Florida House and Senate leaders may expand the special session to include medical pot since they failed to reach agreement on implementing the voter-approved amendment in regular session.
Health & Society
In American First, Scott Signs Bill Providing for Birth Certificates In Cases of Miscarriage
The bill, which easily cleared the Senate and House in early May, makes Florida the first state in the nation to issue birth certificates for miscarriages. The implications of the bill are unclear.
In Latest Polling, Obamacare Beats Trumpcare, 49-31, With Little Support For Means-Testing
The health overhaul bill passed by the House earlier this month accomplishes one major feat: It is even less popular than the not-very-popular Affordable Care Act.
GOP Defends Health Bill With Euphemisms, False Statements and Deleted Comments
Since the passage of the American Health Care Act, Republican members of Congress have tried to swing public opinion to their side, but through deceptive means.
Florida Hospital Flagler Honors County’s First Responders
This week, May21-27, is the 43rd Annual National EMS (Emergency Medical Services) Week.
Sheriff’s “Taxi-Patrol Car” Cautions Against Drunk Driving Over Memorial Day Weekend
More than 400 deaths and 47,000 injuries are projected on U.S. roads over the Memorial Day weekend, prompting police agencies to heighten awareness campaigns.
Bowlers Raise $2,200 for Domestic Violence Shelter as Government Demurs on Funding Request
An official for the Family Life Center asking for a budget increase was told “we’ll see” by the County Commission, but a Palm Coast Yacht Club fundraiser netted $2,200.
Time Is Running Out For “Repeal and Replace” As Scandal and Summer Loom
Budget procedures, the fact that half the states’ legislatures have already adjourned is making it almost impossible for Congress to fit repeal of the Affordable Health Act just yet.
Citing Chronic Crisis, Sheriff Plans Community Summit on Domestic Violence and Task Force
Sheriff Rick Staly intends to call a community summit followed by a task force that would have a few months to produce a set of recommendations to enact. Other domestic violence initiatives are ongoing.
Four Arrests in 4 Separate Violent Assaults in a 24-Hour Period Underscore Domestic Issues
Andrew J. Krupp, 20, of Palm Coast, Qwajon R. Laster, 20, of Bunnell, Raymond Amara, 54, of Palm Coast, and Jacob Robertson of Flagler Beach were all arrested on felony charges stemming from violent confrontations.
Sheriff Warns Against Misleading Medical Pot Scams “Popping Up All Over Palm Coast”
Yard signs in Palm Coast have popped up advertising “legal” weed, but the signs are scams, and a further reflecting of the confusion caused by lawmakers’ inability to agree to rules on medical pot, enabling scammers to fill voids.
Anger Over Legislature’s Failures on Medical Pot Prompts Talk of Special Session
House and Senate leaders, falling short of implementing the voter-approved amendment, were unable to reach agreement on how many retail outlets medical pot operators should be able to run.
Lawmakers Approve Budget With Tax Cuts, Severe Cuts to Medicaid, Minor Increase For Education and Big Boost to Charters
The budget package includes a modest increase in per-student spending through the state’s main education formula, $521 million in Medicaid cuts for hospitals and far-reaching changes to education across the board.
David Ottati Returns: Ex-Florida Hospital Flagler CEO Takes Over 3-County Region
David Ottati’s rise in the Adventist organization is again bringing him to Flagler County as he takes over leadership of a seven hospital-region including Florida Hospital Flagler.
It Would Be Up to Florida to Dismantle Obamacare Protections If GOP Bill Advances
Unless the legislation fails or changes substantially, many consumers across the country could see the amount they pay every year for premiums increase by thousands of dollars, making coverage effectively unaffordable.
Medical Pot Deal Collapses Over Dispensaries, Leaving Framework in Strict Regulators’ Hands
Implementation of the voter-approved amendment now rests in the hands of state health officials, who have been harshly criticized by legislators, patients, vendors and judges.
Preexisting Condition: How Health Care Wrangle May Play Out Over Obamacare Repeal
As Trump pushes for a bill, the latest snag is over whether people with preexisting health conditions should have guaranteed access to affordable coverage, as the ACA mandates.
Gov. Scott Declares Emergency In Response To Prescription Drugs and Heroin Deaths
In the four-county district that includes Flagler, only two heroin-deaths deaths were recorded in 2015, eight deaths were attributed to fentanyl, and 43 to prescription drugs overall.
House Approves Medical Pot Measure That Would Allow Unlimited Number of Retailers
The measure would allow patients to use vaporizers or edibles, but would ban smoking of marijuana products, something critics complain violates the spirit of the constitutional amendment.
Secret Hospital Inspections Revealing Errors and Mishaps and May Become Public at Last
The federal government has proposed requiring that accreditors release reports on the problems they find during hospital inspections. Right now, the reports are secret.
No Bong Hits or Joints as Florida Lawmakers Roll Up Medical Pot “Compromise”
House and Senate refuse to allow marijuana products to be smoked despite repeated demands from patients, caregivers and others who insist that smoking provides some with the best type of treatment.
Governments Mull Way To Fight Prescription-Drug Crisis That Worked With Tobacco: Taxes
California, Alaska and the US Congress are considering taxing prescription drugs to raise money for treatment and discourage their use, but the amounts of the taxes would be relatively small.
2 Teens Face Felonies For Firing BB Gun at Full School Bus and Vehicles on Belle Terre
There were 40 students returning from Bunnell Elementary when the school bus was the target of boys allegedly firing a BB and an air soft gun at the vehicle on Belle Terre Boulevard Wednesday afternoon.
With Rising Death Toll From Opioids, Florida Still Gropes For Effective Answers
State officials have few responses as the death rate from synthetic opioids other than methadone increased 72.2 percent from 2014 to 2015, to 3,228 deaths by overdose in Florida.
As Washington Piddles, Liberal California Forges Ahead With Universal Health Care Ideas
Organized labor and two lawmakers are leading the charge for a single, government-financed program for everyone in the state. Another legislator wants to create a commission that would weigh the best options for a system to cover everyone.
Florida House and Senate In Duel Over Shifting Stand Your Ground Burden to Prosecution
The two chambers have approved different versions of a proposal (SB 128) intended to shift a key burden of proof in “stand your ground” cases from defendants to prosecutors in pre-trial hearings.
Florida Senate Wants 81% Increase in Aid for Poorer College Students, and Boost For 1st-Gen
Florida student assistance grants would grow by $121 million. Senators also want to double the state’s matching grants for “first generation” college and university students to a total of $10.6 million.
Cops Out in Force on I-95 Over the Weekend as Part of Drive to Save Lives Campaign
Be warned: cops from Florida to Maine are out in force this weekend (April 8 and 9), pulling over, warning and ticketing speeders, careless, reckless and distracted drivers.
Daytona State College’s Center for Women and Men Kicks Off 41st Year and Fund-Raiser Challenge
For decades the center’s focus was on helping displaced homemakers with little-to-no work experience, women who because of divorce, widowhood or other circumstances would come to learn new life skills, gain self-confidence and train for employment.
Sparing None, Sheriff “Arrests” 15 of Flagler’s Leading Officials in Relay For Life Sting
Sheriff Rick Staly and his team served warrants on Superintendent Jacob Oliva, County Commissioners Dave Sullivan and Charlie Ericksen, fire chiefs and business leaders in a fund-raising ploy for cancer research this morning.
House Panel Approves Restrictive Medical Marijuana Measure, Including Ban on Edibles
The proposal would prohibit smoking of cannabis products, as well as edibles, and would ban all but terminally ill patients from using vaporizers to consume medical marijuana.
GOP Plan Scraps Individual Mandate Only to Create New, 30% Penalty For Laggards
The GOP approach is called a “continuous coverage” penalty. It increases premiums for people who buy insurance if they have gone 63 consecutive days without a policy during the past 12 months.
No, Attorney General Sessions, Pot Is Not “Only Slightly Less Awful” Than Heroin
Pot is a relatively mild and harmless drug compared to deadly, addictive heroin. Treating users like criminals is a threat to their safety — and so is perpetuating the lie that some drugs are no less harmful than others, writes Jill Richardson.
Lawmakers’ Letters to Constituents on Health Care Are Full of Lies and Misinformation
As the GOP tries to rewrite–or “repeal and replace–the Affordable Care Act, lawmakers in both parties are incorrectly citing statistics, making false claims and leaving out important context in letters to constituents.
In Courthouse Parking Lot, Sheriff’s Deputies Peacefully End Another Suicide-By-Cop Crisis
For the second time in 18 months, Flagler sheriff’s deputies peacefully defused a suicide-by-cop confrontation, this one involving 21-year-old Darnell Hyppolite at the Flagler County courthouse parking lot.
Flagler Beach’s Mary Ann Dominessy Reese, Who’d Made Her Battle With ALS Unsparingly Public, Dies at 63
For more than two years Mary Ann Dominessy Reese, a retired teacher, had painstakingly chronicled her decline through ALS on a widely read Facebook page, organizing campaigns and fund-raisers, along the way.
Senate Approves Stand Your Ground Change To Make It Easier For Shooters To Use Defense
The bill would shift the burden from defendants to prosecutors in the pre-trial hearings, vastly strengthening defendants’ ability to use the defense, but at significant cost to prosecutors.
Senate Committee Kills Recovery Centers Palm Coast Opposes, But Approves Expanded Surgical Centers
A Senate committee today killed a proposal to create the sort of “recovery care centers” Palm Coast government and Florida Hospital Flagler oppose, but it agreed to expanded ambulatory care centers.
Ron DeSantis’s First Principle: Do Harm
Obamacare repealer Rep. Ron DeSantis, whose congressional district includes Flagler, has a solution for cancer patients without insurance: the emergency room. A few corrections are in order.
Rideshare South: Why Way Fewer Teens Are Bothering With a Driver’s License
The drop has been sharpest in the South, where the share of high school seniors with a driver’s license fell from 88.6 percent in 1996 to 71.2 percent in 2015.
Flagler Beach Police Department Now Permanent Site To Get Rid of Unwanted Prescription Drugs
No questions asked: You don’t have to wait for drug take-back days to drop off your unwanted prescription drugs anymore. The department’s new Drug Collection Unit is accessible daily from 8 to 5.
Homeless Shelter Event Draws Twice As Many People as Expected, Raising $4,500
A over-capacity crowd jammed the Santa Maria Del Mar Catholic Church in Flagler Beach Sunday evening to raise money for The Sheltering Tree, Flagler’s only cold-weather homeless shelter, in Bunnell.
Should The Poor Be Barred From Buying Junk Food With Food Stamps?
Lawmakers in at least five states, including Florida, introduced bills this year to ask the USDA for permission to ban the purchase of certain kinds of food or drinks, such as candy and soda, with food stamps.
Support for Obamacare Reaches Record, Putting Repeal-Minded Lawmakers In a Bind
Overall support for the health law ticked up to 48 percent in February, the highest point since shortly after it passed in 2010. That was a 5-point increase since the last poll in December.
Flagler Beach, Palm Coast and Bunnell Restaurants Join Forces for Sunday’s Homeless Shelter Fundraiser
The fundraiser for Bunnell’s Sheltering Tree, in operating through volunteers since 2008, will be held from 5 to 8 p.m., Sunday at the Santa Maria Del Mar Catholic Church with the participation of numerous local restaurants.
1st Amendment Trumps 2nd: Court Says Doctors Have Right To Ask About Guns at Home
Major portions of a controversial Florida law restricting physicians and other health-care providers from asking patients about guns is unconstitutional, a federal appeals court ruled.
Spate of Bills Would Allow Floridians to Carry Guns at Colleges, Airports, Bars, Courthouses, Stadiums
One of the proposals would decriminalize the penalty for people who briefly display a firearm in public, others would allow concealed carry permit holders to carry guns in courthouses, jails and government meetings, among other places.
Three Ways Forward on Enacting Florida Voters’ Medical Marijuana Mandate
Former Flagler County Sheriff Jim Manfre, just back from a state conference on medical marijuana, argues how and why to move ahead with consumer- and patient-centered regulation.
Local Governments Nursing Headaches Over Legalized Pot as Health Department Holds Hearing Across Florida
Palm Coast, Flagler Beach, Bunnell and County government joined two dozen counties and four dozen cities in enacting moratoriums temporarily banning medical marijuana dispensaries.
Health Savings Accounts Gain GOP Favor as Obamacare Sub; Gimmickry May Hurt Most
Expanding the use of such accounts, greatly favored by Wall Street, is part of almost every GOP replacement plan under consideration on Capitol Hill. But less well off people and the sick would not likely benefit.