A Senate committee backed off considerably from a proposal to require state workers to make 5% contributions to their pension fund, exempting most state workers, and cutting back the amount others would have to chip in.
Florida & Beyond, and All Opinions
Flagler and US Diverge as Unemployment Here Climbs Again to 16%
Flagler County’s January unemployment rate in January rose again to 16% percent, remaining in the same high range it’s been stuck in for a year and a half and bucking the national trend. Florida’s rate is 11.9%.
Despite 4 Million Uninsured, Florida Senate Approves Opt-Out Amendment on Health Law
Senators voted 29-10 to approve the proposed constitutional amendment, which would allow people to opt out of the “individual mandate” requirement that they buy health insurance or face financial penalties.
Popping Pops and and Freud’s Last Mad Cow Session: Culture Worth the Miles
A free pops concert by the Orlando Philharmonic at Winter Park’s Central Park, the Boston Pops’s tribute to Cole Porter in Longwood, art in Maitland, Freud’s last session at the Mad Cow Theatre, and more.
Ex-Neo-Nazi White Supremacist Recruiter Lectures on “Turning Away from Hate” At Stetson March 21
TJ Leyden is the author of Skinhead Confessions and an adviser and trainer to state and federal panels, the military and law enforcement. Jason Alexander, the Seinfeld star, wrote the Foreword to Leyden’s memoir.
All Business All the Time as Gov. Scott
Tells Lawmakers: “Don’t Blink”
Scott mentioned the word “job” or “jobs” 31 times in the 27-minute State of the State speech, lauded privatization, vouchers for private and parochial schools and the needs and virtues of business.
State of the State Tonight: Scott and Legislature’s GOP Keep Their War Civil–So Far
Don’t expect Gov. Rick Scott to deviate much from his frequent message as he delivers his first State of the State speech Tuesday night before a joint session of the Legislature: Budget cuts, tax cuts, potshots at Washington rather than his own dissenting GOP.
Oxycodone Central, James Bond in Drag, Placenta-Eating and Georgia O’Keeffe at 92: The Live Wire
The 100th International Women’s Day, islamophobe Brigitte Gabriel, Mike Huckabee’s bigotries, Duke Ellington’s wonders, a Palm Coast company on TLC, pretend abortions in Oklahoma, and more.
Room for Debate: Do You Let Your Teen Drink At Home?
A new study shows that 5.9 percent of adolescents 12 to 14 drank at home in the past month, almost half of them getting their drink from family. Do you let your teen drink in hopes of teaching responsibility?
Flagler Reads Together: Huckleberry Finn, Chapter 8
In celebration of the 10th anniversary of Flagler Reads Together, FlaglerLive is serializing Huckleberry Finn, this year’s book. Here’s Chapter 8: Sleeping in the Woods, Raising the Dead, Exploring the Island, Finding Jim; With E.W. Kemble’s original illustrations.