• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
MENUMENU
MENUMENU
  • Home
  • About
    • Contact Us
    • FlaglerLive Board of Directors
    • Comment Policy
    • Mission Statement
    • Our Values
    • Privacy Policy
  • Live Calendar
  • Submit Obituary
  • Submit an Event
  • Support FlaglerLive
  • Advertise on FlaglerLive (386) 503-3808
  • Search Results

FlaglerLive

No Bull, no Fluff, No Smudges

MENUMENU
  • Flagler
    • Flagler County Commission
    • Beverly Beach
    • Flagler History
    • Mondex/Daytona North
    • The Hammock
    • Tourist Development Council
    • Marineland
  • Palm Coast
    • Palm Coast City Council
    • Palm Coast Crime
  • Bunnell
    • Bunnell City Commission
    • Bunnell Crime
  • Flagler Beach
    • Flagler Beach City Commission
    • Flagler Beach Crime
  • Cops/Courts
    • Circuit & County Court
    • Florida Supreme Court
    • Federal Courts
    • Flagler 911
    • Fire House
    • Flagler County Sheriff
    • Flagler Jail Bookings
    • Traffic Accidents
  • Rights & Liberties
    • First Amendment
    • Second Amendment
    • Third Amendment
    • Fourth Amendment
    • Fifth Amendment
    • Sixth Amendment
    • Seventh Amendment
    • Eighth Amendment
    • 14th Amendment
    • Sunshine Law
    • Religion & Beliefs
    • Privacy
    • Civil Rights
    • Human Rights
    • Immigration
    • Labor Rights
  • Schools
    • Adult Education
    • Belle Terre Elementary
    • Buddy Taylor Middle
    • Bunnell Elementary
    • Charter Schools
    • Daytona State College
    • Flagler County School Board
    • Flagler Palm Coast High School
    • Higher Education
    • Imagine School
    • Indian Trails Middle
    • Matanzas High School
    • Old Kings Elementary
    • Rymfire Elementary
    • Stetson University
    • Wadsworth Elementary
    • University of Florida/Florida State
  • Economy
    • Jobs & Unemployment
    • Business & Economy
    • Development & Sprawl
    • Leisure & Tourism
    • Local Business
    • Local Media
    • Real Estate & Development
    • Taxes
  • Commentary
    • The Conversation
    • Pierre Tristam
    • Diane Roberts
    • Guest Columns
    • Byblos
    • Editor's Blog
  • Culture
    • African American Cultural Society
    • Arts in Palm Coast & Flagler
    • Books
    • City Repertory Theatre
    • Flagler Auditorium
    • Flagler Playhouse
    • Special Events
  • Elections 2024
    • Amendments and Referendums
    • Presidential Election
    • Campaign Finance
    • City Elections
    • Congressional
    • Constitutionals
    • Courts
    • Governor
    • Polls
    • Voting Rights
  • Florida
    • Federal Politics
    • Florida History
    • Florida Legislature
    • Florida Legislature
    • Ron DeSantis
  • Health & Society
    • Flagler County Health Department
    • Ask the Doctor Column
    • Health Care
    • Health Care Business
    • Covid-19
    • Children and Families
    • Medicaid and Medicare
    • Mental Health
    • Poverty
    • Violence
  • All Else
    • Daily Briefing
    • Americana
    • Obituaries
    • News Briefs
    • Weather and Climate
    • Wildlife

Featured

In Gaza, Fighting Atrocities with Atrocities Compounds the Indefensible at Civilians’ Expense

October 20, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 21 Comments

Israel hasn’t won a war since 1967, and even that proved to be the untenable occupation and low-grade war it has faced for decades. It’s not about to win against Hamas. Hamas knows this. Israel knows it. Civilians are paying. Civilians alone will lose, as revenge substitutes for strategy and both sides perpetrate war crimes.

Palm Coast Moving To Loosen Sign Ordinance, Allowing More Free Expression–and Realtors’ Sales Pitches

October 20, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 30 Comments

The sign that started it all, in Gilbert, Arizona, leading to a 2015 Supreme Court decision that found unconstitutional any attempt by local governments to regulate the content of signs. The image is taken from a brief filed with the court.

A proposed rewriting of Palm Coast’s sign ordinance would not change the look of the city markedly, preserving most of the restrictions in place now. But a draft ordinance–still very much a work in progress–errs on the more permissive than restrictive side, now that local governments are largely (but not entirely) barred from regulating what signs say. That means homeowners will get to express themselves more freely, including with hate speech. Realtors will get to plant more signs.

Ex-Employee of Palm Coast Assisted Living Who Defrauded Residents Is Sentenced to Jail and House Arrest

October 19, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 8 Comments

Tina Marie Teixeira. (© FlaglerLive)

Tina Marie Teixeira, 27, an ex-employee of Market Street, the assisted living facility on Palm Coast Parkway, was sentenced to a year in jail instead of the recommended three and a half years in prison, followed by two years of house arrest and three years on probation on convictions for defrauding several residents or their spouses at the facility last year.

Flagler County Tried to Evict a Tenant at the Airport. Jury Called It Retaliation and a Violation of 1st Amendment.

October 18, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 82 Comments

Les Abend with his plane at the county airport, from where the county attempted to evict him in retaliation, a jury said, for Abend's opinions. (© Les Abend for FlaglerLive)

Flagler County Airport Director Roy Sieger sent Les Abend an eviction notice regarding the hangar Abend had leased for over four years. A two-day trial resulted in a verdict against the county, with a jury finding that the county was retaliating against Abend, a former member of the county’s airport advisory board, for his criticism of Sieger. An eviction case turned into a rare First Amendment case in County Court. Abend will get to keep the hangar.

Grim Year for Local Arts as 3 Big Organizations Vanish and Palm Coast Drops Grants to Lowest-Ever Level

October 18, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 12 Comments

ukraine national orchestra

Palm Coast government on Tuesday scaled back its Cultural Arts Program almost by half, offering $20,000 to 13 organizations the coming year. It is the lowest nominal level since 2012, and the lowest level in the city’s history when adjusted for inflation. The retreat takes place in a year that has seen the disappearance of three major cultural organizations in Palm Coast and the county.

Victory for the Hammock as County Rejects More Intense Commercial Development on A1A Parcels

October 17, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 39 Comments

The pair of parcels on State Road A1A an applicant was seeking to rezone. (Google)

The Flagler County Commission Monday unanimously rejected a proposal to rezone an acre of Hammock property along State Road A1A to more intensive commercial uses. The commission, siding with Hammock residents, found the proposal vague in its designs for the property, at odds with the Scenic A1A overlay, and at risk of setting a precedent that would potentially damage or demolish the road’s character.

Superintendent LaShakia Moore’s $175,000 Salary Is Significantly Less Than a Predecessor’s, When Adjusted

October 17, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 11 Comments

LaShakia Moore at a recent School Board meeting. Starting tonight the "interim" part of her superintendent title will be eliminated. (© FlaglerLive)

The four-year contract with Superintendent LaShakia Moore the Flagler County School Board is ratifying tonight calls for less compensation than that awarded the two other executive of the county’s largest governments, even though Flagler schools have more employees than both combined, and it is less, in adjusted numbers, than the starting pay of Bill Delbrugge, who in 2005 became superintendent, like Moore, without previous such experience.

Matanzas Brawl Was Long Simmering: Parents Had Alerted the School and Sought Mediation, To No Avail

October 16, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 52 Comments

Parents of Matanzas High School students who face charges and were disciplined over a brawl last week say they had attempted to address the situation in the run-up to the brawl, but they say Kristin Bozeman, left, the principal, was unaware of the situation until it occurred, while Assistant Principal Fred Terry, right, would not allow mediation between parents. (© FlaglerLive)

The Matanzas High School brawl last week did not occur out of nowhere. According to eight of the parents involved, several of them had been warning the school administration of problems well before, asking for a series of measures, all neglected or turned down outright by the administration, to an apparently unaware principal, Kristin Bozeman, who would tell several of the parents that she was unaware of the issues until the day of the brawl.

21-Year-Old Palm Coast Woman Is Killed in Single-Vehicle Crash on Unlit Old Kings Road

October 16, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 32 Comments

A 21-year-old Palm Coast woman driving alone was killed in a single-vehicle crash on an unlit portion of Old Kings Road shortly before midnight Sunday. It was the 17th fatality on Flagler County roads this year.

Florida’s Matt Gaetz: Jerkiness In a Class By Himself

October 15, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 29 Comments

Matt gaetz when he was a Florida House member. (Florida House)

As Sen. Lindsey Graham once remarked, “If you killed Ted Cruz on the floor of the Senate, and the trial was in the Senate, nobody would convict you.” You could probably murder Matt Gaetz in the House chamber and receive a standing ovation.

Local Newspapers Are Disappearing, But Don’t Romanticize Their Role Too Much

October 14, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 2 Comments

The lobby of the Daytona Beach News-Journal in 2010, at its 6th Street location. It no longer exists there. (© FlaglerLive)

Taking one newspaper’s history as a prism, local newspapers didn’t always fulfill their watchdog role, lavishing attention on their community sometimes with a paternalism that chose to conceal problems and fostering a certain coziness with the area’s power players. Boosterism and conflicts of interest occasionally interfered with telling the full story.

Flagler Beach Increases Water, Sewer, Garbage and Stormwater Fees 8%, Swelling Monthly Bills By $8.15

October 13, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 14 Comments

Flagler Beach's sanitation plant. (© FlaglerLive)

After an 8.5 percent increase last year, the Flagler Beach City Commission Thursday unanimously approved an 8 percent increase in water, sewer, garbage-collection and stormwater rates starting on Halloween–an apparently unintentional spook–with a smaller, 3.5 percent increase next year.
The city is estimating the the average water bill for residents will increase by $8.15 a month, to $110, or by $102 for the year.

8 Years in Prison for Connor Anderson, Who ‘Terrorized’ Smiles Bar Patrons in Shooting

October 13, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 5 Comments

Connor Anderson in court today, with his attorney, Aaron Delgado, to the right, and Assistant State Attorney Melissa Clark. (© FlaglerLive)

Connor Anderson, the 31-year-old man who wrestled with the Smiles Nite Club bartender and others and fired his gun six times inside the bar last November, was sentenced to eight years in prison, followed by five years on probation, after a sentencing hearing where Anderson described himself as disgusted with his act.

City Repertory Theatre’s Double Bill of Dares: Albee’s ‘Zoo Story,’ and an Unpredictable ‘Rabbit’

October 12, 2023 | FlaglerLive | Leave a Comment

Nassim Soleimanpour’s 2011 play “White Rabbit Red Rabbit.”

“White Rabbit Red Rabbit” will be staged with no rehearsals, no director, no set and performed over four nights by four different actors who will have never before read the script. Also on the double-bill, Edward Albee’s very first play, “The Zoo Story,” making it one of City Repertory Theatre’s more daring evenings.

Ex-Matanzas Student Brendan Depa Will Plead Out in Teacher-Assault Case, Leaving His Fate to a Judge

October 11, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 22 Comments

Brendan Depa in court today, next to Teifke. (© FlaglerLive)

Brendan Depa, the former Matanzas High School student who drew global attention and a first-degree felony charge as an adult after a video of his assault on a paraprofessional circulated, will plead out, avoiding a trial. But he will also be taking the risk of a steep sentence.

Monserrate Teron Is Sentenced to Life in Prison for Raping His Niece as Child’s Mother Describes a Family Wrecked

October 11, 2023 | FlaglerLive | Leave a Comment

Monserrate Teron stepping down from the stand after he addressed the court at his sentencing today. (© FlaglerLive)

Monserrate Teron, the former Army nurse a jury last July found guilty of raping his 7-year-old niece, was sentenced this morning to two life terms, plus 30 years on an additional charge. Teron turns 60 in two weeks. The victim’s mother described to the court the day-to-day of her daughters’ harrowing lives since, accusing a large part of Teron’s family as “enablers.” That side of the family again today insisted that Teron is innocent.

What Does Palm Coast Hope to Be ‘When We Grow Up’? City Launches 14-Month Plan to Listen and Respond

October 10, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 17 Comments

Consultants Silvia E. Vargas, at the mic, and Kathie Ebaugh at the whiteboard, gathering initial expectations from City Council and Planning Board members about what they want the 14-month comprehensive plan process to entail as they discussed the launch of that plan this afternoon at City Hall. (© FlaglerLive)

What should Palm Coast look like in 2050? City Hall today kicked off a 14-month process to answer that question, to do so by engaging as many residents as possible as inclusively as possible along the way, ending with a document that will re-imagines the city’s blueprint as its residents want it to be at mid-century. The result of that exercise will be a complete re-write of the city’s “Comprehensive Plan,” the first since 2004.

School Board Members’ Questions to Outside Counsel Reveal Worry of Lawsuit If They Fire Their Attorney

October 10, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 17 Comments

Looking for a clue: Flagler County School Board members Christy Chong, Will Furry and Sally Hunt--first three from right--are looking to push out Board Attorney Kristy Gavin. (© FlaglerLive)

Three Flagler County School Board members have submitted nine questions to two attorneys the board hired for at least $5,000 to examine how it could fire Board Attorney Kristy Gavin without getting sued. The board members wrote the questions and circulated them outside of a public meeting. The questions had not been disclosed publicly until this article.

In Lawsuit Settlement DeSantis Administration Will Stop Censoring Covid Death Counts and Vaccinations

October 10, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 16 Comments

An image from the early days of the pandemic at UF Shands in Gainesville, in July 2020. (© FlaglerLive)

The DeSantis administration has agreed to release years of previously suppressed data about Covid’s spread in Florida to settle a lawsuit filed by a former state House member, a government openness group, and news organizations. The Florida Department of Health will resume posting on its website details of vaccination counts, case counts, and deaths weekly by county, age group, gender, and race in the future.

Don O’Brien Said to Consider Dropping Out of House Race, Pam Richardson Runs for County Commission

October 9, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 18 Comments

Donald O'Brien, left, and Pam Richardson. (© FlaglerLive)

Darryl Boyer, one of three Republican candidates in the primary for the state House seat that Paul Renner is relinquishing in 2024, said today that Donald O’Brien, one of the other two competitors for that seat, told him he was likely dropping out of the race. At the same time, Pam Richardson, the Realtor-broker, has joined the Republican primary race for O’Brien’s Commission seat, also contested by Ed Danko and Victor Barbosa.

Flagler’s Family Life Center Nets $26,000 from Creekside Festival Donation as 10,000 Turn Out

October 9, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 1 Comment

Vendor space sold out at the 2023 Creekside Music and Arts Festival, and the two-day event drew a combined crowd of 10,000. (Flagler Broadcasting)

Last weekend’s edition of the Creekside Music and Arts Festival at Princess Place Preserve made up for last year’s, when Hurricane Ian made the park impassable and forced the event to move to the Agriculture Museum. The two-day event drew 10,000 people and netted the Family Life center a $26,000 donation from Flagler Broadcasting, which organized the event.

Judge Orders One Final Mediation in Hopes of Averting Trial in Captain’s BBQ Suit Against County

October 9, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 7 Comments

Captain's BBQ, to the left, at Bing's Landing. The lawsuit it filed against the county is four years old. (© FlaglerLive)

The Flagler County Commission met behind closed doors for the first time in over three years this morning to discuss a possible settlement of the four-year-old lawsuit by Captain’s BBQ at Bings Landing. The judge in the case ordered the two sides again to go to mediation to avoid a January trial. Mediation and an attempted settlement that made significant concessions to Captain’s in 2020 failed as commissioners rejected the proposal.

In Florida, Surgeon General Normalizes Medical Quackery

October 7, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 47 Comments

Dr. Joseph Ladapo, in an “America’s Frontline Doctors” lab coat, speaks at a July 2020 event that included Stella Immanuel, a doctor who said “demonic seed” causes ovarian cysts and endometriosis. (Screenshot from YouTube)

In 2021, when Ron DeSantis brought the Quack Ladapo to Florida, it was like returning to a simpler, much stupider time, when docs prescribed drinking a little ground unicorn horn mixed with water as a cure for the plague. Or if you were fresh out of unicorns (or the virgins you need to catch them), you could always  try chicken butt.

State Attorney’s Jason Lewis, Near-Invincible Prosecutor, Wins 7th Judicial Circuit’s Lifetime Achievement Award

October 6, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 3 Comments

Assistant State Attorney Jason Lewis had no idea he would be the State Attorney's recipient of the Boyle Award for th Seventh judicial Circuit. (© FlaglerLive)

Assistant State Attorney Jason Lewis, a ferocious, annihilating prosecutor who’s as genial outside the courtroom as he is fearsome inside it, since 2014 has managed the Flagler outpost of the State Attorney’s Office and oversees its homicide attorneys in the four-county Seventh Judicial Circuit.

Before Her Leap Off the Flagler Beach Bridge, Untouched Drinks and a Purse Left Behind

October 6, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 30 Comments

Five people have jumped from the Flagler Beach bridge in the last 10 years. Two died. (© FlaglerLive)

The Flagler Beach Police Department identified the woman who jumped from the Flagler Beach bridge Wednesday afternoon and survived as Mandy Michelle Mincey, a 47-year-old woman with no reported home. She was also known as Mandy Monroe. Earlier that day she had been at a bar and had ordered drinks, but left them untouched as she ran to the bridge.

Palm Coast Issued Development Orders for 4,138 Homes This Year Alone, and Has 13,361 ‘in Pipeline’

October 5, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 46 Comments

Too much? (© FlaglerLive)

While City Council member Theresa Ponstieri significantly overstated the actual number of homes the council approved this year, there is no question that Palm Coast is growing rapidly, and that Council policy is doing all it can to accelerate that growth, with increasing rumbles from existing residents who think, like Pontieri, that the pace is too rapid.

With District Financial Procedures Ensnarled, School Board Pursues Firing Attorney, But With a Lifeline

October 5, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 11 Comments

It's been a year of face-palms. (© FlaglerLive)

The board’s discussion took an unexpected turn as the possibility of saving Kristy Gavin’s job in a different capacity–she would answer to the superintendent as a staff attorney–gelled around a consensus that perhaps reflects the board’s leeriness at fostering either more controversy or more difficulties for its new superintendent, who already relies a great deal on Gavin and her unparalleled institutional history. 

With $719,000 Almost Certainly Lost to Fraud, School District Turns to Insurance in Hopes for Recovery

October 4, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 30 Comments

The Flagler County Sheriff's Office made public a heavily redacted incident report on the school district's fraud case today. (© FlaglerLive)

Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly this afternoon confirmed that the amount of money the Flagler County school district lost in a wire-transfer phishing scheme is $719,583, but that “it’s close to 100 percent long gone.” The district made the payment on Sept. 22. Its fraudulent nature was not detected until Tuesday morning–11 days later, an eternity of comfort for phishing scams to evade controls and make it out of the country.

Sheriff Chitwood’s Dangerous, Irresponsible Attacks on News-Journal’s Frank Fernandez

October 4, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 24 Comments

The News-Journal's Frank Fernandez, right, always on the lookout for cons. (© FlaglerLive)

Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood’s repeated, vilifying and unjustified attacks on News-Journal reporter Frank Fernandez irresponsibly and dangerously inflame his social media base at a time when reporters’ safety is nothing to take lightly–the more so when a law enforcement chief who should know better is stoking the flames. Volusia County media should respond in concert.

Flagler School District Loses ‘Significant Amount of Money’ in Apparent Phishing Scheme Involving Vendor

October 3, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 18 Comments

School Board Attorney Kristy Gavin's desk was conspicuously empty during today's three-hour workshop: she was investigating a case of potential fraud involving the district's accounts. (© FlaglerLive via Flagler Schools)

The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a case of fraud, or phishing, targeting the Flagler County school district and one of its vendors. The district may have lost as much as $700,000 intended for one of the contractors building the Matanzas High School addition. If it is a case of phishing, the likelihood of recovering the money is not high, especially since the district may not have been timely either in discovering the fraud or in reporting it.

Bob Snyder, ‘Giant During Covid,’ Steps Down from Flagler County Health Department He Led for 11 Years

October 3, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 11 Comments

Bob Snyder looks up to retirement. (© FlaglerLive)

Bob Snyder, who’s led the Flagler County Health Department since 2013, was the co-architect of the county’s response to the Covid pandemic and more recently ensured that the department’s funding more directly reflect the county’s population, after decades of imbalance, stepped down and opted for retirement Sunday, six months before he was planning to do so.

For $3 Million Rebuild of Splash Pad at Holland Park, Palm Coast Turns to Trusted Contractor

October 3, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 20 Comments

The splash pad today. (© FlaglerLive)

Palm Coast government is turning to a trusted contractor, Daytona Beach-based Saboungi Construction–fresh from its ramped up transformation of Waterfront Park–to repair the desolate splash pad at Holland Park, a two-year-old blight on the city’s prized park system and an eyesore at the flagship park almost since it opened in May 2021.

Judge Exonerates ‘Christian’ Teacher Who Refused to Refer to Trans Student by His Preferred Pronouns

October 3, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 12 Comments

trans pronouns

An administrative law judge Monday backed a Miami-Dade County teacher who reportedly told a transgender student that, “I’m a Christian, and my God made no mistakes” while refusing to call the student by preferred pronouns.

Here Are the 3 Lawsuits Against the District the School Board Will Discuss Behind Closed Doors Tuesday

October 2, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 2 Comments

Tuesday's closed-door meeting was initially requested by school board members, contrary to state law, which authorizes only the school board attorney to call such "shade" meetings. (Marcus Wallis on Unsplash)

When the Flagler County School Board meets behind closed doors early Tuesday afternoon, a meeting that may at least in part be in violation of state law, it will discuss three pending lawsuits against the district, and potential settlements in two of them, including an employment discrimination lawsuit scheduled for trial in federal court in December.

Flagler School Board Wants ‘Standing’ Closed-Door Meetings Every 3 Months. That Would Be Illegal.

October 2, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 12 Comments

School Board members Will Furry, Christy Chong and Sally Hunt have been on the board for less than a year. Their grasp of sunshine is tenuous. (© FlaglerLive via Flagler Schools TV)

The Flagler County School Board directed its attorney to schedule “standing” closed-door meetings every three months to get updates on litigation facing the district. Such meetings would be illegal, as was the board assuming the authority to set such meetings, according to Florida law and a veteran local government attorney.

DeSantis Solution to Climate Change: Burn More Fossil Fuels

October 1, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 17 Comments

The last two weeks' erosion just north of the Flagler Beach pier. (© FlaglerLive)

Gov. Ron DeSantis traveled to Texas last week to stand in front of a couple of noisy oil wells and a friendly crowd of oil field workers to issue a clarion call for coping with climate change by burning more fossil fuels. He pledged to make it easier for oil industry to drill and said he would replace references to “climate change” with “energy dominance.”

When Sisco Deen Reconnected Descendants to the Local Legacies of General Hernández, Bings and MalaCompra

October 1, 2023 | FlaglerLive | Leave a Comment

Sisco Deen, standing, with descendants of Gen. Hernandez, at the MalaCompra archeological site. (Flagler County Historical Society)

The late Sisco Deen and his wife Gloria played a central role in exhuming history and reconnecting descendants and state historians with the local legacy of General Joseph Hernández, who owned a plantation residence in what became Bings Landing Park and was the first Hispanic in Congress.

U.S. Supreme Court Will Hear Challenge to Florida Law Forcing Social Media to Carry Objectionable Content

October 1, 2023 | FlaglerLive | Leave a Comment

aca still standing

The Texas and Florida legislatures passed the laws at the center of the disputes in 2021. The Florida law, known as S.B. 7072 or the Stop Social Media Censorship Act, prohibits social-media companies from banning political candidates and “journalistic enterprises.” The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to weigh in on the constitutionality of the controversial laws.

Remembering Lucy Morgan, Florida’s Most Feared Journalist

October 1, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 2 Comments

Lucy Morgan in her days as a reporter for the St. Petersburg Times. (Florida Memory)

When Lucy Morgan started out, female reporters were usually confined to the food and style pages. She was the machete clearing the trail for many women in Florida, not the first pioneering newspaperwoman but surely the most significant. Causing trouble — for the powerful, at least — was her job, and she mentored generations of journalists.

Bipartisan House Vote Keeps Government Open for 45 Days; Flagler’s Mike Waltz Votes Against

September 30, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 13 Comments

The U.S. House approved a bill Saturday that would stave off a government shutdown until at least mid-November, though the measure doesn’t include Ukraine aid backed by both Republicans and Democrats. The bipartisan 335-91 vote to send the bill to the Senate took place with less than 10 hours until funding expired. U.S. Rep. Mike Waltz, who represents Flagler County, voted against the measure.

Sally Hunt Raises Questions About Using Schools as Shelters During Hurricane Emergencies

September 29, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 53 Comments

sally hunt shelters

Flagler County School Board member Sally Hunt questioned whether district schools should continue to be used as shelters during tropical storm emergencies, and whether the district could go to late starts rather than cancel whole days of school. Officials explained to Hunt that schools are an integral part of emergency management, with closures are carefully calibrated between potential risk and the safety of students and staff.

Bible Challenge in Flagler Schools Unravels Inconsistencies, Arbitrariness and Confusion in Review Process

September 29, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 33 Comments

LaShakia Moore, then in her role as assistant superintendent, eplaining to volunteers the district's book-challenge reviewing process--a process the district is not following with a challenge filed regarding the Bible. (© FlaglerLive)

A challenge of the Bible’s presence in some of Flagler County’s public school libraries is unraveling the inconsistencies, contradictions, flaws, and arbitrariness of Flagler County’s book-challenge process. The challenge, filed by Palm Coast resident Bob Gordon, cites 67 passages he claims are sexually explicit, sadistic, graphically violent and bigoted.

Against Family’s Wishes, Chad Cordoma, 21, Is Sentenced to Prison for Texting His Little Brother a Threat

September 28, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 14 Comments

prison sentence for threatening text to little brother

Chad Cordoma, 21, of Palm Coast, who’s had numerous mental health issues, was sentenced to 13.5 months in prison and 18 months on probation for texting his younger brother a death threat and the picture of a gun he was carrying. His parents called 911 thinking they were getting him help. He was arrested, charged with two felonies, and sentenced today, despite the family’s plea against a prison sentence.

At Post-Segregated Assemblies Town Hall, Superintendent Bridges Conversation Beyond Walls and Outrage

September 28, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 7 Comments

Superintendent LaShakia Moore addressing the Carver Center audience Wednesday evening. (© FlaglerLive)

Flagler Schools Superintendent LaShakia Moore hosted a town hall at the Carver Center in predominantly Black South Bunnell Wednesday evening in the wake of the segregated assemblies at Bunnell Elementary School. The audience of some 110 and the superintendent engaged in an open conversation about education and community involvement, with only two moments when the assemblies and their aftermath were discussed.

At Sisco Deen’s Memorial, Tales of When Jail Saved Him from Dissolution and a Jeep Shook Him Overboard

September 28, 2023 | FlaglerLive | Leave a Comment

Al Hadeed, the county attorney, a friend of Sisco Deen's and an amateur historian in his own right, signs Deen's memorial banner at the entrance to Cattleman's Hall Wednesday. (© FlaglerLive)

More than 130 people turned up at Cattleman’s Hall at the Flagler fairgrounds for the Quaker-style memorial and life celebration of Claude Sisco Deen, the veteran, archivist and self-made historian who exhumed much of Flagler County’s documented history and died at 83 on Aug. 31.

Contrasting with Depa Case, Judge Dismisses Charge Against Autistic Female Who’d Assaulted Teacher at Matanzas

September 27, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 19 Comments

Reba Johnson in court today, moments before the felony case against her was dismissed. (© FlaglerLive via zoom)

A felony assault charge against Reba Johnson, now 20, an autistic student who had attacked her teacher at Matanzas High School, was dropped today after she was continuously found incompetent to stand trial,. It’s a sharp contrast with the ongoing charge against Brendan Depa, who faces a more severe felony charge after he attacked a paraprofessional last February, though Depa’s and Johnson’s profiles parallel each other in many, but not all, respects.

Town Center Fills In Slowly: Palm Coast Council Approves First 66 of 161 Homes at ‘The Retreat’

September 27, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 30 Comments

Roads and much of the infrastructure is already in place at The Retreat, previously called the Palm Coast tennis Pod because of its proximity to the city's tennis center and future Southern Recreation center. (Palm Coast)

The Palm Coast City Council last week approved a 66-home development, phase 1 of a gated development that will eventually total 161 houses and duplexes in what’ll be called The Retreat at Town Center, on land just north of the Publix on Central Avenue and east of Belle Terre Parkway. 

Taylor Manjarres, 20, Sentenced to 12 Years in Prison for Her Role in Shooting Death of Zaire Roberts

September 26, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 9 Comments

Taylor Manjarres, 20, walking to the lectern to hear her sentence this afternoon. Her plea deal reduced her exposure from life in prison to 12 years. (© FlaglerLive)

Circuit Judge Terence Perkins sentenced Taylor Renee Manjarres, 20, to 12 years in prison for her role in the armed home invasion that resulted in the shooting death of 23-year-old Zaire Roberts at an R-Section house in Palm Coast in December 2021. Her co-conspirator, Kwentel Moultrie, got 35 years in addition to 10 years for a separate charge.

Michael Benkert, on the Run for 19 Days Since Flagler Beach Trailer Park Manhunt, Is Arrested

September 26, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 4 Comments

The heavy police presence around the trailer park in Flagler Beach the evening of Sept. 7. (© FlaglerLive)

Michael Benkert, the thrice-imprisoned 31-year-old Palm Coast resident who had terrorized family members in Flagler Beach and whose evasion from law enforcement turned a trailer park there into a police-chase zone three weeks ago, was finally apprehended, along with his twin brother Anthony, and faces a half dozen charges, three of them felonies.

‘No Smoke and Mirrors’: New Baler Helps Flagler Beach Recycle 4 Tons of Cardboard a Week

September 26, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 8 Comments

Flagler Beach's Sanitation Department is now in the cardboard baling business: it placed 18 tons of cardboard, or 24 bales, on a truck last month when the new system kicked off. (Rob Smith)

Flagler Beach’s Sanitation Department acquired a $6,000 carboard baler and since mid-August has been baling some 4 tons of carboard a week. The city was previously trucking the loose cardboard to ELS Environmental in Bunnell, and losing on the revenue.

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Page 1
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 32
  • Page 33
  • Page 34
  • Page 35
  • Page 36
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 266
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

  • grand living realty
  • politis matovina attorneys for justice personal injury law auto truck accidents

Recent Comments

  • Scott Adie on Trump’s ‘Beautiful’ Bill Cuts $3.8 Billion from Florida’s Healthcare System, Hurting Hospitals and the Poor
  • Pogo on The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Tuesday, October 14, 2025
  • where/when will this end? on Florida’s 1st Public School Chaplain Is Trump Disciple at War with Church-State Wall
  • Jane Gentile Youd on Palm Coast’s Message to Flagler Humane Society: Help Us Help You
  • Gail on Palm Coast’s Message to Flagler Humane Society: Help Us Help You
  • Willyhall on Palm Coast Man Neglects to Take Infant Daughter to Hospital After She Ingested Edibles, Attending Football Game Instead
  • Dennis C Rathsam on The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Tuesday, October 14, 2025
  • celia pugliese on The Palm Coast City Manager Candidates In Their Own Words: Videos and Vision Papers
  • JMH on The Supreme Court’s Vision of Unlimited Presidential Power
  • CH on With Shutdown, Democrats Finally Take a Clear and Critical Stand
  • Ed Danko, former Vice-Mayor, PC on Palm Coast’s Message to Flagler Humane Society: Help Us Help You
  • TR on At Celebration of Life for Jorge and Nancy Salinas, a Couple’s Forever ‘Spirit and Joy’ Counter Brutality of Loss
  • Kyoshin on DeSantis Signs Warrant to Kill Bryan Jennings, Murderer of 6-Year-Old Girl, for 16th Execution of the Year
  • Dennis C Rthsam on Palm Coast’s Message to Flagler Humane Society: Help Us Help You
  • Jim on The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, October 13, 2025
  • JimboXYZ on At Celebration of Life for Jorge and Nancy Salinas, a Couple’s Forever ‘Spirit and Joy’ Counter Brutality of Loss

Log in