• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
MENUMENU
MENUMENU
  • Home
  • About
    • Contact Us
    • FlaglerLive Board of Directors
    • Comment Policy
    • Mission Statement
    • Our Values
    • Privacy Policy
  • Live Calendar
  • Submit Obituary
  • Submit an Event
  • Support FlaglerLive
  • Advertise on FlaglerLive (386) 503-3808
  • Search Results

FlaglerLive

No Bull, no Fluff, No Smudges

MENUMENU
  • Flagler
    • Flagler County Commission
    • Beverly Beach
    • Flagler History
    • Mondex/Daytona North
    • The Hammock
    • Tourist Development Council
    • Marineland
  • Palm Coast
    • Palm Coast City Council
    • Palm Coast Crime
  • Bunnell
    • Bunnell City Commission
    • Bunnell Crime
  • Flagler Beach
    • Flagler Beach City Commission
    • Flagler Beach Crime
  • Cops/Courts
    • Circuit & County Court
    • Florida Supreme Court
    • Federal Courts
    • Flagler 911
    • Fire House
    • Flagler County Sheriff
    • Flagler Jail Bookings
    • Traffic Accidents
  • Rights & Liberties
    • First Amendment
    • Second Amendment
    • Third Amendment
    • Fourth Amendment
    • Fifth Amendment
    • Sixth Amendment
    • Seventh Amendment
    • Eighth Amendment
    • 14th Amendment
    • Sunshine Law
    • Religion & Beliefs
    • Privacy
    • Civil Rights
    • Human Rights
    • Immigration
    • Labor Rights
  • Schools
    • Adult Education
    • Belle Terre Elementary
    • Buddy Taylor Middle
    • Bunnell Elementary
    • Charter Schools
    • Daytona State College
    • Flagler County School Board
    • Flagler Palm Coast High School
    • Higher Education
    • Imagine School
    • Indian Trails Middle
    • Matanzas High School
    • Old Kings Elementary
    • Rymfire Elementary
    • Stetson University
    • Wadsworth Elementary
    • University of Florida/Florida State
  • Economy
    • Jobs & Unemployment
    • Business & Economy
    • Development & Sprawl
    • Leisure & Tourism
    • Local Business
    • Local Media
    • Real Estate & Development
    • Taxes
  • Commentary
    • The Conversation
    • Pierre Tristam
    • Diane Roberts
    • Guest Columns
    • Byblos
    • Editor's Blog
  • Culture
    • African American Cultural Society
    • Arts in Palm Coast & Flagler
    • Books
    • City Repertory Theatre
    • Flagler Auditorium
    • Flagler Playhouse
    • Special Events
  • Elections 2024
    • Amendments and Referendums
    • Presidential Election
    • Campaign Finance
    • City Elections
    • Congressional
    • Constitutionals
    • Courts
    • Governor
    • Polls
    • Voting Rights
  • Florida
    • Federal Politics
    • Florida History
    • Florida Legislature
    • Florida Legislature
    • Ron DeSantis
  • Health & Society
    • Flagler County Health Department
    • Ask the Doctor Column
    • Health Care
    • Health Care Business
    • Covid-19
    • Children and Families
    • Medicaid and Medicare
    • Mental Health
    • Poverty
    • Violence
  • All Else
    • Daily Briefing
    • Americana
    • Obituaries
    • News Briefs
    • Weather and Climate
    • Wildlife

Featured

When Florida Sends Goons to Intimidate Government Critics

October 26, 2025 | FlaglerLive | Leave a Comment

State Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia’s department sent law officers to a Largo home over a postcard that criticized Ingoglia.

Retired Florida resident James O’Gara sent a postcard to Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia, saying simply, “You lack values.” Soon after the postcard, two guys in armored vests emblazoned “POLICE” showed up at the O’Gara home and asked if James O’Gara had mailed that little missive to Tallahassee. They didn’t identify themselves, but the O’Garas checked with Largo police and found out the men were from the Department of Financial Services’ investigations unit.

Floridians Are Hurtling Towards Economic Disaster

October 25, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 7 Comments

florida distressed

Florida is the second most distressed state in the union in terms of its residents’ debt obligations. The state saw a 23% increase in the share of people with distressed bank accounts between 2024 and 2025, the data show. In addition, Florida holds the sixth-highest overall share of people with accounts in distress, at 7.3%. In human terms, this financial distress looks like a sharp increase in bankruptcy filings; residents with accounts in forbearance or deferred payments; America’s lowest average credit scores; and higher prices for groceries, rent, mortgages, gasoline, and health care.

Trump Endorses Randy Fine, Sharply Steepening Hill Climb for Gambaro and Furry

October 25, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 4 Comments

President Donald Trump is giving his “Complete and Total Endorsement” to U.S. Rep. Randy Fine. Challenger Charles Gambaro, currently a Palm Coast City Council member who had a role in the final months of the first Trump administration, recently expressed confidence that Trump would endorse him over the former state lawmaker, but clearly that’s not coming to pass. Will Furry, the Flagler County school board member, is also among the numerous candidates running against Fine. 

Tired of County’s Internal Conflicts and ‘Politics,’ Flagler Beach Is Ready to Raise Its Property Tax for Beach Protection

October 24, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 18 Comments

flagler beach management

Flagler Beach Is ready to raise its property tax and dedicate the new revenue to beach protection in the city as a blunt message to the county: We’re doing our part. Now do yours. The move is not in defiance of the county so much as a challenge to it to get its management plan in order and to stop using Flagler Beach as a scapegoat to veil its own internal conflicts.

Only Two Residents Unaffiliated with Charter Review Show Up at Latest Community Workshop

October 24, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 2 Comments

Moderator Georgette Dumont didn't have much to work with at Thursday evening's second community workshop on the ongoing charter review. (© FlaglerLive)

Only two residents unaffiliated with the charter-review process showed up at Thursday evening’s community workshop designed to solicit ideas and input from residents about the ongoing rewrite of the Palm Coast City Charter. It was the second of four such scheduled workshops. Another is scheduled for tonight at 6 at the Palm Coast Community Center. The first, on Sept. 29 at the Southern Recreation Center, drew barely a dozen people, though they were engaged and proposed several changes. Not so on Thursday.

At His Memorial, Sheriff’s K9 Kyro ‘Nubs’ Is Remembered for His Fierce Loyalty and Love of Challenges

October 24, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 1 Comment

Sheriff Rick Staly addressing the congregants at First Baptiost Church in Bunnell this morning, during the memorial for K9 Kyro. (© FlaglerLive)

First Baptist Church of Bunnell was the site of two funerals for law enforcement officers who died in the line of duty in 2021. Today, the church was against the site of a memorial for a fallen officer. For the first time in Flagler County’s history, it was for a K9, a police dog, the first to lose his life in the line of duty: K9 Kyro, nicknamed “nubs” for the tail that had to be amputated from his tendency to be overexcited, died from an undetected heart ailment on Oct. 14. 

Critical After February Crash, Daniel Waterman, 22, Died on Oct. 8. His Pregnant Girlfriend Is Accused of Causing the Crash.

October 23, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 4 Comments

Daniel Waterman. He was critically injured as a passenger in his girlfriend's car on I-95 in Palm Coast last Feb. 9. He never recovered. He died on Oct. 8. (Waterman family)

Last Super Bowl Sunday, the day Leigha Mumby, 24, discovered she was pregnant by her boyfriend, Daniel M. Waterman, 22, Mumby drove her Honda into a tree on I-95 in Palm Coast, seriously injuring herself and critically injuring Waterman, who was hospitalized since and who died on Oct. 8. Mumby was charged with a second-degree felony when an FHP investigation determined she had intentionally caused the crash. The charge may be aggravated, now that Waterman has died. His family is seeking custody of the child.

DeSantis Ridicules Spate of House Proposals to Cut Property Taxes as ‘Political Game’

October 23, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 5 Comments

An image of Gov. Ron DeSantis outside the Capitol dining room in Tallahassee. (© FlaglerLive)

Florida House members have proposed seven constitutional amendments for the 2026 ballot that would slash the state’s property tax. Gov. DeSantis dismissed them all, saying that “placing more than one property tax measure on the ballot represents an attempt to kill anything on property taxes,” and describing it as “a political game, not a serious attempt to get it done for the people.”

County Completes $1.88 Million Buy of Marlow Property on Intracoastal for Linear Park Extension

October 23, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 5 Comments

The future extension of Linear Park at the foot of the Hammock Dunes Bridge, on the west side of the Intracoastal, will benefit from existing amenities, including parking. (© FlaglerLive)

County Attorney Michael Rodriguez on Monday said the county just closed on the purchase of a 5.2-acre parcel on the Intracoastal Waterway for perpetual preservation under the county’s Environmentally Sensitive Lands program, and as an extension of Palm Coast’s popular linear Park.  

Flagler Fire Rescue Deputy Chief Percy Sayles Named as County Administrator Petito’s Deputy in Place of Salinas

October 23, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 7 Comments

Percy Sayles. (© FlaglerLive)

Flagler County Administrator Heidi Peito has named Deputy Fire Chief Percy Sayles deputy county administrator, replacing Jorge Salinas, who died in a car crash on Oct. 4.  Petito informed county commissioners of her decision in individual meetings on Monday, and announced the decision publicly this morning in a release. Flagler County Fire Rescue Chief Michael Tucker appointed Sayles his deputy in December 2021.

Flagler Commission Was Ready to No-Bid Sell Parkland for a Parking Lot. Then the County Attorney Intervened.

October 22, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 12 Comments

The land and trees to the left of the road, as well as the road, are part of the county's Espanola Park. St. Paul Baptist Church--the red-brick building--wants to but the tree-shaded land to the left, level it, and build a parking lot there. The county was ready to accommodate it. Without a bid. (© FlaglerLive)

A church in Espanola wants to buy a sliver of county parkland, rezone it, and convert it to a parking lot. The Flagler County Commission was prepared to do that without a bid, without hearings, and no public notices beyond cursive ones embedded in commission meeting agendas.  The County Commission shrugged off the proposal’s implications as it almost certainly would not had a similar proposal involved , say, the popular Wadsworth Park in Flagler Beach or Princess Place Preserve. But Espanola is a poor, neglected area of the county with a significant Black population and a typically invisible political constituency. 

With Grave Concerns About Traffic, Palm Coast Approves Shopping Rezoning That’ll Add 1,000s of Cars to SR100

October 22, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 46 Comments

Traffic on State Road 100 in Palm Coast, just west of the BJ's Wholesale shopping center, with the future Flagler Landing shopping center property to the left, where all the trees are. That development, likely to add a Walmart as the next big box store, is expected to bring upwards of 3,000 more daily car trips to the corridor. (© FlaglerLive)

With grave concerns about its traffic impacts on already-congested State Road 100, the Palm Coast City Council on Tuesday approved on first reading the rezoning to commercial uses of a 39-acre parcel just west of the BJ’s Wholesale shopping center. The rezoning is ahead of the development of that tract into a companion shopping center called Flagler Landing, with a “170,000 square foot big-box discount superstore,” in the description of the developer’s attorney–that is, very likely Walmart–and a half dozen satellite businesses. 

Ending Property Taxes Is Tempting. It’s Also Practically Foolish.

October 22, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 17 Comments

eliminating property taxes

Gov. Ron DeSantis and other Republicans have been promoting the idea of doing away with property taxes for homeowners, or at least severely lowering them. That poses problems. The sales tax — would have to be raised to replace the revenue. That’s regressive: the sales tax bears no relation to your ability to pay. There’s also a logical flaw in the professed GOP belief that you never truly own your home if you have to pay taxes on it. It’s not a penalty. You’re paying to maintain cops on the beat, libraries for everybody, to fix potholes.

Judge Rejects Wife-Murderer’s Claim that Stand Your Ground Would Have Exonerated Him

October 21, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 1 Comment

Keith Johansen at his murder trial in October 2021. (© FlaglerLive)

No Stand Your Ground defense would have been valid, no ineffective representation was provided, no appeal for a new trial was granted. That’s the summary of a 24-page order a judge filed in Keith Johansen’s claim that he was poorly represented at his murder trial four years ago and should get a new one. Johansen is the 43-year-old former Palm Coast resident serving a life sentence for killing his wife Brandi Celenza at their F-Section home in 2018, after nights of demeaning her, humiliating her and threatening her, at times with a gun.

You May Soon Park Your Commercial Vehicle in Residential Driveways as Palm Coast Votes to Relax Restrictions

October 21, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 36 Comments

Former Palm Coast City Council member Victor Barbosa's "Man Cave" car, previously barred from parking in residential driveways, will soon be as free to park in those driveways as it once did at City Hall. (© FlaglerLive)

For the first time since the founding of the city a quarter century ago, commercial vehicles are on the verge of being allowed to park in Palm Coast’s residential driveways for more than a lunch hour, or to make service calls. A divided Palm Coast City Council voted 3-2 to approve on first reading the change to what had been one of the more vexing restrictions for trades workers and for the council, which has wrestled with the restriction on several occasions since 2010, always stopping short of altering it–until now.

County Votes 5-0 to Rename Operations Center Sheriff Rick Staly Law Enforcement Center

October 21, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 9 Comments

The Sheriff's Operations Center in BUnnell. (© FlaglerLive)

The Flagler County Commission on Monday approved renaming the two-year-old Sheriff’s Operations Center off Commerce Parkway after Sheriff Rick Staly. The complex, officially at 61 Sheriff E.W. Johnston Drive, will be known as the Sheriff Rick Staly Law Enforcement Center. Chief Mark Strobridge initiated the proposal in recognition of Staly marking 50 years in law enforcement–a celebration is schedule for Nov. 4–and Commissioner Leann Pennington fronted the renaming at the commission two weeks ago. Commissioners voted 5-0. 

Teacher and Counselor Detail Sexual Abuse Stepfather Is Alleged to Have Inflicted on Girl Since She Was 9

October 20, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 5 Comments

Kristopher Henriqson in court today. His attorney, Spencer O'Neal, is to the right.

Ahead of 47-year-old Palm Coast resident Kristopher Henriqson’s December trial, a teacher and a counselor at a local middle school testified in a court hearing today to the details of the abuse and rapes a 6th grader said she endured at Henriqson’s hand. A judge ruled the teacher’s and counselor’s testimonies admissible, as will be a forensic interview of the child, now 12, with with a member of the Child Protection Team.

Jermaine Williams Loses Two Dozen Motions Contesting His Death-Penalty Trial for Killing of Wife Yolonda

October 20, 2025 | FlaglerLive | Leave a Comment

Jermaine Williams Sr, 53, is to be tried early next year for the stabbing death of his wife Yolonda Williams in the couple’s driveway in Bunnell 14 months ago. The defense team today argued 26 motions, lost 25, many of them arguing the constitutionality of the death penalty or death penalty trial procedures such as victim impact statements, or even whether Williams should wear restraints at his trial. Circuit Judge Dawn Nichols said the challenges were to settled law.

Miami’s Bonfire to Trump’s Vanities

October 19, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 18 Comments

The Miami skyline will have a new, Trump-sized addition. (© FlaglerLive)

Florida is home of the Waste Pro Garbage Truck Museum, the Bike-Riding Parrots of Sarasota Jungle Gardens and Big Betsy, Islamorada’s 30-foot high spiny lobster, but none of it will compare to the the Trump Presidential Library Hotel and Massage Parlor soon to be built in Miami on land Miami Dade College secretly voted to give to the state. The state will, in turn, give it to the Trump Presidential Library Foundation, which means the place will be controlled by the Trump family.

At ‘No Kings’ Protests in Palm Coast and Flagler Beach, Cheer, Energy and Defiance in Throngs, But Effects Elusive

October 18, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 60 Comments

A small segment of today;'s protest near the Target shopping center that filled the block from Belle Terre Parkway to Landing Boulevard. (© FlaglerLive)

What there was more than anything at today’s trio of “No Kings” demonstrations in Palm Coast and Flagler Beach, where many hundreds gathered and protested as millions did across the country, was cheer and charm as much as challenge and conviction, making you wonder where all that energy was as Trump’s opponents floundered in gloomy defeat a mere 11 months ago. It made you wonder where all that energy is even now, especially now, as his political opposition continues to grope for relevance. 

Let Us Now Bow to the Quackery of Conversion Therapy

October 17, 2025 | Pierre Tristam | 8 Comments

A case of bloodletting, which for over a thousand years was falsely believed to be curative of numerous ills. The print is byan unknown artist.

Conversion therapy is the non-medical and debunked theory that if you hector gays, lesbians and trans long enough, they’ll convert back to heterosexuality. The approach is premised on self-loathing. It’s abusive. It has nothing to do with science. It has everything to do with a perverted interpretation of Christianity’s vilification of anything non-heterodox. yet after hearing the case this week, the U.S. Supreme Court, continuing its upending of First Amendment interpretations, appears inclined to open the door to conversion therapy to those under 18 as a legitimate professional practice.

It’s a Great Day for Bunnell Manager Alvin Jackson, Who Gets $14,500 Raise Despite Checkered Record

October 17, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 7 Comments

Bunnell City Manager Alvin Jackson at a City Commission meeting as Chad Grimm, developer of the 6,100-home Reserve at Haw Creek the commission approved, spoke. (© FlaglerLive)

As with plebiscites of perfection from Napoleon to Paul Kagame–or Trump cabinet meetings–three of the five Bunnell city commissioners, including the mayor, think Alvin Jackson, their city manager, is perfect enough (or nearly so) to all but walk on water: they gave him a combined evaluation score of 99 percent even as taxes have rise sharply under his tenure. To mark the completion of his seventh year with the city, last Monday they gave him a 10 percent raise, or $14,600, increasing his salary from $143,395 to $158,000, not including a $2,400 a year car allowance and his health and retirement benefits. 

A Tour of New Nexus Center Is a ‘Coast to Country’ Surfing Experience in Flagler’s Ultra-Modern Library

October 17, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 8 Comments

The waves are everywhere in the Nexus Center's "Coast to Country"-themed designs. (© FlaglerLive)

Library Board of Trustees members and others took a tour of the new, $16 million Nexus Center, the south-side library in Bunnell, on Monday. It’s not just the floor space or the large windows, the natural light, the high ceilings and the blue-green trim that make you feel as if you’re not entirely indoors.  The entire 23,000-square-foot building, with the exception of the back offices and the segment reserved for the Department of Health and Human Services, is designed along a “Coast to Country” theme that creates a sense of motion as if from one to the other and back. 

Florida GOP Lawmakers File Slew of Proposals Slashing Property Taxes

October 16, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 17 Comments

tax cuts property

After months of Gov. Ron DeSantis and Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia promising Floridians a chance to substantially reduce if not outright eliminate property taxes, eight Republican members of the Florida House filed legislation Thursday to achieve that goal.

2 Months After One Was Rejected, Another Concrete Plant Proposed on Hargrove Grade Runs Into Familiar Objections

October 16, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 6 Comments

Hargrove Grade. (© FlaglerLive)

It was a grind of déjà vu at the Palm Coast Planning Board Wednesday evening as yet another company seeking to rezone land and build a concrete batch plant on Hargrove Grade ran into a crush of public opposition and questions from the board, which proved unwilling to make a decision just yet. 

Randy Fine Still Well Ahead of Charles Gambaro and Will Furry in Money Race for 6th Congressional District

October 16, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 7 Comments

U.S. Rep. Randy Fine, still a front-runner. (© FlaglerLive)

Campaign finance reports for the 6th Congressional District that includes all of Flagler County point to a three-way race, and so far not a close one, between incumbent Randy Fine, Charles Gambaro and Will Furry, all Republicans, with Fine well ahead in fundraising and spending.

FBI Was in Mondex Today Investigating Sheriff’s Deputy’s Property Involved in Accidental AR-15 Shooting of Boy

October 15, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 23 Comments

A row of unmarked cars on Elder Street this afternoon, by the Bryan Jacskon property (to the right), as FBI and Flagler County Sheriff's investigators worked the scene. (© FlaglerLive)

The FBI joined Flagler County Sheriff’s investigators today at the Daytona North property of a sheriff’s deputy at the center of a shooting that injured an 11-year-old boy on a neighboring property the evening of Aug. 27. Flagler County Sheriff’s deputy Bryan “Scotty” Jackson and his daughter, a new recruit with the agency, were target-shooting in the backyard with an AR-15 that the new recruit had just received from the agency when a bullet Jackson says he fired traveled halfway up the block to the property at 1288 Hazelnut Street and struck the boy, who was in his room.

Jury Exonerates Palm Coast’s Kevin Cichowski in 2-Day Trial

October 15, 2025 | FlaglerLive | Leave a Comment

Kevin Cichowski, in the orange garb to the right, at his bond hearing last year before Circuit Judge Dawn Nichols. (© FlaglerLive)

A Flagler County jury on Tuesday exonerated 45-year-old Kevin Kevin J. Cichowski of three domestic violence charges, two of them felonies, stemming from an incident involving his wife at their C-Section house in September 2024. Cichowski was briefly a candidate for Palm Coast mayor in the special election of 2021. He cited a family member’s health as the reason for dropping out.

Military Guy and ‘Defiant’ Candidate Out as Council Narrows City Manager Choices to 2 Experienced Administrators

October 15, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 3 Comments

They'll do it again: the community meet-and-greet with two city manager candidates last April 24 at City Hall, the near-culmination of a messy selection process. The absence of Mayor Mike Norris at the event was indicative of the council's internal wrangles, which led to the collapse of the search. The subsequent search has been more civil. (© FlaglerLive)

Passing over military brass or heavy hands, the Palm Coast City Council last night narrowed its choices for city manager to two middle-of-the-road candidates steeped in local government experience: J. David Fraser, who’s managed several cities in the West, and Michael McGlothlin, a former law enforcement investigator and police chief in city management since 2019, most recently in Reddington Shores on the Gulf of Mexico. The two candidates will be interviewed in person at City Hall on Nov. 13 for a job that may earn them up to $250,000 a year. Interim City Manager Lauren Johnston’s current salary is $190,000. 

Mystery Development Company Buys Marineland Dolphin Adventure for $7.1 Million, Outbidding Hutson

October 14, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 19 Comments

Marineland Dolphin Adventure's days as an oceanarium may be numbered. (© FlaglerLive)

Marineland Dolphin Adventure, the world’s first oceanarium and for most of its 87 years a Florida tourist destination with a storied past, was sold at auction on Monday for $7.1 million to an apparent shell company that goes by the name of Delightful Development LLC. If the name augurs its future intentions for the 5.1-acre property, the site’s days as an oceanarium are approaching their end, and the 17 dolphins there, six of them born in Marineland, will have to find new homes. 

If AI Were Picking Palm Coast’s Next City Manager: Carl Geffken, Thomas Thomas, David Fraser, In That Order

October 14, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 2 Comments

A Google Gemini evaluation of the six finalists for Palm Coast city manager resulted in a ranking of Carl Geffken, Thomas Thomas and David Fraser, in that order. The evaluations were based on the city’s recruitment brochure, their resumes, and their plans for Year One, which the city asked them to present in a short paper. Thomas jumped to second place after his Year One paper was evaluated. He’d have been in third without it.

Palm Coast’s Message to Flagler Humane Society: Help Us Help You

October 13, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 9 Comments

The Flagler Humane Society needs space. Palm Coast needs data. (© FlaglerLive)

After a year of wrangles with the non-profit and a few pending questions ahead, the Palm Coast City Council has approved its annual contract with the Flagler Humane Society, increasing it to $125,000, from $90,000. But the city is pressing the society to be more forthcoming with its data and future plans for potential expansion. 

The Palm Coast City Manager Candidates In Their Own Words: Videos and Vision Papers

October 13, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 3 Comments

The six remaining candidates for Palm Coast city manager, as they appeared in self-made video interviews submitted to the city, and available below. From left,

The Palm Coast City Council at its evening workshop on Tuesday will further narrow its list of finalists for city manager to the handful it will interview in person. It will do so based on the last two tasks the council asked the remaining candidates to fulfill: a video response based on a set of questions submitted by the council, and a short paper outlining the candidate’s vision for his first year. (There are no women candidates remaining in the pool.) Here, in their own words, are each candidate’s videos and vision papers in full.

At Celebration of Life for Jorge and Nancy Salinas, a Couple’s Forever ‘Spirit and Joy’ Counter Brutality of Loss

October 13, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 5 Comments

An audience of some 150 people who’d turned up for the celebration of life for Nancy and Jorge Salinas Sunday afternoon at the Palm Coast Community Center. (© FlaglerLive)

“There is some sweetness in knowing that they passed after enjoying time together at Disney, and that they were together when they passed,” Jorge and Nancy Salinas’s daughter told the audience of some 150 people who’d turned up for the celebration of life for Nancy and Jorge Salinas Sunday afternoon at the Palm Coast Community Center. They were at Disney that October 4 barely a week ago, spending the day as they loved to spend it, and they were there in their last hours, before a hit-and-run driver caused their fatal crash on I-4.

Florida’s 1st Public School Chaplain Is Trump Disciple at War with Church-State Wall

October 12, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 9 Comments

A Facebook post celebrating the appointment of Rev. Jack Martin as a public school chaplain. (© FlaglerLive)

Rev. Jack Martin, the state’s first public school chaplain, twice ran for Congress, wrote an ode to Charlie Kirk, preached the need to “battle alongside Trump” and defended the Jan. 6 assault on Congress as “the ratification of the theft of the presidency.”

He identifies with the Black Robe Regiment, a coalition of pastors committed to tearing down the wall of separation between church and state.

Trump’s ‘Beautiful’ Bill Cuts $3.8 Billion from Florida’s Healthcare System, Hurting Hospitals and the Poor

October 11, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 8 Comments

big beautiful bill healthcare cuts

President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” will cut $3.8 billion from Florida’s health care system, with that money primarily affecting Florida hospitals. Five Florida programs are over a certain cap and currently receive $9 billion. That total will drop to $5.2 billion in state-directed payments by 2034-2035, Meyer told the group of lawmakers after facing earlier questions in the week about how children are being disenrolled from the Florida KidCare program for not paying their premiums.

With Shutdown, Democrats Finally Take a Clear and Critical Stand

October 11, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 21 Comments

obamacare subsidies

Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill will add $4 trillion to the national debt and throw 20 million people off Obamacare over the life of the bill, which lets supplemental premium subsidies enacted during the Biden administration expire. It would more than double premium costs for Obamacare recipients. The cost of extending the subsidies over the next 10 years is $350 billion, or 8 percent of the Trump tax cuts. This is what the Democrats have been willing to shut the government over. It’s about time.

For Trump’s Perceived Enemies, the Process May Be the Punishment

October 10, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 8 Comments

The costs – in time and money – may be incredibly significant for those targeted by the Trump administration. (White House)

If the case against Comey is exceedingly weak – and little more than a political prosecution – then it should result in the dismissal of charges by the judge or a not guilty verdict by the jury. But even when an individual is not convicted, the process of defending against charges can itself be a form of punishment, as renowned legal scholar Malcolm Feeley pointed out almost 50 years ago.

Flagler Cares’ Carrie Baird Is Among ‘Women Shaping Florida’s Future’ at State Awards, a First for Flagler County

October 10, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 1 Comment

The annual Above and Beyond Award winners lined up for the cameras at the end of the event hosted by the News Service of Florida in Tallahassee Wednesday evening. (© FlaglerLive)

Close to 200 people gathered at Tallahassee’s DoubleTree Hotel Wednesday evening to honor “women who are shaping Florida’s future, who are leading, innovating and lifting others up as they rise,” as Shevaun Harris, Secretary, Agency for Health Care Administration, a keynote speaker and one of the honorees, told the audience. One of the women was Carrie Baird, Chief Executive Officer of Flagler Cares, the 10-year-old, Palm Coast-based nonprofit. It was the first time that the leader of an organization in Flagler County was the recipient of the News Service of Florida’s annual Above and Beyond Award.

Flagler Beach Commission Votes 3-2 to Sell Ocean Palm Golf Course at a Loss, for $801,000, Citing ‘Painful’ Years

October 10, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 15 Comments

ocean palm golf course flagler beach

The Flagler Beach City Commission voted 3-2 Thursday to sell the nine-hole Ocean Palm Golf Club it bought in 2008. The sale price would be $801,000, or $100,000 less than what the city paid for it, when it acquired an additional 3 acres a decade ago. The course has been a perennial loss for the city even with the two golf management companies that have run the course since 2015. The buyer is the current lease holder, Ocean Palms Golf Club, owned by Jeff Ryan. 

Hutson Companies, Major Housing Developer, Bids $3.5 Million for Bankrupt Marineland Dolphin Adventure

October 9, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 10 Comments

Marineland Dolphin Adventure has been in the shadow of its former glory. (© FlaglerLive)

The Hutson Companies, a St. Augustine developer of single-family homes and apartment complexes, has placed a $3.5 million bid for the bankrupt 5.1-acre Marineland Dolphin Adventure property in Marineland, suggesting that if the sale closes later this month, the famed attraction’s 87-year history may be coming to an end. An open auction is scheduled for Oct. 27 in Delaware. A stalking-horse bid, or agreement, is an opening bid that allows the company in bankruptcy to set a floor for potential future bids. But it gives the stalking horse an advantage.

Palm Coast Man Neglects to Take Infant Daughter to Hospital After She Ingested Edibles, Attending Football Game Instead

October 9, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 8 Comments

Kajuan Arthur Harris marijuana infant ingestion

Kajuan Arthur Harris, a 29-year-old resident of Wheatfield Drive in Palm Coast, faces a charge of child neglect with great bodily harm, a second-degree felony, following the second hospitalization of his 5-year-old autistic daughter after she ingested a large quantity of marijuana edibles while she was in Harris’s care. He refused to take the child to the hospital, going to a football game instead and urging the child’s mother to let the child “sleep it off.”

For Flagler County’s I-95 Corridor, Long Duration Nor’Easter Brings High Winds, Potential Flooding and Erosion

October 9, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 6 Comments

noreaster weather Florida

The National Weather Service in Jacksonville is cautioning that a “long-duration nor’easter’ began today and will continue through Saturday, bringing wind and heavy downpours along the I-95 corridor, high tides 2 to 3 feet above normal and dangerous surf that will batter and damage Flagler County’s beaches, and potential coastal flooding. Calmer, dryer weather returns Sunday.

Palm Coast’s Ebike Ordinance in Effect: Limits Speeds, Restricts Riders’ Age to 11 and Up and Requires Photo ID

October 8, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 23 Comments

ebike ordinance palm coast

Palm Coast’s ebike ordinance is now in effect following the Palm Coast City Council’s approval Tuesday of a measure that sets speed limits at between 20 and 28 mph, depending on the bike, restricts riders to age 11 and up, and requires riders to carry government-issued identification at all times.

Sheriff’s Operations Center May Be Renamed for Rick Staly in Recognition of His 50 Years in Policing

October 8, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 16 Comments

Flagler County Sheriff's Operations Center. name change

The Flagler County Commission is considering–and will likely approve–renaming the Sheriff’s Operations Center in Bunnell as the Sheriff Rick Staly Law Enforcement Center in recognition of Staly’s 50 years of service in law enforcement. Sheriff’s Chief Mark Strobridge, a colleague and friend of Staly’s going back to their many years together at the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, conceived and proposed the idea. Commissioner Leann Pennington is championing it, if with some policy-related pause from Commission Chair Andy Dance and Commissioner Greg Hansen.

Flagler Beach Planning Board Rejects Veranda Bay/Summertown Annexation in Striking Reversal of Former Welcome

October 8, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 8 Comments

Not a good night for Ken Belshe, left, the representative of Veranda Bay and its associated development, Summer Town, and his attorney, Mike Chiumento, seen here addressing the Flagler Beach planning board before the board rejected recommending annexing the developments. The proposal goes before the Flagler Beach City Commission Thursday. (© FlaglerLive)

In a striking reversal from its unanimous recommendation approving Veranda Bay’s annexation into Flagler Beach last year, before the threat of a lawsuit suspended further regulatory steps, the Flagler Beach Planning Board Tuesday denied recommending approval on a series of 4-1 votes. For Veranda Bay, it is the latest blow in a six-year slog through sustained public opposition, litigation, official courtship, second thoughts and now uncertainty.

Derek Barrs Is Finally Confirmed as Administrator of Motor Carrier Safety Administration After Fractious Senate Maneuvers

October 8, 2025 | FlaglerLive | Leave a Comment

Derek Barrs as he was sworn-in at the School Board by County Judge Melissa Distler, alongside Sheriff Rick Staly, last November. (© FlaglerLive)

The U.S. Senate in a strict party-line 51-47 vote Tuesday night confirmed Derek Barrs, the former Flagler County school board member, administrator of the federal Transportation Department’s Motor Carrier Safety Administration, seven months after President Trump nominated Barrs to the post.

Florida Has No Clue How Many Kids Have Lost Health Coverage Since DeSantis Refusal to Comply with Eligibility Rule

October 7, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 5 Comments

kidcare florida dispute

In 2023. the Legislature ordered that children in families making up to 300 percent of the poverty level be eligible for KidCare, not 200 percent. The DeSantis administration has refused to comply, sticking with 200 percent, and causing enrollment to fall. But Brian Meyer, the state’s top Medicaid official, couldn’t answer a simple question: How many children have been disenrolled from the program because their families haven’t paid the premiums.

Flagler County’s Development Authority Board Wants to Wade Into Economic Development, Conjuring Grim History

October 7, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 3 Comments

Some of the members of the Industrial Authority Board at a previous meeting. From left, Shawn Rhoto, County Commissioner Pam Richardson, the commission's liaison on the board, Chair Ray Ricchi, Bruce Parker and Don Turlington. (© FlaglerLive)

Some of the members of Flagler County’s newly appointed Industrial Development Authority wants to be more than just an industrial development authority. They want to be the county’s economic advisory council–reviving the sort of council the county killed in 2020 after years of meager results. Just as IDA members have mixed feelings about that, so did the Flagler County commissioners who appointed them. 

More Skepticism and Vagueness than Hard Data to Support Mammoth $110 Million Sports Complex in Palm Coast

October 7, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 16 Comments

A very long way from goal. (© FlaglerLive)

A company pitching a proposed $110 million sports complex for west Palm Coast claims it could attract up to 400,000 a year even though the county as a whole doesn’t attract more than 100,000 total visitors a year, including those who flock to its beaches. Yet the Flagler County Commission, with some strong skepticism from one member and questions from others, continues to encourage its tourism office to further explore the possibility of just such a complex, which would require a $6 million a year “rent” payment from taxpayers.

  • Page 1
  • Page 2
  • Page 3
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 267
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

  • grand living realty
  • politis matovina attorneys for justice personal injury law auto truck accidents

Recent Comments

  • Happy now ? on Florida Judge Rules Concealed Weapons Ban for Under-21 Unconstitutional
  • Dusty on Bill Would Require Florida Landlords to Keep Rentals Well Air Conditioned
  • Sherry on The Real Reason Conservatives Are Furious About Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Gig
  • Sherry on The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, October 23, 2025
  • Sherry on The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, October 25, 2025
  • John Calvin on Floridians Are Hurtling Towards Economic Disaster
  • Doug on You May Soon Park Your Commercial Vehicle in Residential Driveways as Palm Coast Votes to Relax Restrictions
  • Laurel on Trump Endorses Randy Fine, Sharply Steepening Hill Climb for Gambaro and Furry
  • Laurel on From Albert Speer to Donald Trump
  • Pogo on From Albert Speer to Donald Trump
  • Laurel on The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, October 26, 2025
  • Pogo on Flagler Commission Was Ready to No-Bid Sell Parkland for a Parking Lot. Then the County Attorney Intervened.
  • Laurel on Floridians Are Hurtling Towards Economic Disaster
  • Pogo on The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, October 26, 2025
  • rich Santo on Floridians Are Hurtling Towards Economic Disaster
  • Pogo on The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, October 25, 2025

Log in