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Flagler, Palm Coast & Other Local News

An 82-Year-Old Palm Coast Resident Dies After He Is Pulled from the Surf, Disoriented, in Marineland

February 3, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 14 Comments

The incident unfolded midday Friday in shallow surf by the gray rock revetment in Marineland. (© FlaglerLive)

Carmelo Legato, an 82-year-old resident of Palm Coast on an outing in Marineland Friday morning, was pulled out of the surf after he had stumbled in the water, lost consciousness, and died after CPR efforts by a good Samaritan and Flagler County Fire Rescue proved unsuccessful.

Your Tax Dollars Are About to Fund Religious Schools, Salafist Madrassas and Satanic Temples

February 1, 2025 | Pierre Tristam | 34 Comments

public money religious charter schools

Let’s examine why Saudi Arabia’s Islamists are so aroused over the U.S. Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling by June that using public money to fund religious madrassas is perfectly fine. The court took on the case last week from Oklahoma, where an online Catholic school, St. Isidore of Seville, but really more of 7501 NW Expressway in Oklahoma City, across from Home Depot and the Mattress Firm Clearance Center, sued after it was denied a charter and tax dollars. 

Bullied Buddy Taylor Student Arrested for Bringing BB Gun to School for ‘Protection’; 4 Student Arrests in a Week

January 31, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 13 Comments

A 13-year-old Buddy Taylor Middle School Student who said he was being bullied brought a BB gun to school as protection. He was arrested and faces a felony charge. (© FlaglerLive)

A 13-year-old Buddy Taylor Middle School students became the fourth Palm Coast teen in the span of six days to face a felony charge and arrest, in this case for bringing a BB gun in the shape of a Glock. The student said he did so to protect himself against bullies, knowing that school officials would not protect him. 

In Rare Vote Against Business, Bunnell Sides with Residents and Rejects Rezoning That’d Have Allowed Concrete Plant

January 31, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 14 Comments

Hard Rock's plant in Elkton. The company is seeking to open a similar plant in Bunnell, at the end of Hibiscus Avenue. (Google)

In a rare rejection of a land-use change that would have opened the way for a new company and new jobs in the city, the Bunnell City Commission voted 3-2 to turn down the rezoning of 1.4 acres at the end of Hibiscus Avenue from residential to light industrial. The vote closed the way for Hard Rock Materials Inc., a concrete manufacturing company, to build a batch plant there and on a much larger parcel attached to it. A batch plant mixes cement to produce concrete for delivery. It can be noisy, affect air quality and significantly increase traffic on Hibiscus Avenue with concrete trucks.

Daytona Solisti String Quartet Will Feature Mozart, Irish Tunes and Guest Guitar Soloist Miles McConnell

January 31, 2025 | FlaglerLive | Leave a Comment

Guitarist Miles McConnell will perform classical works and Irish tunes at Daytona Solisti’s Feb. 16 concert, “Chamber Music Masterpieces.” (Miles McConnell)

A work Mozart wrote for a king, but which the cash-strapped composer sold “for a song” to a music publisher, will be featured during “Chamber Music Masterpieces,” a concert by the Daytona Solisti String Quartet. The concert, the second in Daytona Solisti’s Winter Festival celebrating the group’s 20th anniversary, also will include a Mozart serenade featured in the 1984 Oscar-winning biopic “Amadeus,” and Orlando-based guitarist Miles McConnell will perform classical works and Irish tunes.

Want To Be a Health Influencer? Join 2025 MedNexus Innovation Challenge

January 30, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 1 Comment

A team of high school students presenting their innovation to the judges at last year's MedNexus Challenge. (Palm Coast)

The University of North Florida (UNF), in partnership with the City of Palm Coast and Flagler Schools and sponsored by AdventHealth, has announced the 2025 MedNexus Innovation Challenge. This exciting competition offers regional high school students the opportunity to pitch innovative solutions to Florida’s evolving healthcare needs while competing for scholarship prizes. This year’s theme, “Becoming a Health Influencer,” challenges teams of four high school students to develop strategies leveraging social media to positively influence adolescent health.

Flagler County Historical Society Prepares Inaugural Bunnell History Day as Accelerant for City’s Renaissance

January 30, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 7 Comments

View showing the Pure Oil Co. gas station on US 1 at Moody Drive in Bunnell, Florida.

With a $5,000 state grant and local sponsorships, the Flagler County Historical Society is organizing Bunnell History Day, with the inaugural all-day event scheduled for June 7. Society members outlined the plan to the Bunnell City Commission as an effort to use history to focus attention on the city’s identity and enduring impact on the county.

26-Year-Old Palm Coast Woman Charged with Molesting 13-Year-Old Boy During Family Christmas

January 30, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 7 Comments

Angel Marie Sexton.

Angel Marie Sexton, a 26-year-old resident of Royal Oak Drive in Palm Coast, was charged with molesting a 13-year-old boy whose family was visiting Sexton’s family over Christmas in Palm Coast. The child’s mother uncovered the alleged assault when she found romantic texts between Sexton and the boy on a family phone the boy had taken for himself. The older woman, according to the texts, was telling the boy that he could be emancipated at 16 and that she would leave her husband and marry him when he was 18.

How Judge Nichols Talked 2 Defendants Off Ledge of Risking Life in Prison at Trial and Accepting Plea Deals Instead

January 29, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 3 Comments

Circuit Judge Dawn Nichols two weeks ago, reading the verdict form from a jury that had just convicted a man on all charges, resulting in his mandatory life in prison sentence. "I don't think any judge enjoys sentencing a 22 year old to life in prison," Nichols told a defendant today, trying to convince him to take a plea and not risk life in prison. (© FlaglerLive)

Stephanie Raimundo, 48, and Jeba Johnson, 22, were both facing life in prison on stacks of charges if convicted at the trials they wanted: Raimundo for trafficking drugs and for manslaughter in the death by overdose of 22-year-old Calvin Stull, Johnson for armed burglary and other acts of violence. In a remarkable 75-minute hearing for both before Circuit Judge Dawn Nichols this afternoon at the Flagler County courthouse, the judge talked both of them out of going to trial and accepting plea deals that will result in less than 13 years for Raimundo, once gain time is counted, and 25 years for Johnson.

Bunnell Rubber-Stamping Development Agreement for 8,000-Home Haw Creek Reserve, Residents Complain

January 29, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 14 Comments

The Bunnell City Commission has not publicly analyzed the development agreement controlling the 8,000-home Reserve at Haw Creek. Residents want the commission to do that work. (© FlaglerLive)

The Bunnell City Commission devoted just 60 minutes to a workshop its own planning board had requested to review the 65-page development agreement with the Reserve at Haw Creek, the 8,000-home development west and south of the city that will change the complexion of Bunnell. Residents complained that 60 minutes wasn’t enough, and raised numerous issues that have been raised over the past few months, to a non-reactive commission. But the commission subsequently agreed to set a future workshop.

Indian Trails’ Brandy Anderson Is Teacher of the Year, Wadsworth’s Brande Martz Is Employee of the Year

January 29, 2025 | FlaglerLive | Leave a Comment

Brandy Anderson, left, and Brande Martz. (Flagler Schools)

Flagler Schools congratulates Ms. Brandy Anderson of Indian Trails Middle School as the 2024-2025 Teacher of the Year and Ms. Brande Martz of Wadsworth Elementary School as the 2024-2025 Employee of the Year. Both will represent Flagler Schools in the Florida Department of Education State Competition later this year.

GOP’s Randy Fine and Democrats’ Josh Weil Win Placid Primary for Waltz Congressional Seat

January 28, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 13 Comments

voting turnout randy fine

In one of the dreariest elections in recent memory, Randy Fine, the Brevard County state Senator, today won the Republican primary in the race to fill the congressional seat vacated by Mike Waltz, whom President Trump named his national security adviser. Josh Weil won the Democratic primary. Fine and Weill will face off in the general election on April 1.

Selling Palm Harbor Golf Course Draws Strong Opposition as Council Meanders Over Purpose of City ‘Amenities’

January 28, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 27 Comments

For nearly a decade Palm Coast government has considered its Palm Harbor golf course as a city amenity that does not necessarily have to make money. Several council members now disagree. (© FlaglerLive)

The Palm Coast City Council found little support for any suggestion of selling the city-owned Palm Harbor golf course even as council members agreed it could not keep bleeding losses. At the same time, council members differed over the meaning of city amenities like parks and the golf course, which a different council agreed several years ago are not intended to, or expected to, make money. Council member Charles Gambaro wants a fuller analysis of all amenities profit and loss statements, raising questions about the meaning and purpose of city functions.

Unhappy with Choices, Palm Coast Reopens City Manager Search for ‘Unicorn’ Even as It Culls Second-Best Shortlist

January 28, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 6 Comments

A detail from "The Unicorn in Captivity," a wool, silk, silver and gilded-silver wrapped thread from the south Netherland area, around 1495 to 1505, on display at the Cloisters in New York. Palm Coast is looking for its unicorn. (© FlaglerLive)

It’s not exactly what the short-listed candidates want to hear: you’re OK, but we’d rather not settle for you. We’re still looking. That was, putting it kindly, the message the Palm Coast City Council sent the six candidates it short-listed, out of a shallow pool of 37, as it seeks to hire a permanent city manager. The more precise message is that a majority of council members aren’t happy with the candidate pool it got, and that it’s re-opening the search for at least a month. 

Panel Recommends Renaming City Hall’s Community Wing for Late Palm Coast Mayor Jon Netts

January 27, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 14 Comments

The Community Wing at City Hall is the slightly more squat structure to the left. (© FlaglerLive)

Two months after the Palm Coast City Council rejected naming the city’s flagship community center for Jon Netts, the late mayor and councilman, an advisory committee voted unanimously to recommend renaming City Hall’s Community Wing, where meetings and workshops are held, for Netts. The city’s Beautification and Environmental Advisory Committee, where all renaming proposals are vetted, also recommended renaming the new show tennis court at the Southern Recreation Center for the Friends of Tennis–what will be called the Friends Stadium Court.

Aiden Barnett, 20, Arrested on Aggravated Child Abuse Charge Days After Telling Judge He’s a ‘Changed Man’

January 27, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 12 Comments

Aiden Barnett.

Three weeks ago 20-year-old Aiden Barnett of Palm Coast’s B-Section wrote a judge that he was a “a completely changed person” since he fled from a cop at 115 miles per hour. On probation, he was asking for a waiver on his anger-management class and community service hours. On Friday, he was arrested on a first-degree felony charge of aggravated child abuse after allegedly punching a 17-year-old girl so hard that she had a concussion and was hospitalized.

Palm Harbor Golf Course Lost $3.4 Million in Operating Costs Alone, Far More in Capital Since Palm Coast Took Ownership

January 27, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 41 Comments

The Palm Harbor golf course has been in the bunker since its earliest days. (© FlaglerLive)

Since it opened in 2009 as a city-owned facility, and with one meager exception in 2022, Palm Coast’s Palm Harbor golf course has been a drain on city coffers. The course has run combined losses of $3.44 million in the last 16 years, or an average of $215,000 a year. The figure increases sharply when depreciation and capital losses are included. Taxpayers have been subsidizing the golf course all those years. Palm Coast City Council members are tiring of the losses.

Imagine What Will be Left of Florida After Our Leaders Are Done With It

January 26, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 43 Comments

florida legislature leaders diane roberts

This is the country we’re now living in: dictatorial, unrepresentative, and deeply unkind. What will be left of Florida in four years? What will be left of America?

Pioneered in Palm Coast: A Decade of Robotics at AdventHealth

January 26, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 1 Comment

Dr. Gary Allen and the AdventHealth Waterman team members trained extensively to support state-of-the-art robotic-assisted cardiac surgery. Pictured left to right: David Morales, Barb Short, “Terry” Donald Caskey, David Ellingson, PA, Dr. Gary Allen, Eric Soto, Xiaoya Liu, Perla Ruiz, and Teresa Haire. (AdventHealth)

A decade ago, AdventHealth introduced the area’s first surgical robot in Palm Coast. Today, this program has grown to include a fleet of 17 robotic surgery devices across the AdventHealth East Florida Division, offering patients robotic surgical procedures in multiple specialties.

American Trilogy: OJ Simpson, Louis Farrakhan, Donald Trump

January 25, 2025 | Pierre Tristam | 22 Comments

On Oct. 3, 1995, after a trial that had lasted as long as a presidential election campaign, a jury found O.J. Simpson not guilty of murdering Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. Blacks cheered. Whites were horrified and angered that Blacks cheered. Blacks cheered even louder at whites being horrified. All they saw was white derangement syndrome. Sound familiar?

Tuscan Reserve Apartments Handyman Accused of Using His Access to Units to Steal Thousands in Jewelry

January 24, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 8 Comments

Joshua Powell.

Joshua Raymond Powell, a 44-year-old resident of Satsuma employed as a handyman at Tuscan Reserve, the apartment complex in Palm Coast’s Town Center, was arrested last week on nine felony charges of burglary, fraud and dealing in stolen property following a Flagler County Sheriff’s investigation that determined that Powell allegedly entered homes where he was needed for repairs, only to steal the residents’ jewelry and other valuables.

Flagler Beach Pier Construction Delayed to Spring as City Commission Approves $14.1 Million Construction Contract

January 24, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 3 Comments

The Flagler Beach Pier in 1929, when it was a year old and 600 feet long. (Florida Memory)

After a relatively brief discussion that belies nearly nine years of anguish, delays, debates, financing and design of a new pier, the Flagler Beach City Commission Thursday evening unanimously approved a $14.1 million contract with Beckley, W.Va.-based Vecellio and Grogan to build a 714-ft. concrete pier in place of the existing, 97-year-old wooden relic, which has been closed to public or any use since the fall of 2022. Construction was previously set to start last December. It may not start until late spring, and it’ll be a challenge to complete it by July 4, 2026.

Flagler Unemployment Falls Slightly to 3.8% but Labor Force Continues to Decline; Home Sales Rebound a Little

January 24, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 14 Comments

flagler florida unemployment

Flagler County’s unemployment rate edged back below 4 percent for the first time in six months, at 3.8 percent, as a couple hundred people gained jobs and the number of unemployed residents fell by 300. But Flagler County’s labor force again shrank, as it has most months for more than a year, to 50,849. The labor force is at its lowest level since February 2023, when it was 50,773 and rising.

Behind Daniel Fish Losing Head Football Coach Job at FPC: Major Fumbles in Classroom, and 2nd Reprimand in 14 Months

January 23, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 14 Comments

coach Daniel Fish fired

Following an internal investigation that ended in December, Daniel Fish, who was fired last week as head football coach at Flagler Palm Coast High School, was the subject of a letter of reprimand for a series of grave failures in his teaching and administrative duties. It was the second disciplinary write-up for Fish in 14 months. He had been the subject of a “letter of caution” in October 2023 following a violent incident that had started among student-athletes in the football team’s unsupervised locker room. He retains his teaching job.

Old Dixie Motel Owners Have 5 Months To Secure Building Permits or Face Demolition by County’s Order

January 23, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 22 Comments

Special Magistrate Sean McDermott. (© FlaglerLive)

A special magistrate gave the owners of the neglected Old Dixie hotel five months to secure four permits from Flagler County or face demolition of the property. The decision by the magistrate, Sean McDermott, amounts to a further life extension for the hotel property, yet again frustrating the county’s attempts since last March to demolish a building it considers to be a nuisance and a danger to public health.

Palm Coast Council Approves 182-House Development’s Final Step Near Airport in Seminole Woods, With a Disclaimer

January 22, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 54 Comments

About 80 percent of the infrastructure has been built at the Enclave, a new Seminole Woods development that will total 180 single-family houses when completed. (Palm Coast)

The Palm Coast City Council on Tuesday approved the final plat for the 182-home subdivision known as the Enclave at Seminole Palms, on 70 acres north of the Citation Boulevard extension, between Belle Terre Boulevard and Seminole Woods Boulevard, and just south of the county airport property. Platting is a legally required final regulatory step in a development, mapping out individual property boundaries, easements, roads and other infrastructure features.

AdventHealth CEO Audrey Gregory Cautions Employers of Labor Crunch Ahead, and to Prize Workers Accordingly

January 22, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 6 Comments

Audrey Gregory in an earlier phase of her career, as a nurse, and with her family, in a slide she showed the audience at a Tiger Bay lunch talk today. (© FlaglerLive)

A labor crunch is tightening the job market all over America from IT to education to retail, but more especially in restaurants, hotels, construction and healthcare, AdventHealth East Region Executive Vice President and CEO Audrey Gregory told a sold-out audience at today’s Flagler Tiger Bay Club monthly lunch. The way to manage through it is primarily to nurture and value existing employees, to further their education at the company’s expense, to move them up, and to pay them better.

Vincent’s Clubhouse Spurs Opportunities for People with Disabilities, Bridging Needs Beyond School District

January 22, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 8 Comments

Vincent Cona, for whom Vincent's Clubhouse is named, embracing his mother and Vincent's Founder Erica Flores, with her husband, Hector Flores, left, at Tuesday's ribbon-cutting. (© FlaglerLive)

Vincent’s Clubhouse Enrichment Center at Palm Coast’s European Village is an evidence-based program focused on vocational and life skills training, personal development, hygiene, financial skills, marketplace skills, and literacy for adults and younger people. But it was not until late last year, after years of evolution and growth, that Vincent’s Clubhouse’s nomadic years ended with the opening of its permanent home, a 1,600-square-foot facility–what would otherwise be a shopfront–at European Village, with a faculty of five and 20 adult “members” enrolled.

Catherine Robinson Again Re-Elected Mayor Without Opposition; 5 Vie for Bunnell Commission, 3 for Flagler Beach

January 21, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 4 Comments

No surprise: Catherine Robinson was re-elected mayor in Bunnell without opposition. (© FlaglerLive)

Bunnell Mayor Catherine Robinson was re-elected without opposition when qualifying ended last week, extending the longest tenure of any of Flagler County’s 37 elected officials, by a wide margin. Three commissioners and the mayor in Beverly Beach were re-elected without opposition. But two commission seats in Bunnell and two seats in Flagler Beach are being contested. The election is March 4.

Yacht Club Gives Up Palm Coast Boat Parade After 41 Years, Citing Costs and City’s Obstacles; Mayor Pledges Takeover

January 21, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 46 Comments

It's sunset for the Palm Coast Holiday Boat Parade, at least in the Palm Coast Yacht Club's hands, which have sponsored the parade for the last 41 years. Palm Coast government may take it over. (Robert Ulis)

The Palm Coast Yacht Club is giving up on the Holiday Boat Parade, a local fixture for 41 years. The Yacht Club cited burdensome costs and too many obstacles and expectations from the city, all of which have taken the fun out of running it, its organizer says. The Palm Coast City Council today signaled its willingness to take it over and run it as a special event. But it would have to be approved through the coming budget process. 

Sorry Palm Coast, No Snow For You: Winter Storm Warning Boundaries Are North and West of Flagler

January 21, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 5 Comments

A still from a video posted by Storm Chaser Houston this morning as snow was starting to accumulate in southeast Texas.

If you’re hoping to see a few snow flurries as a rare winter storm barrels through the Gulf of Mexico, you’ll have to go north and west of Flagler County even as winter storm warning boundaries were extended southward to include all of Duval and Clay counties overnight. Putnam and St. Johns have a winter storm advisory.

Manifest Perfidy: Trump Is No Seward

January 20, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 21 Comments

trump greenland seward

As the Dear Leader asserted the other day in his completely rational press conference, if the 51st-staters don’t play nice, we’ll bring them to their frostbitten knees with “economic force” and turn their so-called “provinces” into good Christian Florida counties with lousy hospitals and empty libraries.

Childhood Vaccination Rates Are Slipping in ‘Health Freedom’ Florida and Other States with Exemptions

January 19, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 8 Comments

childhood vaccines

Pediatricians in states with high exemption rates, such as Florida and Georgia, say they’re concerned by what they see — declining immunization levels for kindergartners, which could lead to a resurgence in vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles. The Florida Department of Health reported nonmedical exemption rates as high as 50% for children in some areas.

‘I’ll Handle This the Florida Way’: Man Arrested in Road Rage Incident in Seminole Woods

January 17, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 10 Comments

Jordan Rivers.

Sheriff’s deputies arrested Jordan Frazier Rivers, 28, at his home at 4 Sleepy Hollow Trail on two felony charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon following a road-rage incident in Seminole Woods where two people say Rivers pulled a gun on them at a street intersection, and told them “I’ll handle this the Florida way.”

Marineland Suspends All Event Permits Until Town and Flagler County Comply with State’s River to Sea Park Rules

January 17, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 7 Comments

Where Ragga Surf Cafe used to be: the south end of the River to Sea Preserve's parking lot in Marineland has returned to its former look, with Ragga Surf Cafe's food truck and two campers gone, along with nearly two dozen picnic tables that had spread on the grounds and along the boardwalk. The county has covered the formerly occupied space with straw, sopping up whatever fluids may have leaked from the vehicles' four-month presence there. Marineland and Flagler County government are striving to return to compliance with state rules controlling the preserve. (© FlaglerLive)

The Marineland Town Commission Thursday evening agreed to suspend all permitting of special events, including vendor markets, 5K runs and weddings anywhere on the grounds of the River to Sea preserve–a public park–until the town and Flagler County government are in full compliance with the management terms of the preserve both had violated. The suspension is not a small matter for Marineland, whose character as a town with only a handful of residents and just one private business is defined at least in part by the events that take place in town, especially in connection with its natural amenities. 

Senator Files Bill to Scrap Later Start Times for High School Students, Putting Transportation Ahead of Student Needs

January 17, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 16 Comments

Transportation issues, not student health or best practices--which call for later start times for older students--are driving the renewed debate on school schedules. (© FlaglerLive)

With Florida school districts facing a 2026 deadline, a Senate Republican on Friday filed a proposal that would repeal requirements aimed at later start times for many high schools. The proposal would benefit Flagler County schools, where officials in 2023 devised a new start times, but in the opposite direction. Supporters of later start times have argued that the changes would help high-school students get more sleep. But the requirements have faced concerns from school districts about issues such as bus schedules.

Freytag Cancer Center at AdventHealth Palm Coast Opens

January 17, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 7 Comments

freytag ribbon-cutting

The Freytag Cancer Center at AdventHealth Palm Coast officially opened on Jan. 16, revolutionizing cancer care in Flagler County. This facility, made possible by many donors, including Peter and Sue Freytag of Palm Coast, offers advanced medical treatments and compassionate care closer to home.

Palm Coast’s Planning Board Approves $12 Million Construction Plan for New Public Works and Utility Facility Off U.S. 1

January 16, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 14 Comments

A rendering of the future Maintenance Operations Center off U.S. 1.

The Palm Coast Planning Board on Wednesday unanimously approved the construction plan for phase one of the city’s own Maintenance Operations Center on U.S. 1, a project a decade in the works that will consolidate public works, stormwater and the Utility Department’s administrative offices on the same grounds i what, over the next half century, will prove to be the new center of the city as it expands west. It’s not as if the board was in a position to object.

Despite Extension, City Manager Opening Draws Just 38 Applicants; Only 1 Managed a City of Palm Coast’s Size

January 16, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 25 Comments

The Palm Coast city manager's chair has been more musical than it appears here. (© FlaglerLive)

Only 38 candidates have applied to be Palm Coast’s next city manager. The general quality of applicants is not stellar: top-flight candidates are not beating down the city’s door. Less than half the applicants (17) have previous city manager experience. Only a handful of those have managed a city with more than 50,000 people. Among the three, only one has managed a city with a population close to Palm Coast’s 107,000 (the current city manager of Edison, N.J.)

In ‘Every Brilliant Thing,’ City Rep Produces the ‘Most Hilarious Show About Depression You’ve Ever Seen’

January 16, 2025 | FlaglerLive | Leave a Comment

* Brent Jordan portrays the Narrator in City Repertory Theatre’s production of “Every Brilliant Thing.” FlaglerLive photo

“Every Brilliant Thing” a one-man play, is the story of a man who as a child sought to cope with his mother’s depression and suicidal tendencies, and to find a way to cheer her up. At first glance, “Every Brilliant Thing” may seem to be a play that labors and strains under the profound, harsh realities of depression and suicide. But a critic called it “the most hilarious show about depression you’ve ever seen.”

It’s Not Your Imagination: Palm Coast Homes Used as Vacation Rentals Increase by 70% in 2 Years, to Over 500

January 15, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 20 Comments

Many single-family homes in Palm Coast are being built expressly to capitalize on the short-term vacation rental market. (© FlaglerLive)

It’s not your imagination. The number of single-family homes used as short-term vacation rentals has increased by 60 percent in two years across Flagler County, while the number of vacation rentals in Palm Coast alone, where most of the growth is concentrated, has surged by 70 percent, with the overwhelming share of those in single-family homes, condos or town houses.

After Ragga Surf Cafe Exit, Flagler County and Marineland Seek to Win Back State’s Trust in Preserve Management

January 15, 2025 | FlaglerLive | Leave a Comment

The boardwalk at the River-to-Sea Preserve in marineland has regained its old look, minus the tables and parasols, which belonged to Ragga Surf Cafe. After the county evicted the cafe from the Preserve, Ragga Surf set up operations in downtown St. Augustine. (© FlaglerLive)

Flagler County government and the Town of Marineland administration have drafted a joint plan to reassure the state agency with oversight of the River to Sea Preserve that the two local governments are still capable of managing the Preserve, which had fallen out of compliance with state requirements and put both governments at risk of losing ownership. Meanwhile, Ragga Surf cafe has left Marineland and will reopen at a location in St. Augustine on Friday.

Jury in Minutes Finds Daniel Rodriguez, 27, Guilty on All Charges of Raping and Molesting Boy; Life In Prison Next

January 15, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 5 Comments

By the time he took the stand in his own defense today, the jury mostly ignored Daniel Rodriguez as he testified. (© FlaglerLive)

A jury of three men and three women found Daniel Rodriguez, 27, guilty on all charges of sexually assaulting and molesting a young boy he had groomed and befriended since he was 10, and started abusing when he was 11, until he was 13. The abuse took place in Palm Coast between 2020 and 2022. Rodriguez faces mandatory life in prison without parole when he is sentenced at a later date. The judge will have no discretion to lessen the sentence.

The Paints They Are A-Changin’: Palm Coast May Lift Most Restrictions on House Colors

January 14, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 36 Comments

The navy blue property in Palm Coast that kicked off the whole debate about the city's paint rules and restrictions, which may be close to ending for the most part. (Palm Coast)

The Palm Coast City Council appears on the verge of repealing most restrictions on house colors. As a consequence, homeowners would be allowed to paint houses in darker, less light-reflecting colors than allowed in the city’s 25-year history. But the move occurs in opposition to environmental trends that are encouraging lighter, whiter urban colors as a tool of fighting climate change, as darker colors absorb heat rather than reflect light and require homes to spend more energy on cooling.

On the Stand, Alleged Victim Describes Sex Assaults Since He Was 11 by ‘Father Figure’ and ‘Best Friend’

January 14, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 2 Comments

Daniel Rodriguez in court today. (© FlaglerLive)

Daniel Revay Rodriguez, now 27, is accused of sexually assaulting a young boy over several years after grooming him and his family by making himself an essential father figure and by showering the boy with expensive gifts, food and at times pot. His trial began Monday. He faces mandatory life in prison if he is convicted.

Sheriff Staly Appoints Joseph Barile His Chief Deputy, Filling Post That Stood Empty for 6 Years

January 14, 2025 | FlaglerLive | Leave a Comment

Cmdr. Joseph Barile. (© FlaglerLive)

Sheriff Rick Staly announced today that he has appointed Commander Joseph Barile as the Chief Deputy of the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office. The Chief Deputy will be responsible for law enforcement and court and detention operations.

Flagler Beach Grants Final Approval for 22-Unit Apartment Complex Made to Look Like Single Family Homes

January 13, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 10 Comments

Though Legacy Pointe Cottages consists of 22 stand-alone buildings, the complex falls under the definition of multi-family, or apartment, buildings in Flagler Beach. The project will be just south of State Road 100 and west of John Anderson Highway.

Ratifying the recommendation last month of its planning board, the Flagler Beach City Commission approved the final site plan for the 22-apartment complex called Legacy Pointe Cottages on 3 acres of currently wooded land at the end of Joyce Street, west of John Anderson Highway. The project is a scaled down version of a plan that first consisted of 39 apartments in two buildings, that the City Commission had approved last year.

Less Than a Year After Witnessing Friend’s Death By Overdose, She Causes One and Faces Manslaughter Charge

January 13, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 12 Comments

Stephanie Raimundo last November, after she testified for the state in the murder trial of Brian Pirraglia, accused of killing Brian O'Shea with a fatal dose of fentanyl. Raimundo knew then that she was facing a similar charge. It was filed last week. (© FlaglerLive)

Less than a year after she was in the house when her friend Brian O’Shea died of a fatal fentanyl overdose, Stephanie Raimundo caused the death by overdose of Calvin Stull, who was about to mark his 22nd birthday. Stull was found dead at Belle Terre Park on jan. 3, 2024. Raimundo was charged with manslaughter and may face up to 30 years in prison if found guilty.

USTA and Palm Coast Play to New Courts, New Tournament and Possible Doubles Partnership

January 13, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 1 Comment

One of the four new courts, a show court, at the Southern Recreation center this morning, moments before a ribbon-cutting. (© FlaglerLive)

Less than an hour before qualifiers were to start for the inaugural Women’s USTA Pro Circuit tournament at the Southern Recreation Center this morning, Palm Coast officials, representatives of the USTA and players gathered at the newest court-side in town to cut the ribbon on four new clay courts.

Bunnell Board Tells City Commission: Shrink Haw Creek Reserve Mega Development By 2,500 Homes

January 10, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 10 Comments

The Reserve at Haw Creek, seen here on screens before Bunnell city commissioners last month, would dwarf Bunnell's existing urban core and more than quintuple its population. The city's planning board is recommending a reduction of total homes from 8,000 to 5,500. (© FlaglerLive)

On its third try since November, the Bunnell Planning and Zoning Board recommended approval of the rezoning and development agreement controlling the Reserve at Haw Creek–the largest single development proposal in Flagler County since Palm Coast was conceived in the 1960s–but not before issuing nearly a dozen proposed conditions to the Bunnell City Commission, which takes on the proposal next. Among those conditions: Lower the planned 8,000 home total to 5,500.

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