With census jobs vanishing, so is job creation as the US economy in June appeared headed for a double-dip recession.
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Prescription Pill-Popping By Far a Leading Killer as Florida’s Drug Deaths Spike 20%
Oxycodone, the addictive prescription pain-killer also known as OxyContin, directly caused more deaths in Florida in 2009 than cocaine, heroin and morphine combined.
Charter School Failure: Why Imagine and Heritage Weren’t Included in FCAT Tallies
Charter schools are not in the same league as traditional public schools. Their standards are lower. The burden is on charters to prove their worth.
School Board: Closing Carver Gym Not an Option; How Bunnell Killed Carver Housing
The school district is adding its voice to a chorus of protest and damning history against closing Carver Gym.
Tourism Panel Clears Half-Step Toward Palm Coast Arts Foundation Center, But Questions Persist
A $50,000 study is recommended for the smaller scale of a grand plan for the Palm Coast Arts Foundation’s arts, culture and conference center in Town Center.
They’re Watching You: Palm Coast Council Turned on by Spy Cameras at Public Parks
City employees can spy on park-goers from ordinary computers networked to the six cameras installed at the park.
Flagler Schools’ FCAT Reading Scores Disappoint, Math Scores a Plus
Every grade but the 6th and 9th posted declines in reading. The district did better in math, either improving or holding steady in all grades except the 5th.
A Confused but Adamant Bunnell Commission Wants Carver Gym to Stay Open
Bunnell city commissioners had neither the numbers nor the patience to discuss Carver Gym thoroughly Monday, delaying the issue to another meeting.
Pressing for Raises, Teachers’ Union Holding District Hostage Over Class-Size Compromise
The union would approve a district plan to comply with class-size requirements in exchange for $2.4 million in raises.
Flagler Get Your Gun: Supremes Rule 5-4 That 2nd Amendment Extends to States and Locals
The ruling is more likely to confuse rather than clarify how state and local gun regulations may be written into law.
Bill Delbrugge Joins FlaglerLive Board; Here’s Who We Are
An introduction to the seven-member FlaglerLive Board of Directors, and a few words about who we are and what we’re about.
Miss Flagler County 2010
It’s Amanda Dack
Amada Dack has achieved more in her 21 years than many people do in an average lifetime.
Palm Coast Roller Derby Scrimmage Against Ocala in a First–and Set Sights on Carver Gym
Palm Coast’s first roller derby team falls to Ocala–and talks about moving to embattled Carver Gym in Bunnell.
Watching Team USA Live With Eddie Johnson (US 1, Ghana 2)
We’re covering the US-Ghana World Cup match live with soccer great and Bunnell native Eddie Johnson, from Palm Coast’s Houligan’s.
Drill This: Hundreds in Flagler, Thousands Across Globe’s Sands Link Against Oil
The moment was as symbolic as it was literal: a human chain in Flagler Beach against off-shore oil drilling and for alternatives to fossil fuels.
Hit the Beaches: Solidarity Against Oil As Hands Across the Sands Gets Set for Noon
Colleen Conklin, the school board member, is organizing the event–handing out slips and whistles, synchronizing the human link–along with Carmen Arasknick.
FCAT Scores, A Month Late, to Be Released After Untold Damage to Schools
The Department of Education and testing company Pearson are still playing word games over the cause and extent of the delay, which ruined district and student planning for fall.
Flagler Beach Again on Collision Course With Boating and RV Parking Regulations
It’s one of three issues–dogs on the beach and surfing near the pier are the others–that get Flagler Beach residents really, really ticked at whatever the commission decides.
Poverty Signs: Steep Rise in Children Needing Free or Reduced Meals in Flagler Schools
The rising numbers of children on free and reduced meals is a reflection of rising poverty and a rising toll on local families with fewer means.
Ex-Sheriff Jim Manfre, Flagler Schools Exec Mike Judd, Among 72 FB Manager Applicants
The MBAs and MPAs are piling up alongside substitute teachers and other surprises in the applicants’ pool, open for five more weeks.
Citing Contractual Failures and Unwarranted Favors, Flagler Kills Hunter’s Ridge Expansion
The 3-2 vote was an unusual split over the difference between growth management and helping a developer be as economically viable as possible.
The Epic Is Here: Bigwigs Sneak Preview Town Center Theater Tonight Before Friday Opening
The 14-screen theater in Town Center is opening to great anticipation for action on screen and, economically, beyond its walls.
Flagler Has 30 Days Left to respond to 5 Proposed Manatee-Protection Speed Zones
Flagler’s committee is at the half-way point of responding the state’s proposed speed zones in the Intracoastal.
How Race and Deception Are Cleaving the Fate of Bunnell’s Carver Gym
The County Commission seems insensitively disconnected from the consequences of closing the black community’s only gym and community center in Bunnell.
No Conflicts Resolved as Elections Supervisor Weeks Blame-Blasts County Commission
The 150-minute meeting designed to work out issues ahead of fall’s big elections devolved into accusations and recriminations by Weeks against all.
Meet the 2010 Miss Flagler County Contestants
Your starting point to brief profiles of Miss Flagler County contestants in all age categories.
Community Rallies to Find Courtney Cobb, FPC Student Missing Since June 10
A 10th grader at FPC and a Palm Coast resident since she was 3, Courtney Cobb is believed to have run away with a boyfriend.
What’s Eating Kimberle Weeks?
The Flagler County Supervisor of Elections and the County Commission have been at each other for over a year. They’re meeting Monday. Buckle up.
Census Jobs Help Lower Unemployment; Flagler at 15.1%, Florida at 11.7%
As in the rest of the nation, census employment is lowering the unemployment rate. But will it last?
Milano, Ex-Hitman, Ex-Goomba’s Owner and Ex-Calco, Guilty on Gun-Possession Charge
A jury will decide whether the ex-mafia hitman was guilty of possession a gun, which is illegal for felons.
34 Apply So Far for Flagler Beach Manager, 13 of Them Unemployed
A list and brief description of the of the 34 people — 27 men, seven women — who have applied so far for the county manager’s position in Flagler Beach.
Flagler Beach Hired Police Officer
Despite Violent Record
Flagler Beach’s Lt. Robert Milstead, arrested by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement on Monday, has had issues in previous law enforcement agencies.
2 Bunnell Cops Arrested; Commissioner Flynt Embroiled in Favoritism Allegations
Bunnell Commissioner Jimmy Flynt’s Saxon’s Wrecking service is at the center of pattern of police favoritism and misconduct.
Fire Guts 4-Unit Condo Block in Flagler Beach
A fire broke out in the attic of a four-unit, two-story block of condominiums at Ocean Park Villas North in Flagler Beach just before 2 p.m. today. The fire rapidly spread across the block in northerly and westerly directions, demolishing the block by 3 p.m. as Flagler Beach firefighters, assisted by several units from other […]
Illegal for 4 Years, Palm Coast’s Red-Light Cameras to Comply With State Law; Cash Dips
State law removes the red-light cameras’ cash-cow incentive and forces cities to abide by uniform state standards.
Allegations of Racist Slurs and Excessive Force Land Flagler Beach Police Officer in Jail
Robert Milstead is accused of using excessive force on an elderly man and pepper-spraying him and another individual when both were handcuffed.
Flagler Libraries Avoid Service Cuts; Expansion of Community Space and Café Planned
Retirements and cost-savings enable Flagler’s library system to save more than $100,000, keep the same hours in 2010-11 and 18 people employed, and plan for a modest expansion.
Citing School Board Flux, Conklin Opts Out of Taking on Thrasher Or Others Until 2012
Her eyes set on higher office in 2012, School Board member Colleen Conklin said she came close to running against John Thrasher but will let a Duval Democrat take him on.
CNN Confessions: Not Quite Oprah After the Show
What was supposed to be a leisurely interview on Saturday afternoon turned into its own Deepwater Horizon blowout.
2 Women, Both 19, Killed in Single-Truck Flip on US 1’s “Triple-A Curve,” 1 Man Injured
The young people, from Ormond Beach, were returning from the beach and carried evidence of a party. None wore seat-belts.
How the Oil Slick Is Fouling Florida’s Government Budgets–And What To Do About It
The oil spill is Florida’s 9/11. People won’t die. A way of life will. The Florida Legislature should be in crisis mode, not in recess, anticipating what to do next.
Catch FlaglerLive on CNN
I’ll be on CNN Newsroom with Fredricka Whitfield during the 3 p.m. hour discussing the oil spill’s impact on local governments, and particular local school districts.
Crist, Rediscovering His Inner Moderate, Vetoes Anti-Abortion Bill
The veto continues Crist’s rejection of GOP hard lines against teacher unions and in favor of unregulated business.
Taylor’s Journal:
FPC’s Problem Solvers in Their Own
World Cup in Wisconsin
FPC’s history-making Community Problem Solvers teams are in their own world finals competition in Wisconsin, June 9-13. Taylor Tofal’s journal gives us an inside look.
Fury and Fallacies Hook Red Snapper Fishing Ban
The indefinite extension of the ban on commercial or recreational fishing for red snapper off Florida’s coast will hurt boaters. But so would overfishing and crashing fish populations.
Flagler Beach Police Get 3-Year Contract, No Raises
The 10 percent-a-year raises of the police rank and file’s previous contract give way to realities of shrinking government budgets and stingy taxpayers.
Old Courthouse Revival Plans Die with Sheriff’s No-Show
The sheriff pulls out of an arrangement that would have filled the old courthouse with his offices, the Bunnell city administration and a library.
Palm Coast Muscles Closer to $10 Million City Hall Through Financial Ploys
City administrator Jim Landon corralled the council to his vision of a new city hall, with a 2012 move-in date.
3 From FPC, Representing Florida, Heading for DC’s Kennedy Center Stage
Boyd Fulmer, Caitlin Hannan and Jeff McDevitt join 82 other top students in the National Honor Ensembles for the concert at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Black Masonic Cemetery “Re-Dedicated”; Future Maintenance Still in Question
The historic cemetery was restored as part of the Old Kings Road widening project, with hopes of ensuring its future as a historic landmark.