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Florida

As Supreme Court Takes on Florida Law Forcing Social Media’s Hand, Maybe It’s Time to Reinterpret the First Amendment

March 9, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 2 Comments

marketplace of ideas first amendment magritte golconde

Florida is in the middle of an epic legal battle over concepts of free speech, press freedom and unimpeded commerce. It’s a clash between internet publishers, who want the government to leave them alone, and Republican leaders who insist that social media platforms are too powerful to be run by giant, faceless corporations that can — and do — impose their tastes on all of us.

Flagler County and Cities Net Record $151 Million of Half Billion Requested as Budget Heads to DeSantis

March 8, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 10 Comments

Gov. Ron DeSantis, Senate President Kathleen Passidomo and House Speaker Paul Renner discussed the 2024 legislative session Friday. (Mike Exline/NSF)

The budget includes $151 million in appropriations for Flagler County, Palm Coast, Flagler Beach and Bunnell, a record besting last year’s haul by about $45 million. Palm Coast’s future, western expansion drew $80 million for the loop road the city is planning, but existing residents’ needs for a better Old Kings Road were stiffed. Flagler County is facing a funding cliff next year as Paul Renner and Travis Hutson will be gone.

After DeSantis Veto, Lawmakers Pass Watered-Down Social Media Ban Awash in Loopholes

March 7, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 7 Comments

social media ban bill renner

The bill, in part, would prevent children under age 16 from opening social-media accounts — though it would allow parents to give consent for 14- and 15-year-olds to have accounts. Children under 14 could not open accounts, but the revamped plan does not include age-verification requirements, making the ban moot but for the state’s vague threat of lawsuits.

Senate Approves Ban on Homeless Sleeping in Public, Sending Bill to Gov. DeSantis for Signature

March 6, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 3 Comments

Off limits, says Florida's sleep police. (© FlaglerLive)

The Republican-controlled Senate voted 27-12 along party lines to pass the bill (HB 1365), which would bar cities and counties from allowing people to sleep at places such as public buildings and in public rights of way. The House approved the bill last week, and DeSantis has voiced support for it. But Democrats argued the state would provide limited resources to local governments to carry out the measure, potentially exposing the local governments to lawsuits.

Lawmakers Set to Pass $117.46 Billion Budget by Friday, After ‘Cooling Off’ Period

March 5, 2024 | FlaglerLive | Leave a Comment

House Speaker Paul Renner, whose district includes all of Flagler County, at Flagler Tiger Bay today. (© FlaglerLive)

Overall state spending will be higher than the $117.46 billion in the budget because of separate legislation. For example, lawmakers have approved spending $717 million in a major health-care bill (SB 7016) that includes efforts to attract more doctors to the state.

Seniority Pork: Hutson Filed Staggering $475 Million in Requests for Flagler, Including $309 Million for Palm Coast

March 5, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 12 Comments

travis hutson paul renner

Outdoing last year’s requests by far, Hutson filed 34 special funding requests on behalf of Flagler County governments and agencies, totaling a staggering $475.8 million–or 0.4 percent of the size of the current state budget. Seven of the requests are for Flagler County government, totaling $92.5 million. Fourteen requests were for Palm Coast, totaling a third of a billion dollars.

Federal Appeals Court Stops DeSantis’s ‘Stop Woke’ Restrictions on Workplace Training Against Bigotry

March 4, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 7 Comments

The 'Stop Woke Act' could make it difficult to discuss Bull Connor's response to civil rights. (© FlaglerLive)

The workplace-training part of the law listed eight race-related concepts and said that a required training program or other activity that “espouses, promotes, advances, inculcates, or compels such individual (an employee) to believe any of the following concepts constitutes discrimination based on race, color, sex, or national origin.”

DeSantis Thinks He’s Abolishing the Homeless by Banning Them from Sight. He’s Wrong.

March 3, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 31 Comments

florida homeless

DeSantis and lawmakers are likely reacting to a shift in the way communities across the U.S. view homelessness from compassion to penalties and restrictions. Unfortunately, but true to form, DeSantis didn’t offer a palette of humane solutions to the homelessness problem. Instead, he spoke of the issue in stark, unsympathetic, self-absorbed terms characterizing homelessness in purely negative terms, blaming them for contributing to the erosion of the quality of life of others lucky to not be sleeping on the street.

Citing Efforts Against ‘Indoctrination,’ House Approves Bill Broadening Censorship in Teacher Prep Courses

March 2, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 8 Comments

The way the Florida Legislature sees its teachers: a classroom at the Florida State College for Women in 1949. (Florida Memory)

The Florida House on Friday passed a measure that supporters say is designed to keep “identity politics” out of teacher preparation programs that lead to educators getting professional certificates — as Democratic members likened the bill to academic censorship.

Florida House Passes Ban on Homeless Sleeping In Public Despite Added Burdens to Local Governments

March 1, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 7 Comments

homeless ban florida

The Florida House on Friday approved a controversial proposal that would prevent homeless people from sleeping in public, despite concerns about increased costs for local governments. The Republican-controlled House voted 82-26 along almost-straight party lines to pass the bill (HB 1365), which is backed by Gov. Ron DeSantis. It also would make it easier for residents and business owners to challenge local officials over how homelessness is addressed.

Renner and DeSantis Trying to Ward Off Veto Over Social Media Ban for Children Under-16

February 29, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 5 Comments

renner desantis faceboook ban

With a Friday deadline looming, House Speaker Paul Renner said Wednesday that he and Gov. Ron DeSantis are trying to work out differences on a bill aimed at keeping children under age 16 off social-media platforms. Renner is keeping silent on alternatives.

Florida Lawmakers Back Modest Reparations for Dozier School’s Black Victims of Rampant Abuse

February 27, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 7 Comments

The Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys in Marianna, Florida, was a high risk residential commitment facility operated by the Department of Juvenile Justice for male youth 13 to 21 years of age who were committed by the Court. The school originally opened in 1900 as the Florida State Reform School. It was later known as the Florida Industrial School for Boys (1914-1957), the Florida School for Boys (1957-1967), and finally the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys. The school closed in 2011.

The Florida Senate measure would create a $20 million “Dozier School for Boys and Okeechobee School Victim Compensation Program” to compensate “living persons who were confined” to Dozier or the Okeechobee School, another reform school, between 1940 and 1975 and “who were subjected to mental, physical, or sexual abuse perpetrated by school personnel.”

GOP Lawmakers Recommend Co-Founder of Moms for Liberty, an Extremist Group, for Ethics Job

February 26, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 9 Comments

Moms for Liberty co-founder Tina Descovich at a rally in front of the state Capitol on Feb. 2, 2024 (Mitch Perry)

Republican lawmakers in a Senate hearing Monday recommended Tina Descovich, co-founder of Moms for Liberty, cited by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an anti-government extremist group, for an appointment for the Florida Commission on Ethics. The full Senate must approve the executive appointment.

The Controversial Concept of ‘Fetal Personhood’ Is Creeping Up on Florida

February 25, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 26 Comments

Chief Justice Carlos Muniz. (Florida Supreme Court)

If fetuses have legal personhood, abortion-rights activists argue it would infringe the rights of pregnant women and have serious implications for medical procedures like in vitro fertilization and the treatment of ectopic pregnancies and miscarriages. For all practical matters, the Florida Constitution is silent on the issue of fetal personhood, despite Chief Justice Muniz’s suggestion that fetal personhood rights might already exist.

Stunningly, Florida’s Ladapo Tells Parents It’s Fine to Send Unvaccinated Kids to School with Measles Outbreak

February 24, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 32 Comments

ladapo and desantis

With a brief memo, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo has subverted a public health standard that’s long kept measles outbreaks under control. On Feb. 20, as measles spread through Manatee Bay Elementary in South Florida, Ladapo sent parents a letter granting them permission to send unvaccinated children to school amid the outbreak. Ladapo’s move contradicts advice from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Audit Reveals ‘Urgent Need’ to Improve Florida’s Prison System, But State Budget May Balk

February 23, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 2 Comments

One of the prison's guard towers. (© FlaglerLive)

Concerned about dilapidated buildings in Florida’s statewide prison system, the state Senate has set aside $100 million a year for 30 years to address repairs and new construction, a total of $3 billion. But the state House hasn’t following suit. That sets up a fiscal clash as House and Senate lawmakers craft Florida’s 2024-25 budget.

Bill Banning Children Younger Than 16 From Social Media Passes and Heads for a Skeptical DeSantis

February 22, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 4 Comments

social media ban

Florida lawmakers Thursday gave final approval to a bill that seeks to keep children under age 16 off social-media platforms, as Gov. Ron DeSantis continued to raise concerns about the measure. The House voted 108-7 to pass the bill (HB 1), which has been a priority of House Speaker Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast. That came after the Senate voted 23-14 earlier in the day to approve the measure.

Vacation Rental Bill Scaling Back Local Control, Opposed by Flagler County Government, Heads to House Floor

February 22, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 8 Comments

Philip Griffits Jr., the Panama City Republican, is the bill sponsor. (Florida Channel)

The House Commerce Committee today approved a bill on a 10-4 vote pre-empting most vacation-rental authorities to the state. The bill heads to the House floor for a vote and reconciliation with the Senate’s version. It is the closest a pre-emption proposal has come to enactment in the dozen years that the vacation rental industry has pushed them.

Controversial Bill Allowing Lawsuits Over Wrongful Death of an ‘Unborn Child’ Advances

February 21, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 7 Comments

Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka, R-Fort Myers, is sponsoring a controversial bill about wrongful death lawsuits involving an "unborn child."

The proposal, now ready to go to the full House, would add “unborn child” to a law that allows family members to seek damages when a person’s death is caused by such things as wrongful acts or negligence. The bill (HB 651) has drawn intense pushback from abortion-rights advocates, who argue the proposed changes could put abortion providers and people who help women obtain abortions at risk of being sued.

Florida Moving To Ban References to Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions

February 20, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 4 Comments

florida wind energy ban

Florida lawmakers are moving toward approving an overhaul of state energy laws, including eliminating references to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and imposing a ban on offshore wind-energy generation.

Proposal to Allow Chaplains in Florida Schools Advances

February 20, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 12 Comments

chaplains florida schools

A proposal continued advancing Tuesday in the Senate to allow school districts to authorize chaplains to provide services for students. Under the bill (SB 1044), districts and charter schools could adopt policies to allow volunteer school chaplains “to provide supports, services and programs to students as assigned by the district school board or charter school governing board.”

Moms for Liberty’s Book of Morons

February 18, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 11 Comments

The Empty Library book burning moms for liberty

The moms of Moms for “Liberty” are feeling a little touchy, put-upon, even diminished. Their do-boy DeSantis crashed out of the presidential race. They’re losing school board elections. They’re making idiots of themselves in the national media, as when Moms co-founder Tiffany Justice simultaneously defends taking books off school library shelves while denying that Moms want books taken off school library shelves, unless they’re by Black writers or gay writers, or ones dealing with the Holocaust, racism, or any sex.

Senate Backs Paul Renner Initiative Banning Children Younger Than 16 From Social Media, With Caveats

February 17, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 4 Comments

Paul Renner, the Palm Coast Republican and House Speaker, is enthusiastically leading a House that has lurched further to the right than under any administration since the Jim Crow era. (© FlaglerLive)

The House overwhelmingly passed the initial version last month, and the newly revised version does not change the basic components. It would prevent children under 16 from creating accounts on at least some social-media platforms; require platforms to terminate existing accounts that they know or have “reason to believe” are held by minors younger than 16; and allow parents to request that minors’ accounts be terminated.

Immigrant Activists Rally Against ‘Consistent Dehumanization’ in Florida as They Face More Bills Targeting Them

February 16, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 2 Comments

A sign held by immigration activists at the state capitol in Tallahassee on Feb. 15. (Mitch Perry)

Seven months after one of the strictest immigration laws in the nation went into effect, dozens of immigrant rights activists gathered in the state Capitol building on Thursday to speak out about what one person called the “never ending attacks on immigrants” in Florida.

GOP Proposal to Teach Tendentious ‘History of Communism’ in K-12 Draws Heated Debate

February 15, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 12 Comments

The Red Menace returns.

An at-times tense meeting of a House panel exposed a simmering debate about whether a proposal to teach about the history of communism in grades as low as kindergarten is a polarizing idea or, as a supporter said, “not divisive in any way.”

Florida House Moves Toward Banning Local Governments from Regulating EV Charging Stations, and Banning ‘Cultivated Meat’

February 12, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 1 Comment

One of the free electric vehicle charging stations at Palm Coast City Hall. The free ride may be ending. (© FlaglerLive)

The Florida House on Monday continued moving forward with a wide-ranging bill that includes banning sales of lab-grown meat in the state and preventing local governments from regulating electric-vehicle charging stations. Florida has 3,230 public charging stations in 44 of the 67 counties, and a staff analysis of the bill said electric vehicles made up nearly 3 percent of cars sold in Florida from July 2020 to July 2021.

Federal Judge Ends Challenges to Florida’s Election Law Targeting Black Voters

February 11, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 6 Comments

Florida law makes certain Americans less than 100 percent so. Above, officials from the Palm Beach Supervisor of Elections Office in an undated Florida Memory photo believed to be from the 1950s.

Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker issued a 17-page order after the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last year overturned a ruling in which he found the law improperly discriminated against Black voters. Walker appeared to criticize the appeals court for “reweighing” facts in the case.

Florida House Approves Nearly Doubling Governor’s Salary

February 9, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 8 Comments

florida governor salary

Gov. Ron DeSantis’ $141,400 annual salary doesn’t make it in the top ten highest paid governors in the country. That needs to be corrected, say state Republican lawmakers, which is why on Thursday they approved a proposal (HB 5007) that would raise the annual salary of the governor to “at least 100%” of what a member of the Florida Supreme Court makes, now $251,414.

Lab-Grown Meat Companies Push Back Against Florida Lawmakers’ Attempt to Ban Their Product

February 8, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 16 Comments

lab made meat cultured

Two California companies can now offer lab-grown meat in restaurants and eventually supermarkets following approval of their products by the U.S. Department of Agriculture last June. But those same products would be banned in Florida if lawmakers approve a proposal moving through the Legislature. The bill by Tampa Bay-area Republican Jay Collins (SB 1084) would make it unlawful for anyone to manufacture, sell, hold or offer for sale, or distribute “cultivated” meat in Florida. A violator could be charged with a second-degree misdemeanor.

Some Florida Justices Skeptical About State’s Attempt to Keep Abortion Rights Amendment Off the Ballot

February 7, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 3 Comments

A Florida Supreme Court hearing Wednesday on a proposed constitutional amendment about abortion rights drew demonstrators on each side of the issue. (Tom Urban)

Some justices questioned how far the court can go to prevent initiatives from being placed on the ballot as they heard arguments about whether a proposal to ensure abortion rights in the state should be placed on th November ballot. “People in Florida aren’t stupid. I mean, they can figure this out,” Chief Justice Carlos Muniz said.

DeSantis Lends Support to Proposal Banning Local Governments from Giving Refuge to Homeless on Public Property

February 5, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 12 Comments

homeless desantis

Saying that while no city in Florida is contending with the issues of homelessness that are prevalent in places like San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday came out in support of a proposal moving through the Florida Legislature that would ban local governments from allowing people to sleep on public property without a permit.

Florida’s Open Season on Civil Liberties

February 4, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 20 Comments

A bear at rest. (FWC)

Florida lawmakers don’t care about the insurance crisis; they don’t care about runaway rents; they don’t care about hungry children or sick women or the climate crisis or pollution or the teacher shortage or anything that you and I and anyone else with two brain cells to rub together would identify as pressing problems here in the increasingly dysfunctional State of Florida. What they care about is ending your liberties. Here’s a list.

Law Restricting Chinese People From Owning Property in Florida Doesn’t Pass Smell Test, Court Rules

February 3, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 6 Comments

Comparison of European immigrants, represented in the left panel as virtues, while Chinese immigrants are represented by a serpent representing maladies, The Wasp (San Francisco), Vol. 7, 1881

A federal appeals court said a Florida law restricting people from China from owning property in the state likely is trumped by federal law and blocked its enforcement against two plaintiffs who have been in the midst of real-estate transactions.

Vacation Rental Bill Weakening Local Control Passes Senate and Now May Depend on Renner in the House

February 2, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 8 Comments

paul renner vacation rentals

While one bill passed the Senate on a 27-13 vote, the House version may depend on House Speaker Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast, on whose authority the bill may–or may not–eventually come to a vote on the floor. Sen. Travis Hutson, who represents Flagler County, voted against Flagler County priorities opposing deregulation, and in favor of the Senate bill last month.

Federal Judge Rules Against Palestinian Students on Florida Campuses, Saying They’ve Not Been Silenced

February 1, 2024 | FlaglerLive | Leave a Comment

A demonstration organized by Students for Justice in Palestine. (Facebook)

Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of Florida and Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of South Florida filed lawsuits in November alleging that efforts by Gov. Ron DeSantis and state university leaders to disband the groups violated their First Amendment rights.

Disney Is Appealing Decision Dismissing Its Free-Speech Lawsuit Against DeSantis

February 1, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 4 Comments

Disney is not at war with Florida. Only with its vengeful governor. (© FlaglerLive)

Disney filed a notice of appeal on Thursday, one day after U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor ruled against the company’s lawsuit seeking to overturn the governor’s replacement of the old Reedy Creek Improvement District with another governing entity that DeSantis personally controls.

Judge Dismisses Disney Lawsuit That Claimed DeSantis Had Retaliated Against the Company

January 31, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 2 Comments

disney loses lawsuit desantis

In a win for Gov. Ron DeSantis, a federal judge Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit alleging that the state unconstitutionally retaliated against Walt Disney Parks and Resorts because of the company’s opposition to a controversial education law.

Threatening Charges, Florida Forbids Trans’ Preferred Gender Identity on Driver’s Licenses

January 31, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 4 Comments

driver'slicenses trans identity

Transgender people can no longer obtain a driver’s license that reflects their gender identity under a new policy that treats “misrepresenting one’s gender, understood as sex, on a driver license” as fraud punishable by civil and criminal penalties plus cancellation, suspension, or revocation of the license.

Bill Would Impose $100 Fee on Non-Parents Who Want Books Banned, But Only If They Lose the Challenge

January 30, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 2 Comments

As in the rest of the country, the books targeted for bans by Flagler County School Board member Jill Woolbright are by or about marginalized people. (© FlaglerLive)

An earlier version of the bill (HB 7025) proposed a $100 “processing” fee for people who file more than five book objections in a calendar year if the people do not have students enrolled in the schools where the books are challenged. But under the change approved Tuesday by the House Education & Employment Committee, the fees would only be assessed if book challenges are unsuccessful. The House panel unanimously approved the revised bill.

Targeting Homeless, Lawmakers Want to Forbid Local Governments from Allowing Sleeping on Public Property

January 29, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 9 Comments

homeless bench

A Senate committee Monday backed a proposal that would prevent counties and cities from allowing people to sleep or camp on public property without permits. Bill sponsor Jonathan Martin, R-Fort Myers, called his proposal (SB 1530) a way to address a mental-health crisis in the state and to assist the “chronically homeless.”

Florida Lawmakers Want to Raise Constitutional Amendment Approval Threshold to 66.67%

January 29, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 5 Comments

voting column

A House panel Monday approved a proposal that would make it harder to pass state constitutional amendments. Under the proposal, constitutional amendments would need support from 66.67 percent of voters to pass, up from the current 60 percent.

Bill Lowers Florida State Guard Training Standards, Allows Use Outside the State, and Broadens In-State Mission

January 26, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 8 Comments

Rep. Mike Giallombardo, R-Cape Coral, is sponsoring a bill about the Florida State Guard. (Colin Hackley/NSF)

The Florida State Guard, revived by Gov. Ron DeSantis, could operate outside Florida and be called into service anytime he “deemed necessary,” under a bill approved Thursday by a House panel. The bill also removes a requirement that state guard standards and training be equivalent to the Florida National Guard.

Youth Climate Activists in Tallahassee Demand ‘Immediate and Bold Action,’ but Lawmakers Aren’t Interested

January 24, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 5 Comments

Kim Ross with ReThink Energy Action Florida speaking at a press conference in Tallahassee on Jan. 24, 2024 (photo credit: Mitch Perry)

Youth climate activists gathered on the steps of the Old Capitol building in Tallahassee Wednesday morning with a direct message for state lawmakers: Start taking “immediate and bold action on climate change.” But there’s a quantum distance between what the activists desire and what the GOP-controlled Legislature is actually doing in the 2024 session regarding the issue.

Defense Calls Out Sharp Inaccuracies in Arrest Account of Migrant Facing Manslaughter Charge in Death of Deputy

January 22, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 9 Comments

"After suffering various choke holds, being kneed to his ribs and tased multiple times, Virgilio's hands were cuffed," a motion describing the arrest of migrant worker Virgilio Mendez reads. (Still from body cam footage)

The defense lawyer for Virgilio Aguilar Mendez, the 18-year-old migrant held for over eight months on an aggravated manslaughter of an officer charge in the death of a St. Johns County deputy, is calling his arrest “legally insufficient,” describing his arrest report as a series of misrepresentations and misapplications of the law, and citing the medical examiner’s report to conclude that the death of the deputy was unrelated to the arrest.

DeSantis, Seeing No ‘Clear Path to Victory,’ Drops Out and Endorses Trump

January 21, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 15 Comments

desantis quits

Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended his campaign for the Republican nomination for president on Sunday, saying in a video posted on X that didn’t see “a clear path to victory” in light of his poor showing in the Iowa caucuses, and endorsing Donald Trump in the election.

Proposal to Limit County Commission Terms to 12 Years Advances in Florida House

January 21, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 3 Comments

The Flagler County Commission hasn't lacked for turnover in the past decade. (© FlaglerLive)

A House panel Friday approved a proposal that would impose 12-year term limits on county commissioners in most of the state, after changing an earlier version of the bill that would have led to eight-year limits.

Ex-GOP Chief Christian Ziegler Won’t Face Rape Charge But Voyeurism Probe Continues

January 21, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 2 Comments

christian ziegler moms for liberty

Sarasota police Friday said they do not have “probable cause” to charge former Republican Party of Florida Chairman Christian Ziegler with sexual battery but are asking prosecutors to review allegations of video voyeurism. The announcement came less than two weeks after state party leaders removed Ziegler from the chairmanship amid the police investigation into Ziegler’s sexual encounter with a woman in October.

In Free Florida, the Dictionary Is Dangerous to Your Children

January 19, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 24 Comments

A simple pleasure Florida tends to deny its schoolchildren. "Out to Lunch," above, is by J. Seward Johnson Jr. (© FlaglerLive)

A few people who call themselves parents but are really frustrated bullies who want everyone else to lead the miserable lives they do, at least when they’re not engaging in threesomes, have successfully made black holes of Florida’s school and classroom libraries and further marginalized slews of children whose one solace might have been that one book. 

Flagler County Ends Year with 3.7% Unemployment, 12th-Highest Rate in Florida

January 19, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 9 Comments

A very slight trend in the wrong direction. (© FlaglerLive)

Flagler County ended 2023 with an unemployment rate of 3.7 percent and an average unemployment rate of 3.5 percent for the year, down slightly from the average of 3.6 percent in 2022. It is the 12th highest in the state. While the monthly report indicates continued healthy employment, it also hints at a couple o concerning underlying trends, with a slow-down in the growth of Flagler’s workforce and a significant jump in the number of people collecting unemployment. 

Palm Coast’s Sen. Hutson Votes with Majority in Latest Bid to Scale Back Local Vacation-Rental Regulations

January 18, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 14 Comments

Sen. Travis Hutson. (© FlaglerLive)

Almost every year since 2014, Florida lawmakers have been trying to reduce local regulatory control on the booming vacation-rental industry or shift it to the state–what’s called “pre-emption.” The state would then bar local governments from enacting many of their own regulations. A Senate panel today cleared the way for the latest such attempt, with Sen. Travis Hutson in the majority. The bill goes to the Senate floor next.

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