The rules will make sweeping changes to the law’s requirement that most employers provide coverage of birth control with no out-of-pocket costs to women.
Health & Society
Flagler Kills Pot Decriminalization Proposal, But Approves Medical Marijuana Zoning
The end of the de-criminalization proposal is a reflection of a much harsher approach by the county commission and a new sheriff on marijuana matters.
At Flagler’s Pink Army Flag-Raising, Eloquence of Grief and Hope No Matter the Gender
Florida Hospital Flagler’s Pink Army launch of Breast-Cancer Awareness Month with the County Commission was a mostly male production, but no less moving in message and aims.
`Where the Hell Is the Cavalry?’ As Puerto Rico Suffers, Florida Prepares for Influx
From schools to shelters, Florida is readying for an influx of people struggling for food, water and power in hurricane-damaged Puerto Rico.
Exhaling Excuses, Florida Health Department Will Miss Deadline to Issue Medical Pot Licenses
An official is blaming the delay on Hurricane Irma and a pending challenge to a recently passed law that ordered the Department of Health to expand the number of medical marijuana licenses.
“A Major Disaster Has Taken Place Here”: Flagler Beach Pleads Amid Crisis Affecting Up to 400 Homes
Mold is the growing, silent enemy in hundreds of flooded homes in Flagler Beach, making them potentially unlivable and creating new crises for residents with nowhere to go.
To Fight Opioids, Gov. Scott Will Include $50 Million In Next Year’s Budget For Drug Treatment
The proposal won;t be considered before January. The $50 million would include money for such programs as substance-abuse treatment, counseling and recovery services.
The Bombing Begins Friday: 2 Planes Will Spray Entirety of Flagler To Kill Billions Of Post-Irma Mosquitoes
A pair of King Air planes will be sweeping and spraying over the entire county over the next two nights to kill an already rising swarm of mosquitoes bred from standing water left by Hurricane Irma.
Trying To Make Up For Mistakes, Florida Health Officials Seek To Speed Up Medical Pot Licensing
The Florida Health Department had until Oct. 3 to issue 10 medical pot licenses to producers, a deadline it will almost certainly miss even as it scrambles to ease the application process.
That Last-Ditch Effort By Republicans To Replace ACA: What You Need To Know
While the chances for this last-ditch measure appear iffy, many GOP senators are rallying around a proposal that would repeal most of the ACA.
How Health Insurers Fuel Opioid Crisis By Denying Claims For Less Addictive But More Expensive Drugs
Insurers limiting access to drugs with a lower risk of addiction or dependence. Why? Opioid drugs are generally cheap while safer alternatives are often more expensive.
Uninsured Rate Falls To Record Low Of 8.8%, But Florida’s Rate Still 5th Highest in U.S.
Florida’s rate of uninsured would have been lower had Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Legislature not prevented the federally-funded expansion of Medicaid.
Flagler Beach Museum Providing 100 Free Meals Thursday Evening
Beyond the meals, the museum will be a one-stop resource center for residents needing volunteer help or assistance with FEMA.
Post-Irma Daily Digest: Flagler Beach Crossovers and Pier Update, FEMA Registrations, Senior Games
Local governments’ drizzle of information releases related to post-Hurricane Irma recovery are distilled for their essentials and published in a running tally.
In Flooded Flagler Beach, Caring For Neighbors In Cops’ Colossal Trucks Or in Tiny Kayaks
The Sheriff’s Office sent out its colossal military-surplus trucks on search and rescue missions, while at least two Flagler Beach residents conducted their own in canoes and kayaks.
Palm Coast’s Big-Box Stores All Out of Water, Shipments Expected But No Promises
Aldi, Publix, Target and Winn-Dixie all show bare water shelves and few promises about when the next shipments are due, as supply lines are dependent on state conditions.
After Resisting Most of the Day, Flagler District Agrees to Close Schools Friday and Monday
The school district had wanted to keep schools open Friday, but by 4:45 p.m. today caved to health and county emergency officials’ pressure, who wanted to get a special needs shelter ready at Rymfire Elementary.
In Flagler Beach, Palm Coast and County, More Contempt For Medical Pot
Elected officials in Palm Coast, Flagler County and Flagler Beach are still peddling false or misleading assumptions as they draw up more restrictive medical pot dispensary zoning.
Chez Jacqueline Hosts Fundraiser For Flagler’s Cold-Weather Homeless Shelter Sept. 6-7
The Sheltering Tree, which depends entirely on donations, has provided the homeless with food and extreme weather shelter since 2008: the shelter opens whenever the temperature falls to 40 degrees or below.
At Palm Coast Meeting On Elder Needs, Pleas For Senior Center, Better Information and Respect
Some 90 people turned out to speak their mind on what’s needed in Palm Coast for seniors, revealing long lists of needs but also gaps of awareness of what’s already here.
Bunnell, Citing Iffy Crime Figures, Will Be Holdout Against Medical Pot Dispensaries
Bunnell will be the only local government that will ban medical pot dispensaries. Officials there, on little or flimsy evidence, claim dispensaries would attract crime.
White Supremacists Joked About Using Cars To Run Over Opponents Before Charlottesville
Leaked chat room conversations by white supremacists reveal expectations of violence — along with detailed planning and intelligence gathering on left-wing adversaries.
Florida Lawmakers to Review Law Targeting Injured Undocumented Workers
A top Florida lawmaker and a national insurance fraud group criticized a law used by insurers to turn in injured undocumented workers and avoid paying workers’ comp benefits.
Renner and Hutson Call For State Audit of Free-Spending Flagler Mosquito Control District
It is the first indication that the tax-supported district, which has itself so far refused to conduct an audit in the wake of the crisis, will be examined independently.
In Preventive Demonstration, Sheriff Highlights Lethal Danger of Leaving Children in Hot Cars
With an average of 39 children killed each year for being left in hot cars, Flagler Sheriff Rick Staly and DCF officials underscored the danger in a demonstration in Palm Coast this morning.
On Brink of Banning Medical Pot in Haze of Misinformation, County Opts for Compromise
Three Flagler commissioners nearly pulled off a medical-marijuana ban in the county before one of them surprisingly, and perhaps unintentionally, opposed the ban.
Beating Palm Coast and Flagler Beach, County Will Be 1st to Welcome Pot Dispensaries; Bunnell May Ban Them
The Flagler County Commission is expected to approve opening the county to medical pot dispensaries Monday, becoming the first local government formally to do so.
How One City Took Down Its Confederate Monuments: A Stealth History Lesson
After Charlottesville, Baltimore’s removal of Confederate statues in the dead of night was the city’s latest attempt to make peace with the ghosts of the Civil War. Other cities may be taking note.
Palm Coast Man Who Was Unsuccessful Half of Double-Suicide Pact Is Charged With Manslaughter
Bruce Haughton, 52, had attempted a double suicide with Katherine Goddard, 52, in Goddard’s R-Section house in June. He survived. She did not. He faces a felony manslaughter charge.
A New Generation of White Supremacists, Better Organized, Emerges in Charlottesville
A group that included many people who were college-educated or ex-military displayed effective planning. “White people are pretty good at getting organized,” said one.
At Flagler’s Troubled Mosquito Control, $115,000-a-Year Director Turns Over Duties to Assistant–But Would Retire In 6 Months
Director Joe Cash told staffers his last day was Aug. 7, but that he would actually retire in February, sowing confusion about his status. The government agency faces a $1.1 million deficit.
Big Pharma Bullies: How Insurers Force You To Buy Name-Brand Drugs Instead of Generic
Some pharmaceutical companies are cutting deals with insurance companies to favor their brand-name products over cheaper generics. Insurers pay less, but sometimes consumers pay more.
Ending Uncertainty, Palm Coast Will Welcome Medical Pot Dispensaries Starting In Fall
The Palm Coast Council emphatically decided that it would allow medical pot dispensaries in the city’s major business districts even as it may approve an extension of a moratorium to work out a zoning regulation.
Upwards Mobility Bunk: Don’t Lie to Poor Kids About Why They’re Poor, And Will Stay Poor
What happens when children born into poverty run face first into the crushing reality that the society they live in really isn’t that fair at all? Hard work has nothing to do with it.
At Florida Hospital Flagler, Donated School Supplies, and Children’s Art for ER
Employees at Florida Hospital Flagler and other hospitals in the group donated school supplies by the mound in June and July, and, separately, the Art of Healing program was started in FHF’s ER.
Flagler Mosquito Control District In Crisis as It Faces $1.1 Million Deficit in $1.8 Million Budget, Weeks After Dedicating New HQ
Six of the tax-supported district’s 14 employees have been laid off and other cuts are ahead weeks after it celebrated moving into a new, $2.1 million building at the Flagler County Airport.
McCain’s Brain Cancer Draws Renewed Attention to Possible Agent Orange Connection
For years, Vietnam vets and their widows have been pushing the VA to extend benefits to those exposed to the toxic herbicide and later stricken with glioblastoma. The VA has said no.
Flagler Beach Delays Medical Pot Ban Vote For 2 Weeks, But Hazy Evidence Unchanged
The absence of one of the five commissioners led to the delay on the vote on a controversial measure that would ban the operation of medical pot dispensaries anywhere in Flagler Beach.
Next Stations of the Cross In Obamacare’s Near-Death Experiences: Debate and Amendments
Senators are limited to 20 hours of debate, following which numberless amendments may be introduced–but not debated. It may get messy and difficult to follow.
Timothy Daniel, 17-Year-Old Student, Takes His Life With a Gun
For the Matanzas High School community, it is the fifth violent death involving a current or recently former student since January 2016: two students were killed in traffic-related crashes, three took their own lives.
Florida Must Pay $1.1 Million In Legal Fees After Losing Battle in Glocks v. Docs Fight
A federal court struck down a controversial state law, backed by the NRA, that sought to prevent doctors from asking patients about guns.
Prescription-Drug Overdoses Swamp Medical Examiners, Putting Accuracy In Question
The concern is that performing more than the recommended limit of 325 autopsies in a year, in addition to other duties such as testifying in court, could result in errors.
Patriotic Millionaire: There’s No ‘Free Market’ Solution to Health Care
Republican leaders claim they want affordable access to quality health care for all. It can’t be done by lowering taxes on businesses and the rich and letting the market run it all.
Tracy Vandament, 48, Found Dead In Suicide on Palm Coast’s Cimarron Drive
Tracy Vandament, originally from Oklahoma, had been depressed from going through a divorce and not seeing his children.
Obamacare Exchanges In Limbo as GOP Repeal Fails and Trump Ramps Up Sabotage Talk
Even as premiums increase about 18 percent, Florida Blue, the state’s largest health insurer, said those rates would go even higher if government subsidies disappeared.
Latest Republican Health Bill Cuts Costs At Expense of People With Pre-Existing Conditions
The proposal would let insurers sell health coverage outside the ACA exchanges with no provisions for prescription drugs, mental illness, hospitalization or almost any other benefit.
Hypocrites on Crack
Thursday evening, Flagler Beach Commissioners Jane Mealy, Marshall Shupe and Joy McGrew flipped off voters and voted for a prohibition on medical pot dispensaries.
A Rape Allegation at Heart of Divorce Between Palm Coast Mayor Milissa Holland And Sheriff’s Ex-Chief Deputy
Palm Coast Mayor Milissa Holland in court filings alleges ex-Flagler Sheriff Chief Deputy David O’Brien repeatedly raped her while she was unconscious in 2013, shortly before their separation.
Faint Glimmer On Bleak Landscape: Amounts of Opioids Prescribed Falling Since 2010
Still, the amount in 2015 is three times higher than at the turn of the century, and there are wide disparities in prescription trends across the country.
Why The Obsession Against Smokable Medical Pot? John Morgan Wants To Know.
Morgan bankrolled the medical-marijuana ballot initiative and repeatedly threatened to sue over smoking, which he says was permitted in the amendment supported by more than 71 percent of Florida voters last fall.