Palm Coast’s city council says the times require stinginess. Community arts and culture leaders say the city is short-sighted and doesn’t recognize the economic boost and improved city profile cultural events provide.
Economy
Audubon of Florida Applauds Gulf Coast Task Force’s Restoration Roadmap From BP Spill
Audubon of Florida Monday said it applauded the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force for crafting a road map for Gulf restoration in response to the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster.
Doing It Right: How To Avoid Becoming Part of The 44,000 People Hospitals Kill Each Year
A bike accident sent Michael Millenson’s wife to three hospitals. It led him to offer a unique perspective on the health care system and how to reduce hospital errors that kill 44,000 to 98,000 people each year.
Palm Coast’s Flagler Dental Associates Now Offers Laughing-Gas Sedation
Flagler Dental Associates, the dental practice in Palm Coast, is now certified to offer Nitrous Oxide (N2O) sedation– otherwise known as laughing gas – to patients, reducing anxieties associated with visits to the dentist.
Christmas Parachutes Into a Parade and Yules Up Sweaty Bed Races in Flagler Beach
The annual bed races, postponed in October, capped a day of festivities that had Santa jumping oput of a plane and landing on Flagler Beach’s sands and a parade that seemed to go on forever, like the photo gallery included here.
Charges Dropped: European Village Store Owner Was Falsely Accused of Gun Assault
Dan Ferrena, owner of Palm Coast Gold Buyers at European Village, was falsely accused of threatening a customer and his children with a gun. Ferrena now faces a long road to expunge his record.
0.2% Stupor: Protecting 350,000 Millionaires At the Expense of 160 Million Workers
There’s a very simple way to ensure that this country goes the way of old, bankrupt empires, and it doesn’t take flying planes into building or suckering the world’s mightiest military into pointless wars halfway around the globe. All it takes is voting Republican.
Unemployment Drops Sharply to 8.6%, Lowest Since March 2009, But Labor Pool Shrinks
The economy added 430,000 jobs in the last three months, including 120,000 in October, brightening what until now had been anemic prospects for a sustained recovery–and brightening Obama’s re-election prospects.
As Flagler Jobs Council Narrows CEO Shortlist, Few Stand-Outs and Some Concerns
Not a single candidate got unanimity from all nine council members. Only one candidate got eight votes but the circumstances of his departure from his last job are very cloudy.
Florida Universities Respond to Rick Scott’s Inquisition With a Massive Document Dump
Public university leaders, through thousands of pages of answers that include backup academic studies and appendixes, have replied to Gov. Rick Scott’s request to outline what the schools are doing to ensure graduates meet the need of Florida employers.
The Rich Are Different From You and Me
Donald Kaul responds to questions raised by his recent “class-war-is-over-the-rich-guys-won” column, demystifying wealth, taxes and other dogmas.
Workers’ Black Fridays: Florida Second in Mass Layoffs in October; Chill Winds Ahead
While mass media’s attention has deflected attention to the annual post-Thanksgiving shopping craze known as black Friday, indicators point to conflicting and worrisome trends ahead for Florida’s and America’s pocketbooks.
Sunshine Lessons Clouded By Possibly Dimmer Visibility as Jobs Council Meets for 1st Time
Flagler’s nine-member Economic Development Council conducted the equivalent of a meet-and-greet for itself on Tuesday and promptly reversed a promise that all meetings would be televised live, opting instead for audio broadcasts.
Driven By Lower Fuel Costs, FPL Projects Lowering Power Bills By $2 a Month in 2012
FPL, the state’s largest utility, said 2012 fuel costs are now projected to be $460 million less than it had anticipated earlier as natural gas costs keep dropping. That won’t affect surcharges for future nuclear power plant construction.
How Progress Energy Wants to Pass On A $2.5 Billion Nuclear Blunder to Customers
One of the most expensive nuclear accidents in United States history happened right here in Florida a little over two years ago, and now Progress Energy wants customers to pay for its mistake at the Crystal River nuclear plant.
Palm Coast Observer Bucks Bleaker Newspaper Trends As Weekly Nears 2-Year Mark
The Palm Coast Observer’s latest audit shows a weekly print run of 25,000 and a household reach in Palm Coast exceeding 60 percent, compared with the News-Journal’s daily reach of 20 percent.
Florida’s Prescription Express: Doctors Shoving Drugs at Poor Patients, for Millions
Florida regulators are finally getting around to stopping doctors from over-prescribing drugs, some of them risky, to Medicaid patients, and at times to the wrong patients, after enabling the practice despite signs of misconduct.
Florida’s Unemployment Falls to 10.3%, Lowest in 28 Months; Flagler’s at 14%
While the jobless figures are improving and trends are better than they’ve been, Florida is also paring people off its jobless rolls through artificial means that create a slightly deceptive result.
Exodus at Flagler Chamber of Commerce As Four Staffers Resign in Four Weeks
After Peggy Heiser announced her resignation as tourism’s VP, Lauren Walsh, Nick Langille and Laura Gamba followed, though Chamber President Doug Baxter assures: “It’s got nothing to do with me,” while the TDC wondered if pay is adequate.
What Global Warming? Science-Doubting Florida Lawmakers Move to Kill Cap-and-Trade
The 2008 law that would be repealed was pushed through in 2008 by former Gov. Charlie Crist, but has never been used to pursue cap and trade — an approach that would provide incentives for businesses, such as electric utilities, to reduce emissions.
Wilted Rust: The Flagler Playhouse’s Disappointing “Steel Magnolias”
Robert Harling’s “Steel Magnolias” was awful when it was first staged off Broadway in 1987. The greeting-card writing was dated then. Age or venue changes haven’t done it any favors, and the Flagler Plahouse production is unable to salvage it.
Rick Scott Opposes Electronic Health Databases Designed to Speed Up Patient Care
Florida’s Health Information Exchange, a national pioneer, replaces paper with electronic records, speeding up patient care and information exchanges between health providers. Rick Scott opposes it, claiming it doesn’t save money and breaches privacy.
At Hollingsworth Gallery:
Weldon Ryan, Artist of the Year
Weldon Ryan’s journey from Trinidad to the Bronx to Brooklyn to Palm Coast, navigating poverty, violence, brutality and beauty, begins to explain his art’s hyper-realism and its arms-length emotions.
A Matter of Heart: Tommy Tant Surf Classic Returns to Roil Flagler Beach
The annual Tommy Tant Memorial Surf Classic, a competitive surfing celebration of the late Tommy Tant, runs Saturday and Sunday in Flagler Beach with a focus this year on heart health, as Tommy died of an aortic aneurysm 13 years ago.
Florida’s Latest Immigrants: Undocumented Workers Fleeing Alabama’s Harsh Vise
Reversing Florida’s recent population loss, there’s been an influx of undocumented workers moving to Florida from Alabama as a result of a newly passed state law, the harshest immigration enforcement measure in the country.
Expedia v. Florida: Claims of Harassment And Privilege in Online Booking Tax Brawl
Rep. Rick Kriseman, the St. Petersburg Republican, distributed Expedia documents that showed the company knew as early as 2003 that it should pay Florida’s bed taxes. The company wants him to explain his role in court. The Legislature is claiming that lawmakers cannot be forced to testify about issues in the legislative process.
Walmart Wants To Be Your Health Care Provider
Walmart wants to become by “the largest provider of primary healthcare services in the nation,” according to a request for information from potential partners sent the same week Walmart–the nation’s largest private employer–scaled back its health coverage for employees.
Revels + 8 As Commission Appoints Economic Development Council, With Dash of Snub
The seven men and two women on the economic development council have more business than racial, political or geographic diversity, with one voice from western Flagler and one–Revels–from Flagler Beach.
Running on Faith: Flagler County’s Free Clinic Is a Refuge For Health Care’s Untouchables
The Flagler County Free Clinic in Bunnell has been a commitment of grit and conviction by cancer survivor Faith Coleman and Dr. John Canakaris for the past six years. Now Coleman’s cancer is back, and like all her patients, she has no insurance.
From Quiet Alabama and Unquiet Daytona, Georgia Turner Is Flagler’s New Tourism Chief
Georgia Turner, a sharp, congenial 30-year veteran of public relations and marketing hired out of the Daytona Beach Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, follows Peggy Heiser, who resigned two weeks ago from the $65,000-a-year job.
News-Journal Circulation Drops Another 4.5%, Now Below 9,000 in Flagler Households
The News-Journal’s losses–the paper now reaches just a fifth of Flagler households–are at odds with gains at the St. Augustine Record and an end to declines, for now, at the Orlando Sentinel and the Jacksonville Times-Union.
Darrell Smith’s Coda to Flagler Beach’s New Doggie Dining Menu
“I’m sorry,” Writes Smitty, “I didn’t think it would go this far. Look at what I filmed at an unnamed Flagler Beach restaurant yesterday.” He graciously apologizes, too.
Unemployment Dips to 9%, Job Creation at 80,000, Private Sector Getting Stronger
The U.S. unemployment rate dropped to 9 percent, the first drop in three months, as 80,000 jobs were created in October and figures for August and September were revised upward, adding 102,000 jobs to previous totals.
200 Opponents of a Matanzas Woods Complex Tantalized By City Hints of a Solution
Palm Coast Manager Jim Landon told opponents of the Sawgrass Villas project that the city might entice the bank that owns the land to open a branch on SR100, buying city land and enabling the city to buy the Matanzas Woods property.
With Pomp and Yakety Yak, Flagler Auditorium Celebrates Its 20th Anniversary Tonight
The free concert by the Cornell Gunter’s Coasters of “Charlie Brown” and “YaketyYak” fame at 7 p.m. will follow an hour’s celebration and remembrances by local officials who lit the way of the Flagler Auditorium’s growth.
Bunnell Commission, With 14 Jobs in Jeopardy, Calls Emergency Meeting for Today
The Florida Department of Transportation has contracted with Bunnell for the past six years for road maintenance. Now Bunnell is one of 24 bidders on the same contract, and it’s heavily disfavored as Gov. Rick Scott pushes for privatization.
Those Airport X-Ray Machines? Cancer Risk. Yet Government Dismisses Cautions
Airport X-ray scanners could give cancer to six to 100 U.S. airline passengers each year, research suggests, yet the TSA still calls scanners safe, glossing over evidence that even low-dose radiation increases cancer risks. European airports ban their use.
Occupy Flagler Awakes the State Today as Movements Merge in Defense of Middle Class
The Occupy Flagler-Awake the State demonstration is taking place today at Belle Terre Parkway and Palm Coast Parkway, on the Kohl’s side of the street, from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.
Heist in Print: How Newspapers Sold Their Soul to Business Brigands
Ethics in newspaper media, such as the once-inviolable church-state wall between newsrooms and the business department, are for the most part history as newspapers seek profits at the expense of public trust, Donald Kaul argues.
In a Switch, Flagler Beach Backs Doggie Dining At Some Restaurants, With Regulations
Dog-friendly dining in Flagler Beach, never exactly absent from some restaurants, is now entirely legal and embraced by the city commission that had sought to ban it just a few weeks ago.
My Fairest Tax Proposal: A Tax on Nonsense
Watching Republican candidates debate taxes and creationism on TV reminds me of original Star Trek episodes featuring those low-tech aliens that nevertheless managed to speak English every time.
Swell of Surfers Beats Back Flagler Beach Bid to Broaden Pier’s No-Go Zone, For Now
Flagler Beach’s proposal to double the no-surf zone to 300 feet around the Flagler Beach pier petered out before it was considered, with a caveat: commissioners want more self-policing from surfers, or else.
Foreclosure Tale: When Renters, Despite Protections, Are Intimidated Into Leaving
Palm Coast’s Genis family–mother, father, six children–was duly paying rent on its Smith Trail home when it was sold by the court and the family was given 10 days to clear out, even though it never saw an eviction notice.
Drawing Mayor’s Rebuke, Palm Coast Manager’s Trash Talk Skips Agenda Notice
Palm Coast City Manager Jim Landon drew up bid restrictions for the city’s $35 million trash contract designed to favor Waste Pro, the current hauler, while virtually disqualifying others–and preventing two potential new city council members from having a say in the contract.
Subtle Revelations as Commissioners Speed-Date Through 15 Job Council Candidates
An inside look at today’s rapid-fire one-on-one job interviews with 15 of the 36 candidates looking to fill the county commission’s nine-member economic development council.
300-Ft. No-Surf Zone Plan Around Flagler Beach Pier Has Surfers Angling for Battle
A season rich in storms, good waves and good fishing resulted in renewed clashes between fishermen and surfers around the Flagler Beach pier, and the latest proposal to extend the no-surf zone around it, priming angers before Thursday’s Flagler Beach City Commission meeting.
Nuclear Socialism: FPL and Progress Energy Get $282 Million Rate Hike
Though FPL’s and Progress Energy’s nuclear plants may never be built, the Public Service Commission is set to approve billing utility customers now for those future costs.
Flagler Dental Associates
30 Office Park Dr., Palm Coast
(386) 446-3883
(386) 446-5141
Palm Coast Dentists Flagler Dental provide dentures, partials, cleanings, botox, extractions, crowns, bridges, implant restoration, bone grafts, whitening, veneers and more. Accepting new patients.
What I Learned Occupying Wall Street and DC
The unemployed, the foreclosed, and the sick-of-it-all are coming together to discuss the world that we want to see and how to get there, says Lacy MacAuley, an activist, in an attempt to define the movement’s purpose.
Unemployment Largely Stalled: 14.6% in Flagler, 10.6% in Florida; Scott in Brazil
With Florida Gov. Rick Scott touting a recovery from a trip in Brazil with 180 politicians, pals and business interests, Florida’s and Flagler’s unemployment numbers remained more static, 20 percent of Floridians either out of work or under-employed.