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Featured

1st Amendment Lawsuit Over Florida School District’s Ban of Children’s Book Cleared to Proceed

April 28, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 4 Comments

and tango makes three

A federal judge has ruled that two authors and a student can pursue First Amendment claims against the Escambia County School Board over the removal of the children’s book “And Tango Makes Three” from library shelves. But U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor, in a 27-page decision Thursday, dismissed allegations against state education officials and leaders of the Lake County school district.

Brendan Depa’s Sentence: Neither Vengeance Nor Mercy. Only Humane Justice.

April 26, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 41 Comments

Brendan Depa with his grandmother in 2020. (Depa family)

On May 1 Circuit Judge Terence Perkins will sentence Brendan Depa on a charge that carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison. The punishment will be nowhere near that: the sentencing guidelines don’t call for it, the incident doesn’t warrant it, and Perkins is not a hanging judge. The question is whether he will impose any prison time, and whether reason and justice, not mercy or vengeance, will prevail. 

Freudian Slip: City Rep’s ‘Hysteria’ Takes Farcical Look at Dali’s Meeting with “Father of Psychoanalysis”

April 26, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 1 Comment

Dali, played by Cameron Hodges, holds court on Sigmund Freud, “the demigod of all things of the unconscious,” in the City Repertory Theatre production of “Hysteria” FlaglerLive photo

British playwright Terry Johnson reimagined an actual, historically documented meeting between the 81-year-old Freud–father of psychiatry–and the 34-year-old Salvador Dali–the indomitable surrealist–into “Hysteria,” an intellectual farce that City Repertory Theatre’s John Sbordone calls “one of the funniest things that CRT has ever done.”

Majority of Palm Coast Council Candidates Oppose Pre-Election City Manager Hire, Others Fence-Sit, with Nuances

April 25, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 10 Comments

There's a gap between the Palm Coast City Council and candidates for the council over whether the current council should hire a city manager before the election. There's no disagreement that Laurent Johnston is the right person for the interim job, underscoring the question half the candidates are asking: why the hurry to hire? (© FlaglerLive)

Six of the 11 non-incumbent candidates running for three Palm Coast City Council seats oppose the council’s decision to hire a new city manager before this year’s elections, which will turn over at least two of the council’s five seats, and possibly three, if Mayor David Alfin is not re-elected. Three candidates are on the fence about it, seeing strong arguments on both sides. Only one favors the hire outright.

Lawsuit Blames Flagler Schools’ Failure to Address Brendan Depa’s Known Needs and Risks Before Attack on Aide

April 24, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 39 Comments

Brendan Depa last July in court, where he is returning on May 1 for his sentencing. (© FlaglerLive)

Brendan Depa, the now-18-year-old former Matanzas High School student captured on surveillance video attacking his teacher’s aide 14 months ago, filed suit today against Flagler County schools, accusing the district of failing to properly address his behavioral end mental disabilities, to properly train the staff in charge, or to provide legally required educational supports. The failures led to a grave but foreseeable, violent incident, the lawsuit states, injuries to the aide, and the prospect for prison for Depa.

Flagler County’s Tourism Revenue Dips 6.4% in Last 6 Months as Covid-Era Surge of Visitors Dissipates

April 24, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 16 Comments

dog-kissing booth

Tourism tax revenue in Flagler County is down 6.4 percent in the first six months of the fiscal year–October through March–as vacation rentals and leisure-room occupancy in local hotels has fallen after what Tourism Director Amy Lukasik describes as the “record-breaking years of Covid, when Florida remained an open destination as other states and countries took safer and saner protections for their residents.

For Palm Coast Council, ‘Utopian’ Goals on Roads, Parks, Arts and Jobs Clash with Fixation on Reducing Tax Rate

April 24, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 9 Comments

Management consultant Joe Saviak and the Palm Coast City Council at Tuesday's goal-setting session, which drew fewer than half a dozen people, other than city staff. (© FlaglerLive)

The Palm Coast City Council has narrowed its goals for the coming year to 12. It is an ambitious, immediately contradictory list that starts with limiting government revenue by way of a rolled back tax rate as a goal, then goes on to outline costly initiatives the administration has not been able to address in line with demand for lack of money: road repairs, swale repairs, more money for arts and culture, advancing the dredging of saltwater canals, implementing the parks master plan, and so on.

Looking Past ‘Some Real Losers Over the Years,’ Bunnell Mayor Robinson Delivers a Buoyant State of a City

April 23, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 4 Comments

Bunnell Mayor Catherine Robinson has been on the City Commission for all but two of the last 30 years. (© FlaglerLive)

“I’ve been on this board a long time. And we’ve had some real losers on this board over the years,” Bunnell Mayor Catherine Robinson said with remarkable candor Monday evening, speaking from a dais at the Government Services Building that has known its share of losers, not just from Bunnell government: the County Commission and the School Board also hold their meetings there. She had just delivered a celebratory State of the City address.

With One Exception, Palm Coast Council is Not As Eager for Repeat of Rolled Back Tax Rate This Year

April 23, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 28 Comments

Palm Coast City Council members Ed Danko and Theresa Pontieri have very different ideas about the rolled back property tax rate as the city faces persistent demands for certain services from residents. (© FlaglerLive)

Palm Coast City Council member Ed Danko is pushing for rolling back the city’s tax rate for the second year in a row, but other council members, especially Theresa Pontieri, is resisting, citing increasing demands from residents for such services as road repairs and the sheriff’s request for nine additional deputies, costs that would be harder to meet if the rate was rolled back.

For Derrius Bauer, Co-Defendant in Circle K Murder, a Choice Between Risking Life in Prison and a Grim Deal

April 23, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 3 Comments

He was not on trial--not yet--but the picture of Derrius Bauer was repeatedly shown during the trial last week of Marcus Chamblin. (© FlaglerLive)

The guilty verdict and sentencing of Marcus Chamblin last week in the shooting death of Deon Jenkins did not end that case. Derrius Bauer, his co-defendant, is scheduled for trial in September. Bauer previously refused a plea deal or to be a witness for the state, against Chamblin. He is now paying the price of loyalty, having few options, none of them likely to foreclose on a fate similar to Chamblin’s.

Florida High School Athletic Association May Recognize Video Gaming as an Official Sport

April 22, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 7 Comments

Players competing in a League of Legends tournament. Esports FHSAA

The Florida High School Athletic Association could potentially sanction competitive video gaming, or esports, as an official sport, amid growing interest from member schools. Many schools already have video gaming teams or programs, but none are recognized as a sport.

Construction Begins on $24 Million, 1.3-Mile Seawall at South End of Flagler Beach, Adding to City’s Clangs

April 22, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 7 Comments

erosion ian flagler beach

Flagler Beach might as well be known as Construction City for the rest of the year. The second, but nowhere near last, gargantuan project to clang the city began today as the Florida Department of Transportation’s contractors started work on a $24 million, 1.3-mile seawall at the south end of Flagler Beach–what will be the longest sea wall the city has ever known, though it won’t necessarily be visible when completed.

Flagler Beach Will Declare April Sisco Deen Month in Perpetuity as Scholarship Takes Historian’s Name

April 22, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 3 Comments

Sisco Deen, left, with Dan Warren, at a 2010 event organized by the Flagler County Historical Society. Warren, who died in 2011, was the State Attorney for the Seventh Judicial Circuit, which includes St. Johns, Flagler, Putnam and Volusia County, starting in 1962, when he took on the KKK and the John Birch Society in St. Augustine, and ended the stranglehold both organizations had on the city, thus bringing about integration. (© FlaglerLive)

The Flagler Beach City Commission on Thursday is set to be the first city to declare April “Sisco Deen Month” in perpetuity, in honor of the archivist and long-time member of the Flagler County Historical Society, who died last August at 83. Deen was a Flagler Beach resident.

A Bittersweet Arab American Heritage Month

April 21, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 14 Comments

At Orlando's Arab-American Fest last year. (© FlaglerLive)

April is National Arab American Heritage Month. It should be a time to celebrate the contributions of the over 3.5 million Arab Americans who strengthen our proud nation. But right now, it’s impossible to feel celebratory as Palestinian-Americans reel from the immense pain and horror of an unfolding genocide against the 2.3 million Palestinians of Gaza, as Israel’s unrelenting bombardment and mass starvation of civilians continues. Adding insult to injury, Israel is using U.S.-supplied weapons to commit these atrocities.

Bob Graham Was Among the Rare Dissenters to Dare Resist Bush’s Iraq War Lies and Follies

April 19, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 6 Comments

Bob Graham speaking at an Obama campaign rally at the Tallahassee Senior Center in September 2008. (Florida Memory)

War fever was rampant in October of 2002 – 9/11 was still raw – and Team Bush was busy smearing anyone who voiced any qualms about kicking butt. Dissent was deemed “unpatriotic.” But Bob Graham had qualms and refused to knuckle under.

The Dis-Education of Brendan Depa

April 19, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 41 Comments

Brendan Depa when he was at his ECHO group home. He wasbeen in detention at a juvenile jail starting in late February 2023, then at the Flagler County jail since turning 18 last August. He is to be sentenced on May 1. (© FlaglerLive)

Brendan Depa, the now 18-year-old former Matanzas High School student to be sentenced on May 1 on a first-degree felony count of assaulting a teacher’s aide, is alone being punished for what in fact amounts to a systematic and catastrophic failure, on the part of Matanzas High School and district officials, to follow Depa’s Individualized Education Program, which set out guidelines and requirements on how to contend with his mental health issues.

Typical House Will Cost $5,000 More in Flagler Beach as City Approves Series of New Impact Fees

April 19, 2024 | FlaglerLive | Leave a Comment

Impact fees will help expand such infrastructure as Flagler Beach's sewer plant, above. (© FlaglerLive)

It’ll cost builders $5,000 more to build the typical 1,500 to 2,000-square foot house in in Flagler Beach, a cost that will be passed down to buyers of new homes, as the city commission last week approved an increase in water and sewer impact fees and instituted new impact fees for fire, police, the library and parks and recreation.

Flagler Unemployment Holds at 4.1% as Local Home Sales Near 4-Year Low and Time to Contract Hits 8-Year High

April 19, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 18 Comments

florida flagler county unemployment march 2024

Flagler County’s March unemployment rate held at 4.1 percent for the third straight month, remaining above 4 percent for six of the last eight months even as county residents netted 134 new jobs and the number of the unemployed remained flat. The slowing pace of new workforce residents is reflected in the slowing pace of home sales, which are near a four-year low. That is one of several local economic indicators that, should they persist, may be of concern to those in the housing industry.

Five Questions for Kevin Guthrie, Florida’s Emergency Management Director

April 19, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 4 Comments

Kevin Guthrie. (© FlaglerLive)

As director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management since April 2021, Kevin Guthrie–who was Flagler County’s emergency management director between 2013 and 2016–has run point on disasters from Category 4 hurricanes to a deadly condominium-building collapse in Surfside. Guthrie also has been charged with overseeing the evacuation of Floridians from strife-torn Haiti, along with a controversial program to transport migrants to “sanctuary” areas of the country.

Construction of Roundabout at Cody’s Corner, One of Flagler’s Deadliest Intersections, Begins Monday

April 18, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 62 Comments

What Cody's Corner will look like, at the intersection of State Road 11 and County Road 304. (FDOT)

Finally, construction of the roundabout first planned in 2018 at Cody’s Corner–the intersection of State Road 11 and County Road 304, one of the deadliest in the county–begins Monday. The roundabout is the result of two studies that confirmed what local residents have always known: the intersection is a magnet for crashes, with six deaths there since 2014–two in 2022 alone–and 15 injuries.

Palm Coast Approves Final Regulatory Step in 4 Developments Totaling 533 Single-Family Homes

April 17, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 26 Comments

new developments

The Palm Coast City Council in rapid-fire succession Tuesday approved the final step clearing the way for four developments totaling 533 single-family homes, the final-plat approval that essentially means lots will be sold and homes built on infrastructure and according to plans that won regulatory approval several years ago. Some of the developments were more dormant than others.

After Trickle of Interest, All 5 Applicants Are Appointed to Palm Coast’s ‘Drainage Advisory Committee’

April 17, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 12 Comments

donna stancel palm coast drainage committee

Only six people applied to be members of the Palm Coast Citizens Drainage Committee, few of them part of the vocal throngs, and one withdrew before the council had a chance to make its choices. The advisory committee required a minimum of five members and at least one alternate, and could have had as many as nine members and two alternates. Given the dearth, the council had no choice but to appoint all five members when it made that decision on Tuesday.

Former Governor and Senator Bob Graham, Among Most Popular Floridians of Last 50 Years, Dies at 87

April 17, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 6 Comments

Democratic Gov. Bob Graham and Mickey Mouse looking at a model of Disney Studios on July 9, 1985, back when Florida governors did not abuse mice. (Florida Memory)

Bob Graham, a two-term Florida governor who went on to serve in the U.S. Senate and was known for his work days across the state, died Tuesday at age 87, his family announced. Graham was one of the most-popular figures in Florida politics over the past half-century. After representing part of Miami-Dade County in the state Senate, Graham was elected governor in 1978, winning a Democratic runoff and then easily defeating Republican Jack Eckerd in the general election.

School District Still Cagey About $719,000 It Lost to Fraud, But Lawsuit Possible as Details Emerge in Drips

April 16, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 10 Comments

School District CFO, left, and Ryan Diesing, the district's IT director, at a School Board workshop today. (© FlaglerLive via YouTube)

Six months after it was defrauded of $719,000 in a conventional phishing scheme, district officials had little to disclose in an update to the school board, though about $20,000 was recovered and a board member suggested that a lawsuit may be ahead in hopes of recovering more. The money was due the construction company building the Matanzas High School addition.

No July 4 Fireworks in Flagler Beach Until 2027, But City Intends to Reconquer the Day, and the Skies, That Year

April 16, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 13 Comments

Flagler Beach is overrun with visitors and revelers on July 4. The city is not willing to jeopardize safety by having July 4 fireworks that other public safety agency could not help with anyway. (© FlaglerLive)

Flagler Beach hasn’t had July 4 fireworks since 2019. It will not have them again until 2027, by which time the pier, the boardwalk and the beach will have been rebuilt, assuming hurricanes, which have a malicious mind of their own, don’t interfere. But the city is intent on staking its place as the home of July 4 fireworks in that future when it is able to host the blasts again, restoring that old tradition.

Civilian Oversight Boards Are Now Prohibited from Investigating Police Misconduct in Florida

April 15, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 11 Comments

desantis ban civilian oversight boards

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed two bills last week that would prohibit civilian oversight boards from investigating police misconduct and stop people from getting too close to first responders doing their jobs.

Marcus Chamblin Found Guilty in Murder of Deon Jenkins; He Is Immediately Sentenced to Life in Prison

April 15, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 8 Comments

Ghostly evidence: the hoodie Deon Jenkins was wearing the morning he was shot and killed, as placed, for the duration of the trial, just behind the clerk, in full and constant view of the jury. Today, during closing arguments, prosecutors placed the hoodie in front of Marcus Chamblin. (© FlaglerLive)

After deliberating for just 48 minutes, a stunningly short amount that betrayed the inevitability of the case, a  jury of 12 today–eight women, four men, three of the jurors black– found Marcus Avery Chamblin guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting death of Deon O’Neal Jenkins the morning of Oct. 12, 2019 at the Circle K off Palm Coast Parkway. He was sentenced to life in prison.

Rest Easy: Florida Law Erases and Bans All References to Climate Change

April 14, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 53 Comments

climate change sunsets in florida

You probably think Ron DeSantis and the yahoos, grifters, simps, dolts, and dunderheads who populate the Florida Legislature are collectively incapable of solving even one of the bazillion issues facing this state. But the Legislature has figured out how to fix climate change. Your bought-and-paid-for Legislature has delivered a bill that amends Florida statutes to delete all references to climate change. Thanks to them, climate change is gone. Erased. Kaputt. Ya no es. C’est fini.

Evading Usual Bill-Signing Spectacle, DeSantis Kills Local Efforts to Protect Workers from Florida’s Brutal Heat

April 14, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 54 Comments

Gov. Ron DeSantis has quietly signed into law a measure barring local governments from requiring employers to provide workers with basic protections like shade, accessible water, and breaks from the Florida’s scorching heat and humidity.

Arrogance and Contempt in Palm Coast Council’s Election-Year Dash for New City Manager

April 12, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 27 Comments

palm coast city council manager search

The Palm Coast City Council’s rush to hire a new city manager mere months from an election that will turn over two, possibly three seats, shows mistrust of the acting manager, contempt for voters and the new council they’ll choose, and pathological arrogance on the part of current council members. The mayor knows better.

Not All Tornado Warnings Are Treated Equal, But Parents and Faculty at Indian Trails Middle Weren’t Told

April 12, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 9 Comments

The zone in Flagler County covered by the noontime tornado warning, as issued by the National Weather Service. It included Bunnell, but not most areas of Palm Coast.

A tornado warning localized to a particular area of Flagler County on Thursday but broadcast countywide on cell phones left faculty members and volunteers at Indian Trails Middle School anxious and in the dark about the school’s lack of response as the storm raged outside, or any effort to voice explanations or reassurances over the PA system: what parents and other did learn from the district was not issued until two hours after the fact.

Richard Corcoran Gets $200,000 Bonus On Top of $700,000 Salary After Single Year as New College President

April 11, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 17 Comments

richard corcoran new college

New College of Florida President Richard Corcoran will receive $200,000 in incentive pay after the school’s Board of Trustees on Thursday signed off on a performance evaluation and releasing the money. Corcoran has led New College since February 2023, initially on an interim basis amid a leadership shakeup at the school that garnered national attention. Trustees named him president on a permanent basis in October.

Local Governments Ask Court to Dismiss Suit by ‘Disgruntled Citizen’ Challenging Carver Center Agreement

April 11, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 4 Comments

South Bunnell's community strongly identifies with the Carver Center. (© FlaglerLive)

The three local governments and one agency that each have a role in funding or running the Carver Center in South Bunnell have filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit against them filed by what they call a “disgruntled citizen” who doesn’t like the Flagler County Sheriff’s Police Athletic League’s involvement at the center, and who they say has no standing to sue.

In Chamblin Trial, 2 Prosecution Witnesses Puncture Its Own Claim that Catastrophic Argument Had Preceded Murder

April 11, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 4 Comments

D’Shawn Hosang, on the stand, scuttled Assistant State Attorney Jason Lewis's attempt to "refresh" his memory about the night of the murder, when Hosang had previously claimed that a serious argument with Deon Jenkins had angered Marcus Chamblin, who is accused of killing Jenkins. (© FlaglerLive)

The prosecution in Marcus Chamblin’s trial on a murder and attempted murder charge did not have a good day Wednesday as two of its own key witnesses punctured prosecutors’ claim that the victim, Deon Jenkins, was killed as a result of a catastrophic argument. Both witnesses said that if there’d been an argument, it was petty–not the sort of argument that would cause a man to track him down and fire 16 bullets from an AK-47-style assault rifle, killing him.

Should Palm Coast’s Saltwater Residents Pay Special Tax for Dredging? Survey Will Ask.

April 10, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 114 Comments

Palm Coast's saltwater canals may need dredging in places, but to what extent and at what cost is not yet clear. (Palm Coast)

The Palm Coast City Council has placed the city’s 26 miles of saltwater canals on its list of priorities for next year. But don’t confuse that just yet with dredging the canals. The city doesn’t yet know what must be dredged and at what cost except in the most general terms, and doesn’t know how to pay for it all. It will survey resiodents to get some clarity on how to proceed.

Defense Argues Cops Bought Testimony to Accuse the Wrong Man in Circle K Murder of Deon Jenkins

April 10, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 3 Comments

A portrait of murder victim Deon Jenkins shown the jury during the prosecution's opening arguments, as Marcus Chamblin, the defendant (right), watched, with his attorney, Terence Lenamon. (© FlaglerLive)

The defense attorney for Marcus Chamblin, who faces life in prison if convicted of the murder of Deon Jenkins at a Palm Coast Circle K in 2019, argued to the jury that the state bought and paid for the testimony of the real killer and built its case around that, while accusing Chamblin and another man.

Cheryl Massaro Opts Out of School Board Race, Leaving District 5 Field to Vincent Sullivan and Lauren Ramirez

April 9, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 18 Comments

cheryl massaro on flagler school board direction

Flagler County School Board member Cheryl Massaro decided today not to continue what had been a halfhearted campaign for re-election to a second term and opted out of the race, leaving the District 5 field to Palm Coast attorney Vincent Sullivan and long-time Belle Terre Elementary PTO President Lauren Ramirez. At least so far.

Palm Coast Council Hung Up Over What Kind of Search Firm It Wants for Its Next Manager

April 9, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 17 Comments

Palm Coast Mayor David Alfin pout the brakes on any rush to hire the next permanent city manager even as he favors doing so before the NOvember election, when two seats will turn over, and a third, Alfin's, could potentially do so. (© FlaglerLive)

The Palm Coast City Council fell short Monday of deciding whether to go with Strategic Government Resources as a search firm for its next city manager or issue its own request for proposal for search firms. It will make that decision on May 14, after reviewing the SGR contract and other possibilities.

DeSantis and Surgeon General Turn Fentanyl Bill-Signing Into Attack on Transgender Athletes

April 9, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 13 Comments

ladapo and desantis

Just moments after the governor said that he would sign two bills, one promoting opioid antagonists to prevent deaths from overdose and another boosting penalties for recklessly exposing first responders to fentanyl, Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo opened fire on athletic competitions that pit transgender women and girls against those who are biologically female.

Firearms, Circumstantial Evidence and ‘Eclipse Time’ Punctuate Jury Selection in Circle K Murder Trial

April 8, 2024 | FlaglerLive | Leave a Comment

Marcus Chamblin, right, with his attorney, Terence Lenamon during jury selection today. (© FlaglerLive)

The trial of Marcus Chamblin, 29, began today with jury selection and will last at least through the week. Chamblin faces a first-degree murder charge in the shooting death in October 2019 of 25-year-old Deon O’Neil Jenkins at a Palm Coast Circle K and the wounding of Shakir Terry, now 31. The death penalty is not an option. But Chamblin faces life in prison if convicted. Derrius Bauer goes on trial on the same charges in September. 

Land Clearing for 333-Home Subdivision Along Royal Palms Parkway and Town Center Blvd.

April 8, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 44 Comments

Land-clearing work has started on nearly 200 acres along Royal Palms Parkway and Town Center Boulevard at the southern rim and I-95 along the future development's eastern rim for what will be a 333-home subdivision. (© FlaglerLive)

Crews began clearing land on nearly 200 acres for the future Sabal Preserve subdivision, a development of 333 relatively affordable single-family homes at the northeast intersections of Royal Palms Parkway, Town Center Boulevard and I-95 to the east in Palm Coast.

Eclipse Will Peak at 61% of Sun Cover Around 3 PM In Palm Coast, Flagler Beach and Bunnell

April 7, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 14 Comments

2017 eclipse

Locally not as dramatic as the eclipse of 2017, which obscured almost 90 percent of the sun in Flagler County and its cities, Monday’s solar eclipse will obscure 60 to 61 percent of it at peak, just past 3 p.m., in Palm Coast, Flagler Beach and Bunnell. The National Weather Service in Jacksonville predicts only partly sunny and somewhat windy conditions in the Flagler County area. Flagler County and its cities will see a partial eclipse for 2 hours 31 minutes.

Company Planning Huge Data Center in Palm Coast for Undersea Internet Cables, But Flagler Beach Trips Over Easements

April 5, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 59 Comments

The city-owned parking lot on South 6th Street in Flagler Beach, at beachside, would become the first landing zone for undersea communications cables before the cables fan back out to a data center in Palm Coast. But the city is not willing to provide an easement that would foreclose on the lot's development potential in the future. (Google)

Palm Coast and the county are keeping confidential a planned large data center by an Atlanta-based company, DC Blox, that would be a cable landing station for undersea internet communications cable carrying massive amounts of data. But the company needs easements in two locations in Flagler Beach to make it work, and the Flagler Beach City Commission is not ready to grant one of the two, because it would foreclose development on one of the city’s most valuable properties, and the company is only offering $100,000 per cable per easement.

Local Firebrand Sues Sheriff, County, Bunnell and School Board Over ‘Illicit’ Carver Center Agreement

April 5, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 4 Comments

carver gym

Eric Josey, a retired New York cop with a brief, checkered history at the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office and an often controversial local firebrand in the name of African-American causes, is suing the Sheriff’s Office, the County Commission, the School Board and the city of Bunnell over the four agence’s recent joint agreement in running the Carver Center, also known as Carver Gym, in Bunnell.

To Win in November, Recreational Pot in Florida Must First Defeat Reefer Madness

April 4, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 32 Comments

A detail from one of the posters for "Reefer Madness," the 1936 American propaganda film that attempted to link marijuana to degeneracy. (Wikimedia Commons)

Now that the Florida Supreme Court has cleared the proposal to legalize recreational pot for the November ballot, the drug of choice among those who want to defeat the proposal is going to be disinformation. So it’s worth having a look at what we’ve learned from other states that have inhaled.

Forecasters Warn of ‘Very, Very Busy Hurricane Season’ With 23 Named Storms, Most-Ever Predicted in April

April 4, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 7 Comments

A severely eroded beach in the Hammock in late September 2022, where an exposed root as if pointed in the direction of the seaborne culprit. The Atlantic is warmer today than it was at this point in recent years. (© FlaglerLive)

Colorado State University researchers projected 23 named storms and 11 hurricanes, with five reaching major hurricanes status. The estimates represent the highest April forecast numbers the university has produced. By comparison, the Atlantic season from 1991 to 2020 averaged 14.4 storms a year, with an average of 7.2 reaching hurricane strength. Models anticipate a well-above-average probability for major hurricanes making landfall along the U.S. coastline and in the Caribbean.

Circuit Judge Terence Perkins, Trenchant and Measured Sage of Flagler’s Bench, Will Retire in September

April 4, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 8 Comments

Circuit Judge Terence Perkins addressing the defense in a pre-trial on Tuesday, a day before his September retirement was announced: he will still preside over a few high-profile trials, including a murder trial beginning next Monday. (© FlaglerLive)

Besides a judicial temperament from central casting, a sparkling intelligence free of presumption and an ability to synthesize legal precedents and concepts to their essence, Perkins had a knack for innovations–the paperless system he ushered in as chief judge, and in Flagler, one of the most advanced and continuing live-video systems in the state, enabling broader access to the court.

6-Week Ban and Abortion-Rights Measure on November Ballot Could Boost Florida Democrats

April 3, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 8 Comments

abortion rights sign

Following a pair of blockbuster decisions by the Florida Supreme Court, Democrats are galvanizing around abortion as a “front and center” issue that they say could affect races up and down the ballot in November. Focus on the abortion issue exploded shortly after the Supreme Court overturned decades of precedent and triggered a 2023 law preventing abortions after six weeks. Critics maintain that the six-week restriction, which will take effect next month, amounts to a virtual ban on abortions.

Ending 16 Years With One Firm, Palm Coast City Council Begins Contract With Douglas Law of St. Augustine

April 3, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 3 Comments

The old days: Bill Reischmann, who counseled the Palm Coast City Council for most of his law firm's 16-year association with the city, in a portrait from 2015. (© FlaglerLive)

The Palm Coast City Council ended its 16-year relationship with one law firm Tuesday evening as it approved a contract with St. Augustine’s Douglas Law Firm in a replacement. The firm expects to do about $30,000 worth of work each month. That’s less than half the full legal bill in Palm Coast’s budget.

Palm Coast and Flagler County Under Tornado Watch Until 5 PM As Severe Storm Front Approaches

April 3, 2024 | FlaglerLive | Leave a Comment

Bearing down: the Weather Channel's radar as of 1 p.m. Wednesday.

Flagler County and its cities, including Palm Coast, are under a tornado watch until 5 p.m. as a storm front sweeping across Florida from north to south approaches the region. About a dozen counties north and west of Flagler are under the watch.

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