Outlining a long list of Joe Mullins contradictions, bigotries and discrimination, the News-Journal in an editorial joins “those registering doubt of his sincerity last week, when he pushed the resolution of support for the Constitution that allowed him to unleash a flood of patriotic-sounding rhetoric in the middle of a commission meeting.”
Backgrounders
Contrary to Commissioner’s Claim, Flagler County Is Not at Herd Immunity, Health Officials Warn, Only Nearing It
Local health officials cautioned against ending covid-19 precautionary restrictions in response to a false claim by Flagler County Commissioner Joe Mullins that herd immunity has been reached, and that he would call for an end to restrictions at the next county commission meeting. Mullins often writes or speaks falsehoods or makes misleading statements about covid-19 and numerous other matters.
This Supermoon Has a Twist: Expect Flooding, But a Lunar Cycle is Masking Sea Level Rise Effects
A “super full moon” is coming on April 27, and coastal cities know that means one thing: a heightened risk of tidal flooding. Because of the moon’s long-term cycle, these are the years to implement infrastructure plans to protect coastal areas against sea level rise.
A 17-Year-Old Boy Is Shot on Roxland Lane in Palm Coast, By an Assailant Said to Be Unknown
A 17-year-old boy was shot outside a house on Roxland Lane late Saturday night by a assailant said to be unknown, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office said this morning. “At this time we do not believe that this was a random attack,” Sheriff Rick Staly said.
Flagler Jail Deputy Disciplined Over Alleged Use of N-Word Against Inmate, Which He Denies
Flagler County Sheriff’s detention deputy Cpl. Peter Descartes served a one-day suspension without pay last month following an internal investigation over allegations that he referred to a Black inmate by a racist slur in November. Descartes is himself Black, and denied using the term saying he used a different word that sounds similar.
Cimmaron Drive Residents Clamor for a Sidewalk, Citing Dangers and Degradation of Walking and Biking Experience
It was a matter of time before Palm Coast residents would start complaining about Cimmaron Drive’s degradation and its impact on their ability to walk it, ride it or skirt its often indifferent traffic. That time is now, as Cimmaron Drive may become the city’s next Florida Park Drive headache.
Palm Coast City Manager Matt Morton’s Evaluations at Year 2: One Brutal, One Good, 3 Glowing or Stellar
City Manager Matt Morton’s past year saw some of the city’s most challenging times during the pandemic, and some of its greatest successes, with the landing of two university campuses and the return of the city’s largest manufacturing company, with 300 to 400 jobs.
School Board’s Latest Fray Over LGBTQ ‘Hysteria’ Is Tense But Civil as Law Has the Last Word, Not Parents
Flagler school district officials explained that a student’s privacy–and sexual identity–may override a parent’s right to know about it as transgender matters again divided an audience of 70 and the school board in impassioned but mostly courteous debates at a meeting Tuesday afternoon.
Tiny Number of People Will Be Hospitalized Despite Being Vaccinated. We Have to Learn Why.
Experts say we should investigate “breakthrough infections” to look out for variants and understand who’s vulnerable. In many cases, that’s not happening. Crucial pieces of the puzzle are being tossed in the trash.
Are Mass Shootings an American Epidemic?
The most recent research on frequency of mass shootings indicates that, while still rare, they are becoming more common, though the exact number each year can vary widely, while the number of Americans who are victims of crimes involving a firearm approaches half a million a year.
‘Don’t Be a Holdout’: Flagler Aims for 1st In State in Vaccinations, With 40.7% Inoculated So Far and Youth Shots Ahead
Flagler County’s vaccine supply is now exceeding demand as health officials step up their outreach to restaurants, local businesses, schools and children 16 and 17 to get vaccinated in hopes of vaulting the county’s vaccination rate to the top of the state’s chart. Flagler is 7th or 8th best in the state in vaccinations.
Covid-19 Daily Data for Florida and Flagler: Cases, Testing, Locations, Hospitalizations and Deaths
Florida’s and Flagler’s complete daily reports by the Health Department of Covid-19 data including county-by-county infection numbers, testing, people monitored and deaths.
Palm Coast’s Sean Farrelly Sentenced to 30 Years In a Federal Case Misleadingly Termed ‘Sex Trafficking Of A Minor’
A federal judge sentenced Sean Patrick Farrelly, the former Palm Coast resident, to 30 years in prison for having enticed his girlfriend’s adopted daughter with money, alcohol, drugs and gifts a girl to have sex with him. Federal authorities classify the case as “sex trafficking.” Court proceedings shows otherwise–that Farrelly was a standard, brutal predator who cultivated a victim under his roof, fitting the profile of most sex crimes against children.
When Births Go Horribly Wrong, Florida Protects Doctors and Forces Families to Pay the Price
A Florida program designed to reduce doctors’ malpractice bills strips families of their right to sue, offering instead a one-time payment and promises to cover medical expenses. Some parents report a bureaucratic nightmare that’s anything but supportive.
Foregoing Search for Deputy City Manager, Palm Coast’s Matt Morton Appoints Two Chiefs of Staff Drawn Internally
After getting 150 applications for a deputy city manager and finding them wanting, Palm Coast City Manager Matt Morton had abandoned the search and changed track, instead drawing from within and appointing Denise Bevan and Lauren Johnston to newly created chiefs of staff positions, each overseeing a vast array of city departments.
The Odious Victor Barbosa
An examination of Palm Coast Councilman Victor Barbosa’s accusation of “corruption” against Manager Matt Morton reveals it to be baseless and defamatory, while Barbosa’s own methods, from trying to get city employees fired, meddling in administrative business, blindsiding the council and shaming of residents in the city’s name, raise questions about his own understanding of, or fitness for, the job.
Flagler Beach Gives Up on Recycling All But Aluminum and Some Cardboard; Palm Coast Not Expected to Follow
Flagler Beach becomes the latest among hundreds of cities and counties across the country to abandon traditional recycling in whole or in part since 2018. Palm Coast is preparing for a new trash-hauling contract, with recycling a significant component. The city does not expect to abandon recycling.
Palm Coast Tenant Jailed Over Death Threats Against Landlord. But Should He and His Family Have Been Evicted?
Anthony Douglas Debolt and his partner had lost their jobs during covid and fallen behind to the point of facing eviction from their R-Section house, and matters got worse as Debolt allegedly texted death threats to his landlord. But a federal order is in effect that protects some tenants from evictions,
Sheriff’s Detectives Had Friday Shooting Suspect Brenan Hill, a Fugitive, in Custody Within Hours
Brenan Robert Hill, 32, wanted on felony charges from Pennsylvania, was the man who drove the woman who was shot Friday near the Microtel in Palm Coast, and is a suspect in the shooting, though the Sheriff’s Office is not yet saying so.
Bike Week, Spring Break and Doffed Masks Blamed for Latest ‘Worrisome’ Covid Spike Even as Vaccinations Spread
Local public health officials and physicians are imploring residents not to relax their covid-safety measures and warning of stubbornly persistent infections even as vaccinations have made large inroads in the local population.
Calling Mullins ‘Pied Piper of Hate, Deception and Fraud,’ School Board’s Conklin Rips His Latest Attack on LGBTQ and GOP
Joe Mullins combined attacks on transgender people and local Republicans in an extended screed filled with falsehoods and mischaracterizations as he spoke to a local far-right Republican group, prompting the School Board’s Colleen Conklin to issue a severe condemnation and called him a “narcissistic beast.”
Joe Mullins Falsehoods, Mischaracterizations, Misleading and Baseless Statements: A Fact-Check
Joe Mullins’s problem with facts is not new, pre-dating his election. We fact-checked his latest statements from that March 25 appearance point by point as he discussed Flagler schools’ transgender students, local Republicans allegiances, the massage parlor murders, immigration, why people move to Flagler, guns and other matters.
Ask the Doctor: Covid and the Russian Flu, Vaccines, Allergy Shots and Colonoscopies, Future Booster Shots
In this latest installment of FlaglerLive’s “Ask the Doctor” column by Dr. Stephen Bickel, the medical director at the Flagler and Volusia Counties Health Departments, the doctor takes on an intriguing question about covid and the Russian flu of the late 1970s, whether booster vaccine shots will be needed, how allergy shots or colonoscopies affect vaccination, and so on.
Recalling Unhappy History, Water Leaks at City Hall Again Cause Some of Bunnell’s City Offices to Relocate
Twelve years ago Bunnell evacuated its city hall due to water leaks. Later this month it will evacuate some of its city offices at its City Hall to a strip mall due to water intrusion. The move will cost the city $800 a month and is indefinite.
Anti-Maskers Subject Flagler School Board to Drizzle of Disinformation in Latest Attempt to Lift Mask Rules
The emergence of those anti-masking voices, while restricted to a very small but shrill handful, points to the sort of ideological talking points the board may have to contend with over the next weeks or months, which would be a distraction from the more pragmatic and busy agenda set out by Mittelstadt and the board.
Employee Ranks Double at Flagler’s Own Coastal Cloud as Company’s Vaccine and Testing Platforms Go Viral
Hammock-based Coastal Cloud’s testing and vaccine platforms, adopted by the Florida Division of Emergency Management, placed the company at the center of the state’s battle against covid and resulted in a doubling of the company’s ranks to 280, despite the crisis.
Covid Vaccine Eligibility Is a ‘Crazy Quilt’ of State Rules, Unleashing ‘Vaccine Jealousy’
The different vaccine-eligibility rules among states — and sometimes varying rules even within states — has created a mishmash. This has unleashed “vaccine jealousy” as people see friends and family in other states qualify ahead of them even if they are the same age or have the same occupation.
Palm Coast’s Lamar Johnson, 40, Dies After Driving Car Into Canal Off Club House Drive
The body of Lamar M. Johnson, 40, was recovered from the canal between Carol and Cardwell Court, near Club House Drive, late Thursday night after Johnson had driven his car into the water. The cause of the crash is not known.
Rolling the Bones: Jan Jackson Is Flagler County’s Artist of the Year
Jan Jackson is the Gargiulo Art Foundation’s Flagler County Artist of the Year for 2020, is a bit mystified by the methods of her muse, especially when it drives her to conjure art from skulls and bones – a predilection that didn’t manifest in her art until she was in her 60s.
Another Routine Traffic Stop Turns Violent, Leading to Arrest of Armed Fugitive Wanted for Murder
A traffic stop for speeding at Wawa in Palm Coast Wednesday night was the fourth seemingly routine traffic stop or street encounter in the last eight days that turned violent on local roads, this time leading to the arrest of a 21-year-old man wanted for murder in Georgia. He was carrying a loaded gun.
Draft Report on Flagler County Fire Department Finds Low Morale, Lack of Pride and Internal Dysfunctions
The report, underscoring internal dysfunctions and a lack of leadership, has been circulating within the administration for weeks, eliciting questions from administrative and elected officials, and may be ready for the commission in about two months.
How Flagler Was Far More “Staly Country” than Trump’s in 2020, and How Grand Haven Saved Milissa Holland
An analysis of Flagler County’s precinct-by-precinct vote last November reveals a few surprises, among them how Grand Haven powered incumbent Palm Coast Mayor Milissa Holland to her win and how Flagler was not so much “Trump Country” as “Staly Country” as the incumbent sheriff won his second term with 70 percent of the vote, with no discernible weaknesses across precincts.
The Trump Health Care Policies That Deserve to Stick Around
The Trump administration’s attempted market-based interventions shined some light on dark corners of the health market and opened the door to some workarounds. They are not meaningful substitutes for larger and much-needed health reform. But as Americans await the type of more fundamental changes the Democrats have promised, they need every bit of help they can get.
County Takes Extraordinary Legal Step to Demolish Derelict Motel on Old Dixie as Owners Stop Responding
Flagler County government has filed suit to condemn and demolish the long-derelict, yellowed Country Hearth Inn motel that’s vexed law enforcement, residents and county code enforcement officials for years near Dixie Commons along South Old Dixie Highway, not far from the interchange with I-95.
Two-Thirds of Flagler’s 65 and Over Have at Least One Shot of Vaccine, Minority Outreach Expands
As the CDC issues mask guidelines that provide some relief for those fully vaccinated, Flagler County nears the 25 percent mark for those who have at least one shot, but new cases of covid have spiked for the third straight week, signaling a still-raging pandemic.
Lysenko, Stalin and Trump
On the one-year mark of the coronavirus pandemic, Trump’s malicious, politically motivated anti-science handling of a calamity that has killed more than half a million Americans so far recalls the alliance between fake Soviet scientist Trofim Lysenko and Stalin, which led to the death of millions.
Ask the Doctor: On the Covid Vaccine’s Safety, Emerging Mutations, Viral Transmission Post-Vaccination
In this latest installment of FlaglerLive’s “Ask the Doctor” column by Dr. Stephen Bickel, the medical director at the Flagler and Volusia Counties Health Departments, the doctor takes on recurring questions about the covid vaccine’s safety, its effectiveness against new variants of the virus, and many other questions.
In a Victory for Flagler Government, Key Local Vacation Rental Regulations May Survive Yet Again
A Florida Senate panel today in a surprise shift voted to preserve local regulatory authority of short-term vacation rentals. If that version of the bill survives and overrides a different House bill, as appears likely, then local regulations will remain in place unscathed, surviving attempts to scrap that local authority for the seventh straight year.
Chillin’ Out: Palm Coast Residents Love Their Quality of Life and Safety, But Have Issues With Their City, Too
The 3,000 Palm Coast residents who responded to the city’s survey about living here were overwhelmingly 55 and over, appeared to have been little affected by the pandemic and declared themselves happy with the quality of life and safety of the city, but less so with economic, cultural and shopping opportunities.
Far More Than Stimulus Checks: Premiums Will Fall for Many in Biggest Obamacare Revamp in 10 Years
The proposal would ensure no one who buys insurance on the exchanges pays more than 8.5% of income. It is part of the $1.9 trillion covid relief bill. But the Affordable Care Act revamp, largest in a decade, would expire in 2022.
Latest Reinvention of Palm Coast Tennis Center Sees $5.7 Million Expansion and More Ahead, But Speculation Abounds
Palm Coast government is proposing an ambitious, multimillion transformation of the city’s tennis center off Belle Terre Parkway into a “Regional Racquet Center” featuring 42 tennis and pickleball courts, a clubhouse, space for events and other amenities. But the plan is based on largely speculative assertions of need even as tennis declines as a sport and the school board is rethinking its own racquet club’s future.
Biden’s Criticism of Trump Team’s Vaccine Contracts Is Mostly False
The Trump administration could have acted more quickly to buy doses or increase vaccine manufacturing capacity. And the Biden administration has certainly taken significant measures to expand supplies. But it’s stretching the truth to say the Trump administration hadn’t contracted for enough covid vaccines to inoculate the U.S. adult population.
Almost a Quarter of Flagler Is Vaccinated, But Cases Rise; CDC Says Fully Vaccinated May Unmask In Some Cases
As the CDC issues mask guidelines that provide some relief for those fully vaccinated, Flagler County nears the 25 percent mark for those who have at least one shot, but new cases of covid have spiked for the third straight week, signaling a still-raging pandemic.
Why We Can’t Make Vaccine Doses Any Faster
President Biden has promised enough doses for all American adults by this summer. There’s not much even the Defense Production Act can do to deliver doses before then.
The Golden Rule Is Not Cancel Culture
The Dr. Seuss estate’s decision to pull six books from reprints has nothing to do with cancel culture. That pair of terms has become its own dogmatic dumbbell anyway. Our misplaced nostalgia for books we were so fond of isn’t more important than the golden rule of looking out for our neighbors, to whom the same nostalgia translates as insult or put-down.
Now Florida’s Only 2nd All-American Road, Storied A1A Has Long Navigated Between Quaint and Crass
State Road A1A is now an All-American Road, adding to the road’s paradoxes of beauty and history on one side and and relentless commercialization and development on the other, though the same people who applaud its scenic designation are also those who endanger it most.
Sharply Rebuking More McDonald Falsehoods, School Board Says No Mask-Rule Changes This Year
School Board member Janet McDonald was again the outlier on Tuesday as she pressed for a relaxation of mask rules while repeating falsehoods about masks and vaccines. Superintendent Cathy Mittelstadt took her strongest stand yet, saying the district would not alter its current covid-safety protocols. A majority of the school board agreed.
It’s a County Priority, But Quest to Bring Broadband to Flagler’s West Side Runs Into County Hurdles
County Commissioner Joe Mullins is seeking county staff’s help with an informal broadband “task force” he leads to land a grant that could improve internet services on the west side, raising questions about the extent to which the county can get involved in a group it has not formally recognized or knew much about even though broadband access is now a county priority.
More Than Half of Flagler’s Seniors Have Been Vaccinated, But County’s Covid Deaths Now at 92
So far 19,311 of Flagler County’s 36,500 people who are 65 and over have been vaccinated with at least one shot, representing 53 percent of the senior population (age 65 and over), up from 45 percent seven days ago.
When You Get Your Chance for a Covid Vaccine, Don’t Worry About Effectiveness Numbers
When getting vaccinated against covid-19, there’s no sense being picky. You should take the first authorized vaccine that’s offered, experts say, whether it’s Moderna, Pfizer or Johnson & Johnson, no matter what the effectiveness numbers say.