The Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tennessee, has come to represent the overlooked cultural divisions between urban and small-town America.
The courthouse was the site of the lynching of a Black teenager in 1927. It also served as a rallying spot for white vigilantes who assembled there during race riots in 1946. It is now the focus of a modern-day controversy over singer Jason Aldean’s “Try That in a Small Town.”
Health & Society
Yes, the South Has a Poverty Crisis
By a range of economic indicators — personal income per capita and the proportion of the population living in poverty, for starters – large parts of the South, and particularly the rural South, are struggling. About 1 in 5 counties in the South is marked by “persistent poverty” — a poverty rate that has stayed above 20% for three decades running. Indeed, fully 80% of all persistently poor counties in the U.S. are in the South.
European Village Business Leading Christmas Drive for Toys for Tots
AW Custom Kitchens Inc. is partnering with Toys-for-Tots for a non-profit Christmas toy drive. Donations to the Toys-for-Tots Foundation are accepted through December 23, and may be dropped off at AW’s showroom at 101 Palm Harbor Parkway Unit B113 at European Village.
154 Participants Later, Flagler Cares’ Opioid Recovery Initiative Marks Its First Year, With New Wheels
The Coordinated Opioid Recovery initiative launched in Flagler County a year ago under the umbrella of Flagler Cares, umbrella. It’s a multi-layered approach that shepherds individuals toward recovery through medically-assisted treatment, peer-to-peer counseling, mental health and other services. Last week it marked its anniversary with, among other things, the ribbon-cutting for an outreach vehicle run by Flagler Open Arms Recovery Services.
Should Domestic Abusers Have Access to Guns?
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday hears arguments in a case that will decide whether courts should, as is the case in Florida, have the authority to take away the guns of people who are under a domestic violence protective order, which aims to shield victims from their abusers.
Americans Need to Hear More Palestinian Voices
The absence of Palestinians and their advocates from news coverage isn’t just unfair. Sarah Gertler, a Jewish American, argues it is harmful, silencing criticism of Israel and making news media complicit in war atrocities.
Construction Begins at AdventHealth Palm Coast’s Freytag Health Plaza
Named in honor of Palm Coast residents Peter and Sue Freytag, the Health Plaza will become a vital hub for cancer treatment, primary care and rehabilitation services.
A Student Is Bitten By a Wild Rat at Buddy Taylor Middle School’s Farm; Teacher Reprimanded
Two Buddy Taylor Middle School students were bitten and one of them injured by wild rats, while two dozen students were exposed to the rats as a teacher was flushing them out of a hole with a water hose at the school’s farm. The activity was neither part of a lesson plan nor of the curriculum.
Secret Camera Records Violence and Leads to Palm Coast’s Man’s Arrest on Child Abuse Charge
Pierre Betine Joseph, a 49-year-old resident of Rolling Sands Drive in Palm Coast, was arrested on a felony child abuse charge after video footage from a secret camera installed by the victim’s siblings showed Joseph whipping his middle school son 11 times with two different belts as the child screams in pain and pleads for mercy, leaving welts on the child’s legs.
Politicians Love To Cite Crime Data. It’s Often Wrong.
When Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis announced his presidential campaign in May, he proudly told the nation that Florida’s crime rate in 2021 had reached a 50-year low. But really, DeSantis couldn’t say for sure. That’s because fewer than 1 in 10 law enforcement agencies in his state had reported their crime statistics to the FBI.