Changes to a proposed map of Florida’s 27 congressional districts emerged Wednesday, a day before key hearings in the House and Senate about how to comply with a court order finding the current map violates the anti-gerrymandering “Fair Districts” requirements.
Florida & Beyond, and All Opinions
Wednesday Briefing: Student Schedules at Indian Trails Middle, David Alfin, Benefactor, Obama on Voting Rights Act
Big day for students at Indian Trails Middle School, Realtor David Alfin becomes a Chamber of Commerce benefactor, Barack Obama responds to revelations of the undoing of the Voting Rights Act.
Florida League of Women Voters Targeting New Campus Concealed Weapons Bills
The goal is to make the opposition stronger than during the 2015 session, by uniting with students, professors, administrators and the national organization Campaign to Keep Guns Off Campus.
Raise the Gas Tax Already
The federal gas tax has been stuck at 18.4 cents a gallon since 1993, lowest among advanced countries. Yet Congress just adopted a three-month stopgap measure, kicking the gas can down the road for the 35th time since 2009.
Tuesday Briefing: Flagler Firefighters Head West, Palm Coast Talks Code Enforcement, Ann Beattie Returns
Flagler firefighters are sent to help battle wildfires in California, the Palm Coast council gets a better understanding of how code enforcement enforces.
In Defense of Megyn Kelly
Megyn Kelly deserves conservatives’ admiration, not their disdain, for leveling the sort of tough questions at Donald Trump and other candidates that should be asked of any presidential hopefuls, argues Nancy Smith.
GOP Opens Special Session With Complaints That Fair Districts Infringe on Free Speech
Senators scolded the Florida Supreme Court for trampling on their First Amendment rights as lawmakers began a special session Monday aimed at redrawing congressional districts the court said were gerrymandered to help the Republican Party.
Monday Briefing: Sheriff’s K-9 Euthanized, Bunnell’s Budget, Amendment 1’s Fallout, Redistricting Session
The special session on redistricting congressional boundaries begins today, a K-9 is euthanized at the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office, a Flagler panel discusses land acquisitions under Amendment 1.
2nd Only to Texas With Military Retirees, Florida Facing Stiff Competition For Them
Military retirees are some of the best-educated, best-trained and youngest retirees around. Florida has nearly 200,000 of them. States are using their tax codes to lure them.
Scout’s Dishonors: Harper Lee’s “Go Set a Watchman,” Chapter 9
In Chapter 9 of “Go Set a Watchman,” Harper Lee gives us a short biography of Scout’s past between various deaths and blood flows, without as yet revisiting her recent discovery about a bigoted father.
Rick Scott, 1st-Ever Florida Governor Successfully Sued Over Sunshine Law, Settles for $700,000 in Taxpayer Dollars
The suit alleged Gov. Scott and his staff, violated the Sunshine law when they created email accounts to shield their communications from state public records laws and then withheld the documents.
Economy Adds 215,000 Jobs, Keeping Unemployment Rate at 5.3%, But Wages Lag
The national economy added 215,000 jobs in July and has averaged 235,000 new jobs each of the last three months, while the unemployment rate held steady at 5.3 percent for the second month, the Labor Department announced Friday morning.
U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown Goes to Court
To Stop Her District From Heading West
Brown is hoping to intervene in the lawsuit and get judges to order the Legislature not to reorient the district, which currently ambles from Jacksonville to Orlando.
Flagler’s Irresponsible Gun Owners: 37 Firearms Stolen Since 2014, Mostly From Unlocked Cars
Just seven of the stolen guns have been recovered. The rest are in the hands of criminals, putting residents and police at greater risk, the Flagler sheriff’s office warns.
Thursday Briefing: City Hall 80% Done, Flagler Beach vs. Sea Ray, Hiroshima War Crime at 70, Iggy Pop Does Poe
Flagler Beach takes on Sea Ray this afternoon and thinks about its next city manager, Republicans take the stage, Japan marks the 70th anniversary of the nuking of Hiroshima, Jon Stewart signs off.
Sea Ray Issues Open Letter to Flagler Beach Ahead of Thursday’s Special Meeting
The Flagler Beach City Commission meets in special session Thursday to consider taking its opposition to a Sea Ray plan for a parking lot to the state. Sea Ray offers its side.
Wednesday Briefing: A Kitten Is Saved From Walmart, Dennis McDonald Pays Palm Coast, Elizabeth Warren on Planned Parenthood
Elizabeth Warren unravels the GOP’s latest of endless attacks on women, a kitten is heard and saved from between two containers at Walmart.
Clowns on the Campaign Trail and the
Revolt Against Professional Politicians
Donald Trump is part of a wider phenomenon of disaffected voters turning away from mainstream political parties and following populists and political entertainers, or clowns if you like, argues Ian Buruma.
Lawmakers Reload to Allow Students to Carry Concealed Weapons on Florida Campuses
The proposal drew heavy debate during the 2015 legislative session, with gun-rights advocates supporting the idea and many university-system leaders opposing it.
Tuesday Briefing: 2,000 Macbooks for Middle Schoolers, Billing Overgrown Lots, Amy Schumer Takes on NRA
The school board tonight may approve $2 million in spending for 2,000 Macbooks and 900 iPads to extend the one-Mac for every student to middle school.
Why the Florida Solar Initiative Is Losing
The problem isn’t with the popularity of solar power, but the poor choice of words written by the people who have the best-ever name for their group: Floridians for Solar Choice.
Rethinking Restrictions on Food Stamps and Welfare Benefits for Drug Felons
The bans on welfare and food stamps assistance apply only to drug felons, in accordance with a 1996 federal law, unless states choose to waive them.
Monday Briefing: FPC’s Dusty Sims Gets State Honors, Sea Ray Parking Green-Lighted, Traditional Phones Lose Appeal
Dusty Sims, the 2015 state assistant principal of the year, will be honored in Tallahassee today. He has since been named principal at Flagler Palm Coast High School.
Iran Nukes Deal Will Protect Against Saudi and Israeli Threats
Iran hasn’t launched a single war in 50 years. Israel has launched eight, Saudi Arabia has kept funding America’s worst enemies–ISIS, the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. Who are the real threats to Mideast peace?
Not So Fast on Killing Teddy: Conservationists File Suit to Stop Bear Hunting in Florida
With permits for this fall’s hunt going on sale Monday, the Seminole County-based group Speak Up Wekiva filed a lawsuit in Leon County circuit court Friday challenging the constitutionality of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission-approved bear hunt.
Flagler Live-Blogs Harper Lee’s “Go Set a Watchman,” Chapter 7: Doxology Sings Dixie
In Chapter 7 of “Go Set a Watchman,” a church service turns into an example of Northern aggression against Southern hymnals and Doxology.
Cases Involving Police Shootings Across Florida Spur FDLE to Seek More Investigators
FDLE always investigates shootings involving police in local agencies. Those investigations have increased 40 percent last year alone, and 100 percent in the past five years.
Weekend Briefing: Flagler Students Win National Gold and Bronze, a Rattler in the L’s, Fetal Cell Research
Stanley Wykretowicz, the 39-year-old Palm Coast resident accused of brutalizing his 2-year-old daughter last year, is back in court today, the start of an otherwise uneventful weekend in Flagler.
Federal Court Upholds Docs v. Glocks Law Forbidding Physicians From Asking About Guns
The 2-1 decision by a panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was a victory for the National Rifle Association and other gun-rights advocates and a defeat for medical groups that argued, at least in part, that the law infringed on doctors’ First Amendment rights.
Thursday Briefing: Princess Place Stable Restored, Palm Coast Birds, How the GOP Demolished Voting Rights
The county has completed restoration of the livery stable at Princess Place Preserve, a Nikon birding show is devoted to Palm Coast, the Republican dismantling of the Voting Rights Act is explained.
Flagler’s Fire Flight and Crews Save 2 Homes Surrounded By Brush Fire in Eagle Rock
A 3.5-acre brush fire that had surrounded two homes in Eagle Rock at the south end of the county, requiring their evacuation, was halted and controlled, capping a busy day for Flagler Count Fire Rescue crews and Fire Flight, the county’s emergency helicopter.
Wednesday Briefing: Another County Citizen’s Academy, Medical Pot’s Empowerment, Snooping on Students
Flagler County is looking for its next class of candidates for its Citizens Academy, how medical pot returns control to patient over their pain and bodies, Jon Stewart’s secret White House meetings.
In Walton, One Confederate Flag Replaces Another as “Compromise” Is Termed a Cop-Out
The Panhandle’s Walton County Commission today voted 4-0 to replace the Confederate battle flag with the first flag of the Confederacy, the Stars and Bars, on government grounds, eliciting applause from some and ridicule from others.
Genesis Was Wrong: Man’s Dominion Over Animals Is Stewardship, Not Ownership
Pope Francis has now rejected mainstream Christian view, insisting that being created in God’s image doesn’t mean dominion over the earth or absolute domination over other creatures.
Tuesday Briefing: Nominate Your Veteran of the Year, Black on Trump, and Those Dull Tax Hearings
The county is looking for nominations for Veteran of the Year, tax rate hearings begin today with the school board, Lewis Black gives Donald Trump the kick in the toupee he needs, from back in 2012.
Flagler Live-Blogs Harper Lee’s “Go Set a Watchman,” Chapter 6: Skinny Dipping Sins
In Chapter 6 of “Go Set a Watchman,” Scout and Henry take a dip in the waters off Finch Landing, fully clothed, but no one believes they stayed modest.
At Olustee State Park, Confederacy Wins One As Plan For Union Monument Is In Retreat
Florida’s Olustee Battlefield State Park, site of the Civil War’s largest battle in the state, was to have a Union monument until opponents revived an old conflict.
Monday Briefing: Sheriff’s Budget, Bunnell and County Tax Rates, and Cheating Ethically
The County Commission and Bunnell’s city commission today set their proposed tax rates, and the county reviews the budgets of constitutional officers including a big increase submitted by the sheriff.
Barack Obama Stands Up to the Warmongers
The US is not a partisan in the Shia-Sunni struggle. If anything, the US confronts mainly Sunni terrorism, funded from Saudi Arabia, not Shia terrorism backed by Iran.
Flagler Live-Blogs Harper Lee’s “Go Set a Watchman,” Chapter 5: Days Of Her Lives
In Chapter 5 of “Go Set a Watchman,” Scout flashes back to childhood as she skates on a date with Henry.
Weekend Briefing: Sheriff Manfre v. Ethics Commission, Credit Card Thief Sought, A Marineland Engagement
Sheriff Manfre’s case goes before the Florida Ethics Commission this morning, the sheriff’s office is seeking the public’s help finding a credit card thief caught on video, a donation drive for the family victimized by a May fire in Palm Coast.
Flagler Live-Blogs Harper Lee’s “Go Set a Watchman,” Chapter 4: Maycomb Delta
In Chapter 4 of “Go Set a Watchman,” Scout and Henry have a date after Lee gives us a brief history of Maycomb, in words almost identical to those used in Mockingbird.
Florida Supreme Court Refuses to Lift Stay on Execution of Jerry Correll, Who Contested Lethal Injection
The Florida Supreme Court’s 5-2 decision turned down AG Pam Bondi’s request to let Gov. Scott set an executuon date, and ordered a hearing on Correll’s assertion that the drug poses a heightened risk to him because of his alleged brain damage and history of drug use.
Thursday Briefing: Bull Creek Restaurant Celebrates Year 1, Flagler Beach Still Disputes Sea Ray Lot
It’s a weekend celebration at Bull Creek Fish Camp, it’s continuing opposition to Sea Ray’s parking lot plans at the Flagler Beach City Commission, and Christian Thieleman conducts the complete first symphony by Beethoven.
Reporter Kicked Out: When Public Officials Abuse Florida’s Sunshine Law, With Lawmakers’ Blessing
A “health district” run by public officials closes a public meeting under a bogus exemption to the Sunshine law, and gets a blank check to secretly talk about whatever it wishes, though it affects public policy.
Walmart And Other Big Energy Users Want Out of Florida’s Conservation Program, Claiming They Can Do Better
Opponents say such a one-sided proposal would shift costs to small businesses and residential customers and jeopardize the viability of the 35-year-old conservation program.
Wednesday Briefing: Vehicle Burglaries Rash, Godspell Auditions, Breakfast With Lawmakers
Vehicle burglaries at Flagler beaches has the sheriff’s office again urging motorists to take basic precautions, City Repertory Theatre auditions for “Godspell,” the campaign against Planned Parenthood.
Flagler Live-Blogs Harper Lee’s “Go Set a Watchman,” Chapter 3: Aunt Alexandra’s Trash
In Chapter 3 of “Go Set a Watchman,” Scout and Aunt Alexandra rumble over Henry, and our 10 readers respond every which way.
The Iranian Nukes Deal and the
Horseman of the Jewish Apocalypse
Netanyahu is an ideologue of Jewish catastrophe. By this logic, risks and challenges cannot be approached with a view toward resolution, yielding instead to paranoia and antagonism, writes Shlomo Ben-Ami.
Some of Your Privacy Rights Are Waived In Medical Malpractice Lawsuits, Court Rules
The Florida court’s decision stemmed from a controversial 2013 law the Republican-controlled Legislature passed after a lobbying battle between groups such as doctors and plaintiffs’ attorneys.