Top-rated Capital Health Plan, a non-profit, is available only in the four-county Tallahassee area, so local Medicare members are denied enrollment.
Economy
Medicare Advantage: How Florida Rates
Florida doesn’t rate so high in a state-by-state chart showing the percentage of Medicare Advantage beneficiaries enrolled in quality plans.
County Tax Rate Going Up 15.4% Even as Revenue and Government Services Stall
The proposed 2011 property tax rate would be the highest in at least 10 years, yet collapsing property values mean government revenue will not rise at all compared with this year.
Mia Bella’s Dancers: From Non-Existent to National Champions in Seven Months
Brie Valenti opened her Mia Bella dance studio last January at City Walk, and returned from a competition in Tennessee with two national trophies this week for her students and her choreography.
In Shifty Budget, Palm Coast Projects Peter Pots Paying Paul Pots and 12-15 Lay-Offs
Next year’s city budget is heavy on shifts, cuts and one pot of money subsidizing another while keeping the tax rate where it’s been.
Tax-Free Days: Aug. 13-15, But Applicable Items Are Limited
Everything you need to know about the back-to-school tax-free days this year. But don’t expect to get the tax break at Disney.
Florida Tax-Free Days: The Fine Print
The tax-free holiday in all its details: what’s tax-free, what’s not, according to Florida’s tax revenue department.
Under Threat of Lawsuit from Universal®, City Walk in Palm Coast Will Change Its Name
City Walk, the beleaguered strip mall and home to Palm Coast city offices, will change its name to get away from Universal’s trademark strips in Orlando and Hollywood.
Palm Coast Goals: No Tax Hike, 8-10% Cuts, 10-15 Jobs Gone; City Hall Plans Unscathed
The Palm Coast City Council wants to keep property taxes the same, compensating for revenue with fees, fines, loans and reserves, and still build a new city hall.
Ormond’s River Grille Owner Closer to Taking Over Flagler Beach’s Pier Restaurant
The iconic Pier Restaurant’s lease is up in two years. The city owns it. The city will negotiate with a new owner immediately, to the displeasure of locally owned Flagler Fish Company.
Battling Referendums: School Tax Will Compete With Building Tax in November
In the wost of times, voters will be asked to approve a tax levy to continue existing funding on top of a new tax favored by the chamber of commerce for building commercial properties.
Move Over, Delbrugge: How Janet Valentine Shifted the School Board on a Tax Levy
New School Superintendent Janet Valentine quietly showed her political and parliamentary skills when she turned the board from opposing to approving a school tax referendum.
Palm Coast Arts Foundation’s Methods Assailed Again–Unjustly, Its President Says
“They didn’t come up with any substantial numbers, or at least verifiable numbers,” a tourist council member said of the Palm Coast Arts Foundation’s plans for a banquet center.
This Week in Orlando: Culture Worth The Miles
The British Invasion’s Peter Blair Denis Bernard Noone, Henry James’ “Washington Square” on stage, Ntozake Shange, play, “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide,” violinists Olga Feroni, and Julia Gessinger in “Strings of Passion,” and much more.
Palm Coast Data Parent Revenue Drops 21% in 2010, Accelerating to 24% in Last 3 Months
Palm Coast Data, largest of its parent companies’ operations, lost close to $24 million in revenue this year.
Tennis Tourney, Hispanic Festival and Maya Conference Cleared for Tax Subsidies
The $20,500 in bed-tax dollars will help the three organizations publicize their events in coming months.
Florida Leads States’ Failures in Reporting Problem Caregivers
Florida leads the nation in ignoring federal database reporting of health professionals who have been disciplined on the job, undermining background and safety checks on frontline caregivers.
Beat Shuffle at the News-Journal
The paper is making fewer changes than meet the eye while continuing to attempt to do a little more with far less.
School Tax Rising for Second Year, Compensating for Crashing Property Values
The tax rate remains a third below where it stood in the mid-1990s, even though property values have fallen by a third just in the past three years.
Take the Tour of Your Newest School: Buddy Taylor Middle Is Reborn Yet Again
The $13.2 million renovation is complete, and the county’s second-oldest school looks and feels new again. A photo gallery.
Photo Gallery: The Renovated Buddy Taylor Middle School
A photo gallery featuring some 30 images of the renovated school and its surrounding grounds.
Food Safety Inspections End At Florida Hospitals, Child Cares and Nursing Homes
A new law designed to diminish duplication of services ends them instead, as food-preparation for children, the sick and the elderly will go mostly uninspected from now on.
Botox for Historic Holden House, Age 92
The $23,400 renovation will restore one of the county’s oldest buildings’ original color and windows and lend the Flagler historical society’s headquarters even more of a museum feel.
Sunshine Fusion: Florida Art, Music & History Merge in Landmark Symphonic Performance
Mark your calendars for this one: A uniquely Florida, uniquely artistic performance of “A Historic Portrait in Sound” combing painting, music and words Sept. 18-19 in DeLand.
Flagler and Volusia Unemployment Rising Again, Florida’s Dipping for 3rd Month
Flagler’s 15.4 percent unemployment rate makes it the second-worst in the state after Hendry County’s 16.1 percent.
Compact Shuffles Bad Nurses Like Parishes Shuffling Bad Priests
A 24-state nursing compact, which does not include Florida, enables nurses to evade their shady pasts merely by moving to a new job.
Flagler Manatee Committee Report Concludes: Against Speed Zones. Just “Education.”
No surprise: a local committee stacked with boating advocates is recommending against most manatee-protecting speed-zone recommendations on the Intracoastal by a state conservation agency.
Sheriff’s Budget: Few New Deputies, No Raises, More Bottled Water and Drug Money
The 2011 budget, reflecting the enduring recession, is almost the same as it was this year, leaving the number of deputies on patrol virtually static.
Mandatory Mediation on Home Mortgage Foreclosures To Start in Flagler July 19
Mediation is designed to reduce the caseload on the court system and help people stay in their homes. Whether it actually works is open to question.
Your Water Management District Tax Next Year: $42 (On Average, Anyway)
The tentative $247.4 million budget is 21 percent, or $65.8 million, less than the current fiscal year’s amended budget. Half the budget is made up of your property taxes.
Classic Landon: County on Notice that Palm Coast Will Annex Airport. County Begs to Differ.
Palm Coast made it seem as if bringing the National Guard to Flagler was mostly its doing. That would be news to the county government. But more is at stake between the two.
National Guard Targets Flagler, But Reserve Center Depends on Congressional Funding
The $21 million, 80,000-square-foot facility near the county airport isn’t likely to be built until 2014. It’ll house 21 soldiers.
Spy-and-Snap Red-Light Cameras Will Enrich Private Company At Palm Coast’s Expense
The traffic cameras generated $1.7 million for Palm Coast since 2008. Most of that money will now go to a private company and to Tallahassee, while the cameras keep snapping.
Florida Beaches Stay Open Despite Tar Balls and Sicknesses
Despite EPA warnings that some Florida beaches may be unsafe, people are taking to them–and getting sick.
Conservation in Contempt: How Palm Coast Opened the Way to Urbanizing Bulow Creek
Under the guise of having to rezone land it recently annexed, the Palm Coast City Council enabled the highest-density zoning possible in the sensitive Bulow Creek watershed.
Portrait of a Transcending Mind: J.J. Graham’s Hollingsworth Gallery Genesis
J.J. Graham is remaking Palm Coast’s art world through his Hollingsworth Gallery, which he opened at City Walk in January 2009. He’s remaking more than the art world.
Flagler Beach Manager’s Job List at 83 Names; School District’s Mike Judd Withdraws His
Flagler Beach commissioners will begin paring down the list in August but are unlikely to have a new manager in place by Oct. 1.
Small Businesses Mobilizing Against Broad Restrictions on Commercial Vehicles
As code enforcement responds to anonymous complaints over trucks in driveways, small business owners are tiring of the harassment in a hurting economy.
How Marineland Got Public Dollars To Build a (Mostly) Private Marina
Marineland will spend $500,000 in public dollars to build a marina that will mostly benefit a private developer, though it will also help redevelop the town.
Palm Coast’s Two Best Arguments
For a New City Hall: Take the Tour
This much isn’t too controversial about a new Palm Coast city hall: the current digs are ugly, cramped and unbecoming. And government spending is needed to create jobs.
For a Few Dollars More: How the News-Journal Is Hounding Its Retirees
Retirees’ pension and health plans are in jeopardy as battle continues over who’s owed what first.
Raging Skies Redux: The Fireworks in Palm Coast’s Town Center
Palm Coast’s July 4th celebration starts in Town Center at 7 p.m. and culminates with a fireworks show at 9 p.m.
The Gods Must Be Crazy: Rain Slams But Doesn’t Stop Flagler Beach Parade
Clouds thicker than menace mobilized offshore, then struck, but the Flagler Beach Independence Day parade held on anyway.
Flagler Beach’s Independence Day Fireworks No Longer a Solo Act
Flagler Beach’s traditional Independence Day fireworks display will be held on July 3rd, and will be followed by another celebration in Palm Coast’s Town Center on July 4.
Miss Flagler County 2010 Essay Winner: Recession or Not, Blessings Point to Rebound
As a nation and a culture, whether in recession or not, we are incredibly blessed and should be thankful, says Mia Parliaricci in an essay that won her this year’s Miss Flagler County essay competition.
Double-Dip: US Economy Loses 125,000 Jobs Even as Unemployment Rate Drops to 9.5%
With census jobs vanishing, so is job creation as the US economy in June appeared headed for a double-dip recession.
Prescription Pill-Popping By Far a Leading Killer as Florida’s Drug Deaths Spike 20%
Oxycodone, the addictive prescription pain-killer also known as OxyContin, directly caused more deaths in Florida in 2009 than cocaine, heroin and morphine combined.
Tourism Panel Clears Half-Step Toward Palm Coast Arts Foundation Center, But Questions Persist
A $50,000 study is recommended for the smaller scale of a grand plan for the Palm Coast Arts Foundation’s arts, culture and conference center in Town Center.
Pressing for Raises, Teachers’ Union Holding District Hostage Over Class-Size Compromise
The union would approve a district plan to comply with class-size requirements in exchange for $2.4 million in raises.
Palm Coast Roller Derby Scrimmage Against Ocala in a First–and Set Sights on Carver Gym
Palm Coast’s first roller derby team falls to Ocala–and talks about moving to embattled Carver Gym in Bunnell.