Almost nine years into what’s left of its rollercoaster relationship with Flagler Golf Management, the company that’s run the city’s 34-acre, nine-hole Ocean Palm golf course, the Flagler Beach City Commission is nearing assigning that lease to a new company, entirely severing its ties with FGM and starting relatively fresh.
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School Board Hobbles Toward Firing Its Attorney and Hiring New Ones, Mostly in Secrecy, as Lawsuit Looms
Though School Board attorney Kristy Gavin remained on the job, her firing is imminent, but the required “causes” for that firing have yet to materialize. Meanwhile, the board is evaluating replacement attorneys, keeping those applicants’ proposals secret.
Redefined Food, a Local Business, Wins Contract at Palm Coast’s Southern Recreation Center
The Palm Coast City Council has awarded Redefined Food Co., a 5-year-old business based at City Marketplace in Palm Coast, the lease to run the food and drink concession at the most anticipated new community destination since the original Community Center on Palm Coast Parkway had its own grand re-opening, with a much bigger footprint, in the spring of 2018.
Flagler Beach’s Eric Cooley Opts to Run for 3rd Term After All, ‘To Get All This Through’
After months of signaling that he would step down, Eric Cooley, the two-term Flagler Beach city commissioner and the commission’s current chairman, announced today that he is running for a third term in the March election, to “see through” too many initiatives begun on his watch.
FPC Freshman K’imani Gerven-McCoy’s Anthem Opening Legislative Session Draws 29-Second Ovation
K’imani Gerven-McCoy spent her first day back from the winter break a little differently than other Flagler Schools students: she twice sang the National Anthem at the opening sessions of both the Florida House and a joint session of the Legislature, ahead of Gov. Ron DeSantis’s State of the State address.
Charlie Esposito, Who Built Up Palm Coast’s Volunteer Firefighters and Fire Police, Dies at 95
Charlie Esposito had built up Palm Coast’s volunteer corps before Palm Coast became a city in 1999, doing the same for the city’s Fire Police, and establishing safety and training protocols, including for the county’s emergency helicopter, that are still followed today.
Bill That Would Allow Kids 16 and 17 to Work Over 30 Hours a Week During School Year Advances
The proposal by Tampa Bay area Republican Rep. Linda Chaney (HB 49) would allow 16 and 17-year olds to work more than 30 hours a week during the school year and allow for fewer mandatory work breaks. The proposal was approved on a party-line vote in a House committee and is one committee stop away from making it to the House floor for final approval.
The Brendan Depa I Have Come To Know
Brendan Depa, the former Matanzas High School special education student who pleaded guilty to the beating of Joan Naydich, his paraprofessional, last February, will be sentenced on Jan. 31. Gene Lopes is a retired special education teacher who has spent the last several months tutoring Depa at the Flagler County jail. Here’s his experience.
In a Major Shift, Flagler Beach Government Would Subsidize First Friday Events With Up to $30,000 a Year
Flagler Beach government is going all out to subsidize the showcasing of city businesses at the monthly First Friday event while also ensuring that the event’s manager, Vern Shank, who has complained of running a shoestring operation, makes more money and stays viable. The City Commission Thursday will consider a subsidy package that amounts to up to $30,000 a year for the operation Shank has run since 2021.
Diverting from Iowa for a Moment, DeSantis Orders to ‘Stay the Course’ in State of the State Address
With his presidential campaign in the background, Gov. Ron DeSantis used his annual State of the State address Tuesday to tout Florida’s accomplishments — while offering few new details of priorities for the 2024 legislative session.
Palm Coast Will Spend $94,000 To Study Lower Speed Limits on City Streets, and Again Study Florida Park Drive
Palm Coast will spend close to $100,000 on a pair of traffic studies–one to investigate whether speed limits may be lowered on many residential streets from the current 30 miles power hour, the other to investigate speeds and how traffic-calming medians could help improve traffic flow on Florida Park Drive, the most studied roadway this side of the Appian Way.
Call for Building Moratorium in Palm Coast Retreats as City Says It’s Already Implementing New Construction Rules
The Palm Coast administration made a surprising announcement today: for weeks, the city has been requiring builders to follow new rules, such as limiting new homes’ fill elevations, designed to lessen a slew of flooding issues existing residents have been complaining about since last fall. The city has been implementing the rules even though the technical manual containing them has not yet been formally approved, though it will be next week–a month ahead of schedule.
Tornado Watch in Effect for Flagler Until 6 PM; School District and Palm Coast Cancel Activities
Flagler County Emergency Management Director Jonathan Lord is urging caution and alertness in preparation for a day of stronger-than-usual winds around midday Tuesday, then a squall lines of storms Tuesday evening, especially between 5 and 7 p.m. Relative to the Panhandle, the unsettled weather won;t be as severe in Flagler County, but the most important thing will be to be informed through an alert system, Lord said, as there is a small potential for tornadoes and hail.
‘Call It a Culture War If You Want’: Paul Renner’s Opening-Day Speech Cites Reagan, Churchill and Children
In his opening-day speech before the Florida Legislature, House Speaker Paul Renner spoke of what he termed the “devastating effects” of social media on children, invoked culture war rhetoric and made a reference to Churchill saving Britain from Nazis, and pledged to punish “flash mobs that target retailers.” Here’s the full text of his speech.
Bulow RV Park Has 6 Months to Solve Compliance Crisis, Pledging Not to Evict Anyone. But a Solution is Elusive.
There will be no evictions at Bulow RV Park at least through the end of July. The Flagler County Commission extracted that concession from Bulow park management this afternoon in exchange for a stay on enforcing county regulations against dozens of RV sites that have become unregulated, permanent home, in violation of both county code and park rules. But park management doubts six months will be sufficient for a permanent solution, and county officials are finding their powers so limited that should evictions resume, there won’t much they can do.
Lawmakers File Bills to Prohibit Youths Under 16 From Having Social Media Accounts, and End Existing Ones
The bills would require social-media platforms to bar minors under 16 from creating social-media accounts and use “reasonable age verification” methods to check the ages of people when accounts are created. The bills also would require social-media platforms to terminate existing accounts that are “reasonably known” by the platforms to be held by minors younger than 16 and would allow parents to request that minors’ accounts be terminated.
C.J. Nelson, Father to 22-Year-Old Accused in Shooting Death of Toddler, Faces Tampering and Obstruction Charges
In mid-November, 22-year-old C.J. Nelson Jr. was charged with manslaughter in the shooting death of his 18-month-old niece. Today, Nelson’s father, C.J. Nelson Sr., 46, was arrested on two charges of tampering with evidence in connection with the shooting, and two charges of providing false information to police during the investigation.
Lawmakers, in Longshot Over Feud with DeSantis, Seek to Return Disney District to the Company
Orange County lawmakers backed a longshot proposal that could essentially return to the Walt Disney Co. control of a special taxing district that was revamped after Gov. Ron DeSantis got into a feud with the entertainment giant.
An Interview with Acclaimed Civil Rights Attorney and Equal Justice Initiative Founder Bryan Stevenson
Bryan Stevenson is the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal clinic in Montgomery, Ala., that’s made strides on prisoners’ behalf, and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, a six-acre remembrance space highlighting the racial terrorism campaign that saw the lynching of over 6,500 victims, including women and children. In a wide-ranging interview, he reflects on the state of race in America and how honest accounts of history can help overcome resistance to progress.
With 3,500 Petitions from Flagler Voters, Abortion-Right Ballot Measure Meets Signature Requirements
Some 910,946 valid signatures have been tallied for a constitutional amendment proposal that would protect the right to an abortion in Florida until the viability of a fetus. That topped a requirement of submitting 891,523 signatures to qualify for the ballot. Flagler County alone submitted 4,800 petitions, 3,543 of them valid.
20 Years Later, 1.7-Mile, $14.5 Million Commerce Parkway from SR100 Is a Go. Just Don’t Call It a ‘Bypass’ Anymore.
The concept of a new Bunnell road from State Road 100 to U.S. 1 has been talked about for 20 years. It’s been debated, opposed, embraced and finally funded. Monday, it’ll clear its last hurdle when the County Commission approves a $9.5 million contract to build the 1.7-mile, two-lane road going south from Commerce Parkway, past the Sheriff’s Operations Center and the future sites of the south branch of the Flagler County Public Library and Bunnell’s City Hall. The project will take between 18 months and two years.
Proposed Old Kings Village’s 205-Home Subdivision Still Clashing With Polo Club West’s Cling to Old Florida
The clash has as much to do with the opaque minutiae of land-use regulations as it does with something anyone in Palm Coast and Flagler County can relate to: what kind of community do residents want for themselves, and how far should the city go to change zoning and land use designations that result in two vastly different subdivisions–one densely packed with homes, one not, with a rapidly increasing population adding its own pressures on diminishing green spaces.
Lawsuit Blames DeSantis for Wresting Control from FDLE to Keep Travel Records Secret
A legal battle has intensified about public records related to travel by Gov. Ron DeSantis, as The Washington Post accused the governor’s office of taking “control” of Florida Department of Law Enforcement compliance with the state’s Sunshine Law. A lawsuit about the records has roiled the FDLE, resulting in whistleblower complaints and the ouster of two high-ranking officials.
A Note To My Grandson
Well dear Felix, this is the day chosen for you–as so much has been since before your conception, as almost everything will be for the next dozen years, as most things will be after that–to be born into this, not quite our world: you arrived as scheduled a little after 7 this morning, your time.
Raising Alarms, Pontieri Calls for Moratorium on Flood-Prone Construction Until Regulations Are Rewritten
Palm Coast City Council member Theresa Pontieri unexpectedly called for a 60 to 90-day moratorium on construction on so-called in-fill lots, the traditional quarter-acre lots that ITT platted, or until until the city’s revised construction regulations are enacted. The regulations address issues that have caused flooding on existing lots. Pontieri’s proposal, to be considered for adoption on Jan. 16, drew a startled response from the Flagler County Home Builders Association and caution from some council members.
Face-Recognition Software Leads to Man Accused in Pair of Disturbing Incidents Involving a Woman and a Girl
Robert Elliot Goldstein, a 64-year-old Palm Coast resident, is at the Flagler County jail on felony charges stemming from a pair of disturbing assaults that took place within 72 hours, one involving a health care worker at AdventHealth Palm Coast, the other involving an 11-year-old girl Goldstein allegedly accosted and fondled at Walmart.
After Raucous Hearing, Palm Coast Votes Again to Limit Cascades Development in Seminole Woods to 416 Homes
Nearing midnight Tuesday the Palm Coast City Council voted unanimously again to limit development on the Cascades development in Seminole Woods to 416 single-family homes following an often raucous hearing before an overflow and untempered crowd. Much of the discussion–or arguments–hinged on whose fault it was that the issue required the extraordinary re-hearing, after the council had seemingly settled the matter in a pair of votes last September and November.
Judge Rules Migrant Held Responsible for Death of Deputy After Arrest Is Incompetent to Stand Trial
Circuit Judge R. Lee Smith ruled that Vergilio Aguilar Mendez, the 18-year-old migrant held responsible for the death of a St. Johns County deputy of a cardiac episode several minutes after Mendez was arrested, is incompetent to proceed to trial and is to receive “competency restoration” while held at the Volusia County Branch Jail. The order suspends further criminal proceedings, but may be abrogated over the next 60 days should the treatment restore competency to the court’s satisfaction.
Social Media Regulation, AI, ‘Deregulation’ of Public Schools and Child Labor: 10 Top Issues of Legislative Session
Florida lawmakers will start the annual 60-day legislative session on Jan. 9, with Gov. Ron DeSantis giving his State of the State address before shuttling back to Iowa ahead of the caucus there on Jan. 15, with a slate of proposals–on artificial intelligence, the elimination of numerous regulations in public schools, allowances for 16 and 17 year olds to work longer hours–crowding the legislative agenda.
School Board Attorney Kristy Gavin Still On the Job, With ‘Progress’ and Uncertainty on Resolution
School Board Attorney Kristy Gavin was still on the job this morning–as a School Board attorney. But uncertainty remains, even though the board has approved a new job description that would theoretically allow Gavin to step into a new role as staff attorney, or general counsel, answering to the superintendent.
Flagler Beach’s New Year’s Fireworks Celebration Draws 500 People and Hula Hoops of Raves
Flagler Beach may have ignited a new tradition for itself and the county as some 500 people turned up at Veterans Park and around the pier in the waning minutes of 2023 Sunday for the city’s inaugural surf board drop and New Year’s fireworks.
Can We Still Find Common Ground?
Many Americans today worry that our nation is losing its national identity. Some claim loudly that the core of that identity requires better policing of our borders and preventing other races or religions or ethnicities from supplanting white Christian America. But that is not what defines our national identity. It’s the ideals we share, the good we hold in common.
Lie of the Year: RFK Jr.’s Campaign of Conspiracy Theories
As pundits and politicos spar over whether Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign will factor into the outcome of the 2024 election, one thing is clear: Kennedy’s political following is built on a movement that seeks to legitimize conspiracy theories. His claims decrying vaccines have roiled scientists and medical experts and stoked anger over whether his work harms children. He has made suggestions about the cause of covid-19 that he acknowledges sound racist and antisemitic.
We Asked Flagler County Leaders to Tell Us About Their Favorite Book of 2023. Their Answers Are Page-Turners.
Twenty-one Flagler County leaders–in politics, culture, business, education, media–were asked to tell us about their favorite book of 2023. The very wide-ranging responses were always enlightening and often surprising, showing how minor our political or ideological differences can be, or ought to be, when we connect on a cultural and personal or literary level, which is to say: a human, or humanist, level.
Daytona Solisti Takes On Schubert’s Romantic Realms in January Concert
The Daytona Solisti concert “Romantic Realms – Music of Schubert” will feature the Rickman-Acree-Corporon Piano Trio performing a Franz Schubert work that was never played publicly during the Austrian composer’s brief lifetime. “Romantic Realms – Music of Schubert” will be presented at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 14, at Lighthouse Christ Presbyterian Church, 1035 W. Granada Blvd., Ormond Beach, where Solisti is in residence again this concert season.
Students Are Not Showing Up for Class. Lawmakers Want To Do Something About It. But What?
In measuring student attendance, the department looks at students who miss 21 or more days and students absent for 10 percent or more of the academic year. The 2021-2022 data showed that 32.3 percent of students, or more than 1 million students, were absent for 10 percent or more of the year.
Suzanne Johnston, Flagler County’s Unchallenged Tax Collector Since 1st Election in 2004, Will Not Run Again
Suzanne Johnston, Flagler County’s Tax Collector since 2004 and one of its more colorful and unchallenged elected officials, will be stepping down at the end of 2024, when she will be 75. She announced her decision in an interview with FlaglerLive this afternoon, and said she’d be supporting her second-in-command, Shelley Edmonson, for the seat in next year’s election.
From Abortion to Disney, Guns, Pot, Trans and Social Media Law: 10 Florida Court Cases to Watch in 2024
High-profile Florida cases in state and federal courts in 2024 include a challenge to the 15-week abortion ban, Disney’s claim that the DeSantis administration illegally retaliated against it, a challenge to the state’s age-restriction on buying long guns, whether the wording of a constitutional amendment legalizing recreational pot can head for the ballot, and several more.
My Father’s Crèche
Taking down Christmas decorations can be difficult when they serve as buffers to memories as painful to remember as one is grateful not to have forgotten them, especially as we age: my father has been dead nearly 50 years, but that chasm of time disappears in the still-vivid hammer sounds of the crèche he built us every Christmas, and the joys of my mother’s New Year’s Day parties before lives became war zones.
‘That Was My Home’: The Homeless Are Being Purged Out of Their Encampments
More than 653,000 Americans are experiencing homelessness in 2023, a 12% increase from last year. Among the people experiencing homelessness, 64% are unsheltered. As tent encampments continue to dot urban landscapes — strewn around parks, along sidewalks, lining highways or sometimes abutting schools — many cities have increased their sweeps, some governors have announced funding to clear encampments, and several states have outlawed the tent communities altogether.
Night of the Pies: Christmas Eve, 1967
My after-school job my senior year of high school was in a bakery attached to a supermarket in my home town, a sort of Jurassic Publix setup. On the night before Christmas Eve, we had orders for a little over 400 pies. The baker asked if I would work with him through the night and, needing the money for my college fund, being locked in an empty supermarket to bake 400 pies for twelve hours at overtime rates seemed like a wonderful idea.
Florida State Sues Atlantic Coast Conference, Banking on $1 Million in Taxpayer-Funded Legal Coffer
Florida State University on Friday filed a lawsuit against the Atlantic Coast Conference, alleging the conference has “persistently undermined its members’ revenue opportunities” and damaged FSU. The Seminoles became the first undefeated champion of one of the Power 5 football conferences to be left out of the College Football Playoff. Gov. Ron DeSantis recommends the state offer $1 million for any legal action about the snub.
17-Year-Old Palm Coast Boy Killed in Mudding Crash in Flagler Estates When SUV Flips Into Waterlogged Ditch
A 17-year-old Palm Coast boy was killed and another injured in a mudding crash in isolated and unlit Flagler Estates shortly after midnight this morning, according to the Florida Highway Patrol and the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office. Four other youths in the vehicle escaped injuries.
Judge Mulls Trial Competency of Migrant Facing Manslaughter Charge in Sudden Death of Deputy After Arrest
Declaring it a “complex situation,” Circuit Court Judge R. Lee Smith at the end of a three-hour hearing today said he needed time to think before issuing a decision on whether Vergilio Aguilar Mendez, the 18-year-old migrant controversially charged with manslaughter in the death of a St. Johns County deputy Michael Kunovich last May, is competent to stand trial. Kunovich died several minutes after Mendez was arrested for resisting arrest after a stop-and-frisk encounter in St. Augustine.
Flagler Students Violated Limited Cell Phone Ban 1,300 Times This Year; Principals Caution Against Total Ban
There’s no recommendation from the administration to go further than the current cell-phone ban in schools, which still allows students to use their phones between classes and at lunch. If anything, Flagler’s middle and high school principals are cautioning the school board against imposing a stricter ban, finding the current balance effective and educational.
Taking On Artificial Intelligence, Florida Legislature Will Contend Unpredictable Scenarios in Coming Session
As access to artificial intelligence, or AI, continues to spread, state lawmakers are poised to consider ways to set up guardrails around a technology that one senator said has “outpaced government regulation.” Measures filed by Senate and House Republicans target issues such as potential defamation of people using AI in media, use of the technology in political advertising and the creation of a state council that would look at potential legislative reforms.
Cascades Development in Seminole Woods Back on the Table for a Re-Hearing, Putting in Question 416-House Limit
A part of the application for the 416-home Cascades development in Seminole Woods will be heard again by the City Council in January following an error in the application process, possibly reopening the way for the developers to push for a higher housing limit than the 416 the council agreed to, after much public opposition to the originally proposed 850 units.
Flagler County and New Florida State Guard Sign Lease on $10 Million Training Facility Near Sheriff’s Jail in Bunnell
It is no longer just a possibility. It is now a certainty. The Florida State Guard’s training facility will be located in Flagler County next to the Flagler County jail on Justice Lane in Bunnell. The County Commission on Monday approved a 30-year lease with the Guard. As with the National Guard armory on county grounds near the county airport, the State Guard will not pay rent.
Ban on Felons Owning Guns Survives as Florida Supreme Court Rejects Challenge
Florida Supreme Court Justices on Monday issued an order rejecting an appeal by William Edenfield, who was charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon after a 2020 shooting incident in Leon County. Edenfield went to the Supreme Court in August after the 1st District Court of Appeal rejected his Second Amendment arguments.
Approval of Carver Center’s Joint Agreement Is Upended as School Board Has Late-Breaking Changes
In the works since June, a new, joint agreement on management and oversight of the Carver Center in Bunnell will have to wait until at least January before it is enacted, because a misstep at the school district delayed a legal review of the agreement. That kept the School Board from seeing the revised proposal for the first time until the County Commission had already approved the original version.