The Flagler County Home Builders Association (HBA), five local builders and an individual jointly filed the 69-page, four-count suit in Flagler County Circuit Court late Wednesday afternoon. The suit challenges the City Council’s unanimous adoption last June of sharply higher impact fees for fire services, parks and transportation. The lawsuit is not seeking damages, monetary or otherwise. It is seeking the immediate and permanent invalidation of the ordinances that enacted the higher impact fees. It is an extraordinary challenge. It is neither unprecedented nor unheeded, though with extreme rarity.
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Open-Carry Leaves Flagler County’s Government Attorneys Grappling with Ruling’s Application to Public Spaces
A Sept. 10 appeals court ruling that made it legal to openly carrying guns in Florida has created some confusion for Flagler County’s local government attorneys on the law’s applicability in certain public places such as government buildings and parks in light of a loophole in law that appears to leave long guns unregulated, and the permissibility of carrying guns in certain public spaces unclear.
Creekside Music and Arts Festival Set for Weekend Is Postponed to February as Precaution Against Storms
The Creekside Music and Arts Festival scheduled for this weekend–Oct. 4 and 5–at Princess Place Preserve in Flagler County is being rescheduled to February due to an inclement forecast of lightning and storms ahead. The festival, the largest cultural festival on the county’s calendar, both in attendance and vendors, is rescheduled to February 7 and 8. It is the second time in eight years that the festival has had to be postponed due to weather. In 2017, in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma, it was moved to November.
FWC Employee Fired Over Charlie Kirk Instagram Post Sues Accuses Agency of 1st Amendment Violation in Lawsuit
A biologist has filed a federal lawsuit challenging her firing by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission because of a post on a personal social-media account after the murder of Charlie Kirk. Brittney Brown, who worked for the commission studying shorebirds and seabirds in the area of Tyndall Air Force Base in the Panhandle, alleges in the lawsuit that her firing on Sept. 15 — five days after Kirk was shot during an appearance at a Utah university — violated her First Amendment rights.
A Safe Haven Baby Box Is Blessed at Palm Coast Fire Station 25 as Door to Hope, Mercy and Second Chance
Some 90 people stood in diluvian rain outside of Palm Coast’s Fire Station 25 this afternoon for the blessing of the city’s first Safe Haven Baby Box, a $41,000 gift to the city from the local Knights of Columbus, the Palm Coast Kiwanis Club and others who worked nearly two years toward the installation of the box. “It’s a tangible reminder that in moments of crisis, that there is hope,” Palm Coast Fire Chief Kyle Berryhill said. The founder Monica Kelsey, was also among the speakers.
At 1st Public Input Session on Palm Coast Charter Review, a Small But Engaged Crowd Makes Half a Dozen Suggestions
The first of four workshops designed to let Palm Coast residents describe how they want to see the city’s charter changed drew just 17 people Monday evening, 13 if you didn’t count four of the five members of the Charter Review Committee who attended, and a few less if you didn’t count the alternates picked for the committee. But the two-hour discussion was generally thoughtful and informed, engaged, varied, and–with occasional exceptions–free of the strident polemics and mistrust that routinely fill public-comment segments before the City Council.
Flagler Beach Approves Flat Tax Rate and $87 Million Budget, But Not Before 2 Commissioners Kill Engineer’s Job
The Flagler Beach City Commission last week approved its tax rate and $87 million budget for the coming year. The commission approved both items at its second and final budget hearing last Thursday, though not before two of the four commissioners at the meeting–Rick Belhumeur and John Cunningham–risked leaving the city without a budget if the city manager didn’t scrap his plan to hire a second city engineer. That second city engineer position was scrapped.
Three Months Later, Flagler Beach Commissioners Finally Agree on Design of $2.6 Million ‘Beachwalk’ by Pier
After twice rejecting the design for the rebuilding of the Flagler Beach boardwalk and the structures under the A-frame at the pier, the Flagler Beach City Commission approved the preliminary drawings for both in what will be a $2.6 million reconstruction, with new concrete pilings beneath and a large deck and breezeway above. If the cost remains close to $2.6 million, it will be a surprise.
FPL Wants to Raise Base Rates by $1.71 Billion in Next 2 Years, Blasting Consumers’ Counter-Proposal of $1.27 Billion
Florida Power & Light on Friday fired back at a renewed request for state regulators to consider a “counter proposal” to a proposed settlement that would increase the utility’s base electric rates. Opponents of the proposed settlement, including the state Office of Public Counsel, which is designated by law to represent utility customers, want the Florida Public Service Commission to consider the counter proposal. Commission Chairman Mike La Rosa on Sept. 12 denied the request, but the Office of Public Counsel and its allies are seeking reconsideration of that decision.
Republican Push for Snitching on Charlie Kirk Posts Drives Unprecedented Purge of Public Workers
An ongoing purge of public employees is driven in part by Republican elected officials who are encouraging Americans to report co-workers, their children’s teachers and others who make comments seen as crossing the line. They have been egged on by the Trump administration, with Vice President JD Vance urging listeners of Kirk’s podcast to call the employer of anyone “celebrating” his killing.
At Least in France They Imprison Their Felon Ex-Presidents
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been found guilty of criminal conspiracy. Sentenced to five years in prison, he is due to appear in court on 13 October to learn the date of his incarceration. The unprecedented ruling enshrines the Republican principle of full and complete equality of citizens before the law.
As He DOGE-Targets Blue Governments for ‘Fraud,’ Florida CFO Ingoglia Wants $600,000 for His Own Bureaucracy
In a state Legislative Budget Request filed last week, Blaise Ingoglia, Gov. Ron DeSantis’ hand-picked new Chief Financial Officer, is seeking more than $600,000 and six full time employees to permanently establish a new “Florida Accountability and Fiscal Oversight Office,” with the provocative acronym “FAFO.” Its mission is to review local government data and “uncover the truth about how these government entities are using taxpayer funds, especially property taxes,” according to the budget request.
It Is Happening Here
Where would America be without hyperbole? From the chutzpah of the City Upon a Hill speech aboard the Arbella to the skirmish-turned Boston “massacre” to American Carnage a few years ago to the ongoing beatification of Charlie Kirk, it’s fair to say that without hyperbole, America would be more like a sprawly humble Saskatchewan than the Galactic Empire it’s become. But America’s slouch toward fascism is no hyperbole. Sinclair Lewis once mused that it can happen here. Today, it is happening here.
Flagler County Government Prepares to Settle 4-Year-Old Lawsuit Over Sears Building, But Won’t Recover All Losses
Flagler County government is nearing a final settlement of a four-year-old lawsuit it filed against several parties after its ill-fated $1.125 million purchase of what was then known as the Sears building on Palm Coast Parkway. The county previously settled with two of the four parties, recouping $900,000 (or $843,000, depending on which document you consult). The pending settlement would recoup an additional $125,000, netting a loss of $100,000 (or $157,000).
In Marineland, Boyfriend-Girlfriend Are Now Majority of Town Commission, and Team Up to Appoint Mayor (Boyfriend)
After a two-vote election put Joseph Pinder on the Marineland Town Commission, his girlfriend and Commissioner Jessica Finch nominated him mayor in place of Dewey Dew, and the nomination carried by the couple’s two votes. While perfectly legal, the situation is still unprecedented, and it underscores the strange status of a town hanging to its designation as a town by a thread and a $192,000 budget overwhelmingly dependent on one taxpayer’s money–Jim Jacoby, who is the mayor’s uncle.
Looking Beyond the Turning Point of Charlie Kirk’s Death to the Soil We’re Tilling for the Next Generation
Charlie Kirk’s assassination feels like more than another entry in America’s long and tragic list of political violence. It feels like a hinge point, writes former School Board member Colleen Conklin. But history suggests scars can be the beginning of strength. If the pattern holds, today’s youth may yet rise to become the next Greatest Generation. Now is the time to cultivate compassion stronger than ideology, courage rooted in empathy, the ability to separate people from their ideas. What then grows could astonish us.
Snubbing Near-Unanimous Public Opposition, Bunnell Commission Approves Rezoning 1,259 Acres to Industrial
Snubbing near-unanimous public opposition just as it had snubbed it when approving a mammoth 6,100-home development last month, the Bunnell City Commission on Monday approved on a 4-1 vote the first reading of an ordinance that will rezone 1,259 acres just east and south of the city’s core from agricultural to industrial, including heavy industrial, in what could potentially change the complexion of the city. Commissioner John Rogers was the lone dissenter.
Routine Palm Coast Meeting Turns Into Tense Clash Over Tax Rate as Gambaro Seeks ‘Rollback’ at 11th Hour
Sounding like former Palm Coast City Council member Ed Danko, Charles Gambaro in the final budget hearing Wednesday asked his colleagues to adopt the so-called rolled-back property tax rate rather than the rate proposed, which was already lower than this year’s. Gambaro’s proposal would have equated to a saving of $13 for the homesteaded owner of a $200,000 house, but would have required an immediate $1 million cut in the general fund. That led to a clash with Council member Theresa Pontieri, and the rest of the council held to the original proposal in a 4-1 vote.
Ex-Flagler County Paramedic Facing Rape Charge Claims Penetrating Patient Was ‘Medically Necessary’
James Melady, the former Flagler County Fire Rescue paramedic facing a rape charge involving an unconscious patient in his care during an ambulance ride, claimed today through his attorney that what he was doing to the patient was medically necessary, and therefore not actionable under Florida law. Circuit Judge Dawn Nichols was skeptical, and pressed him to seek a plea or potentially face up to life in prison.
Palm Coast Appears Ready to Loosen Some Prohibitions on Commercial Vehicles in Residential Driveways
Palm Coast government is moving toward relaxing prohibitions on commercial vehicles parked in residential driveways while still maintaining relatively strict regulations. In sum, small work trucks and vans typically used for services such as air conditioning, painting, pest control, plumbing and the like will be allowed to park in driveways, uncovered. So will trucks with racks, as long as the racks are modest and part of the truck’s tools. Only one truck would be allowed in a driveway.
County and City Leaders Push Back Against DeSantis Claims of ‘Waste, Fraud and Abuse’ in Property Tax
After months of financial abuse allegations lobbed by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration against local governments, city leaders pushed back Tuesday in a Florida House meeting focused on cutting property taxes. “Waste is in the eye of the beholder,” said Casey Cook, the Florida League of Cities’ chief of legislative affairs. “Nobody likes paying taxes, but safe isn’t free. Clean isn’t free.”
Nothing To See Here, Risk-Assessment Analysts Tell Palm Coast Council as ‘Forensic Audit’ Delirium Fizzles
A top-to-bottom “entity-wide risk assessment” of Palm Coast government, including its utility department, conducted in response to two-year-old calls for a “forensic audit,” yielded nothing more than a few issues commonly faced by most, if not all, municipalities. The assessment cost $50,000.
18-Year-Old Motorcyclist Dies on SR100 After Deer Strike Throws Him Off the Bike, and a Car Hits Him
An 18-year-old Palm Coast motorcyclist was killed Monday night after he was thrown from his Motorcycle in a collision with a deer, then was run over by a car on State Road 100 just west of Belle Terre Parkway.
Florida Is Misleadingly Invoking Slavery as It Readies to Kill All Vaccine Mandates in Schools
On Sept. 3, 2025, Florida announced its plans to be the first state to eliminate vaccine mandates for its citizens, including those for children to attend school. Dr. Joseph Ladapo, Florida’s surgeon general and a professor of medicine at the University of Florida, has stated that “every last one” of these decades-old vaccine requirements “is wrong and drips with disdain and slavery.” He is wrong.
30 New Laws Go In Effect Next Week, Including Steeper Penalties for Several Crimes and End of Business Rent Tax
The elimination of the business rent tax is projected to collectively save businesses–and cost the state–nearly $1.15 billion during the current fiscal year, which will run through June 30. That amount is projected to increase to $1.53 billion next fiscal year. Other laws include harsher penalties for people who flee police, harass utility workers and kill someone while driving drunk.
Contrition, Grimness and Encouragement from Flagler County’s Lawmakers Ahead of Another Messy, Miserly Session
Florida Sen. Tom Leek spoke contritely, then grimly, then encouragingly at Friday’s annual Flagler County legislative delegation meeting, ahead of the legislative session in January. The contrition was for the misbehavior of the legislature in the last session, the grimness was about another year of tight budgets, and therefore few legislative appropriations for local governments, and the encouragement was for local officials to make their pitches anyway, as long as they matched that with commitment of their own.
Flagler County’s Unemployment Rate Rises Again, to 5.4%, Highest Level in 4 Years; Florida’s Ticks Up to 3.8%
Flagler County’s unemployment rate rose for the third straight month and hasn’t declined since March, reaching 5.4 percent in August, the highest unemployment rate since June 2021, when it was 5.4 percent. Palm Coast’s unemployment was also 5.4 percent in August, according to figures released by the state’s Commerce Department Friday.
Donald Trump’s New McCarthyism
A modern-day political inquisition is unfolding in “digital town squares” across the United States. The slain far-right activist Charlie Kirk has become a focal point for a coordinated campaign of silencing critics that chillingly echoes one of the darkest chapters in American history. This is far-right “cancel culture”, the likes of which the US hasn’t seen since the McCarthy era in the 1950s.
Condemning the Kirk Assassination, and Condemning What Kirk Stood For
It is possible to condemn the assassination of Charlie Kirk and still condemn the ideas he stood for, to decry the flags at half-mast for so-called values hardly distinguishable from those of Proud Boys. A glean of the successful agenda Kirk pushed shows to what extent nationalist Christian extremism has been re-normalized, with Kirk playing an essential role in that latest of Great Awakenings. It was not a healing voice.
Hell No: Boston Whaler Should Not Be Allowed to Exit Without a Fight from Flagler County’s Leadership
We cheered when Brunswick returned after closing once before, investing taxpayer resources and community goodwill in welcoming them back. Now, once again, we are faced with the prospect of a shuttered plant and broken promises. At what point do we as a community stand behind our leaders and say hell no, you can’t go?
Commissioners Dismayed Over County’s Impotence as They Write Off $10 Million in Seemingly Unpaid Ambulance Bills
Since 2018, the county has accrued on average $1.7 million a year in what the county considers to be uncollected bills, or $10.3 million through February 2024. It’s happened for years, if not quite by those amounts. For years, the County Commission has periodically written off the loss. But it’s not all unpaid bills: the majority of that “loss” is the difference between what Medicaid and Medicare reimburse, as opposed to what the county bills.
At Charlie Kirk Vigil on Courthouse Steps, Calls for Unity and Healing ‘Deep Divide in Our Country’
Well over a thousand people gathered in Bunnell on Wednesday to attend a candlelight vigil for the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk. The event was held outside the Kim C. Hammond Justice Center, with attendance high enough that sheriff’s deputies had to direct traffic in and out. Sheriff Rick Staly called for healing wounds, grief and “the deep divide in our country.”
It’s a World of Fraud and You’d Better Be Vigilant, Ex-US Prosecutor Roger Handberg Tells Flagler Tiger Bay
When Roger Handberg asked the capacity crowd at Flagler Tiger Bay Club’s season-opening lunch Wednesday for a show of hands from those who’ve been victims of a fraud or who knew someone who had, almost every hand went up. That was his point. “These schemes are all over the place,” he said. They indiscriminately target the vulnerable and those who think they’re untouchable. Handberg, until recently the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida, gave the audience a tutorial on the psychology and variety of fraudsters, and on how to try to stay a step ahead of them.
Despite Rezoning for New Commercial Strip Near BJ’s, Live Local Act Could Still Bring Apartments There
The Palm Coast Planning Board on Wednesday recommended approval of a pair of land-use changes that will eliminate the potential for apartment buildings on 39 acres just west of the B.J.’s Wholesale shopping center on State Road 100. That land is slated for another retail-commercial strip similar to Airport Commons further west. Because of the Live Local Act that overrides local regulations, the zoning change doesn’t mean apartments couldn’t still be built there.
Four Years After Reopening, Boston Whaler Will Close Palm Coast Plant by Next Year, Affecting 300 Workers
The Brunswick Corporation announced late this afternoon that it was shutting down the Boston Whaler boat manufacturing plant it had reopened in Palm Coast/Flagler Beach just four years ago, dealing a severe blow to the city’s and county’s largest manufacturer and their local economy. Brunswick is consolidating the Palm Coast plant with the manufacturing facility in Edgewater by next February.
Man Fleeing Deputies Charged with Murder for Death of Woman in Collision; Sheriff Staly Vows Full Review of Chase
Stevens Brian Charles, 40, faces a second-degree murder charge, among at least 10 felony charges, in the death of a 71-year-old Ormond Beach woman Tuesday in a head-on crash on an I-95 exit on which Charles was intentionally driving the wrong way, fleeing from Flagler County Sheriff’s deputies. Sheriff Rick Staly has ordered a top-to-bottom review of the entire incident, the agency’s chase policy, and whether all procedures were followed.
Flagler Beach Kills Backyard Chickens Proposal as Commissioner Who Suggested It Joins Opposition
Flagler Beach will not allow backyard chickens after all. Commissioner Rick Belhumeur proposed the idea in July at a constituent’s suggestion, causing the city attorney to draft an ordinance. Belhumeur wasn’t alone in killing the proposal last week (it was unanimous), but he gave it the coup de grâce.
Palm Coast Scraps Ebike Speed Limit and Lowers Age Allowance to 11 as Council Refines Rules and Seeks More Input
Palm Coast will eliminate what had been a proposed speed limit for ebikes, the allowable age limit for riders was further reduced to 11 (it had started at 15 two weeks ago), and student IDs would be a permissible form of identification for riders, as opposed to government-issued IDs, according to the latest version of an ordinance the Palm Coast City Council is crafting.
Palm Coast Attorney Marc Dwyer on the End of Open Carry Ban: Correct Decision, Not Without Street Consequences
Palm Coast attorney Marc Dwyer is of two minds about last week’s decision by a Florida appeals court invalidating the ban on openly carrying firearms. On one hand, he found the ruling legally right and in line with history and current law since 2008. On the other hand, he says there’s “going to be an uptick in crime” as a result. Sheriff Rick Staly disagrees, seeing not much change ahead as a consequence of the decision.
Rymfire Elementary Student, 11, Arrested After Threatening to Bring “Guns” to School in Response to Bullying
GN, an 11-year-old Rymfire Elementary student who was apparently being bullied in chats, faces a second-degree felony charge of sending written threats of a shooting after sending the “picture of a gun to a group chat with other students” and the message, “See you at school tomorrow bye,” according to his arrest report.
Flagler Beach Tells County: No Joint Talks on Taxing District Unless You Revive Sales Tax for Beach Protection
The Flagler Beach City Commission has rejected a request from the County Commission to hold a joint meeting on establishing a special taxing district in the city. The tax revenue would have been earmarked for beach protection. If the county wants to talk, it should revive an earlier proposal to raise the sales tax by half a penny. Flagler Beach’s unequivocal message was a sharp rebuff to the three county commissioners who asked for the joint meeting–and who killed the sales tax proposal: Kim Carney, Leann Pennington and Pam Richardson.
Man, 68, Accused of Wielding Knife and Chasing 2 Juveniles and 18-Year-Old at Palm Coast Walmart
Thomas Edward Ohl, a 68-year-old resident of Wellington Drive in Palm Coast, faces four felony charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and child abuse following an incident Saturday night at Walmart, where he allegedly chased two juveniles and an 18-year-old with a knife picked out of a shelf, after he said they’d made fun of his disability.
State Regulators Reject Counter-Proposal by Customer Representative to Limit FPL Rate Increases
As they consider a proposed settlement that would increase Florida Power & Light’s base electric rates, state regulators will not take up a “counter proposal” offered by opponents. FPL wants base-rate increases of $945 million in 2026 and $766 million in 2027. The counter proposal would have resulted in increases of $867 million in 2026 and $403 million in 2027.
In Florida, We Want Guns in Our Streets, Not Rainbows
No doubt Gov. Ron DeSantis expects Floridians to be grateful for saving us from yet another woke attack on decency, probity, and speeding motorists. Meaning colorful crosswalks. Just as he has fought to expel books by Black and gay authors from our schools, the governor has ordered FDOT to paint over the flowers, the sunbursts, the fish, the musical notes, and the rainbows — especially the rainbows. At least a dozen schools in Tampa will see their “Crosswalks to Classrooms” school crossings destroyed, including one painted to look like a shelf of books. Florida’s government is particularly scared of books.
How to Avoid Seeing Disturbing Content on Social Media
Social media platforms are designed to maximize engagement, not protect your peace of mind. The major platforms have also reduced their content moderation efforts over the past year or so. That means upsetting content can reach you even when you never chose to watch it. You do not have to watch every piece of content that crosses your screen, however. Protecting your own mental state is not avoidance or denial. It’s a way of safeguarding the bandwidth you need to stay engaged, compassionate and effective.
Family of 4 In Flagler County Set to See 75% Premium Increase for Obamacare; 4 Million Floridians Will See Sharp Jump
Health insurance rates will increase sharply for the 4 million-plus Floridians who rely on so-called Obamacare plans or small employer health insurance coverage in the coming weeks, according to data released by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation. For a family of four with a household income of $85,000 in Flagler County, the monthly premium for an average silver plan will rise to 1,192, from $680, a 75 percent increase.
America’s 250 Years of Political Violence: It’s Very Much Who We Are
The day after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed while speaking at Utah Valley University, commentators repeated a familiar refrain: “This isn’t who we are as Americans.” But it is. American politics has long personalized its violence. the U.S. was founded upon – and has long been sustained by – this very form of political violence.
Overflow Crowd Tells County Commission: No to Taxing District on Barrier Island, Yes to Sales Tax for Beach
In spite of near-unanimous opposition from an overflow crowd at the Flagler County Commission Thursday, the commission adopted by a 4-1 vote a controversial special taxing district covering all unincorporated property owners on the barrier island, including the Hammock, to help pay for beach protection. There was not one voice in support of the taxing district as an exclusive funding mechanism. There was not one voice opposed to a sales tax increase for that purpose, and many supported the taxing district in conjunction with the sales tax increase.
County Commission’s Kim Carney Peddles False and Misleading Claims in Opposition to Sales Tax for Beach Protection
Speaking to a capacity crowd at a budget hearing Thursday evening, Flagler County Commissioner Kim Carney, who has complained of misinformation getting peddled around about county business, dispensed false and misleading information of her own on a central issue dividing the commission: the imposition of an additional sales surtax to help pay for a long-term beach-protection plan.
Over Mayor’s Objections, Palm Coast Signals It’ll Extend Agreement with Cultural Council to Manage $100,000 in Grants
Overcoming numerous unsubstantiated accusations about the Flagler County Cultural Council by Mayor Mike Norris, the Palm Coast City Council on Tuesday agreed to let the volunteer organization continue administering the city’s $100,000 cultural grants program for another year. It did so in the wake of friction between the City Council and FC3, as the cultural organization refers to itself.