Tim Tebow was traded to the New York Jets, dashing his hopes of playing for the Jaguars, the Dolphins or the Buccaneers and placing the most ostentatiously pious player in the NFL in the thick of Gotham’s media and liberal glare.
Florida & Beyond, and All Opinions
Good News and Bad News for News
The online audience for news is enormous and growing, but the Pew Center’s State of the News Media 2012 report points to declining revenue for news-gathering and a consolidating trend among online giants, with serious implications for civic engagement.
Gov. Scott, Veto the School Prayer Bill
Today, several Florida and national leaders of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, including Palm Coast’s Merrill Shapiro, sent the following letter to Gov. Rick Scott, urging him to veto a school-prayer bill that cleared the Legislature.
Teachers’ Bane: Students Who Don’t
Give a Damn, and Parents Who Reward Them
In her latest installment from the trenches, teacher Jo Ann Nahirny describes how regulations force teachers’ time to be consumed by efforts to improve the performance of indifferent students at the expense of students who actually want to learn.
Flagler’s and Florida’s Economic Development Hoax
Florida lawmakers and their local replicas seem hypnotized by the buzz of economic development, nattering about it with great stamina. But it’s a hoax, and a costly one. The assault on public and higher education of the last few years proves it.
Senate’s New Redistricting Map: Flagler District Whole Again, With St. Johns and Putnam
The chairman of the Senate Reapportionment Committee unveiled a new proposal for legislative districts Saturday to answer criticisms from the Florida Supreme Court. The plan creates a much more cohesive district for Flagler.
Going Green on St. Patrick’s Day
Adding “Going Green” to our St. Patrick’s Day activities makes perfect sense, while lending a little fun to the festivities. Frank Gromling provides a list of suggestions in his Coastal View column.
When Rick Santorum’s Official Language Blares Idiocy
Rick Santorum telling Puerto Rico’s people this week that they must all speak English before the island can become a state is the latest of many idiotic, exclusionary statements during his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, argues Angel Castillo Jr.
For Environmental Issues at the Legislature, a Less Than Devastating 2012
Despite being overshadowed by insurance, redistricting and higher education issues, to name a few, environmental groups say they had better session than last, with both legislative leaders and Gov. Rick Scott both being more amendable to their input.
Florida’s Latest Stab at Sharia Law Fails, Barely, But May Not Be the Last
A bill to ban Islamic or Sharia law’s application in state courts cleared the House and two Florida Senate committees easily, and would have gotten Gov. Rick Scott’s signature. It mirrors a concerted anti-Islamic campaign in at least 20 other states.
Piety’s Double Edge: When Deeds Speak Louder Than Public Prayers
As Gov. Rick Scott readies to sign into law Florida’s school prayer bill, how can legislators push for “inspirational messages” in classrooms while they work to destroy access to affordable healthcare, a woman’s right to choose and the rights of service workers to earn a decent wage?
Flagler Reads Together: The Red Badge of Courage, Chapter 2
Stephen Crane’s Red Badge of Courage, Chapter 2: Union soldier Henry Fleming, still anxious about his first battle, projects his anxieties and anger on generals around him.
The 2012 Florida Legislature: Winners and Losers
The 2012 Florida legislative session is over. Here’s a recap list of some of the bills that passed and some that failed, from abortion to charter schools to Sharia law.
Flagler Unemployment Improves to 13.5%, Florida’s to 9.6% as Trend Solidifies
Flagler County’s January unemployment rate of 13.5 percent,. released Tuesday, is the best in three years, going back to December 2008, when it was 11.8 percent.
Better Assisted Living Oversight Fails as Legislature Drops Several Health Care Bills
Florida lawmakers ended the 2012 session without passing major health-care bills dealing with assisted-living facilities, malpractice lawsuits and physicians dispensing drugs to workers-compensation patients.
Rush Does SNL
Rush Limbaugh wants you to know that he’s doing just fine with sponsors on his show. The Saturday Night Live cold opening, compliments of Taran Killam.
Special Session of the Legislature Begins Wednesday to Fix Senate’s Gerrymandering
Citing gerrymandering, the Florida Supreme Court threw out eight of the 40 Senate districts, including Flagler County’s District 6, along with the numbering system, which means that most districts have to be redrawn as a special session begins Wednesday.
The North Atlantic Garbage Patch: A Plastic Soup Ladled from Consumption
A floating garbage dump consists of billions of small plastic man-made items stretches in the Atlantic from Cuba to Maryland by way of Florida. Here’s what you can do to keep plastics and other litter out of the oceans.
The GOP’s War on Women: Electoral Bombs From Komen to Rush to Virginia’s Vaginal Probes
The Republican war on women, conservative columnist Kathleen Parker writes, is “a perfect storm of stupefying proportions” that may have ruinous consequences for the GOP at election time. But it was a collapse foretold.
Parent Trigger Bill: Florida Senate’s Rebel Republicans Help Defeat Charter School Ploy
The Senate on a tie vote defeated a bill that would have let parents turn failing schools into charters, the latest and perhaps final victory for a dissident faction of the GOP caucus as the curtain came down on the 2012 legislative session.
Do Kiss, Do Tell, Do Show
The homecoming picture of the gay Marine kissing his boyfriend has the same iconic feel as Alfred Eisenstaedt’s Life magazine shot of the sailor kissing a nurse in Times Square on V-J Day. Both images capture the essence of liberation on a large scale.
Maintaining Momentum, Economy Adds 223,000 Jobs; Unemployment Stays at 8.3%
The U.S. economy is maintaining its job-creation momentum, adding 223,000 jobs in January, and revising upward previous job-creation figures for December and January by 61,000 jobs. Over the past three months, the economy added 730,000 jobs.
Palm Coast At Its Worst: Felled on Old Kings Road, and for 20 Minutes, Nobody Stops
Inna Hardison’s 20-year-old son was traveling on his motorcycle on Old Kings Road the evening of March 3rd when he struck a boar and was thrown from the bike and injured. It was 20 minutes before anyone bothered to stop and help.
Charter School Giveaway Bill Veiled as Parental Control Drawing Frantic Opposition
Democrats are looking to the Senate and a rogue set of lawmakers to help them defeat an education bill they think is a giveaway to the charter school industry at the expense of public schools.
Joe the Plumber, Congressman?
While Dennis Kucinich lost his primary in Ohio’s 9th Congressional district, Samuel Wurzelbacher, also known as Joe (the alleged and tax-evading) plumber, barely won his Republican primary, though he has no chance of beating Marcy Kaptur.
In a Major Victory for State Workers, Judge Rules 3% Contribution Unconstitutional
The ruling is major victory for 560,000 state workers, including, cops, firefighters, teachers and other school employees, but it again digs a $2 billion hole for the state budget.
Florida Legislators Cut Higher Ed $300 Million Even as They Create a 12th University
House and Senate lawmakers agreed to create Florida Polytechnic University, a pet project of Sen. J.D. Alexander’s, and slash university spending by $300 million, paving the way for an on-time ending to the legislative session.
Florida Highway Patrol’s Move-Over Enforcement Nets 1,200 Citations in 29 Days
Troopers also issued more than 69,000 traffic citations and made 620 arrests for Driving Under the Influence of alcohol or drugs. They also cited nearly 24,000 drivers for speeding in the 29-day campaign.
Flawed Verdict: Ernie Lopez, After 9 Years in Prison for Child Rape, Is Only Half-Free
In Canada and the U.S. at least 23 people who were wrongly accused of killing children based on flawed or biased work by forensic pathologists have been cleared over the last 15 years.
Excluding Themselves, Florida Lawmakers Pass Drug-Testing Program for State Workers
The House voted largely along party lines to allow state agencies to set up drug testing programs for their workers over the objection of Democrats who said it wasn’t just unconstitutional, but a bully tactic.
What It’s Like to Be The Whale Guy: The True Story of Getting A Life
In his debut column for FlaglerLive, Frank Gromling relates his long association with the Marineland Right Whale Project and the Atlantic right whales’ 1,400-mile annual migrations along Flagler and Florida shores.
Rush Limbaugh, Slander Slut
If there ever was a need for a prophylactic to syphilitic discourse, Rush Limbaugh’s latest attack on women makes the case. But insurers won’t cover it.
Florida House Passes Sweeping Abortion Restrictions, Including 24-Hour Waiting Period
The bill requires all abortion clinics to be owned and operated by a doctor (only one of Florida’s 68 clinics fits the bill) and presumes, with little scientific evidence, that pain for the fetus begins at 20 weeks.
In a Response, Jim Manfre Recasts Sheriff Fleming’s 8 Years in Harsh Terms
Responding to Sheriff Don Fleming’s earlier criticism, Jim Manfre, a candidate for sheriff, calls Fleming a liar while assailing him over employment lawsuits, issues at the jail and other matters.
53-Year-Old Man Tries to Set Himself and Doctors on Fire at St. Augustine VA Clinic
Gregorio Iglesias-Cruz, 53, is in jail in St. Johns County today after reportedly walking into a VA clinic in St. Augustine and attempting to set himself and a doctor he was speaking with on fire.
Why Santorum Flops, Atheists and Muslims
Thursday, 4 p.m. A minor crash causes bigh headaches near Belle Terre Elementary. Kathleen Parker on Santorum’s pandering flops, Jacksonville’s No meat March movement, Florida-style literacy, video of John Steinbeck’s Nobel speech, and the Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore.
Give Us This Day Our Daily Contraceptive
Six in ten Americans, including Catholics, said they support a requirement by the Obama administration that health plans supply free contraceptives as a preventive benefit for women. Women registered as independents favor the rule by a 2-1 margin.
Florida Moves Past No Child Left Behind, But Not Past High-Stakes Testing
Breaking from from federal No Child Left Behind strictures, Florida can now use its own school accountability system, its A-through-F school grades, to rate the state’s public education system. But the waiver comes with strings attached.
Florida’s Misguided Lunge for Internet Sales Taxes
Nancy Nally, a Flagler County-based web publisher, argues that Florida’s proposed law to compel internet merchants to pay sales taxes won’t level the playing field or increase revenue, but hurt local businesses like her own.
Palm Coast Councilman Frank Meeker Petitions for Civility Manifesto in 2012 Elections
Whether a candidate is worthy of political office should be decided by free and clear elections, not tainted by character assassination and media hype, Frank Meeker argues, laying out a 10-point “Statement on Election Fairness” for 2012.
Silencing Maneuvers: When the Florida Legislature Resembles the Politbureau
Stopping debate at three minutes, Republicans in the House Education Committee passed a bill overhauling standards and finances for charter schools and another limiting the power of the Florida High School Athletics Association.
When 125 Students, Infinite Expectations and Untold Critics Encircle Teachers’ 36-Hour Day
Down time after dismissal? Summers off? Think again. Matanzas High School teacher Jo Ann Nahirny, in her latest installment from the trenches, describes permanent on-call nature of a teacher’s days and evenings.
Florida Lawmaker Richard Steinberg Resigns After Admitting to Harassing, Anonymous Texts
Rep. Richard Steinberg, the Miami Beach Democrat, quit the House effective immediately on Friday after admitting earlier in the week that he sent inappropriate, unwanted texts to a federal prosecutor in Miami.
Responding to Criticism, Sheriff Fleming Calls ex-Sheriff Manfre a “Legend In His Own Mind”
The two sheriffs have a long history of rivalry and mutual criticism dating back to 2004, when Don Fleming replaced Jim Manfre. In 2008, Fleming defeated Manfre by less than a 2 percent margin.
Florida Senate Passes $70.7 Billion Budget, Cutting Higher Education By $400 Million
The Senate overwhelmingly approved a $70.7 billion spending plan for the coming budget year on Thursday, with a 33-6 vote, setting up a two-week window for negotiating with the House’s smaller budget.
Gytonia Cheek, Guilty on All Counts in Teacher Myrtle McKinney Murder, Will Serve Life in Prison
A jury of six men and six women found Gytonia Cheek guilty of first-degree murder, burglary and robbery today in Flagler County Circuit Court, in the 2007 killing of Myrtle McKinney in Palatka at Christmas that year. Gytonia was sentenced to life in prison.
Florida Senate Says No to No Fast-Tracking Oil and Gas Drilling on State Lands
A bill making it easier to drill for oil and gas on state lands hit the skids Tuesday as it failed to advance from a key Senate Committee that does not intend to meet again.
Foreclosure Fast-Tracking Bill Has Homeowners Worried About Being Shoved Out
A controversial bill backers say would speed up the foreclosure process and help jumpstart the economy made its Florida Senate debut Monday amid concerns that the measure could leave some homeowners unjustly out in the cold.
Indefensible Tasers, Illusions of Homegrown Muslim Terrorists and Big Words: The Live Wire
Louis CK on the meaning of George Carlin, a Florida Taser shot leaves a woman in a permanent coma, the crock of home-grown Muslim terrorists, Seth & Amy on birth control, JFK’s church loyalties, and more.
Drill, Baby, Drill: How Mica and Other Florida Republicans Rejected Everglades Protection
As the House of Representatives voted to open public lands and off-shore waters to drilling and experimenting with oil shale and tar sands, Kathy Castor, D-Fla., proposed a 5-mile protective buffer for the Everglades and the Great Lakes. The measure was rejected, 241-176, with 17 of Florida’s House Republicans voting to kill the proposal.