Audra Akins was 14 when he murdered British tourist Gary Colley at an I-10 rest stop near Tallahassee 20 years ago. His life sentence was deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. He was re-sentenced to 40 years, making him eligible for release in 12 years.
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At Public Universities, More Aid Is Going To the Wealthy Than to The Neediest
Attention has long been focused on the lack of economic diversity at private colleges, especially at the most elite schools. What has been little discussed is how public universities, which enroll far more students, have gradually shifted their priorities — and a growing portion of their aid dollars — toward wealthier students.
Banned in Flagler, Welcomed in Prisons: Corrections Reverses Cigarette Prohibition in Work Camps
Corrections officials quietly reversed a blanket ban on tobacco at prisons this summer and are now allowing inmates at work release centers to have up to 10 packs of cigarettes each–just as Flagler County readies to ban smoking among new employees.
Suspect Arrested in Murder of Mobil Store Clerk Zuheily Rosado, But Sheriff is Mum on Identity
The sheriff’s office is not releasing the identity of the suspect or saying who made the arrest, nor has an individual on murder charges been booked at the Flagler County jail, suggesting that the arrest was made elsewhere, possibly by another agency.
Sheriff Trumpets Bi-County Synthetic Pot Bust, But Inaccuracies About “Epidemic” Abound
Some 80 cops fanned out Thursday in Flagler and St. Johns to arrest 11 individuals allegedly involved in the synthetic pot trade, charging five of them under the severe racketeering law, but in an orchestrated news conference at the sheriff’s office in the afternoon, officials inaccurately hyped the synthetic marijuana problem with little evidence to boot.
Deficit Be Damned: Palm Coast Golf Course Springs for $200,000 Golf Cart Lease
The golf cart lease the Palm Coast City Council was suddenly faced with comes after the council learned that the city’s golf course has yet to break even after four years, though they were not reminded of a $1 million expense the city shelled out for the course in 2009 that was due to be repaid to the city with course profits, but never has been.
Drinking Game in Reidsville Drive Garage Leads to a Man Shot in the Stomach
Edward Towers, Jamie Goodell and Lukas Skeans were drinking in an R-Section garage in Palm Coast and coming up with what-if scenarios when Towers took out a 9mm and put it against Goodell’s stomach. The gun went off. He was evacuated to Halifax hospital, and Towers was arrested on negligence and firing a gun in public charges.
Swipe 4 the Kids: Clerk of Court Gail Wadsworth Lauds New Credit Card Venture
It was an unusual endorsement from Gail Wadsworth, Flagler County’s clerk of court, before her Rotary Club Tuesday, but using her own office as an example, she touted the power of a new credit card transaction-fee company’s mechanism as an effective way for local businesses to raise large sums of money for their favorite children’s programs–at no new cost to businesses or customers.
Unexpected Concord Between Foes on Bunnell Commission Favors 3 Manager Candidates
Three candidates have emerged out of 83 applicants as leading contenders to replace Armando Martinez as Bunnell city manager, if barely so: Judi Stetson, Judith Jankosky and Lawrence Williams, the latter two having served as city managers in small towns already.
At Palm Coast’s 9/11 Memorial Ceremony, Memory as Duty to the Dead, and the Living
Palm Coast’s annual 9/11 memorial ceremony at Heroes Park Tuesday morning, under a sky as blue as the blue over New York 12 years ago, drew some 150 people, including throngs of active and retired firefighters and cops.
Despite 1,000-Acre Trim, Environmentalists Warn of Too Much State Land for Sale
The trim still leaves 4,250 acres at 48 state-held sites, such as parks, trails and management areas, that remain under consideration for sale by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection even though the lands fit criteria for protection.
From Prohibition to Gag Order: Flagler Commissioners Told to Shut Up on Tobacco Policy
Flagler county’s defensiveness regarding the new smoking policy underscores the shaky legal ground the local government stands on, and the likelihood of a legal and possibly costly challenge ahead.
Flagler Celebrates Arts in Education Week as Congress Again Targets Cultural Funding
Flagler arts organizations have a line-up of events all week to celebrate Arts in Education Week, which Congress started three years ago. The same Congress a few weeks ago began debating a measure that would reduce funding to the National Endowment for the Arts to its lowest level since 1974.
Only in Florida: Attorney General Bondi Reschedules Execution to Avoid Conflict With Her Fundraiser
Marshall Lee Gore was to be executed the evening of Sept. 10 until Attorney General Bondi rescheduled the killing so it wouldn’t conflict with her “campaign kickoff” fundraiser in Tampa. She now says she shouldn’t have done that.
In Another Major Shakeup, Sheriff Hires Bunnell’s Police Chief and Fires 3 Lieutenants
Flagler County Sheriff Jim Manfre Monday said Bunnell Police Chief Jeff Hoffman will be his patrol division’s senior commander, replacing Paul Bovino, while long-time sheriff’s lieutenants Greg Weston, Lynne Catoggio and Steven Birdsong were fired effective today.
U.S. Marshals Arrest Suspect Wanted in Bank Robberies in Flagler, Volusia and St. Johns
William Carl Styffe, 32, of Coconut Creek in Palm Beach County, was arrested by U.S. Marshals Monday as the suspect believed to have tried to rob Hancock Bank in Palm Coast on Aug. 30 and to have robbed a SunTrust bank in Volusia the same day, and a bank in St. Johns County four days later.
Florida Groups Helping Uninsured Are Getting “Intimidating” Letters from GOP Lawmakers
Eight groups that are hiring and training “navigators” to help uninsured Floridians enroll in Obamacare have been sent letters by 15 GOP members of a U.S. House committee seeking information on their activities — a letter the Obama administration called a “blatant and shameful attempt to intimidate.”
When an F Is an Automatic 50: In Defense Of Matanzas High School’s Grading Policy
Matanzas High School Principal Chris Pryor’s new policy of bottoming out all F’s at 50%–not zero–drew some grumbles, but teacher Jo Ann Nahirny explains why it’s a far more just policy than awarding zeros–and how the same policy may have changed her own life.
DCF Looking to Bring Family Drug Court to Florida as an Intervention Method
With substance abuse still threatening to overwhelm child-welfare systems like Florida’s, officials are looking at drug courts for troubled families as a way to address the problem.
Snap-and-Run: Sheriff Looking for Driver Who Sheared Off Red-Light Camera Pole
The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office is seeking the public’s assistance in locating a vehicle captured on video that struck an ATS red light traffic camera pole on Moody Boulevard (State Road 100) at the intersection of Memorial Medical Parkway in Palm Coast. The pole belongs to American Traffic Solutions, the Arizona-based company that runs the red-light spy-and-snap camera system for Palm Coast.
Obama’s Born-Again Missile Envy Over Syria: Wrong on All Counts
Whether the Syrian regime used chemical weapons or not, Obama would be wrong to attack, even if Congress approves. It’s not America’s war to fight, it’s not Obama’s judgment to make, and his red line is an absurd marker when contrasted with two and a half years of atrocities, and 100,000 deaths, that never got a peep.
Bunnell City Manager’s Job Draws 83 Applicants, Including Two of Its Own Directors
The 75,000 to $80,000 position to replace Armando Martinez was advertised barely two weeks, but it’s drawn 36 applicants from 26 states and the District of Columbia, with the balance—47 applicants—from Florida, a dozen of them from Flagler County.
That Feared Flagler Schools Enrollment Drop And Loss of $1.8 Million? Didn’t Happen.
Last May, when the school board was campaigning for a new tax, it was projecting a loss of 283 students and $1.8 million. In fact, the district has added a handful of students two weeks into the new school year, ensuring that the state will keep sending that money to Flagler–and reducing pressure on the local district to think of closing some schools.
Unemployment Rate Ticks Down to 7.3% But Job Creation Is a Hazy 162,000
The 7.3 percent unemployment rate for August is the lowest rate since December 2008, but job creation remains anemic, and June and July figures were revised downward by 74,000 jobs. The economy is still generating barely half the jobs necessary to return to pre-recession health.
In a Surprising Shift, County Commission Finds Money for 2 Jail-Diversion Programs After All
Flagler County commissioners Thursday evening agreed to take on a $100,000 mental-health jail diversion program previously paid for by the state, and a $60,000 pre-trial release program they had opposed in earlier workshops. Both shifts took place during a hearing devoted to approving next year’s tax property rate.
19-Year-Old Accused of Molesting 12-Year-Old Step-Sister; R-Section Armed Robbery Report
Earl Robinson III, a 19-year-old resident of Rolling Sands Drive in Palm Coast, is accused of molesting his 12-year-old step-sister; an odd report of an armed robbery in the R-Section; a Good Samaritan Act gone bad on SR100, and rock-throwing and knife-pulling on Point Pleasant Drive.
Flagler Health Department Launches “Gospel” to Combat Twin Killers: Tobacco and Obesity
Two initiatives will be the centerpiece of the Flagler Health Department’s strategy in the coming year: Tobacco Free Flagler and an effort to reduce the incidence of overweight and obese residents through more awareness of good nutrition, BMI and healthier activities.
Coitus Prophylacticus: Advocacy Lawsuit Wants Florida Porn Flicks To Wear a Condom
The AIDS Healthcare Foundation filed a complaint with the Florida Department of Health, targeting a South Florida-based company it charges with making an adult video without protecting the performers from sexually transmitted diseases via the use of condoms.
Lawmakers File Bill to Prohibit Red-Light Cameras in Florida as Palm Coast Snaps On
GOP Sen. Jeff Brandes blames red-light cameras “as backdoor tax increases,” but the Palm Coast City Council Tuesday reasserted its commitment to its 43 cameras even as they siphon out more than $3 million a year from the local economy–in taxes to state government, and in revenue to ATS, the Arizona-based company that runs the system.
From Indian Trails Middle School to The U.S. Open: Reilly Opelka’s Tennis Zoom
Reilly Opelka, 16, a Palm Coast native and former Indian Trails Middle School student, qualified for the main draw of the U.S. Open Juniors tournament. He lost in singles on Tuesday but he;’s still alive in doubles. He talks about what it was like growing up in Palm Coast and moving to a tennis academy in Boca Raton.
Palm Coast Quietly Plans Community Center Expansion For Bridge Club, Raising Questions
The Palm Coast Bridge Club and the Palm Coast city administration have agreed in principle on a plan that would have the bridge club writing a $250,000 check and the city building a facility it would lease to the Bridge Club as an expansion of the Community Center on Palm Coast Parkway.
Labor Day Weekend Violence: Pointing a Gun at a Stepson, Punching a Pregnant Woman
Charles Lockhart, 23, of Palm Coast was jailed after allegedly punching his girlfriend, 34 weeks pregnant, and threatening a murder suicide, and Robert Knoblaugh, 63, of Bunnell was jailed for threatening his stepson with a gun front of grandchildren.
Freddy Krueger Act: Donald Rumsfeld’s False Notes Against Intervention in Syria
Donald Rumsfeld, who helped orchestrate an invasion on false pretenses to hunt for weapons of mass destruction that didn’t exist, is the last man to be giving President Obama lessons about what to do in Syria, argues Steve Robinson.
Bunnell City Attorney Lonnie Groot Resigns Three Days After Commissioner’s Sideswipe
Bunnell City Attorney Lonnie Groot resigned barely two months into his tenure, hinting at a lack of “professional principles and conduct” after Commissioner Jenny Crain-Brady said she didn;t want him “running” the city. The resignation is the latest in a series of blights on the city’s and commission’s conduct.
Insurance Commissioner’s Blurry Prediction of Rate Increases Under Obamacare Contradicted
RAND study findings stand in stark contrast to the widely publicized predictions of Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty that the individual market would see rate increases of 30 to 40 percent for next year.
29-Year-Old Palm Coast Woman Evacuated To Halifax After Shattering Wreck on US1
A 29-year-old Palm Coast woman driving alone, at the wheel of the Oldsmobile, was heading north on U.S. 1 in Palm Coast Sunday evening when, about half a mile south of White View Parkway, when she lost control and violently struck trees, demolishing the car and sustaining severe injuries.
Another Red State Takes Medicaid Dollars, Contrasting With Florida’s Holdout
Michigan, which like Florida has a Republican governor and legislative majority, has voted to accept federal funds and expand its Medicaid program to the low-income uninsured. It is yet another GOP-dominated state that has done what Florida, which declined $51 billion over 10 years, did not.
A Feral Cats Plea to Palm Coast: Time to Adopt Trap, Neuter and Return Rather than Kill
As Palm Coast continues to trap and kill feral cats, Jacksonville, Deland, Port Orange and Flagler Beach are among the growing list of cities and towns that have adopted trap, neuter and return programs. Cities are turning to the protocol not only because it is humane, but because it is cost effective.
Three High School Students Held Up at Gunpoint For Their Laptops at a Bus Stop
Earlier this week, three high school students were robbed at gunpoint of their Macbook Air laptops at a bus stop in Ocoee, in Orange County. The computers had been issued to the students as part of a pilot program. A similar but much broader initiative is under way in Flagler County Schools, though security issues have not been addressed as broadly.
Flagler and Ormond Cops Looking For Cavalier Bank Robber; Hancock and SunTrust Targeted
Flagler County Sheriff’s deputies and Ormond Beach police are looking for a man believed to be involved in an attempted robbery at Hancock Bank in Palm Coast and an actual robbery at SunTrust Bank in Ormond Beach Friday afternoon.
No PALs Allowed: A Mom’s Struggle With Flagler Schools’ Latest Dress-Code Absurdities
Though her children could wear PAL jersey shirts on Spirit Fridays last year, Michelle Taylor was ordered to Bunnell Elementary School Friday morning to replace her two sons’ PAL shirts as the 1st and 2nd grade boys were pulled from class and made to sit in the office “as if they’d committed a crime,” Taylor says.
Burnishing Green Creds Ahead of Election, Gov. Scott Wants To Give Everglades a Lift
Gov. Rick Scott is proposing $90 million to help lift a section of the Tamiami Trail, which groups such as the Everglades Foundation have called “one of the most prominent dams” blocking the natural flow of the River of Grass.
Memo to Palm Coast Council: Don’t Let an Unelected Manager Dictate Democracy in the City
By letting Jim Landon’s feud with Supervisor of Elections Kim Weeks drag on at voters’ expense, the Palm Coast City Council is improperly letting its unelected city manager set early voting policy while reminding us why it bears a big share of the blame for sending election turnouts in Palm Coast tumbling to record lows for the past several cycles.
She’s Accused of Burglarizing a Sheriff’s Employee’s Home, Then Defrauding the Elderly
After burglarizing the home of a Flagler County Sheriff’s employee in the W Section, Jennie McAfee, a habitual offender, was arrested for defrauding a 79-year-old woman who was convalescing in a nursing home.
Flagler Tourism Office Rebuffs Consolidation With County, Hinting at More Autonomy Instead
County Commissioner George Hanns and Administrator Craig Coffey had talked of absorbing the tourism office–currently a branch of the chamber of commerce–into county government. It won’t happen. Rather, Tourism Director Georgia Turner is talking of having a stand-alone tourism office in a few years.
Police Chiefs and Civil Liberties Lawyers Tangle Over Florida’s Drug-Monitoring Database
Florida Department of Health officials say they want to tighten security on the state’s prescription-drug monitoring program, after the names and detailed prescription-drug histories of more than 3,000 people were released to defense attorneys after a drug sting in May.
County Rejects Roma Court for Sheriff’s Office as “Unworkable,” Citing 10 Issues
County Administrator Craig Coffey ended the Roma Court option’s prospects with a 10-point memo listing a series of structural and logistical concerns about the 57,000 square-foot property on Palm Coast Parkway, about half of which would have been leased to the county for the sheriff’s uses in a 15-year arrangement.
Palm Coast Tax Holds Even, But Council Tiring of Deficit-Ridden Golf and Tennis Operations
The Palm Coast golf course had a $50,000 deficit this year, the tennis center a $100,000 deficit, both covered by taxpayers, with more deficits expected ahead. Palm Coast City Council members are wearying of carrying both centers. But they’re not ready to end the subsidies, either.
Majority of Palm Coast Council Would Forego Early Voting Fees, But Weeks Hardens Over Space
The clash between Supervisor of Elections Kimberle Weeks and Palm Coast City Manager Jim Landon is not nearing resolution even as a majority of the city council would extend free use of a room at the community center for early voting, because Weeks is insisting on using a larger room, which the council won’t concede.
Equality Florida Calls on Cities to Suspend Ties With Russian Sister Cities Over Gay Bashing
Palm Coast, Bunnell and Flagler Beach are in the clear, but Equality Florida, the gay-rights organization, is asking the more than half a dozen Florida cities with sister cities in Russia to suspend those mostly symbolic ties for now, in protest against rising anti-gay violence and the enactment of strict anti-gay legislation.