for $1.23 million last August.
Thank You EPA: Satellite Imagery Shows Dramatic Air Quality Improvements
An animated map created from NASA satellite data shows stunning improvements in air quality in U.S. cities between 2005 and 2011.
Palm Coast Council Has No Objection to 10% Rent Increase at City Marketplace Offices
The two sides this week have worked out a lease agreement that would raise Palm Coast’s rent by $2,000 a month, to $22,000, but also reduce Palm Coast’s space modestly, by 1,278 square feet, from a total of 22,200 square feet currently. The agreement will keep Palm Coast from having to look for new digs before its City Hall is ready next fall.
Despite Moratorium, 4 New Specialty Plates Added to Stack of 118, Hurting Sales
The new plates also come despite warnings from Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, which oversees license plates, officials that the program may have reached a tipping point in terms of sales.
Hollingsworth Gallery Will Leave City Marketplace for Nature Scapes, Closing Curtain on Vibrant Arts and Theater Era
Hollingsworth Gallery and Nature Scapes in Bunnell are near a deal on the gallery taking over a 6,0000-square-foot building to develop new arts programs and a full arts community there, but leaving City Marketplace leaves City Repertory Theatre without a home, and a fourth season beginning in September.
Flagler Unemployment Ticks Up to 8.6% as Labor Force Surges By 2% And Jobs Increase
Flagler’s unemployment rate in May ticked up slightly to 8.6 percent, from 8.3, but the increase was largely due to a large influx of workers into the labor force, which grew by 727 people over the month, or 2 percent, to 36,068. Flagler County residents with jobs increased by 550, a 1.7 percent improvement over the previous month, for a total of 32,952 people with jobs.
City Markeplace Landlord Stuns Sheriff’s Palm Coast Precinct With 212% Fee Increase
While increasing rent a modest 3%, John C. Bills Properties told the Sheriff’s Office this month that its CAM fee would increase from $420 a month to $1,313 a month, and that the fee would be retroactive to January, adding another $5,400 charge, which a sheriff’s attorney finds inappropriate.
For Floridians, Affordable Care Act Lives Up To Its Name: Average Monthly Premium Is $68
The $68 a month average premium is considerably less than the national average of $82. The plans are subsidized through tax credits taken in advance. Ninety-one percent of those who enrolled in Florida received the financial help, averaging $278 a month.
That 1.3% Hurricane Charge on Your Property and Auto Insurance Is Ending 18 Months Early
Collected to help pay claims from the 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons, an extra charge on homeowners- and auto-insurance policies will be removed 18 months earlier than previously expected.
Tracy Morgan, Truck Wrecks, and Politicians Willing To Make Our Roads More Dangerous
If you spend much time on the Interstate, you undoubtedly have seen the aftermath of horrific crashes like the one that occurred earlier this month on I-95 at the Flagler-St. Johns County line. That wreck was typical of the carnage that results from an 18-wheeler plowing into stopped cars, either because of the truck driver’s inattention or fatigue.
Domestic Spying: How Marketers’ Tracking of Your Web History Is Getting Creepier–Offline
Online marketers are increasingly seeking to track users offline, as well, by collecting data about people’s offline habits—such as recent purchases, where you live, how many kids you have, and what kind of car you drive.
GoToby: Palm Coast’s Microtel in Foreclosure Sale
As a result of a Final Judgment of Foreclosure entered on June 5, 2014, Microtel Inns and Suites on Old Kings Road will be sold July 21.
Disney-Owned Marvel Comics in $1 Million Deal to Give Ailing Florida Citrus a Superhero
The Florida Department of Citrus is redirecting marketing dollars to help juice the industry’s sales as Florida orange juice production plummets 22 percent from a year ago, mostly because of an incurable disease called citrus greening.
Staving Off a Major Blow, Palm Coast Data Settles With German Publisher, Extending Relationship
Heinrich Bauer LLC, one Palm Coast Data’s major clients, released some claims on the company in exchange for more than 10 percent of the company’s stock and a pledge to stay with Palm Coast Data through 2018. The alternative would have represented a significant blow to Palm Coast Data, which has already been weakened by successive losses over the years.
Rescued from Surf in Flagler Beach and Revived, Sylvio Thibodeau, 88, Dies at Hospital
Sylvio Thibodeau, for two decades a resident of Palm Coast, was an avid swimmer and biker. On June 5 he was at the beach with his daughter when he swam too far and disappeared from view, was brought back to shore by a lifeguard and given CPR, but died later at Florida Hospital Flagler.
Palm Coast Council Looks to Regulate Potential Medical Pot, But in a Cloud of Misinformation
Saying he wants to be “pro-active,” Palm Coast Mayor Jon Netts wants to explore regulations of potential medical pot dispensaries, should medical marijuana be legalized by Amendment 2, similar to those Palm Coast imposed on pill mills and intenet cafes. But those regulations will be primarily in the Department of Health’s hands, possibly pre-empting cities from such regulatory powers.
Flagler Economic Development Department’s Job Fair Draws 400 Applicants and 36 Employers
Job seekers filled the parking lot and stood in a line that spilled out into the hallway of the Flagler County Emergency Operations Center Thursday as company representatives were busy at tables speaking with potential employees and accepting resumes.
Job Creation Exceeds 200,000 For 4th Straight Month Despite Slowdown in Economic Growth
Despite a first-quarter decline of 1 percent in economic growth, the economy added 217,000 jobs in May for a total of 1.05 million jobs so far this year, a robust, sustained growth not seen since the end of the Great Recession.
Lobbyists, Lawyers and Investors Line Up to Cash in on Florida’s Nascent Pot Industry
Lawmakers broadened eligibility for medical marijuana to include cancer patients as well as those suffering from severe muscle spasms or seizures, thereby opening up the market for potential sellers. The strain of marijuana is high in cannabidiol (CBD) and low in euphoria-inducing tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).
For $600,000, Bunnell Buys Former Heritage Charter School Campus For Its New City Hall
The decision was the result of ma 3-1 vote at a special meeting. Bunnell projects spending an additional $300,000 to prepare the three-building campus for its permanent offices, including the police department, all of which have been spread through three locations around Bunnell for the past five years.
With Revels Chairing, County Puts Its Imprint on Committee to Study Fate of Old Courthouse
The seven-member committee will to the commission recommend whether to sell, demolish or redevelop for local businesses the old county courthouse again saddling county taxpayers, after Bunnell rejected its ownership in April and the county angrily took it back in May.