That age-old ritual of turtle-nesting is in full swing on Flagler County’s beaches, where beach-goers will recognize the trademark wooden stakes and thin square-forming ribbons around nests–and steer clear of the sandy nurseries.
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Florida’s Latest Stab at Sharia Law Fails, Barely, But May Not Be the Last
A bill to ban Islamic or Sharia law’s application in state courts cleared the House and two Florida Senate committees easily, and would have gotten Gov. Rick Scott’s signature. It mirrors a concerted anti-Islamic campaign in at least 20 other states.
Piety’s Double Edge: When Deeds Speak Louder Than Public Prayers
As Gov. Rick Scott readies to sign into law Florida’s school prayer bill, how can legislators push for “inspirational messages” in classrooms while they work to destroy access to affordable healthcare, a woman’s right to choose and the rights of service workers to earn a decent wage?
Abandoned By Its Chief Executives and Board, Heritage Academy Loses Appeal to Stay Open
A seven-hour hearing ended in the Flagler County School Board voting 4-1 to uphold its decision to close Heritage Academy, whose CEO, Doug Jackson, and own board members were no-shows, leaving the school’s defense in the hands of its dean of students.
Woman’s Arm Severed in 3rd Bike Week Wreck in 5 Days on Flagler Roads
A single-bike wreck on State Road 11 south of Cody’s Corner left a woman with a severed left arm and her fiancee, who was piloting the bike, with various fractures Tuesday afternoon.
Shannon Diamond, Flagler County Youth Center’s Assistant Director, Arrested on DUI
Shannon Diamond, a full-time employee of the school district, is a role model to the 80-some students who use the Youth Center daily, his employers say. A decision on his status hadn’t been reached Tuesday. He was due at work.
Flagler Unemployment Improves to 13.5%, Florida’s to 9.6% as Trend Solidifies
Flagler County’s January unemployment rate of 13.5 percent,. released Tuesday, is the best in three years, going back to December 2008, when it was 11.8 percent.
From “I’m Not a Dog” To Compromising Bullets as Teachers Union and District Negotiate
After recriminations and a particularly insulting whistle from the district’s lead negotiator, the two sides appeared headed for compromise over the one issue–how teachers are to be evaluated–keeping the district from approving the 2012-13 teachers contract.
62-Year-Old Zip-Tied and Robbed on Lancaster Lane; 2 Girls Charged With Burglaries
In a pair of unrelated events, a 62-year-old was robbed of guns, cash and jewelry on Palm Coast’s Lancaster Lane Sunday evening while two girls, 16 and 17, were charged with a half dozen car burglaries they called “car shopping.”
Better Assisted Living Oversight Fails as Legislature Drops Several Health Care Bills
Florida lawmakers ended the 2012 session without passing major health-care bills dealing with assisted-living facilities, malpractice lawsuits and physicians dispensing drugs to workers-compensation patients.
Seeking Thaw, Flagler School Board Pleads Its Case Against Teachers’ Charge of “Bad Faith”
School Board member Colleen Conklin and Superintendent Janet Valentine explain why the controversy over a controversial provision in teachers’ contract doesn’t tell the whole story.
Special Session of the Legislature Begins Wednesday to Fix Senate’s Gerrymandering
Citing gerrymandering, the Florida Supreme Court threw out eight of the 40 Senate districts, including Flagler County’s District 6, along with the numbering system, which means that most districts have to be redrawn as a special session begins Wednesday.
Rascal With a Cause: The Wiles and Women Of Peter Cerreta, at Hollingsworth Gallery
Peter Cerreta’s one-man show at Hollingsworth Gallery is a jaunt through brash themes, colors and shapes with a common denominator: sympathy for the underdog, and a love of storytelling.
The North Atlantic Garbage Patch: A Plastic Soup Ladled from Consumption
A floating garbage dump consists of billions of small plastic man-made items stretches in the Atlantic from Cuba to Maryland by way of Florida. Here’s what you can do to keep plastics and other litter out of the oceans.
In Playhouse’s “Over the River and Through the Woods,” Migrations from Corny to Poignant
Joe DiPietro’s Off-Broadway hit comedy, ‘Over the River and Through the Woods,’ ending its run at the Flagler Playhouse this weekend, has its issues, but is worth seeing if you can make it to the second act.
Parent Trigger Bill: Florida Senate’s Rebel Republicans Help Defeat Charter School Ploy
The Senate on a tie vote defeated a bill that would have let parents turn failing schools into charters, the latest and perhaps final victory for a dissident faction of the GOP caucus as the curtain came down on the 2012 legislative session.
Sorry, Kansas City: FAA Training Facility Will Stay in Palm Coast–For Now
The FAA Center for Management and Executive Leadership training facility will remain in Palm Coast for the foreseeable future, U.S. Rep. John Mica said Friday, but Palm Coast will still have to compete with other cities in the future to keep the facility and its 80 to 100 jobs.
Bike Week Claims First Flagler County Victims As 3 Are Hospitalized After U.S. 1 Wreck
The wreck took place at 3:15 p.m. and sent a woman and two men to hospitals, two of them by air, in trauma alerts. All three are expected to survive.
Palm Coast Observer’s Brian McMillan Is Local Media Association’s Journalist of the Year
The national award by the Local Media Association, formerly known as Suburban Newspapers of America, caps a succession of milestones for the Palm Coast Observer in the midst of its torrid duel with the News-Journal.
Do Kiss, Do Tell, Do Show
The homecoming picture of the gay Marine kissing his boyfriend has the same iconic feel as Alfred Eisenstaedt’s Life magazine shot of the sailor kissing a nurse in Times Square on V-J Day. Both images capture the essence of liberation on a large scale.
Maintaining Momentum, Economy Adds 223,000 Jobs; Unemployment Stays at 8.3%
The U.S. economy is maintaining its job-creation momentum, adding 223,000 jobs in January, and revising upward previous job-creation figures for December and January by 61,000 jobs. Over the past three months, the economy added 730,000 jobs.
Accused of Abuse, Palm Coast Man Uses His 2-Year-Old Son as a Shield Against Deputies
When the deputy made contact with David Romero, 35, he was holding the boy in a headlock and standing in the doorway of the lanai, next to the swimming pool. He’d threatened to throw the boy into the swimming pool if his wife didn’t come out of the house.
Palm Coast At Its Worst: Felled on Old Kings Road, and for 20 Minutes, Nobody Stops
Inna Hardison’s 20-year-old son was traveling on his motorcycle on Old Kings Road the evening of March 3rd when he struck a boar and was thrown from the bike and injured. It was 20 minutes before anyone bothered to stop and help.
Charter School Giveaway Bill Veiled as Parental Control Drawing Frantic Opposition
Democrats are looking to the Senate and a rogue set of lawmakers to help them defeat an education bill they think is a giveaway to the charter school industry at the expense of public schools.
ICI Homes Gets Its Way, Mostly, in Cypress Knoll Development as Palm Coast Settles Suit
Mori Hosseini’s ICI Homes has been battling Palm Coast since 2004 over a zoning designation in the E Section that ICI claims denied it its development rights. The deal means 58 homes on lots smaller than the norm in Cypress Knoll can now be built there.
Trust-Busting: Union Angered as Flagler School Board Rescinds Its Vote on Teachers’ Contract
Negotiations are back to zero and mutual trust damaged as the Flagler County School Board said it could not legally approve the contract, as it mistakenly did two weeks ago, by carving out a controversial portion of it dealing with teacher evaluations.
Buddy Taylor Middle’s Winnie Oden Moving To Pathways in June, Carla Taylor To FPC
Neither administrator volunteered for the new assignments, but administrators work at the will of the district. No one has been named to the principal’s post at Buddy Taylor Middle School yet.
In a Major Victory for State Workers, Judge Rules 3% Contribution Unconstitutional
The ruling is major victory for 560,000 state workers, including, cops, firefighters, teachers and other school employees, but it again digs a $2 billion hole for the state budget.
Florida Legislators Cut Higher Ed $300 Million Even as They Create a 12th University
House and Senate lawmakers agreed to create Florida Polytechnic University, a pet project of Sen. J.D. Alexander’s, and slash university spending by $300 million, paving the way for an on-time ending to the legislative session.
After 11 Years, Beverly Beach Mayor Steve Emmett Says Farewell a Year Early
Emmett, 70, said he was tired. He won his sixth election last March. He wasn’t up for re-election until a year from now. But he said he’d had enough. Gerry Gersbach replaced him in a ceremony at the Beverly Beach Town Hall.
Flawed Verdict: Ernie Lopez, After 9 Years in Prison for Child Rape, Is Only Half-Free
In Canada and the U.S. at least 23 people who were wrongly accused of killing children based on flawed or biased work by forensic pathologists have been cleared over the last 15 years.
Fire Flight and Ground Crews Contain Black Point Road Wildfire in 2 Hours
Fire Flight and Division of Forestry bulldozers are being deployed around the fire, in a dry, thickly wooded area about half a mile from Deen Road.
Flagler Forest Division Chief Warns of Fire Season “Possibly as Severe as 1998”
Persistent dryness, long-term weather patterns and dried-up swamps are combining for a dangerous fire season ahead for Flagler County, Mike Kuypers, district manager for the Florida Division of Forestry, told the county commission this morning.
Excluding Themselves, Florida Lawmakers Pass Drug-Testing Program for State Workers
The House voted largely along party lines to allow state agencies to set up drug testing programs for their workers over the objection of Democrats who said it wasn’t just unconstitutional, but a bully tactic.
What It’s Like to Be The Whale Guy: The True Story of Getting A Life
In his debut column for FlaglerLive, Frank Gromling relates his long association with the Marineland Right Whale Project and the Atlantic right whales’ 1,400-mile annual migrations along Flagler and Florida shores.
Sheriff Fleming, Under Oath, Contradicts His Own Records in Hit-and-Run Case
Sheriff Fleming followed his under-oath interview with the Florida Highway Patrol with a written statement the next day that changed his story for a fourth time regarding his phone calls to and from John Fischer, the school board member and husband of the woman charged in a hit-and-run fatality on Nov. 10.
Public Pressure Works as State Funds Return to Flagler’s Disabled Adults Services
Flagler County would have lost $600,000 and 18 jobs, and disability and job-learning skills to 248 adults in the affected programs, had a Senate proposal to end funding prevailed. A public-awareness campaign led by school board member Colleen Conklin helped reverse the cuts.
Florida House Passes Sweeping Abortion Restrictions, Including 24-Hour Waiting Period
The bill requires all abortion clinics to be owned and operated by a doctor (only one of Florida’s 68 clinics fits the bill) and presumes, with little scientific evidence, that pain for the fetus begins at 20 weeks.
Hit-and-Run: More Doubt Than Urgency in Fischers’ Call to Sheriff’s Non-Emergency Line
As John and Jamesine Fischer’s call to the sheriff’s office is released, they’re are heard casting doubt on the nature of the collision that eventually killed Francoise Pecqueur. The call, and a private investigator’s report, raise more questions.
Give Us This Day Our Daily Contraceptive
Six in ten Americans, including Catholics, said they support a requirement by the Obama administration that health plans supply free contraceptives as a preventive benefit for women. Women registered as independents favor the rule by a 2-1 margin.
Public Mostly Rejects State Proposal for 2.7 Miles of Manatee Speed Zones in Flagler Waters
Three-quarters of the people who addressed a Florida Fish and Wildlife delegation on the proposed speed zones on the Intracoastal Waterway rejected the argument that manatees are endangered, or that further regulation is needed.
Too Many Streetlights? Palm Coast Readies to Remove 41 Redundant Ones For Future Savings
The city will remove 41 lights–out of 2,876 in the city–at a cost of $15,444, money the city says it will make back in just over three years as savings from monthly bills it won’t be paying for those lights. Meanwhile, new light strings must wait for lack of money.
Wife-Shooter William Merrill’s Arrest Record Dates Back to Felony and DUI in Tennessee
William Merrill was arrested repeatedly in 1999 by the Nashville Police Department and the Wilson County Sheriff’s Office, when he was 20 years old, and convicted on felony and misdemeanor drug possession and reduced reckless driving charges.
Florida Moves Past No Child Left Behind, But Not Past High-Stakes Testing
Breaking from from federal No Child Left Behind strictures, Florida can now use its own school accountability system, its A-through-F school grades, to rate the state’s public education system. But the waiver comes with strings attached.
Florida’s Misguided Lunge for Internet Sales Taxes
Nancy Nally, a Flagler County-based web publisher, argues that Florida’s proposed law to compel internet merchants to pay sales taxes won’t level the playing field or increase revenue, but hurt local businesses like her own.
Cassimiro Tavares Faces 7 Felony Charges Over Bilking A&T Auto Repair Shop Owner
Cassimiro Tavares, who worked as the office manager at A&T Auto Repair in Bunnell for three years, is accused of diverting close to $25,000 to his own uses, creating a shell company and threatening Andrzej Tyminski, the Polish shop, owner with deportation to keep him quiet.
Ear, Nose, Throat, Hard Hat:
Florida Hospital Flagler Shows Off Its New Digs
Florida Hospital Flagler’s new Parkway Medical Plaza, opening in July between Walmart and Golden Corral, is a $15 million expansion–and a signal of intensifying head-to-head competition in such fields as imaging and lab work.
Palm Coast Councilman Frank Meeker Petitions for Civility Manifesto in 2012 Elections
Whether a candidate is worthy of political office should be decided by free and clear elections, not tainted by character assassination and media hype, Frank Meeker argues, laying out a 10-point “Statement on Election Fairness” for 2012.
State Attorney Files 1st Degree Felony Charge Against Fischer in Hit-and-Run Case
Jamesine Fischer, the wife of Flagler County School Board member John Fischer, faces 30 years in prison if convicted of the felony charge involving the death of Francoise Pecqueur, the 76-year-old woman struck by Fischer’s PT Cruiser on Columbia Lane in Palm Coast in November.
Silencing Maneuvers: When the Florida Legislature Resembles the Politbureau
Stopping debate at three minutes, Republicans in the House Education Committee passed a bill overhauling standards and finances for charter schools and another limiting the power of the Florida High School Athletics Association.