The anti-discrimination bill is backed by big business such as Disnet and AT&T but opposed by social conservatives such as Florida Family Policy Council.
Health & Society
Health Insurers Moving to Undermine Obamacare By Limiting Enrollment
major insurers are seeking to sharply limit how policies are sold to individuals in ways that consumer advocates say seem to discriminate against the sickest and could hold down future enrollment.
Bringing “Poverty Inc.” to Palm Coast’s Epic Theater, a Compassionate Entrepreneur’s Goal
Jenny Skripko, a Palm Coast resident and “Compassionate Entrepreneur” with Trades of Hopes, is bringing the celebrated “Poverty Inc.” documentary to Epic Theaters on Feb. 23, but a minimum of 87 tickets must be sold by Feb. 16.
My Sobering, Rewarding Job at an Abortion Clinic
Catherine Durkin Robinson’s duties involved helping patients through their abortion procedures. They’d already met with the doctor and nurse. Her job was to assist them emotionally.
“We Live Without My Son”: A Mother’s Story of Her Teen’s Suicide Frames Town Hall Meeting
Barbara Coxwell, who lost her 15-year-old son to suicide in 2013, and School Board Chairman Colleen Conklin, led the virtual town hall as a first step in a countywide effort to broaden attention to suicide-prevention across all age groups.
Flagler’s Family Life Center Now a Certified Rape Crisis Center, Ensuring Critical Services
Until Family Life took over the service in an arrangement with the sheriff’s office in March 2014, Flagler County had been without a reliable crisis center because the Children’s Advocacy Center had quit providing that service.
Conklin Will Lead Suicide Awareness Town Hall Sunday: #FlaglersuicideASK4HELP
In the wake of two recent and related suicides in Palm Coast, the town hall will feature Barbara Coxwell, whose son took his life in 2013. The Legislature is considering bills related to increased suicide awareness.
A Pair of Big Checks Contribute to Pink Army and United Way
The Pink Army’s 5K run in Town Center last fall raised $12,585.35, and the five Florida Hospitals in Volusia and Flagler counties donated $10,000 to the United Way.
Herculean Effort More Than Doubles Memberships at Belle Terre Swim Club, Dimming Talk of Closure
The Belle Terre Swim and Racquet Club’s supporters have managed to increase memberships to more than 300 and close an $80,000 budget gap ahead of a Feb. 2 deadline when the school board will decide the club’s fate.
Sanders Revives Talk of Single-Payer System, Contrasting Differences With Clinton
Sanders’ main rival for the nomination, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, has criticized the plan for raising taxes on the middle class and said it is politically unattainable.
Sheriff Manfre Proposes De-Criminalizing Pot Possession; County Officials and State Attorney Open to Idea
Following in the steps of three Florida counties and some 20 states, Sheriff Jim Manfre wants to replace criminal penalties for small amounts of pot with civil fines. State Attorney R.J. Larizza and county officials are willing to explore the new approach.
Two Young Women’s Suicides, In Close Proximity, Stun and Mobilize Community
Lindsay Brockhaus, 20, killed herself on Tuesday, a month after her friend Cora Ann Engel, 18, committed suicide by the same method, two years almost to the day after Dalton Coxwell, also a Matanzas High student, had killed himself the same way.
Family Life Center Welcomes Board Members Maria Scarol and Sallie Brinkley
The Family Life Center announced this week that Maria Scarol and Sallie Brinkley have joined the Family Life board of directors.
Nurseries Will Start Growing Pot Despite Legal Challenges Threatening Their Licenses
Five dispensing organizations selected by state officials promised lawmakers Wednesday they would meet a deadline next month to get medical-marijuana production off the ground, despite legal challenges that could threaten their licenses.
In a Civilized State Without Stand Your Ground, Jordan Davis Would Still Be Alive
The covenant of civilized living demands that we work to defuse conflicts, not escalate them. It demands that we look at each other face to face, and not through the divisive lens of stereotype.
Two Sweeping Supreme Court Cases Set to Redefine Abortion and Contraceptive Rights
As devastating to abortion rights as 2015 proved to be in state legislatures, 2016 is shaping up to be even more turbulent — perhaps the most momentous year for reproductive issues in a generation.
Belle Terre Swim Club 161 Members Short of Goal as Drop-Dead Decision Time Nears
Though making progress, the Belle Terre Swim and Racquet Club now has 239 annual members, still short of the 400 it must have by the first week of February, when the school board will decide the club’s fate for good.
At Five Star Pizza, A Confrontation With A Dissatisfied Customer Ends With a Gun
When Palm Coast resident Tammie Bouie wouldn’t leave Five Star Pizza, owner-manager Denis Gotlib pulled out a Glock, telling deputies he had a right to stand his ground.
Mom’s an ER Nurse But Baby Wouldn’t Let Her Get There as Deputies Assist in Home Birth
Brittany Bowser, 25, gave birth to her son Jaxson in their Z-Section Palm Coast home 8 minutes after calling 911, with sheriff’s deputies assisting. Mom and son are fine, and eventually made it to Florida Hospital Flagler.
Florida Supreme Court Unanimously Signs Off On Medical Pot Amendment For 2016 Ballot
People United for Medical Marijuana, which is led and heavily financed by Orlando lawyer John Morgan, still needs to submit 683,149 valid petition signatures to the state by a Feb. 1 deadline.
“My Concern Is The Christian Kids”: A Pastor Raises Objections to Yoga in Flagler Schools
A local pastor complained to the school board that yoga and meditation in a wellness program at three Flagler County schools is a violation of the separation of church and state. The pastor largely misunderstands the $30,000 program, a grant through State Farm Insurance.
Pinellas Sheriff’s Caution on Open-Carry Bill Triggers Duel of Furious Accusations
Sheriff Bob Gualtieri says a Sarasota Herald-Tribune blogger “absolutely mischaracterizes” his concerns about open-carry, as the blogger and Florida Carry, the pro-gun lobby group, claim the sheriff would threaten to shoot concealed carriers.
From Brownfield to Community Vegetable Garden, a Coalition Seeds Fresher Health
A $34,000 brownfields grant and the collaboration of numerous schools, agencies and businesses transformed an old propane farm in South Bunnell into a community vegetable garden that will help feed hundreds.
Special Treatment for Firefighters With Cancer? Florida Among Few States That Say No
Florida lawmakers have introduced bills that would make Florida the 34th state to offer special protection to firefighters, but the measure faces obstacles in large part because of local governments’ opposition.
“I’m Against It,” Sheriff Manfre Says of Open-Carry as Bill Picks Up Momentum
Opponents of open-carry, including a number of Florida sheriffs, Flagler County’s Jim Manfre among them, warn that people who openly display guns could get hurt as a result, either by criminals or law enforcement.
Belle Terre Swim Club Gets a $25,000 Annual County Lifeline and Nears Membership Goal
County government’s annual contribution will make it more difficult for the school board to close the troubled Swim and Racquet Club, as will an advisory group’s campaign that has netted some 250 new memberships, or just 150 short of the goal the board set for January.
Shooting Beer Cans or Threatening Neighbors at Second Chance Rescue? A Man Is Arrested
David R. Gilmore was arrested on aggravated assault charges after Second Chance Rescue’s Debbie Root accused him of pointing his shotgun at a 16-year-old girl on her property.
Transgenders in Flagler Schools: District Takes It Case By Case as State Scrutinizes More Than Nurtures
The state and, to some extent, Flagler County, have a long way to go to ensure that transgender students are treated not only fairly and equitably, but that the environment they face is more respectful than questioning, more welcoming than inhibiting.
Killed in House, Stand Your Ground Bill That Shifts Burden of Proof Lives Again in Senate
A proposal that would shift the burden of proof to the state in cases involving Florida’s controversial “stand your ground” law is poised to go to the full Senate.
Florida Picks 5 Nurseries to Grow and Distribute Medical Marijuana for Select Patients
Parents of children with severe epilepsy pushed for a 2014 law to legalize the purportedly non-euphoric marijuana — low in THC, high in CBD — as it can end or dramatically reduce life-threatening seizures.
In Rare Defeat for NRA in Florida, Lawmakers Kill Broader Stand Your Ground Measure
A National Rifle Association-backed measure that could have made it easier legally for people to claim self-defense in shooting incidents failed to get through its first House committee on Tuesday.
County’s Closest Likeness to Homeless Shelter Scales Back Services and Access to Grounds
For eight years First United Methodist Church in Bunnell had been an unofficial day shelter for the homeless. The church’s new leadership is changing that as finances and a different philosophy is compelling a more restrictive approach.
Even Liberals Should Concede:
Obamacare Is Not Working
Between the rapacity of insurers, GOP assaults and its own flaws, the Affordable Care Act is failing its promise to curb costs and make insurance coverage affordable. Republicans have no alternative. But a better one already exists.
Stewart Marchman-Act Foundation Launches Bouquets of Hope Campaign for Thanksgiving
The Stewart Marchman-Act Foundation is launching the Bouquets of Hope & Classic Chocolates fundraiser to support mental health awareness in our community.
Why Your Fitbit May Be Pointless
If you’re rooting for smartphones to solve all our health problems, you’re not going to like what the researchers found. The smartphone app didn’t help young adults lose any more weight than if they hadn’t been using the app at all.
Small Businesses to Obamacare’s SHOP Option: Not Interested
Nationally, about 85,000 people have coverage through the online marketplace known as the Small Business Health Options Program, less than a tenth of original projections.
Campus Gun Bill Advances in House While Opponents Pitch More Police Funding
If the aim of more guns is to prevent more rapes on campus, one opponent of the legislation said more police officers would provide better protection.
Two Sisters and a Solar-Electric Boat, on a 9-Day Journey for a Cause on ICW, Dock in Palm Coast
Nancy and Paula Frainetti are spending nine days aboard a solar-aided electric boat from Miami to Jacksonville to raise awareness and money for breast cancer–and for electric boating.
In Defeat for Florida Carry Inc., Court Upholds UF Policy Banning Guns in University Housing
The appeals court rejected Florida Carry’s argument that the Legislature provided for gun possession in dorms as it does in homes. That leaves it up to lawmakers to change. There’s been movement in that direction.
Senate Bill Would Overhaul Florida’s Foster-Care Placements to Child-Centered Approach
The bill, aimed at reducing instability for foster children, would match children with their best placement options — rather than, as critics charge, the first beds that are handy.
Vaccine Skepticism and Militant Islamism
Politics and irrational fears rooted in anti-government sentiment dictate the response to polio vaccination programs in several countries dominated by Islamic insurgencies.
AJ Fernandez, Felled by Schizophrenia, Is Celebrated With a Skateboard Competition at Wadsworth Park
24-year-old AJ Fernandez of Palm Coast, diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in 2010, took his life on Aug. 26. The Nov. 8 skate competition is a memorial benefit event for the Johns Hopkins Schizophrenia Center in Baltimore.
Corey Jones Killing by Cop Triggers Black Lawmakers’ Calls for Independent Review
Corey Jones, 31, a church musician whose car stalled on an Interstate 95 exit ramp early Sunday after a gig, was shot by a plainclothes officer in an unmarked car. Some lawmakers are calling for automatic reviews of all police-related shootings, among other safeguards.
Citing Abuse, Cigna Pulls Out of Florida Health Marketplace, Affecting 30,000 Clients
Individuals can still enroll in a Cigna plan by seeing an insurance agent. But enrollment through the Marketplace, which begins Nov. 1, is the only way to obtain tax credits that subsidize the cost of premiums.
NRA’ Misinformation, Mendacity and Victim-Blaming Take a Dive Into Rabbit Holes
More guns do not lead to less crime. More guns lead to more crime, argues Julie Delegal, who sees NRA zealots misrepresented the facts on guns with junk science wrapped in blame-the-victim hysteria.
Risks You Didn’t Know About Tylenol, Because Its Marketing Campaign Didn’t Convey Them
Internal company documents that have emerged in a New Jersey trial that ended Friday make clear that marketing for Tylenol did not convey doctors’ concerns about its risks.
2.8 Million Floridians Still Uninsured Even as Just 20% Fall in Medicaid Gap
It’s 1.1 million fewer than in 2013, but almost a third of the uninsured are eligible for Obamacare but haven’t enrolled, 15% have chosen not to enroll in employee-provided health care, and the rest are uninsured for a variety of other reasons.
Palm Coast Man Accused of Stabbing, Strangling and Throwing His Daughter
In the latest in a series of alleged incidents, Charles Scott, 64, a resident of Roxton Lane in Palm Coast, is accused of strangling his daughter for having him take his grandchild to school the previous day, and stabbing her four times the previous week.
Gail Wadsworth: Florida’s Court Clerks Spotlight Domestic Violence Awareness Month
According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, there were more than 106,000 cases of domestic violence reported in Florida last year. While this statistic is alarming enough, the numbers only continue to increase when factoring in the countless incidents of domestic violence that go unreported by victims.
Big Oil, Big Tobacco, Big Lies
Exxon’s scientists knew by the early 1980s that human causes of global warming could be catastrophic, but quashed the findings and peddled junk science instead. It’s time to get Big Oil out of the policymaking process altogether, write Bill McKibben and Kelle Louaillier.