One proposal would increase the half-cent sales tax by a super-majority vote of the county commission, bypassing voters.
Florida & Beyond, and All Opinions
In 5-2 Ruling, Florida Supreme Court Rejects Ballot Measure Banning Federal Health Reform
Citing “misleading and ambiguous language,” the court rejected a proposed constitutional amendment that would have banned mandated federal health insurance in Florida.
Stetson Scores $610,000 Federal Stimulus Grant to Renovate Labs
Stetson’s grant will renovate its main science building’s labs. The grant is part of $3 billion awarded the National Science Foundation in stimulus dollars in 2009.
Culture Worth the (Orlando) Magic: The Week’s Calendar Collage
Eat royally, save money and support the arts: Orlando’s September magical dining experience; the art of collage gains new respectability, and soars to the Magic’s heights; Stephen Sondheim’s Mad Cow, and more.
Neo-Supremacy Chic: Glenn Beck
And Sarah Palin’s Tea-Scalding of MLK
Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin’s biggest “tea party” rally on the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s most famous speech signals the arrival of a neo-supremacist political movement in god’s clothing.
Back to School Jam: The Video
Watch the six-minute video of the Aug. 7 Back to School Jam, where some 2,600 backpacks and school supplies were given away.
Tanking GDP: When No One Wants to
Admit to Double-Dipping
The latest figures darken a picture already gloomy with collapsing home sales and persistently high unemployment. Deflation may be next.
Supreme Court Still Silent on Proposal to Exclude Floridians From Federal Health Reform
Amendment 9, bumped off the November ballot by a lower court for being misleading, would ban laws that would make health insurance a requirement from taking effect in Floria.
Quit Surfing. Quit Working. Go Vote.
Unless you have a well articulated political science doctor’s note, you have no excuse but to go vote today. Precinct locations and guides included.
When Not Voting Is The Loudest Vote
Voting is neither a virtue nor a responsibility. It is a neutral civil right. Not voting is a right of equal weight, a choice as defensible as the choice to vote. Both are exercises in freedom.
Uzi Is As Art Does: The Week’s Cultural Ammunition in Orlando and DeLand
Three new exhibits at Stetson University; Charles Turzak’s WPA prints and murals on exhibit at Winter Park’s Polasek Museum; a little Uzi art at the Neon Forest Art Gallery, and more.
Commission Money Race: Mori Hosseini and Other Developers Bankrolling Abbott’s Bid
Volusia, St. Johns and Jacksonville development firms account for all but about $1,000 of Bob Abbott’s campaign funds. Nate McLaughlin’s are more grass roots based.
School’s Back. So Are Walking Children in a Town Short of Sidewalks. Watch Where You Drive.
Two years ago, 270 children younger than 14 were killed while walking by a road. School’s resumption calls for care, especially in Palm Coast, where sidewalks are lacking.
Trevor Tucker, School Board District 3 Candidate: The Live Interview (2010)
Trevor Tucker is running from District 3 against Marc Ray. Tucker was appointed in January to fill the seat once occupied by the late Peter Palmer.
Marc Ray, School Board District 3 Candidate: The Live Interview
Marc Ray is an executive at the Hammock Dunes Club. He’s challenging incumbent Trevor Tucker.
Unemployment Resumes Climb in Flagler and Florida as Economy Fails to Strengthen
Flagler County’s unemployment rate went up to 15.6 percent (from 15.4 percent), and Florida’s went up to 11.5 percent, raising fears of a double-dip recession.
State Troopers Will Surge Drunk-Driving Patrols Through Labor Day
The highway patrol will be out in full force between Aug. 20 and Sept. 6, hunting drunk drivers.
Experts: Argue All You Want, Mosque Project Is on Firm Legal Ground
Whatever its detractors say, the project to build a 15-story Islamic center, including a mosque, near Ground Zero has the law, including a particular GOP law, unquestionably on its side.
$15 Million Short, Federal Insurance Fund Takes Over News-Journal’s Pension Plan
A federal judge ruled against adequately funding News-Journal retirees’ pension plan, ordering instead that $40 million in cash and other values should go to Cox, the newspaper’s former minority owner.
McDermott Self-Evaluates After His First School Board Meeting
The Flagler County School Board’s newest student representative reflects on his first evening with the elected, and makes a pitch to fellow-students.
Stetson University and Flagler College Rank Well, Florida Does Not in Higher Ed Survey
Regional successes aside, Florida’s flagship universities did poorly when ranked against other national public and private universities.
Bach, Ballet and Cirque: Cultural Season Begins This Week in Orlando
Printmakers Nathaniel Currier and James Ives and harness racing, the Orlando Philharmonic’s Sounds of Summer, innumerable performers at Bob Carr, and more for your calendar.
Krauthammer’s Sacrilege: When Reactionaries Fire Up their Sunday Missals–and Miss
A comparison of Ground Zero’s neighborhood to Auschwitz or Gettysburg is ridiculous, given the ritzy and lurid neighborhood of Ground Zero. Walk the walk.
Breaking His Silence, Obama Defends Mosque Near Ground Zero
The president’s Ramadan speech at the White House was not as soaring as Mayor Bloomberg’s defense of the Islamic center in Lower Manhattan, but it was forceful and left no doubts about the president’s stance.
Florida Court Rules Pregnant Woman’s Rights Override Presumptions for the Unborn
In a circuit court decisions with wide implications about the rights of a fetus, a judge ruled a woman had the right to decline hospitalization against doctors’ concerns over her pregnancy.
“Burn the Koran Day” in Gainesville: When Crude Isn’t the Only Thing Mucking Up Florida
Terry Jones’ “Dove World Outreach Center” in Gainesville slimes Florida, but no more so than Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin are sliming American values in the name of the worst of Western civilization.
Pierre on WNZF’s Open Lines with David Ayers This Morning
Chatting it up about local politics, local media, the primary election, the good referendum on the ballot and the very bad one, and more.
Six Things You Need to Know About Financial Regulation
No need to read 2,000-page bills. Here are less than 1,000 words to give you a quick primer on what’s happening now when your money becomes other people’s money.
This Week in Orlando: Dancing With Princess Leia and Fred Astaire
Edward Gorey, the artist behind “Dracula” and “The War of the Worlds,” at the Orlando Museum of Art; SunRail as art muse; Roy Alan as Fred Astaire, and more.
Justice for Sale: Half a Million Dollars
Slosh Races for 3 Local Circuit Court Seats
Eleven candidates in three races in the 7th Judicial Circuit have raised an average of $44,000 each, more than 60 percent of it their own money.
John Selden, Candidate for Circuit Court Judge, Group 5 (Flagler County)
Voters’ Guide for John Selden, Candidate for Florida 7th Circuit Court Judge, Group 5, Flagler County, vying to replace Judge Kim C. Hammond.
Sid Nowell, Candidate for Circuit Court Judge, Group 5 (Flagler County)
Voters’ Guide for Sid Nowell, Candidate for Florida 7th Circuit Court Judge, Group 5, Flagler County, vying to replace Judge Kim C. Hammond.
Marc Dwyer, Candidate for Circuit Court Judge, Group 5 (Flagler County)
Voters’ Guide for Marc Dwyer, Candidate for Florida 7th Circuit Court Judge, Group 5, Flagler County, vying to replace Judge Kim C. Hammond.
Flagler County Early Voting Locations and Times
Early voting in the Flagler primary election runs from August 9 through August 21, Monday – Saturday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Here’s a list of locations.
US Economy Loses 131,000 Jobs, Unemployment Rate Stalls at 9.5%
The economy is losing far more jobs than it is adding as more temporary census workers lose work.
Where Spin Meets Bull: Florida Hospital’s Lars Houmann on the Dispute With United Healthcare
A three-and-a-half minute video by the Florida Hospital CEO is a window into the company’s deception and disingenuity.
Opposition to the Mosque “At” Ground Zero Desecrates American Values
Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich and other reactionaries’ opposition to a mosque near ground zero offends liberty at the expense of the dead of 9/11.
Taking Stockman: How Nixon, Reagan, Bush and their GOP Demolished the Economy
David Stockman, Reagan’s former budget director, sums up how his GOP destroyed the American economy through a bogus faith in markets and false promises of fiscal discipline.
Decreasing Rains, Dropping Aquifer: Hydrologic Summary for January-June
Every six months, by Florida law, the state’s water management districts must produce a report on water conditions in the region. Here’s the St. Johns River district report, which includes Flagler County.
What You Always Wanted to Know About Mills & Millage Rates
Even John Quincy Adams complained almost 200 years ago that few people could figure out the meaning of “mills,” and he wasn’t even talking about millage rates. Here’s an explanation and some history of the most commonly incomprehensible word at tax time.
The Judge Behind the Decision Striking Down Parts of Arizona’s Anti-Immigration Law
Judge Susan Bolton, responsible for seven suits filed against Arizona’s immigration law, was recommended for the federal bench by a Republican senator, nominated by Bill Clinton and confirmed unanimously in 2000.
Florida 1 of 3 States With Top-Rated Medicare Advantage Plan. But You Can’t Enroll in Flagler.
Top-rated Capital Health Plan, a non-profit, is available only in the four-county Tallahassee area, so local Medicare members are denied enrollment.
Medicare Advantage: How Florida Rates
Florida doesn’t rate so high in a state-by-state chart showing the percentage of Medicare Advantage beneficiaries enrolled in quality plans.
School Board Candidate Peter Peligian’s Impersonation (and Tax and Claims) Problems
It’s not just that allegedly allegedly used his identity: School board candidate Peter Peligian is not living up to his own claims of transparency and accountability.
This Week in Orlando: Godot and Culture Worth the Miles
Mark Twain and Henry James works are still happily haunting Orlando stages, while “Waiting for Godot” is coming to the Lowndes Shakespeare Center. Plus something about a boat show? Really? Plus Haydn, Dvorak and more.
More Incitement to Violence Against Florida’s Alan Grayson
A $100 reward is put out to punch Florida Congressman Alan Grayson. A death threat follows, not for the first time.
Florida Tax-Free Days: The Fine Print
The tax-free holiday in all its details: what’s tax-free, what’s not, according to Florida’s tax revenue department.
Questions of Relevance and Relevant Questions Over Shooting at Sheriff’s Capt.’s House
Wagons circled around a sheriff’s captain after we reported on a shooting at his house, revealing a disturbing double-standard when law enforcement isn’t in the best light.
Don’t Fall For It: The “Obama Mom” College Grant Scam
Obama mom ads are everywhere. But there’s no such thing as an Obama grant for moms, who are eligible for Pell Grants, student loans and other aid like anybody else.
Florida Leads States’ Failures in Reporting Problem Caregivers
Florida leads the nation in ignoring federal database reporting of health professionals who have been disciplined on the job, undermining background and safety checks on frontline caregivers.