Flagler County’s fire services and Flagler Cares are launching a medically assisted drug-addiction treatment program that will involve community paramedics providing immediate care where the addicts are and laying the groundwork for a follow-up system that aims to keep addicts from falling back into using.
Health & Society
Florida Politicians Decry Jury Verdict Against Death Penalty for Parkland Murderer
Many Florida politicians think life in prison for Nikolas Cruz isn’t “justice” for the 17 students and school staff he killed on Valentine’s Day in 2018. Under Florida law, the jury’s duty was to weigh factors aggravating in favor of death against mitigating factors.
How Courts Take His Drug and Gun Charges More Seriously Than Repeat Violence Against Women
Joseph Westervelt, 28, has repeatedly faced felony charges for attacking pregnant women. He’s yet to be convicted on more than a misdemeanor. He was arrested again on Wednesday on identical charges that got him arrested only last May. Those charges were dropped or reduced.
Sheriff’s Office Lands $1.3 Million Grant to Expand Drug-Abuse Treatment at the County Jail
The Flagler County jail is the only residential treatment facility in Flagler County for drug-addicted men, and a rare location where they may get medically-assisted treatment. The Department of Justice is noticing, awarding the Flagler Sheriff’s Office a three-year, $1.3 million grant to expand the Successful Mental Health and Addiction Recovery Treatment, or “Smart” program at the jail.
Hyped by Joe Mullins in July, Sale of Ex-Sheriff’s Building for Drug-Treatment Facility Collapses
The in-patient drug-treatment facility that Commissioner Joe Mullins–to considerable skepticism at the time–said was soon to be housed in the former Sheriff’s Operations Center in Bunnell will not become reality as the sale of the building fell through.
Florida Surgeon General Ladapo on Defensive After Directive Against Covid Vaccines for Men 18 to 39
Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo continues to defend his agency’s new guidance against COVID-19 vaccines among adult men as medical experts point out flaws in the Florida Department of Health study intended to justify the recommendation.
Cat 4 Hurricane Ian Slams Florida, Local Night Curfew Declared, Flagler Rains Up to 20 Inches Possible
Hurricane Ian crashed into Charlotte County with catastrophic force as a nearly Category 5 hurricane and was crossing the state slowly on its way to the Volusia-Flagler area. Gov. Ron DeSantis outlined a massive rescue and recovery effort involving 7,000 National Guards personnel and 41,000 linemen, among thousands of others.
If You’re Sheltering In Place in Hurricane Ian’s Path, Fill Out This Survey For Your Safety
If you’re sheltering in place and your home is in the path of Hurricane Ian or Tropical Storm Ian, the state wants you to fill out a survey that may help in rescuing you should you need it in the immediate aftermath of the storm.
Rymfire Elementary Will Open as Special-Needs Shelter, Bunnell Elementary as General Population and Pets Shelter
The special-needs shelter at Rymfire Elementary will open at 1 p.m. Wednesday in anticipation of deteriorating weather from Hurricane Ian. The timing of the first shelter for general population and pets, to open at Bunnell Elementary, has not yet been determined. That time will be announced Wednesday morning.
Anti-Poverty Measures Work. Census Data Proves It.
The U.S. Census Bureau recently reported that poverty dropped notably in 2021. Amid a pandemic and widespread economic pain, this is a significant accomplishment. After Social Security, refundable tax credits like the expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC) and stimulus payments were the biggest contributors to reducing poverty.
2nd Annual Flagler Open Arms Recovery Music Festival Draws Hundreds in Flagler Beach
The event included live music from Dakota & Hurley with special guests Jay Wirth, Haley Chase, David Lane Band, Musical Chairs, and Ferris Deluxe.
Armed Employees or Guards in Flagler Schools Would Cost $150,000 to $600,000 in 1st Year
The Flagler County School board would have to pay initial annual costs of over $150,000 to nearly $600,000 for any of three options to have armed staffers or guards on its nine campuses, in addition to the $1 million it is paying annually to the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office.
21 Months in Prison for Woman Who ‘Did Nothing’ as Infant Was Repeatedly Tortured by Boyfriend
Luciana Celestin, 29, was present as her boyfriend, Deviaun Toler, repeatedly whipped, beat and once burned his infant son, but she did not intervene to end the abuse, report it, or seek medical attention for the boy, who nearly died as the abuse continued in Palm Coast in early 2018.
Child Poverty Falls to Record Low Thanks to Government Help
The U.S. government’s most accurate measure of child poverty fell to 5.2% in 2021, the lowest level on record and a decline of 4.5 percentage points from a year earlier. This sharp reduction was due, in large part, to generous government benefits. The decline would have been even larger had the government made it easier for families to receive those benefits.
Flagler Open Arms Recovery Services’s 2nd Annual Music Festival Saturday in Flagler Beach
Flagler Open Arms Recovery Services will host its 2nd Annual Music Festival for recovery this weekend. The festival will be held at Veterans Park, 101 N Ocean Shore Blvd., Flagler Beach from 4:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 17th.
1st a Law Gagging Talk of Gender. Now a Gag Order on Lawsuit Information. Plaintiffs Complain.
Plaintiffs challenging a Florida law restricting instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation in schools are asking a judge to reverse an order stalling their ability to gather information in the case, arguing that the law is being used throughout the state to “censor any positive or supportive reference to LGBT people.”
Florida Supreme Court Issues, then Retracts, Order on Anti-Abortion Law
The Florida Supreme Court issued an order rejecting a request by abortion providers to block enforcement of the state’s 15-week abortion ban — and then withdrew it, blaming an error by the court’s clerk’s office in releasing the order.
AdventHealth Career Expo Sept. 7-8 Includes 116 Job Openings at AdventHealth Palm Coast
AdventHealth’s hospitals in the greater Daytona Beach area, including AdventHealth Palm Coast, are hosting a career expo for job seekers at the Daytona International Speedway Wednesday and Thursday, Sept. 7 and 8 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Cities, Including Flagler Beach, Looking Into Banning Smoking and Vaping on Beaches
Several communities in coming weeks and months could move forward under a new state law that allows cities and counties to ban smoking cigarettes and vaping at locally controlled beaches and parks.
Supreme Court Urged to Take Up 15-Week Abortion Law Case
Attorneys for abortion clinics and a doctor Wednesday urged the Florida Supreme Court to take up a battle about a new state law that prevents abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The attorneys filed a brief arguing that the Supreme Court should review a decision by the 1st District Court of Appeal that tossed out a temporary injunction against the law (HB 5).
Florida Sets Limits on How Much Medical Pot Doctors May Order for Patients
The highly anticipated emergency rule sets a 70-day total supply limit of 24,500 mg of THC for non-smokable marijuana and establishes dosage caps for different routes of administration such as edibles, inhalation and tinctures.
In America, Cancer Patients Endure Crushing Debt on Top of Disease
Medical breakthroughs mean cancer is less likely to kill, but survival can come at an extraordinary cost as patients drain savings, declare bankruptcy, or lose their homes, an investigation finds.
Anti-Abortion Extremism Is Scaring Voters. It Should.
Our country may be divided on the issue of abortion. But when it comes down to it, most Americans believe that it’s a pregnant person’s right to decide for themselves whether to continue a pregnancy. That’s not only a blue-state attitude — it’s just as true in conservative states like Kansas.
David Weis Named President and CEO for AdventHealth Daytona Beach
AdventHealth has named David Weis president and CEO for AdventHealth Daytona Beach and the East Volusia market, effective Aug. 28. He will report to Audrey Gregory, PhD, president/CEO for the organization’s Central Florida Division – North Region.
Obesity Is Not All About Sugar: Too Much Salt, Not Enough Water
Relatively little is said about two significant pieces of the very complex obesity puzzle: lack of hydration and excessive salt intake. Both are known to contribute to obesity.
Latest Lawsuit Against Obamacare Could End Free Preventive Healthcare for 150 Million Americans
More than 150 million Americans now have access to scores of preventive health measures at no cost, sparing many from illness and catching diseases early for others. They no longer will, if the latest GOP-backed effort to undo Obamacare is successful.
Easy Access to Guns Contributes to America’s Youth Suicide Problem
Between 2011 and 2020, the most recent decade for which data is available, 14,763 children ages 5-17 died by suicide in the U.S. – a rate of approximately four deaths every day. Over 40% of these suicides involved a firearm. The great majority of guns involved in youth suicides come from the victim’s home or the home of a relative.
In Latest Attack on Students, All LGBTQ Support Documents Are Ordered Out of Florida Schools
Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. on Wednesday gave his staff the go-ahead to “pull” LGBTQ support documents at all school districts, after a State Board of Education member asserted that some could violate a controversial new law.
Mom Faces Felony Charges After Alleged Series of Lurid Attacks on Her 12-Year-Old Daughter
Priscilla Jocelyn Florentino was booked at the Flagler County jail on three felony charges, including child abuse and assaulting an officer, after allegedly handcuffing her 12-year-old child’s hand to a steering wheel in a hot car, defacing the child with lurid accusations on her face, shoving a pipe down the 12 year old’s mouth, shoving her fingers down her mouth, choking her, striking the girl with a phone, and shearing off the child’s hair to a military-style cut.
Appeals Court Will Decide Whether You Can Pass Water and Food to People in Line to Vote
Attorneys for the League of Women Voters of Florida, the Black Voters Matter Fund, the Florida Alliance for Retired Americans and other plaintiffs filed a 67-page brief asking the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold a district judge’s ruling that said increased “solicitation” restrictions near polling places violate speech rights.
Arming Teachers Is Not the Answer. Limiting Access to Guns and Addressing Mental Health Is.
Problems have escalated to such a point that it has helped drive good people out of the classroom and negatively influenced people willing to become teachers. This is especially true in schools with a reputation for having a culture of discipline issues or weak community support.
Ballot Effort to Legalize Recreational Marijuana in Florida Launches
Trulieve, the state’s largest medical-marijuana operator, and country-music legends The Bellamy Brothers are backing a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow recreational use of marijuana by people 21 or older.
Gov.-Appointed Florida Board of Medicine Targets Treatments for Transgender Youths for Ban
Amid an outcry from the LGBTQ community and harsh criticism from a host of physicians and health-care professionals, the Florida Board of Medicine on Friday advanced a plan that would ban doctors from providing treatments such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy to transgender people under age 18.
DeSantis Suspends Twice-Elected Hillsborough State Attorney Over Abortion Stance
Saying that a twice-elected Hillsborough County prosecutor has put himself “above the law,” Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday suspended State Attorney Andrew Warren for pledging to not enforce Florida’s 15-week restriction on abortion.
First Lady Announces launch of Resource Site to Navigate Dizzying Realities of Cancer Care
First Lady Casey DeSantis on Wednesday announced the launch of Florida Cancer Connect, an online resource site for cancer patients to hear from survivors and access information to help navigate the dizzying realities of battling cancer.
Politically Appointed Florida Board of Medicine Will Weigh Blocking Transgender Treatment for Youths
The Florida Board of Medicine is slated Friday to consider a proposal by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration to bar physicians from providing treatments such as hormone therapy and puberty-blocking medication to transgender youths.
Suddenly, Florida Is a Haven for Abortion-Seekers in the South. But For How Long?
As of this week, most abortions are banned in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and South Carolina. Other states in the South also have strict abortion bans that are in flux because of court appeals. But on the geographical edge of this block of Deep South states, abortion is expected to remain legal in Florida and North Carolina, at least until the November elections.
As Flagler Records Its First Case of Monkeypox, Florida and U.S. Cases Keep Rising
Florida is closing in on 400 monkeypox cases as of Friday, with the largest number of cases in South Florida and other urban settings. Flagler County recorded its first case this week. The United States is nearing 5,000 cases, more than in any country outside of endemic zones.
Possible In-Patient Facility for Addicts in Place of Former Sheriff’s ‘Mold-Ops’ Raises Some Eyebrows
An in-patient drug-treatment facility that closed in St. Augustine is planning to re-open at the former, once mold-plagued Sheriff’s operations center off State Road 100. The sheriff had to abandon the building in 2018. The for-profit facility would be run by Dr. Duke Vinson.
Monkeypox Declared International Public Health Emergency; Florida’s 260 Cases Rank 3rd in U.S.
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared Saturday that the monkeypox outbreak that’s expanded globally is now a public health emergency of international concern. The Florida Department of Health shows monkeypox cases of 260 in 16 counties as of Saturday, none in Flagler.
Florida’s 15-Week Abortion Ban Remains in Place as Appellate Court Signals It Will Uphold It
A split state appeals court has refused to reinstate a temporary injunction blocking enforcement of Florida’s new 15-week abortion ban, meaning Florida’s 15-week abortion ban remains in effect.
Experts Say Florida’s Medicaid Ban for Transgender Health Lacks ‘Scientific or Medical Justification’
National medical and legal researchers have issued a report condemning Florida health officials’ plan to block Medicaid coverage for gender-dysphoria treatments. The critical report was released by Yale School of Medicine researchers and professors.
Why Can’t Florida’s Medical Pot Patients Buy Guns? Ag Commissioner Fried Challenges U.S. Law
Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried is relying on a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision to support arguments in a challenge to federal regulations that make it illegal for medical-marijuana patients to buy guns.
Florida Moving toward Medicaid Ban on Gender-Affirming Care for Transgender People
The DeSantis administration moved toward banning gender-affirming care for transgender Floridians under Medicaid, meaning that treatments such as hormone therapy and puberty blockers may soon be out of reach for many low-income members of the LGBTQ+ community.
In the Shadow of Tom Joad: Pride in Flagler’s Food-A-Thon, Wrath That It Is Still Needed
One naturally feels proud about a community capable of generosity on the scale of Flagler Radio’s Friday Food-A-Thon. But there’s no pride in the persistent poverty it speaks of: There’s something pathologically wrong about any community in what is supposedly the wealthiest country on earth still having to do this to ensure something as basic as putting food on the table for 3,500 families every week.
Abortion: The Canadian Option
In Canada, abortion is completely decriminalized. Abortion is health care and is no more governed by criminal law than knee surgery or intravenous antibiotics. There are no legal limits on gestational age, or mandatory waiting periods or requirements that youth seek parental consent.
State Quickly Appeals Abortion Law Ruling, Leaving New Restrictions in Place
A new Florida law blocking doctors from performing abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy remains in effect despite a Leon County circuit judge’s ruling that it is unconstitutional, as attorneys for the state swiftly appealed the decision Tuesday.
Doctor’s $1 Million-a-Year Endowment, Largest of Its Kind, Launches Flagler Cares Initiatives for Neediest
In what amounts to the largest health-related private endowment in Flagler County’s history, Dr. Stephen Bickel is pledging to award Flagler Cares, the Palm Coast-based non-profit focused on health and social services for the neediest, $1 million a year, every year, leading to a self-sustaining endowment worth $10 million. Flagler Cares today is launching mold-breaking innovative grants and local health initiatives with the money.
Leon County Judge Rules 15-Week Abortion Law Violates Florida’s Constitutional Privacy Protections
The law (HB 5) is set to take effect Friday. It will be in place for at least a few days before Cooper issues a written order. The state also quickly announced it plans to file an appeal, which would automatically freeze Cooper’s order and effectively put the law back into effect.
Attorney General and NRA Use New Decision to Challenge Under-21 Gun Restrictions
As they battle over a 2018 Florida law that raised the minimum age from 18 to 21 to buy rifles and other long guns, attorneys for the state and the National Rifle Association are trying to use a new U.S. Supreme Court ruling to bolster their arguments.