A tribute to Robert Byrd, never before published, on his casting his 15,000th vote in the Senate. Byrd died this morning, June 28, at 3 a.m. He was 92.
Florida & Beyond, and All Opinions
Bill Delbrugge Joins FlaglerLive Board; Here’s Who We Are
An introduction to the seven-member FlaglerLive Board of Directors, and a few words about who we are and what we’re about.
Drill This: Hundreds in Flagler, Thousands Across Globe’s Sands Link Against Oil
The moment was as symbolic as it was literal: a human chain in Flagler Beach against off-shore oil drilling and for alternatives to fossil fuels.
Hit the Beaches: Solidarity Against Oil As Hands Across the Sands Gets Set for Noon
Colleen Conklin, the school board member, is organizing the event–handing out slips and whistles, synchronizing the human link–along with Carmen Arasknick.
Firing McChrystal Isn’t Enough. Fire the War.
The McChrystal firing is the Obama administration’s grandest distraction from a failing war it still pretends to be winnable.
Barbary Wars, the Sequel: US Moves On for First Time Since ’94
Live commentary of the critical US-Algeria match, along with the simultaneous and deciding England-Slovenia clash.
100,000 Barrels Per Day? The Internal Document that Contradicts BP’s Claims on Oil Flow
The 100,000-barrels-per-day scenario contrasts sharply with BP’s public pronouncements of a much smaller spill rate.
Census Jobs Help Lower Unemployment; Flagler at 15.1%, Florida at 11.7%
As in the rest of the nation, census employment is lowering the unemployment rate. But will it last?
Florida Law on Wrecker-Operators and Penalties for Skirting the System
Florida law prohibits unauthorized wrecker operators from monitoring police communications to scout for potential business.
Timeline: Bunnell Police Department Firings and Resignations, 2005-2012
The Bunnell Police Department has been riddled with serious internal problems for the past several years. The following is a list of firings, resignations and allegations going back only to 2005.
FPC & Matanzas Students Collect the Most Awards in World Competition’s 36 Years
The school’s Future Problem Solvers brought home three top awards, plus second, third and fourth place trophies.
CNN Confessions: Not Quite Oprah After the Show
What was supposed to be a leisurely interview on Saturday afternoon turned into its own Deepwater Horizon blowout.
Engaging the Next Generation By Shutting It Up
An exception among metro newspapers, the News-Journal silenced all online comments under the guise of maintaining standards.
Catch FlaglerLive on CNN
I’ll be on CNN Newsroom with Fredricka Whitfield during the 3 p.m. hour discussing the oil spill’s impact on local governments, and particular local school districts.
Crist, Rediscovering His Inner Moderate, Vetoes Anti-Abortion Bill
The veto continues Crist’s rejection of GOP hard lines against teacher unions and in favor of unregulated business.
Fury and Fallacies Hook Red Snapper Fishing Ban
The indefinite extension of the ban on commercial or recreational fishing for red snapper off Florida’s coast will hurt boaters. But so would overfishing and crashing fish populations.
3 From FPC, Representing Florida, Heading for DC’s Kennedy Center Stage
Boyd Fulmer, Caitlin Hannan and Jeff McDevitt join 82 other top students in the National Honor Ensembles for the concert at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
How the Chamber’s Tax Proposal Undermines Schools, Cities and the County
Ignoring leery voters and a building bust, the Flagler chamber’s tax for commercial construction is jeopardizing local governments’ own urgent tax referendums in 2011 and 2012.
Job Creation Soars by 431,000, Almost All Census-Driven; Unemployment Down to 9.7%
Despite the surge in employment, signs are grim for sustained job recovery as private-sector and construction jobs lag.
Hanging With Manatees
It’s not just seeing manatees upclose alone that moves you. It’s seeing their injuries, and their utter helplessness.
Feds, Not Florida, Will Pay for Medicaid’s 1 Million New Beneficiaries
Attorney General Bill McCollum’s claim that health reform forces Florida to shell out too much money for Medicaid is demonstrably false.
Ego and Egoer
Two of Volusia’s giant egos, Daytona State’s Kent Sharples and ICI Homes’ Mori Hosseini, have turned the college board into their own little Khe Sanh. The NJ puts in some worthy war reporting.
Graduations from God to America
Graduation speeches are part of the American habit of reinvention. They should be provocative and revealing, even if we don’t all agree with the message.
Pryor to Class of 2010: “Take Your Chance, Make Your Choice, Make Your Move”
Citing William Jennings Bryan, Robert Frost and David Wilcox, Matanzas High School Principal Chris Pryor mixed anecdotes and metaphor in his last words of advice to the Class of 2010.
Ten Things You Should Know About the $70.4 Billion Budget Crist Is About To Sign
Undermining Bright Futures, imposing ultrasounds on pregnant women, studying school funding, favoring bikers, and more curiosities from the state budget.
Florida Legislature’s Spending Misleadingly Labeled as Pork
Most of the spending called “pork” (or “turkeys” by Florida TaxWatch is of immediate and necessary benefit to senior health, care for the poor and transportation.
Loner Palm Coast Drips Desal to Fraction of Original Plan; Water Costs Would Rise Sharply
The city is reducing its desal ambitions to a sixth the original size, but 1,000 gallons would cost five to six times more than current water.
What You Should Know Before You Buy Your Usher, Rihanna and Bieber Tickets in Daytona
Manuel Bornia, head of Daytona’s International Festival, has a growing trail of exaggerations, self-promotion, and outright inventions to his credit–on other people’s dime.
From Times Square to Jacksonville:
When Terrorism Is a Double-Standard
When the target of terrorism is recognizably American, it’s a national crisis. When the target of terrorism is a mosque in Jacksonville, nobody cares. Why is that?
Why Tea Parties Are More Bunkers than Bunker Hill
The tea party’s booting out of Utah Sen. Robert Bennett from his state’s GOP primary, despite Bennett’s extreme conservative credentials, is emblematic of a movement in the grip of its own delusions.
Monique Forte, Rising Star at Stetson’s
Business School, Dies at 43
Monique Forte had just been awarded Stetson’s 2010 McEniry Award for Excellence in Teaching, and skydived with her graduating students. She was 43.
Flagler Unemployment Lowest in a Year, Remains State’s Highest; Florida’s Dips for First Time Since 2006
Led by federal census jobs and tourism jobs, Florida’s employment rolls showed their best gains in four years. Flagler’s decline is due in part to population loss. The complete April unemployment report.
Lay-Offs at Palm Coast Data; Parent Co. Posts Loss and Signs $20 Million Line of Credit
Palm Coast Data’s parent company, Amrep Corp., posted a $2.76 million loss for the first nine fiscal months of 2010.
Florida Medicaid Audit Reveals Shockingly Poor Oversight
Lax state oversight of Medicaid is fueling runaway costs in the health program covering 2.7 million poor and elderly Floridians.
Obama, Biden, Kagan: Where Their Pocket Money Comes From
Where does Obama’s, Biden’s and Elena Kagan’s money come from? Look for yourself: complete financial disclosure forms.
Florida’s Abortion Follies:
When Lawmakers Are Sexual Predators
Florida’s latest anti-abortion legislation shows that sexual predators aren’t just the monsters who assault and rape. They can also be men who control women and girls by subordinating them their moral assumptions, which usually have immoral results.
A Musical Journey in the Key of Kindness
Caren Umbarger, who replaces Jonathan May as the new artistic director of the Flagler Youth Orchestra, relates her musical origins and philosophy.
Flagler Beach Manager Search:
Carpetbaggers Need Not Apply
Art Woosley, a Flagler Beach activist, argues that the next city manager should be a local resident with heart and interests in line with the city’s.
Smetana’s Fatherland: “The Moldau”
For your Sunday fix: “The Moldau” evokes the power of nature and nationalism as if flows through Smetana’s Czech fatherland.
Photo Gallery: Bunnell’s 2nd Annual Potato Festival
The day was full of sunshine and spuds and blessedly free of puns. A rich gallery of the day’s faces, dunks and winners.
Flagler Beach Dumps Desalination Group
The Flagler Beach City Commission cited costs and its own ready water supply as reasons to drop out of the Coquina desalination consortium.
Photo Gallery: Sheriff’s Memorial Ceremony
What the ceremony looked like: the wreath-laying, symbols and solemnity, taps and bag pipes.
Bunnell’s Audrey Montine Barber McKnight, 1917-2010
A letter from Sisco Deen, curator of the Flagler County Historical Society, on the death on May 11 of Bunnell pionneer Audrey Montine Barber McKnight.
$75 Billion Mortgage Modification Program Is $74.76 Billion Behind
The Obama administration committed to spend up to $75 billion on its foreclosure-prevention program. More than a year later, only about $242 million had actually been paid out.
Florida’s Small-Business Health Insurance Exchange a 2-Year Bust
Two years after GOP lawmakers launched it as a way to deregulate the health-care market for small businesses, Florida Health Choices still offers no coverage and faces an uncertain future.
Rap Sheet Six Years Long Books
Flagler County Lay-Over
Matthew William Freeman faces charges of kidnapping, roberry and aggravated assault from a March 3 incident near Bunnell.
Socialism, Capitalism, and Other Fallen Stock
We can rail about socialism’s evil and worship capitalism all we like. It won’t get us out of the hole we spent the last 30 years digging. History and Adam Smith are better guides.
Florida Regulators Stop Admissions to Troubled Youth Facility
Officials cut off admissions to Manatee Palms Youth Services, a 60-bed facility that serves 6 to 17 year olds when the facility failed to address violations.
Boners for Business
The Pat Rice era began at the $218-a-year News-Journal in late April. That’ll buy you a whole lot of Twinkies.
Job Creation Soars by 290,000,
Unemployment at 9.9%
Job creation improved by the largest margin in four years in May, solidifying gains of 559,000 jobs in the past three months.