• 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
    • Economic Development Council
    • Flagler History
    • Mondex/Daytona North
    • The Hammock
    • Tourist Development Council
  • 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
    • Fourth Amendment
    • First Amendment
    • Privacy
    • Second Amendment
    • Seventh Amendment
    • Sixth Amendment
    • Sunshine Law
    • Third Amendment
    • Religion & Beliefs
    • Human Rights
    • Immigration
    • Labor Rights
    • 14th Amendment
    • Civil 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
    • Flagler Youth Orchestra
    • Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra
    • Palm Coast Arts Foundation
    • 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

Flagler, Palm Coast & Other Local News

Kwentel Moultrie Pleads to Murder, Will Serve 45 Years in Prison on Series of Convictions

September 14, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 4 Comments

Kwentel Moultrie will serve a combined 45 years in prison on sentences for two separate offenses--a rape and a murder. (© FlaglerLive)

Kwentel Moultrie, the 24-year-old former Palm Coast resident convicted last year of raping a 16-year-old girl, this morning pleaded guilty to a second degree murder charge and was sentenced to 35 years in prison. He will serve that sentence consecutively to the 10-year sentence for the rape charge.

Almost a Good Day for Brenan Hill in Murder Trial: Jury Does Not Hear Him Speak. Then the Hammer Falls.

September 13, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 2 Comments

Former Flagler County Sheriff Crime Scene Investigator Daniel Wardman shows the jury the firearm, a BDA 380 semi-automatic pistol, that Brennan Hill hid after shooting Savannah Gonzalez in his car in March 2021. Hill is on trial for second degree murder. His attorney says the shooting was accidental. (© FlaglerLive)

In the third day of trial for Brenan Hill, 34, who faces a second-degree murder charge in the shooting death of Savannah Gonzalez, 22, the prosecution built its case through forensic evidence and almost a dozen witnesses today, including testimony from a firearm expert who appeared to all but demolish the defense’s claim that Hill could fire the gun accidentally, as he claims.

Only Half of Palm Coast’s Land Mass Has Reliable Cell Coverage, with Limited Relief Ahead

September 13, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 30 Comments

More needed. (© FlaglerLive)

For all of the city’s efforts since 2017 to improve cell coverage in Palm Coast, reliability is still a serious problem. Only 14 to 15 percent of the city’s land mass is getting fully reliable coverage. Less than 35 percent of the city is getting fair to mediocre coverage. A deficit of needed towers still looms.

Palm Coast Council’s Pontieri Makes Startling Move to Annex Malacompra Park: ‘Our Citizens Are Entitled to Their Own Beach’

September 13, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 71 Comments

The beach at Malacompra Park. (© FlaglerLive)

In a startling proposal that may revive city-Hammock conflicts dormant since the mid 2000s, Palm Coast City Council member Theresa Pontieri on Tuesday said the city should consider annexing the county’s Malacompra Park so Palm Coast can have its own beach. The idea did not get a warm reception from fellow council members or others.

Jury Hears Brenan Hill in a Confederacy of Lies About Shooting that Led to Girlfriend’s Death

September 12, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 6 Comments

Brenan Hill at AdventHealth Palm Coast after bringing Savannah Gonzalez to the hospital with a. gunshot to the head. The image is of a body cam video shown the jury this morning during Hill's trial on a murder charge. In the video, Hill was lamenting the shooting--and lying about it. (© FlaglerLive)

Brenan Hill lied at least six times times about what led to him shooting Savannah La-Rynn Gonzalez in the head on March 26, 2021, including a lie to his mother. The 22-year-old Palm Coast woman never recovered. She died last Nov. 9. The jury heard most of those lies today in Hill’s second day of trial on a second-degree murder charge that could send him to prison for life if he’s convicted.

Flagler Beach Will Consider New Impact Fees for Fire, Police, Parks, and Library, and Higher Fees for Water and Sewer

September 12, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 1 Comment

It's been a rain of rooftops in Flagler County, but proportionately fewer have gone up in Flagler Beach. (© FlaglerLive)

The Flagler Beach City Commission Thursday will vote on what could be the single-largest tax increase on development in the city’s history. The city is considering adopting higher impact fees on water and sewer connection, and imposing new impact fees for police, fire, parks and recreation services, which it has not had until now. 

Pedestrian Reported to Have Jumped in Front of Car Is Killed on Belle Terre Parkway

September 12, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 7 Comments

The collision took place on Belle Terre Parkway north of Palm Coast Parkway. (Google)

A 39-year-old Palm Coast man on foot was killed Monday evening in a collision with a sedan on Belle Terre Parkway, just north of Palm Coast Parkway.

Jury Selection in Brenan Hill’s Trial on Murder Charge Keys In on Guns, Violence and Intent

September 11, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 1 Comment

Brennan Hill, right, with his attorney, Gerald Bettman, this morning. (© FlaglerLive)

Brennan Hill, 32 at the time, shot Savannah Gonzalez in March 2021 near the Microtel in Palm Coast. Hill’s attorney, made his intentions clear in his remarkably brief interactions with potential jurors at the end of a day of jury selection Monday: the shooting was accidental. It had nothing to do with domestic violence. It was a homicide, but not a murder. 
Obviously, the prosecution disagrees, though it did not tip its hand today as Bettman did.

Flagler County Joins St. Johns in Banning ‘Floating Structures’ Used as Unregulated Party Stores on Waterways

September 11, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 13 Comments

The floating structure County Commissioner Andy Dance spotted on the Intracoastal, toward the north end of the county, last Saturday--a few days after he and his colleagues on the commission voted to ban such structures from county waters. (Andy Dance)

A month after St. Johns County did so, the Flagler County Commission last week banned all floating structures used on county rivers, lakes or inlets “like a neighborhood convenience store on the water,” as a county memo describes them, and that the county considers unregulated nuisances that at times damage the surrounding ecology.

Law Enforcement, Court and Incident Round-Up: Sept. 1-8

September 10, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 3 Comments

court cops roundup

Running a stop sign leads to an arrest on two felonies, a bored inmate triggers a fire sprinkler, four are arrested for illegally picking palmetto berries, a child drowns in Seminole Woods, Brendan Depa’s pre-trial is postponed.

Dead White Males Return: Behind Florida GOP’s Push for Christian-Leaning Classic Learning Test Instead of SAT

September 10, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 14 Comments

Dead white males return: Plato, Rousseau and Hamilton. (Wikimedia Commons)

The new Classic Learning Test has been pushed by conservative politicians and religious activists as an alternative to the SAT and ACT, and will now be accepted as a measure of admission in Florida colleges and universities. Of the 12 private institutions in Florida that now accept the CLT, 11 are religiously affiliated.

Even A Great Superintendent Can’t Fix a Clueless School Board

September 8, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 34 Comments

Clueless, the sequel. (© FlaglerLive)

If you think the appointment of LaShakia Moore as superintendent will make a difference, think again. Moore’s biggest job will be to run interference to save what’s left of this district from the Huns, because the problem was never with the administration or the ranks. It’s with the majority of a board that doesn’t know its role, doesn’t know its limits, and doesn’t know education from flip-flops. 

Should You be Worried About Monster Hurricane Lee? Models and Emergency Chief Say No, But Erosion a Concern

September 8, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 9 Comments

Should You be Worried About Monster Hurricane Lee? Models and Emergency Chief Say No, But Erosion a Concern

For the last several days, Hurricane Lee, the most powerful storm of the season yet and a potential record-breaker, has been as if making a beeline for Florida, from the middle Atlantic. But models and Flagler County’s emergency management director say the hurricane in five days will make an abrupt turn north well before it comes near the Florida Peninsula. Still, the dangerous storm is expected to cause more erosion on an already weakened Flagler County shore, with hurricane season just beginning to peak.

40-Year-Old Cyclist Killed in Collision with Pick-Up on U.S. 1, North of Old Dixie Highway Roundabout

September 8, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 34 Comments

The fatal crash took place in the southbound lanes of U.S. 1, north of the roundabout at Old Dixie Highway. (Google Maps)

A 40-year-old Ormond Beach woman was killed and her 45-year-old husband was seriously injured when both were struck by a pick-up truck as they rode their bicycles south on U.S. 1, just north of the Old Dixie Highway roundabout, in midafternoon Thursday.

Ex-Matanzas Student Facing Adult Gun and Molestation Charges Here Is Attending High School in Wisconsin

September 7, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 5 Comments

Marshall Thomas appearing in court from the Duval County jail last March. (© FlaglerLive)

Marshall Thomas, the former Matanzas High School student who was charged as an adult with gun theft and, separately, charged as an adult with the sexual assault of a Matanzas student at school in May 2022, was enrolled in a charter school in northern Wisconsin after posting $60,000 bond in Flagler County. Both cases are pending, with Thomas’s next scheduled pre-trial in Circuit Court in Bunnell on Oct. 11. A parent in Wisconsin is concerned about Thomas’s presence among students there.

Bunnell Elementary Principal Evensen Resigns, Saying She ‘Certainly’ Does Not Deserve What’s Happening to Her

September 7, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 28 Comments

Donelle Evensen's portrait and recognition plaque, second from left, as the reigning assistant principal of the year, on the district's Wall of Fame outside the superintendent's suite at the Government Services Building. (© FlaglerLive)

Donelle Evensen this morning announced her resignation as Bunnell Elementary principal five weeks after being named to the position, and not quite three weeks after being placed on leave following her approval of an assembly where faculty segregated Black students. At no point in either letters does Evensen take responsibility or offer any regret for the tenor of the assembly or the misjudgments that led to it.

Flagler County Bans Beach Bonfires in Turtle-Nesting Season, Joining Prohibitions Long in Place in 3 Towns

September 7, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 7 Comments

bonfires banned

Thirteen years ago, after much controversy, the Flagler Beach City Commission banned bonfires on the beach during turtle season. Beverly Beach and Marineland have similar bans. But it was only on Monday that the ban extended to the rest of the county’s beaches–18 miles of shoreline in all–as the County Commission voted 5-0 to approve an ordinance.

Lane Closures Planned for Belle Terre Parkway Near Buddy Taylor, and Along East Hampton Boulevard

September 6, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 5 Comments

Road work ahead. (© FlaglerLive)

Road crews will be closing lanes to facilitate work on two projects in Palm Coast in coming days, along Belle Terre Parkway near Buddy Taylor Middle School, and along east Hampton Boulevard. 

Flagler School Board’s Sally Hunt Hijacks New Superintendent’s Triumph with a Hit List of Resentments

September 6, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 21 Comments

Flagler County School Board member Sally Hunt's anger creased into the second half of what should have been a celebratory meeting of the board Tuesday. (© FlaglerLive)

The highlight at Tuesday evening’s meeting of the Flagler County School Board should have been the triumphal appointment of LaShakia Moore as superintendent, a rare unifying moment for an often divided school board. It was briefly all that, until School Board member Sally Hunt hijacked the occasion with what amounted to a hit list for coming meetings: School Board attorney Kristy Gavin. School Board Chair Cheryl Massaro. The school board’s own conduct. “Bullies.” “The media.”

$12.3 Million Pedestrian Bridge Over State Road 100 Gets Its Grand Opening on Sept. 19

September 6, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 31 Comments

Since the above picture was taken, the county has darkened the stainless steel tent over the pedestrian bridge with a chemical application, to reduce the glare. (© FlaglerLive)

The tin-tented, recently rust-painted and frequently derided pedestrian bridge over State Road 100 will get its public grand opening celebration the afternoon of September 19. A coat of darkening chemicals was applied to the tipi-like stainless steel tent over the bridge to diminish its reflection’s almost blinding effect at sunup and sundown, depending on which direction one was traveling.

LaShakia Moore Appointed Superintendent in Historic Vote, But Occasion Is Marred by Grievances

September 5, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 31 Comments

Board Chair Cheryl Massaro congratulates Superintendent LaShakia Moore on her appointment, though the occasion was marred somewhat when Board Attorney Kristy Gavin's future was put in question by Board member Sally Hunt. (© FlaglerLive)

The Flagler County School Board this evening voted unanimously to appoint LaShakia Moore superintendent, eliminating the “interim” part of the title she had held since July 1 and making her the first Black superintendent in the county’s history. But it wasn’t entirely a joyful occasion.

Witnesses Say C.J. Nelson Jr. Had ‘Handled’ Jammed Gun Before Shooting of 18-Month-Old Girl

September 5, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 23 Comments

C.J. Nelson Jr.

C.J. Nelson Jr., the 21-year-old resident of 2 Ranwood Lane arrested the night of the fatal shooting of an 18-month-old girl at that house Sunday, was said by “more than one” witness in the house that he had been handling the gun that fired the fatal shot, and that he had described the gun as “jammed” before the shooting, according to his arrest report.

In Commanding Control of Her Interview and the Board, LaShakia Moore Appears Poised to Be Voted Superintendent

September 5, 2023 | FlaglerLive | Leave a Comment

LaShakia Moore spoke with supreme confidence and ease during her 90-minute interview with the Flagler County School Board this morning. (© FlaglerLive via screenshot from Flagler Schools TV)

LaShakia Moore this morning was fully in control of a Flagler County School Board that has often been unmoored and adrift for much of the past year as she parried questions and asserted how she would handle her first hundred days as superintendent, if the board were to appoint her into that role this evening. There seems to be little doubt that this evening’s vote will be anticlimactic, and that come 5:15 p.m., Moore will be voted the new, permanent superintendent.

18-Month-Old Girl Killed by Gunshot in Palm Coast’s R-Section; Person of Interest Arrested on Unrelated Charge

September 4, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 53 Comments

Sheriff Rick Staly speaking with reporters at a midday press conference on the shooting today. (© FlaglerLive)

An 18-month-old girl was killed by a single gunshot wound to the head from an automatic pistol at 2 Ranwood Lane in Palm Coast shortly before midnight Sunday. The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office and two other agencies are investigating. The victim had not handled the gun.

Flagler Sheriff’s Corrections Deputy Colin Haggerty Arrested for Boating Under the Influence on the Intracoastal

September 3, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 18 Comments

Corrections deputy Colin Haggerty was aboard a pontoon boat similar to the one above. The above is unrelated to the Saturday incident. (Virginia State Parks)

Colin Haggerty, a 38-year-old Flagler County Sheriff’s corrections deputy, was arrested and charged with boating under the influence of alcohol on Saturday (Sept. 2) in the Intracoastal just north of the Hammock Dunes Bridge.

Stop Blaming Line Workers for Poor Service. It’s CEOs’ Fault.

September 2, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 8 Comments

Ever get mad at a delivery driver for bringing your pizza late? Stop, and consider: It’s late because an overpaid boss is probably making two employees do the job of 10 as chronic but unnecessary and often intentional understaffing plagues many of America’s largest retailers and fast food corporations.

Sisco Deen, Giant Archivist and Historian of Flagler County from One of Its Original Families, Dies at 83

September 1, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 7 Comments

Sisco Deen, 1940-2023. (© FlaglerLive)

Claude Sisco Deen, Flagler County’s premier archivist and a leading historian of local families and culture, died Thursday evening in Palm Coast a little after sunset. He had been the research maven behind Flagler County’s centennial in 2017, was that year’s Flagler County Veteran of the Year, and built unparalleled databases of local family histories and historical documents.

School Board May Vote On Making LaShakia Moore Permanent Superintendent (or Not) on Tuesday

September 1, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 5 Comments

Interim Superintendent LaShakia Moore. (© FlaglerLive)

Unscheduled (and illegal) huddles aside, the Flagler County School Board is holding four separate meetings Tuesday, the last one at 5:15 p.m., where one of the agenda items is a potential vote on ending the search for a new superintendent and permanently appointing LaShakia Moore to the position.

Sally Hunt Wanted to Censure School Board Chair For Going Off Script in Talk Over Segregated Assembly

September 1, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 17 Comments

Sally Hunt. (© FlaglerLive)

Flagler County School Board Chair Cheryl Massaro said fellow Board member Sally Hunt considered calling for a vote of censure against her because Massaro did not stick to a script provided her before last week’s press conference denouncing Bunnell Elementary’s segregated assembly days earlier.

Florida Seeks Wider Federal Disaster Declaration Than to Seven Counties Ahead of Biden Visit

September 1, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 8 Comments

A playground in perry. (Taylor County Historical Society)

DeSantis and state Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie said Friday they plan to ask the White House to include more counties in the disaster declaration signed Thursday by President Joe Biden. The declaration, in part, makes federal money available to help people in Citrus, Dixie, Hamilton, Lafayette, Levy, Suwannee and Taylor counties.

For Charlie Ericksen, a Poignant Farewell from Colleagues and Friends in a Chamber He’d (Mostly) Loved

August 31, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 4 Comments

The portrait that has stood in Charlie Ericksen's place for the last couple of weeks at the County Commission. (© FlaglerLive)

Flagler County government’s Holly Albanese organized a Celebration of Life of former County Commissioner Charlie Ericksen, who died on July 31. The celebration was held in the commission’s chamber last Tuesday, where some three dozen colleagues and friends and two of Ericksen’s sons attended, some of whom speaking with poignancy and candor.

Brendan Depa, Now 18, Is Transferred to the Flagler County Jail to Await Trial

August 31, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 8 Comments

Brendan Depa when he was last in court in Bunnell in June. (© FlaglerLive)

Brendan Depa, the former Matanzas High School student facing a first-degree felony charge of aggravated battery in the beating of a school paraprofessional last February, has been transferred to the Flagler County jail, from the Duval Regional Detention center in Jacksonville, where he’d been held for the past six months.

Sheriff’s Michael Breckwoldt Demoted to Corporal Following Investigation of Drinking Incident at Finn’s Bar

August 31, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 13 Comments

Michael Breckwoldt, circled in red by the Flagler Beach police detective who originally investigated the case, in a still from surveillance footage at Finn's bar the night of May 26.

Michael Breckwoldt, the 20-year veteran of the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office who was in charge of the agency’s narcotics unit until last May, was demoted from sergeant to corporal and placed on last-chance probation for a year and a half as a result of an incident at Finn’s Beachside Pub in Flagler Beach, where Breckwoldt’s drinking led to “offensive behavior,” in violation of agency policy, and where he behaved in an unbecoming way toward patrons.

Rural Counties Begin Recovery from Hurricane Idalia: ‘As Bad as It Is, It Still Ain’t as Bad as It Could Have Been’

August 30, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 5 Comments

A Facebook image posted on the page of Danny Delaney in Perry, Taylor County, Florida, today.

Category 3 Hurricane Idalia made landfall in Taylor County’s Keaton Beach area, and county Sheriff Wayne Padgett said other hard-hit areas included downtown Perry and Steinhatchee, “a little fishing village on the coast down there,” which he said had the most storm surge. “As bad as it is, it still ain’t as bad as it could have been,” Padgett said.

Great News: Brian and Hailey McMillan Buy the Palm Coast and Ormond Beach Observer

August 30, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 17 Comments

Hailey and Brian McMillan are the new co-owners of the Palm Coast and Ormond Beach Observer. Matt and John Walsh founded the Observer in late 2009 and hired McMillan as their first editor. He'd led the paper until 2022. (© Marina's Photography)

Hailey and Brian McMillan are the new co-owners of the Palm Coast and Ormond Beach Observer, an acquisition roundly applauded by the paper’s staff, community leaders and competitors. Matt and John Walsh founded the Observer in late 2009 and hired McMillan as their first editor. He’d led the paper until his reluctant departure 2022.

Hurricane Idalia Makes Landfall as Cat-3 Hurricane; Local Impacts on Flagler Limited, Evacuations Rescinded

August 30, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 4 Comments

After Hurricane Idalia became an “extremely dangerous” Category 4 storm, it made landfall as a Cat-3 in Florida’s Big Bend this morning. Effects on Flagler and Palm Coast are expected to be limited to rain and wind gusts as the storm’s track has shifted north.

Gabriella Alo Pleads Out in Brutal, Dual Flagler Beach Attack, Leaving Herself Open to Steep Prison Sentence

August 29, 2023 | FlaglerLive | Leave a Comment

Gabriella Alo walking up to the lectern for her plea hearing this afternoon before Circuit Court Judge Terence Perkins. Assistant Public Defender Regina Nunnally is to the right, acing Alo. (© FlaglerLive)

Gabriella Alo, the 19-year-old woman accused, with her brother, of beating a teen and running over a woman’s foot at Wickline Park last January, pleaded to numerous charges that add up to a potential 67 years in prison, though she will likely face considerably less than that when she’s sentenced on Dec. 1. How much less is the question: she tendered an open plea to Circuit Judge Terence Perkins, who is neither softie nor sadist.

Hurricane Idalia’s Track Again Shifts North, Further Reducing Feared Flagler Impacts

August 29, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 16 Comments

Hurricane Idalia’s track shifted north again, further away from Flagler County, in the National Hurricane Center’s Tuesday evening report. That further reduces but by no means eliminates tropical storm force impacts in Flagler County, especially inland.

Hurricane Idalia: Tropical Storm Impact in Flagler Wednesday as Schools Will Close and Shelter Open at Rymfire

August 28, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 6 Comments

hurricane idalia

Hurricane Idalia will make landfall in western Florida Wednesday and rapidly transit across the state, impacting at least western Flagler County with tropical storm force winds and rain. Flagler County schools will be closed Wednesday. A combined general population and special needs shelter will open at Rymfire Elementary in late afternoon Tuesday.

In Time for Idalia, Sales Tax ‘Holiday’ on Disaster Supplies in Effect Until Sept. 8

August 28, 2023 | FlaglerLive | Leave a Comment

Now's your chance to avoid those old days: you can buy up to $30 worth of toilet paper without paying sales tax. (© FlaglerLive)

Retailers hope Floridians will stock up on storm supplies during the sales-tax “holiday” that started Saturday, particularly as the increasingly active hurricane season is bringing Hurricane Idalia through a vast portion of the state later this week. The state’s second “disaster preparedness” tax holiday of the year continues through Sept. 8.

DeSantis Wants Children to Be Ignorant, Intolerant and Narrow-Minded

August 27, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 30 Comments

desantis stop woke ont-trick pulpit

In Ron DeSantis’ Florida, teachers are expected to present a version of the world in which “gender” is not to be spoken of, “gay” likewise, there’s no climate crisis — the weather’s always changing! — Shakespeare needs to be toned down, the human body is disgusting, slavery had an upside, America is the best country that ever was and ever will be, and books that challenge any of these self-evident truths must be banned.

White Supremacist Murders 3 Black People at Dollar General in Jacksonville, Before Shooting Himself

August 27, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 52 Comments

Sheriff Waters told the media that the man had authored manifestos that were provided to his parents, the media, and federal agents. The sheriff referenced the “disgusting ideology of hate” at the news conference.

Sheriff T.K. Waters said two males and one female — all Black — were killed in the shootings, and the shooter killed himself. He had been armed with an AR-15 style rifle and a handgun, with the rifle showing several swastikas. At the time of the news conference, the shooter’s name had not yet been identified, but Sheriff Waters said the man had authored manifestos that were provided to his parents, the media, and federal agents. The sheriff referenced the “disgusting ideology of hate.”

Flagler Schools Have a ‘Subgroup’ Problem. It’s Not Blacks. It’s Not Even Students.

August 25, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 37 Comments

flagler schools subgroup problem

It is now so routine to reduce individual students to cogs among subgroups enslaved to the expectations of standardized testing that our educators have lost sight of their purpose. The state’s transformation of education into a dehumanizing machinery is to blame. So is the Flagler County School Board’s emphasis on running the district as a business, and now branding its superintendent a “CEO.” The individuality and dignity of students is lost to a damaging bottom-line mentality.

Deep Disagreements Remain Between School District and Cities and Builders Over Enrollment and Impact Fee Dues

August 25, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 7 Comments

William Whitson, the district's intergovernmental planner

Are Flagler County’s public schools adding students? Will the district need to build new schools? Should it be drawing money from developers today even though it has no certain plans to build schools yet? Those questions were asked and answered with varying degrees of certainty and a lot more disagreements on Thursday in the latest meeting of a joint committee of local government representatives in charge of reviewing how much money developers are required to pay to defray the cost of new school construction. 

Man Arrested at Flagler Beach’s Boardwalk for Swinging Bat, Threatening Adults and a Child and Calling Himself God

August 25, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 29 Comments

The area of the Flagler Beach boardwalk where Stephen Torma threatened people with a baseball bat and damaged the railing with it. File photo. (© FlaglerLive)

Stephen Douglass Torma, 43, swung a bat as he threatened passers by on Flagler Beach’s boardwalk, damaged the boardwalk with the bat then threatened a Flagler Beach police officer and his family with harm. Torma’s spiral has been traced in his court file over the last four years.

Flagler School Board Members Meet Behind Closed Doors to ‘Debrief’ Until Attorney Breaks Them Up

August 24, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 26 Comments

The School Board huddling in the superintnedent's office after her press conference this morning. Clockwise from left, Cheryl Massaro, the board chair, Colleen Coklin, Moore, Will Furry and Christy Chong. (© FlaglerLive)

All five Flagler County School Board members met behind a closed door after a press conference this morning, until the school board attorney, who had been unaware of the meeting, broke them up. One of the board member insists no business before the board was discussed, and that the meeting was intended only to tell the superintendent she had done a good job at the press conference.

School Officials Forcefully Denounce ‘Segregation’ Assembly But Steps Ahead Are Vague Beyond ‘Conversations’

August 24, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 3 Comments

Interim Superintendent LaShakia Moore has taken a commanding role in her response to the segregation assembly at Bunnell Elementary last week. She was flanked by the entire membership of the school board at a news conference this morning, with Chair Cheryl Massaro and Collen Conklin, above. (© FlaglerLive)

The denunciations were forceful and Interim Superintendent LaShakia Moore’s air of command over the most serious crisis of her tenure as interim was evident at a press conference this morning. But the steps ahead, beyond community meetings, more encounters with parents and students, and talk of “professional learning” with school employees, are far less clear even as the district positions itself against potential litigation.

Bunnell Principal Donelle Evensen on Administrative Leave as District Faces Fallout of Segregated Assembly

August 24, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 16 Comments

Donelle Evensen, the principal at Bunnell Elementary School for mere weeks, was placed on paid administrative leave today, and Superintendent LaShakia Moore asked that a three-hour board workshop scheduled for today, where she was to be interviewed for the permanent job, be postponed.

Superintendent Lashakia Moore Issues Stronger Apology Over Bunnell Elementary’s Segregationist Assembly

August 23, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 19 Comments

Interim Superintendent LaShakia Moore delivering her statement today, the second in 24 hours.

Contrary to her written statement on Tuesday, today’s video statement by LaShakia Moore on the segregating of Black students in an assembly at Bunnell Elementary last week was more forceful, more clearly recognizing the breadth of the problem–as her statement on Tuesday had not–and twice included an explicit apology.

Bomb Squad Disarms Report of Grenades After Swarming Around House of Murder Suspect in Woodlands

August 23, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 6 Comments

The house at 20 Blare Drive last week, a few days after the murder of a 36-year-old man by gunshot there, and a few days before today's alarm over the find of a crate of grenades inside. (© FlaglerLive)

The house at 20 Blare Drive, the scene of a murder by gunshot last week, drew authorities again today, including a bomb squad, after a resident reported finding a crate of grenades inside. But the crate ended up containing only ammunition.

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Page 1
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 28
  • Page 29
  • Page 30
  • Page 31
  • Page 32
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 233
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

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

Recent Comments

  • Laurel on Self-Censorship Is Silencing Americans in Public
  • Pierre Tristam on Lawmakers Describe ‘Disturbing, Vile Conditions’ at Everglades Migrant Prison
  • Pierre Tristam on The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, July 14, 2025
  • Laurel on The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, July 13, 2025
  • Marlee on Lawmakers Describe ‘Disturbing, Vile Conditions’ at Everglades Migrant Prison
  • Laurel on Lawmakers Describe ‘Disturbing, Vile Conditions’ at Everglades Migrant Prison
  • Pogo on Grover Norquist Gets His Wish: Drowning Government in a Bathtub
  • Ed P on Data Center Planned for 2028 in Palm Coast Cloaked in More Secrecy and Undocumented Boasts than Answers
  • Pogo on The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, July 14, 2025
  • choochanna on Data Center Planned for 2028 in Palm Coast Cloaked in More Secrecy and Undocumented Boasts than Answers
  • Deborah Coffey on Lawmakers Describe ‘Disturbing, Vile Conditions’ at Everglades Migrant Prison
  • youmm ama on Lawmakers Describe ‘Disturbing, Vile Conditions’ at Everglades Migrant Prison
  • Mr Crowley on Lawmakers Describe ‘Disturbing, Vile Conditions’ at Everglades Migrant Prison
  • Local double taxpayer on Lawmakers Describe ‘Disturbing, Vile Conditions’ at Everglades Migrant Prison
  • Getting More Frustrated on County Administrator Asks Constitutionals to Cut Cost-of-Living Raises from 4% to 2% to Close $2.2 Million Gap
  • Deborah Coffey on Grover Norquist Gets His Wish: Drowning Government in a Bathtub

Log in