The decision to table the proposal until January 19 followed almost an hour of tense, at times embittered public comment and interactions with Mayor Milissa Holland, including the threat of a lawsuit, as opponents claimed the city or its contractor had illegally moved the proposed location.
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County Scraps Rent-Free Space for Senior Meals in Flagler Beach to Pay $3,000 a Month, With $1,200 Yearly Increases
County commissioners Monday evening were set to approve a plan that would move the senior meals program from the Wickline Center in Flagler Beach to Church on the Rock in Bunnell and pay the church $3,000 a month in rent the first year, rising by $100 a month per year over the potential 15-year life of the lease, ending a 38-year, rent-free relationship.
Federal Felon and 2 Teens Arrested in Armed Home Invasion-Robbery on Palm Coast’s Prospect Lane
Carlos Dupree, 34, a felon on probation, Korey Jones, 16, and Darius Watts, 15, were arrested early Sunday following an alleged armed home-invasion robbery at a house on Prospect Lane in Palm Coast where seven victims sustained injuries and were robbed at gunpoint.
Hospitals Scramble to Prioritize Which Workers Are First for Scarce Covid Vaccine
An advisory committee of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that top priority go to long-term care facilities and front-line health care workers, but the early allocation was always expected to fall far short of the need and require selective screening even among critical hospital workers.
Why Was Flagler’s County Administrator Allowed to Illegally Start a Public Meeting With a Christian Prayer?
A county commissioner read out a long and explicitly Christian prayer prepared by County Administrator Jerry Cameron at Monday’s commission meeting, breaking decades of precedent without prior legal review, public discussion or commissioners’ prior knowledge.
Grand Jury Rips Florida’s Mental Health System, Citing ‘Deficiencies in Funding, Leadership and Services’
The statewide grand jury studying school safety said in the report that it is “clear to us that inadequately addressed mental health issues have the peculiar potential to spiral out over time into criminal acts and violent behavior resulting in serious injury and loss of life.”
Fred Griffith, Flagler Beach’s City Engineer, Abruptly Announces Retirement ‘Under Duress’ After Reprimand
Fred Griffith, Flagler Beach’s city engineer since 2017, said he was retiring “under duress” after getting a written reprimand, following a complaint by City Commissioner Rick Belhumeur that Griffith had directed “contempt” at him. Griffith was not known to have easy public relations.
As Covid Deaths Reach 46 in Flagler, Local Officials Detail Vaccination Plans and Refute Anti-Vaxxers’ Disinformation
Dr. Stephen Bickel and Bob Snyder of the Flagler Health Department outlined the logistics of vaccinating all residents and refuted disinformation about the dangers of vaccines, describing how individuals may feel after getting vaccinated and what the chances are of having adverse reactions.
Jacksonville University Plans Major Campus Expansion in Palm Coast in City’s 2nd Higher-Ed Partnership
Jacksonville University and Palm Coast announced a joint partnership that will open a JU campus in town–the university’s first-ever expansion beyond Jacksonville in its 86-year history–and enroll 150 to 200 full-time students within 24 months. The focus will be health-care education, and more specifically, nursing.
Flagler Beach Commission Unanimously Clears a Step Toward Flagler Beach Hotel Construction in Center of Town
The vote was unanimous. The discussion–what there was of it–took all of eight minutes. There was no discussion among commissioners, no controversy, and aside from one public voice opposed, no dissent, clearing yet another hurdle for the planned hotel.
Advisers Recommend Checkered Shortlist of 7 for Flagler Beach City Manager, Out of Motley Field of 57 Applicants
An advisory group of retired city managers has recommended a short-list of seven candidates for Flagler Beach city manager, but city commissioners are free to decide for themselves who they will choose to interview when they discuss the pool of 57 candidates Thursday evening. The candidate will replace the late Larry Newsom.
Tom Russell, Flagler Palm Coast High School Principal, Dies of Covid Complications, Leaving ‘Legacy of Kindness and Decency’
James Tom Russell, Flagler Palm Coast High School’s principal since 2019 and a former superintendent in Volusia County, where he built a 30-year career in education, died today of complications from covid-19. Russell had been diagnosed with Covid-19 on Nov. 16 and more recently was hospitalized.
$21 Million Sheriff’s Building Would Be Financed With 15-Year CenterState Bank Loan at 1.83% Interest
Flagler County commissioners on Monday will consider approving a $20 million loan from a commercial bank to finance the proposed Sheriff’s Operations Center in Bunnell, significantly adding to the county’s current debt load of $142 million and annual debt servicing of more than $11 million.
Talk of Stimulus: Cancel All Student Debt
Research by the Federal Reserve and the Levy Economics Institute shows that debt cancellation would boost the national economy. Freed up from these financial burdens, former debt holders would have more buying power just when we and they need it most.
Appeals Court Tosses GOP Challenge to Mask Mandate in Leon, But Doesn’t Address Constitutional Issues
Throughout the pandemic, Gov. Ron DeSantis has declined to issue a statewide mask mandate. He also issued an executive order in September that suspended collection of fines and penalties related to violations of mask requirements, but that did not prevent local governments from continuing to have the requirements.
Fifth New Cell Tower in 2 Years, at Palm Harbor Golf Club, Draws Less Than Beaming Reception
A new, 150-foot monopole off of 20 Palm Harbor Drive, on the grounds of the city’s golf club, drew a little bit of resistance from a council member and a few residents, though the Palm Coast City Council appears ready to approve construction later this month.
State Police Raid Home of Rebekah Jones, Ex-Florida Health Department Whistleblower on Covid Stats
Rebekah Jones was fired earlier this year after complaining that Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration was manipulating Covid-19 data to make the virus appear less prevalent as the governor pushed to reopen Florida’s economy.
$21 Million Flagler Sheriff’s Operations Center Unveiled, But Questions About Financing Remain Unanswered
The Flagler County Commission approved a $21 million, 51,000 square-foot Sheriff’s Operations Center. But questions remain unanswered about the project’s financing, which was not presented to the commission today, and its ultimate cost, which would reach nearly $23 million when financing it over 15 years is included.
Pistols, a Hearse and Trucks Playing Chicken: Why Some Voters Felt Harassed and Intimidated at the Polls
Across the country, people complained about threats, aggressive electioneering and racist language both at early voting locations and on Election Day. We’ve corroborated some of those accounts.
Enough with ‘Patently False and Fabricated Conspiracy Theories’ on 2020 Vote, a GOP Elections Supervisor Says
Pasco County Elections Supervisor Brian Corley, a Republican, condemns continuing attacks on the integrity of the presidential election– the most secure, transparent election in history, he says, now undermined by “destructive rhetoric” that is “prioritizing politics at the expense of our country’s founding principles.”
43rd Flagler Resident Dies of Covid; Local Covid Hospitalizations at 15; Fire Chief Out Sick, County Refuses to Say Who’s In Charge
Some 47 Palm Coast city government employees are currently out either directly or indirectly affected by Covid, but the county is refusing to disclose numbers, or say who’s leading the fire department, whose interim chief, Joe King, has been out with a covid diagnosis.
City Approves Development of Medical Campus that Would Extend Palm Coast Parkway Across U.S. 1
The 89-acre development may include a hospital, medical offices, laboratories, primary care center, urgent care center, a wellness center, outpatient surgery center, educational facilities, other medical-related uses, and ancillary retail and restaurant uses, according to the development agreement.
Palm Coast Councilmen Behave, But Public Segments Turn Twilight Zones of Conspiracies and Fabrications
Numerous members of the public’s chip-on-the-shoulder grievances against the Palm Coast City Council suggest that the noxious and often fallacy-filled and slanderous rhetoric may not have ended with the election, but merely morphed into a new form, using the council as platform, and council members as punching bags.
Covid Justice: Florida Court Rules Zoom Hearings Don’t Violate Defendants’ Constitutional Rights
In a legal test of remote court proceedings during the Covid-19 pandemic, an appeals court Wednesday rejected arguments that using Zoom technology in a probation-violation hearing would violate a defendant’s constitutional rights.
Felon Who Had AdventHealth Palm Coast On Lock-Down Over Threats to Kill Is Sentenced to Probation
Kelsey Joe Anderson, the 38-year-old Bunnell felon who had AdventHealth Palm Coast on lockdown 14 months ago after he threatened his wife, who worked there, that he was driving over there to kill her co-workers, was found guilty of a second-degree felony and will serve a year under house arrest and three years on probation, but no jail or prison time.
Flagler’s Cold-Weather Homeless Shelter, In New Home, Opens for 15 Guests With a Few Dollars’ Help from Local Governments
Flagler County’s only cold-weather shelter for the homeless moved from its old location after 12 years to Church on the Rock on U.S. 1, where it operated for the first time this year, on Monday and Tuesday nights, with security, privacy from formerly resentful neighbors, and elbow room to spare.
Unemployment Payments Are Weeks Late in Florida and in Nearly Every State
A federal standard requires 87% of unemployment claims to be met within three weeks of filing. Florida wasn’t ,meeting the standard even before the pandemic, and since spring, saw the standard fall as low as 22 percent. Florida’s dismal record prompted a lawsuit.
Flagler Beach Hotel Replacing Farmers’ Market Gets Key Board’s Approval, With No Public Opposition
The Flagler Beach Planning Board Tuesday evening voted 7-0 to recommend the plan for a 97-room hotel and town houses adjacent to Veterans Park on land used for a farmers’ market for 30 years. There was. surprisingly, no public opposition. The proposal moves on to the City Commission on Dec. 10.
Flagler Sees Highest 2-Week Tally Yet as Covid Hits School, County and City Leaders and Passes 1 Million Mark in State
Leaders in Palm Coast, the Flagler County Fire Department and the district’s largest school are battling Covid-19 in a two-week stretch that’s also seen the highest number of infections in schools, where the plan is to continue the option of remote learning past Christmas.
12-Room Motel and 3-Unit Development, Including 2 Vacation Rentals, Advance in Flagler Beach
While three tourism-focused proposed developments in Flagler Beach point to a bullish economic future that would help balance the city’s tax base, the spate of high-visibility proposals may also be contributing to a mixture of public unease and antagonism to so much palpable change, much of it in iconic areas.
97-Room Hotel and 10 Town Homes Would Replace Flagler Beach Farmer’s Market Parcel in Heart of the City
A South Florida architect and resort developer is proposing to build a 97-room resort and 10 walk-up town houses for short-term renters in Flagler Beach on the rectangular vacant acreage in the heart of city best known for its weekend farmers’ market, which has not been active in the past year. The resort, 35 feet tall at its height, would vastly change the complexion and skyline of downtown, though it would also be a return to form of sorts.
Florida (and Flagler) Can Thank ‘Luck’ as Most Active Hurricane Season on Record Ends Monday
In a season that overlapped the coronavirus pandemic, most storms spun away from Florida, sparing communities double-barreled crises of responding to a major storm while contending with restrictions and safety concerns imposed by the coronavirus.
The Pendulum Was Swinging Toward Reopening Schools. Then Came the Surge.
The national Covid-19 surge that is overwhelming hospitals in some states has stalled any further movement toward opening classrooms. Scores of schools are closing in hard-hit states, and major cities are shelving plans to reopen schools for the first time.
Supreme Court Refuses to Reinstate Death Sentences in Decision That Could Affect 2 Flagler Inmates
The decisions could apply to about 100 inmates, possibly including David Snelgrove of Palm Coast, who was removed from death row in January after his lawyer successfully argued for life without parole, and Cornelius Baker, whose hope for a new penalty-phase trial is still pending.
Trump’s Suicide Bomber Act
Liberals would be fools to think the election was a turning point. The next four years will be as much a trial of democracy as the last four, just more diffuse, the cancer cells of Trumpism poisoning states and localities, as we’ve already seen locally in the last couple of years. Not the America we know? If you’ve been paying attention since 1980, it’s exactly the America we know.
Audrey II Puts Bite in City Rep’s “Little Shop of Horrors,” Opening Outdoors on Thanksgiving Weekend
“Little Shop of Horrors” is City Repertory Theatre’s most expensive production in 10 years, and is intended in part to give theater-goers a break from pandemic fatigue even as the show easily invites allegorical leaps to the present-day.
Two School Districts Had Different Mask Policies. Only One Had a Teacher on a Ventilator.
Eleven states let school districts decide whether students and staff must wear masks. One Georgia middle school where masks were optional–only about half of the children wore them–became the center of an outbreak.
Oral Arguments on Alachua’s Mask Mandate Evoke Hijabs, Nazis, KKK, Crime and, Finally, Public Health
Oral arguments about Alachua County’s mask mandate before a three-judge panel of the First Circuit Court of Appeal Monday was a spectacle of audacious leaps and strange analogies that nevertheless illustrated the sharp and far from resolved divide between mask proponents and anti-maskers, including on the judicial bench.
Powered by Vacation Rentals, Flagler’s Tourism Revenue Is Up Significantly as State’s Drops 30%
Flagler County’s tourism-tax revenue has gone up three successive months between July and September, substantially so in August and September, in contrast with statewide tourism revenue, which plummeted 30 percent in the third quarter. Vacation rentals, the beach, and vacationers traveling shorter distances account for the county’s success.
Charles Swindell, Felon Who Threatened to Burn His Mother and Did Burn a Child, Arrested for Raping Girl
Charles G. Swindell, a 50-year-old resident of Palm Coast, has a long and violent history, particularly with his own family–his mother and his children. But he’s served relatively little time in jail for his felony and misdemeanor convictions since 2013. That may change with his most serious charge yet: raping a child entrusted to him.
‘That Covid Kicked My Butt’: Flagler Infections Reach 2nd-Highest Weekly Total, 32 in Schools
Flagler County has the 10th-lowest average in the last seven days among Florida’s 67 counties. But those are relative and deceptive numbers that appear better only in relation to much worse numbers elsewhere. In the absolute local numbers remain dismal–and dangerous–by any measure.
Court’s Trump Appointees Strike Down Florida Bans on Bigoted ‘Conversion Therapy’ Aimed at LGBTQ Children
Two South Florida ordinances barred therapists from providing treatment or counseling that is designed to change minors’ sexual orientation or gender identity. Critics of such therapy say it harms minors who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. The federal court ruled against the ban on First Amendment grounds.
Recovery Stalls in Flagler and Volusia as Job Gains Slow, Consumer Confidence Drops and Covid Cases Surge
Flagler County’s unemployment rate in October was 5.7 percent, down a statistically insignificant decimal point from the previous month, and consumer confidence statewide again dropped in a reflection of the sharply worsening covid pandemic locally and statewide.
After Brush With Flagler Deputies, 2 Brothers Brag of Murdering 21 Year Old, But Questions Remain
Angel and Jojo Lobato, the two brothers involved in the traffic stop last week in Flagler County, were arrested in Polk County on first degree murder, grand theft and other charges connected to the stabbing death of 21-year-old Danne Frazier of Winter Haven.
How the ‘Massive’ Rollout of the Covid Vaccine Will Happen in Phases in Flagler and Palm Coast This Spring
Health care workers and first responders will get the vaccine first, followed by residents at large. The health department will use the same infrastructure it uses for Covid-19 testing, but on a more massive scale–assuming the more than 112,000 doses needed to approach herd immunity in Flagler are available by spring.
Flagler Public Health Director Echoes Strong CDC Directives Against Travel at Thanksgiving as Covid Surges
Bob Snyder, who heads the Flagler health department, has been warning for weeks that the combination of holiday gatherings, cooler weather and more indoor activities would result in quicker spread of the disease at a time when community spread is already out of control in much of the country and not exactly under control in Flagler.
Bar Deems Her ‘Not Qualified,’ But Senate Confirms Trump Nominee Kathryn Mizelle to Florida Judgeship
At 33, Kathryn Kimball “Kat” Mizelle is President Trump’s youngest federal judge appointee. She will serve in the Middle District of Florida, which includes Flagler County. She has never tried a case, criminal or civil. She was a former clerk for Supreme Court Judge Clarence Thomas.
FPC Principal Tom Russell Reveals Covid Diagnosis as Cases Rise and State Extends Remote School Option To June
Russell’s revelation occurs as cases in Flagler and in Florida are rising sharply and the surge cascading over much of the nation, now reaching catastrophic proportions in many states, is beginning to ripple in Florida, where the state agreed to extend remote-learning options in all schools through June.
Finally Confronting Warming, Florida Lawmakers Set to Address Rising Seas and Flooding Systematically
Florida lawmakers’ new perspectives and readiness to more directly tackle the crisis represented a further evolution in the position of Florida Republicans about climate change. But environmentalists said the GOP leaders are not going far enough.
State Attorney Will Seek Death Penalty for Derrek Perkins in Stabbing Murder of Wife Brandi in Hastings
The victim, a resident of Green Cove Springs who worked at a restaurant in St. Augustine, had filed an injunction against Derrek the day before the stabbing and after several intimidating and threatening incidents involving him.