A renter faces her fourth foreclosure-driven eviction in a year as local Realtors are struck with what appears to be a rogue Realtor’s rental scam in Palm Coast’s R Section.
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It’s Raining Taxes: Despite Rising Revenue, County Considers Increase in Bed Tax to 4%
The increase to 4 percent would fuel the backlash against other local tax proposals and increases.
Laying Off Employees, Palm Coast Is Set to Pay at Least $83,000 for One School Deputy
The school deputy Palm Coast is paying for is a way to get four other extra deputies on Palm Coast’s streets for large portions of the year–at the schools’ expense.
In a Shift, Andy Dance Joins Unanimous Vote for School Tax Referendum in November
Andy Dance’s switch improves the school district’s case for a tax proposal while hurting that of an “economic development” levy.
United Healthcare Pledges 75-Day Extension for Flagler Clients Despite Hospital Dispute
United Healthcare’s pledge lessens thousands of Flagler residents’ anxiety over getting care at Florida Hospital Flagler, but only temporarily.
Merchants of Greed: How Florida Hospital and United Healthcare Bargain Over Your Body
On Aug. 15, half a million central Floridians, and thousands in Flagler County covered by United Healthcare, including children on medicaid, will be denied insured coverage at Florida Hospital’s facilities, including Florida Hospital Flagler.
This Year: 5 School Deputies for $300,000; Four Years Ago: 9 Deputies for $222,000
The sheriff has virtually eliminated his department’s share of the cost of keeping deputies in schools, forcing the district to pick up most of the costs.
Bankruptcy Boys: County Commission Candidates Claim “Fiscal Responsibility” Despite Dismal Finances
Both county commission incumbent Bob Abbott and challenger Nate McLaughlin have bankruptcies and foreclosures in their recent past even though they’re running on fiscal sanity.
Bunnell City Administration Will Occupy County Offices Rent-Free Through 2012
Bunnell will continue occupying a suite of county offices valued at $3,000 a month even though the old city hall is livable.
Opposition to the Mosque “At” Ground Zero Desecrates American Values
Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich and other reactionaries’ opposition to a mosque near ground zero offends liberty at the expense of the dead of 9/11.
Taking Stockman: How Nixon, Reagan, Bush and their GOP Demolished the Economy
David Stockman, Reagan’s former budget director, sums up how his GOP destroyed the American economy through a bogus faith in markets and false promises of fiscal discipline.
How Palm Coast Got Tagged in the Jessi Slaughter Cyberbullying Affair
A Florida girls tries out for fame and becomes a poster-child of cyberbullying instead. If her story were a flag on Iwo Jima, it’d be all red.
What You Always Wanted to Know About Mills & Millage Rates
Even John Quincy Adams complained almost 200 years ago that few people could figure out the meaning of “mills,” and he wasn’t even talking about millage rates. Here’s an explanation and some history of the most commonly incomprehensible word at tax time.
Florida 1 of 3 States With Top-Rated Medicare Advantage Plan. But You Can’t Enroll in Flagler.
Top-rated Capital Health Plan, a non-profit, is available only in the four-county Tallahassee area, so local Medicare members are denied enrollment.
County Tax Rate Going Up 15.4% Even as Revenue and Government Services Stall
The proposed 2011 property tax rate would be the highest in at least 10 years, yet collapsing property values mean government revenue will not rise at all compared with this year.
Mia Bella’s Dancers: From Non-Existent to National Champions in Seven Months
Brie Valenti opened her Mia Bella dance studio last January at City Walk, and returned from a competition in Tennessee with two national trophies this week for her students and her choreography.
School Board Candidate Peter Peligian’s Impersonation (and Tax and Claims) Problems
It’s not just that allegedly allegedly used his identity: School board candidate Peter Peligian is not living up to his own claims of transparency and accountability.
Dull and Duller: County Commission Candidates Out-Trivial Each Other at Forum
Bob Abbott and Nate McLaughlin were not convincing candidates in an hour-long chance to shine before a large audience. And one of them is supposed to be the incumbent.
After 11 Years and Feeling “Unwelcome,” Boys & Girls Club Is Quitting Carver Gym
A day after securing a least to run its program at Rymfire Elementary, the Boys & Girls Club voted to leave Carver Gym, where it says it’s unwanted and unappreciated.
Andy Dance’s Two Masters: Voting for a Tax at the Chamber, Against One at the School Board
Dance says a perceived conflict between his positions on two tax proposals is unfortunate, but he’s still exploring the school option.
School Board Candidates Tread Gulf Between Ideal and Reality in Chamber Forum
The five candidates fielded relatively straight-forward questions but with key exceptions answered in generalities that revealed more of what they didn’t know than what they did.
News-Journal Dealer and 71-Year-Old Who “Had 2 Beers, Maybe 3,” in US1 Smash-Up
The News-Journal dealer was driving north when an elderly man who’d just been at the White Eagle Lounge pulled out of the driveway, causing the wreck. Neither was seriously injured.
In Shifty Budget, Palm Coast Projects Peter Pots Paying Paul Pots and 12-15 Lay-Offs
Next year’s city budget is heavy on shifts, cuts and one pot of money subsidizing another while keeping the tax rate where it’s been.
Speaking of Sex In (and Out of) Flagler Schools: Butterfly Project Shows Adults How It’s Done
Teens educating teens about sex, the pitfalls of young romance, and the eternity of sexually transmitted diseases, while the school district explores how to go beyond abstinence only.
Arrested for Trying to Take a Child While Impersonating Police
One of the two men is the father of a child barely a few months old, whom the two men tried to take away from her grandmother.
Party On: District Opens Schools to
Political Events, With Some Limits
The school board’s revised policy on school-building uses means almost any political group is welcome in off hours, as long as the superintendent approves.
Questions of Relevance and Relevant Questions Over Shooting at Sheriff’s Capt.’s House
Wagons circled around a sheriff’s captain after we reported on a shooting at his house, revealing a disturbing double-standard when law enforcement isn’t in the best light.
Under Threat of Lawsuit from Universal®, City Walk in Palm Coast Will Change Its Name
City Walk, the beleaguered strip mall and home to Palm Coast city offices, will change its name to get away from Universal’s trademark strips in Orlando and Hollywood.
Don’t Fall For It: The “Obama Mom” College Grant Scam
Obama mom ads are everywhere. But there’s no such thing as an Obama grant for moms, who are eligible for Pell Grants, student loans and other aid like anybody else.
Coming Soon: A Rickshaw Service for Flagler Beach
It’s zero emission. It’s available in many big cities. And it’ll be offered in Flagler Beach in August.
Palm Coast Goals: No Tax Hike, 8-10% Cuts, 10-15 Jobs Gone; City Hall Plans Unscathed
The Palm Coast City Council wants to keep property taxes the same, compensating for revenue with fees, fines, loans and reserves, and still build a new city hall.
Ormond’s River Grille Owner Closer to Taking Over Flagler Beach’s Pier Restaurant
The iconic Pier Restaurant’s lease is up in two years. The city owns it. The city will negotiate with a new owner immediately, to the displeasure of locally owned Flagler Fish Company.
Battling Referendums: School Tax Will Compete With Building Tax in November
In the wost of times, voters will be asked to approve a tax levy to continue existing funding on top of a new tax favored by the chamber of commerce for building commercial properties.
About That Shooting at Sheriff’s Capt. Mark Carman’s Palm Coast House
In an incident never publicly reported, Jane Carman, the Palm Coast Sheriff’s Captain’s wife, fired two shots at their home while intoxicated and turned on a patrol car’s sirens.
Palm Coast Arts Foundation’s Methods Assailed Again–Unjustly, Its President Says
“They didn’t come up with any substantial numbers, or at least verifiable numbers,” a tourist council member said of the Palm Coast Arts Foundation’s plans for a banquet center.
Palm Coast Data Parent Revenue Drops 21% in 2010, Accelerating to 24% in Last 3 Months
Palm Coast Data, largest of its parent companies’ operations, lost close to $24 million in revenue this year.
A Suspicious Death in Bunnell, A Suicide at European Village
The father of three young boy is found dead in his bed after two days, and a 31-year-old woman hangs herself at European Village.
“It Stinks That Flagler County Is Losing You”: School Board Bids Delbrugge Farewell
In an emotional half hour that mixed bawdy humor with Hallmark-quality sorrow, the School Board said goodbye to Superintendent Bill Delbrugge Tuesday evening.
School Tax Rising for Second Year, Compensating for Crashing Property Values
The tax rate remains a third below where it stood in the mid-1990s, even though property values have fallen by a third just in the past three years.
Dirt-Bikes Crashing Around Bunnell Send 3 to Hospitals, Including an 11 Year Old
An 11 year old, a 16 year old and a 19 year old ended a late night of speeding around Bunnell on two dirt-bikes with broken limbs.
Black Community Will Protest Against Ceding Carver Gym Either to Bunnell or to Other Clubs
It’s no longer merely about keeping Carver Gym open, but about keeping it in the hands of the community it serves, and out of the hands of Bunnell and the Boys and Girls Club.
On Again: Sheriff Agrees to Terms for Moving to Old Courthouse; $6 Million, Anyone?
The county readies to spend $143,00 for design work that would ease the sheriff’s way to the old courthouse, but the move is still short $6 million.
Take the Tour of Your Newest School: Buddy Taylor Middle Is Reborn Yet Again
The $13.2 million renovation is complete, and the county’s second-oldest school looks and feels new again. A photo gallery.
Food Safety Inspections End At Florida Hospitals, Child Cares and Nursing Homes
A new law designed to diminish duplication of services ends them instead, as food-preparation for children, the sick and the elderly will go mostly uninspected from now on.
Botox for Historic Holden House, Age 92
The $23,400 renovation will restore one of the county’s oldest buildings’ original color and windows and lend the Flagler historical society’s headquarters even more of a museum feel.
Sunshine Fusion: Florida Art, Music & History Merge in Landmark Symphonic Performance
Mark your calendars for this one: A uniquely Florida, uniquely artistic performance of “A Historic Portrait in Sound” combing painting, music and words Sept. 18-19 in DeLand.
Compact Shuffles Bad Nurses Like Parishes Shuffling Bad Priests
A 24-state nursing compact, which does not include Florida, enables nurses to evade their shady pasts merely by moving to a new job.
What Bunnell Could Learn from the County’s Courtesy Notices on Government Meetings
County government usually goes out of its way to comply with the spirit as well as the letter of the open-government law. It didn’t when it came to Bunnell’s meeting on Carver Gym.
Flagler Manatee Committee Report Concludes: Against Speed Zones. Just “Education.”
No surprise: a local committee stacked with boating advocates is recommending against most manatee-protecting speed-zone recommendations on the Intracoastal by a state conservation agency.
Sheriff’s Budget: Few New Deputies, No Raises, More Bottled Water and Drug Money
The 2011 budget, reflecting the enduring recession, is almost the same as it was this year, leaving the number of deputies on patrol virtually static.