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.
Flagler, Palm Coast & Other Local News
Rural Counties Begin Recovery from Hurricane Idalia: ‘As Bad as It Is, It Still Ain’t as Bad as It Could Have Been’
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
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Hurricane Idalia Makes Landfall as Cat-3 Hurricane; Local Impacts on Flagler Limited, Evacuations Rescinded
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.”