It’s not just Flagler County, and certainly not just at the Flagler school board: The stories of cruel, seemingly irrational and sometimes-violent conflicts over coronavirus regulations across the country have become lingering symptoms of the pandemic as it drags through its second year.
Backgrounders
Here, There, Everywhere: Why Self-Storage Facilities Are Booming All Over Flagler, and Will Keep Booming
Everywhere you go in Flagler County these days, there’s a business with wide-open lockers and lots of space for you to store your goods. Reasons vary, but the Palm Coast area is especially attractive to the market.
Journalism Wins
It is revealing that in a year that drew 329 candidates for the peace prize, including organizations fighting climate change or covid 19, the committee opted for journalists. It’s a happy surprise for us reporters. It’s also, finally, a necessary one.
The Brutal Slave Trade Within the US Has Been Largely Whitewashed Out of History
Slavery still conjures images of Southern farms and plantations. But the institution was grounded in the sales of nearly 2 million human beings in the domestic slave trade, the profits from which nurtured the economy of the entire country.
‘Marinas Are Dead for Now!’ County Rejects Proposal That Would Have Facilitated Huge Boat-Storage Facility in Scenic A1A
The Flagler County Commission today voted 3-1 to reject adoption of a controversial land-use amendment that would have allowed marinas in such areas as Scenic A1A, in essence further clearing the way for a controversial 240-boat storage facility next to Hammock Hardware. The vote was the latest victory for the Hammock Community Association, which has been opposing the already litigated facility.
Sex Trafficking Isn’t What You Think: 4 Myths Debunked
Law enforcement, medical providers, case managers, victim advocates and immigration lawyers inconsistently define and apply the label “trafficking victim” – especially when it comes to sex trafficking. That makes it harder for these professionals to get trafficked people the help they request.
Supreme Court’s Docket: Guns, Abortion, Religion
The biggest case this year is a challenge to abortion rights. Several states are asking the justices to reconsider Roe v. Wade – the landmark 1973 ruling that established the constitutional right for a woman to terminate a pregnancy, regardless of the moral beliefs of other citizens.
Why is the Flagler County Commission Holding New School Construction Hostage?
Pandering to home builders, the Flagler County Commission is rashly scuttling the school district’s plan to double impact fees on new construction for the first time since 2005, even though the county is doubling its own impact fees. It’s an unjustified and hypocritical assault on district planning and future student needs.
Friends of the Library Book Sale Saturday
The Friends of the Library is having a Welcome to Fall book sale Saturday, October 2, at the Flagler County Library. The sale is from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
How Some Schools Use Weekly Testing to Keep Kids in Class And Covid Out
These measures stand in sharp contrast to the confusion in states, including Florida, where people are still fighting about wearing masks in the classroom and other anti-covid strategies, places where some schools have experienced outbreaks and even teacher deaths.
Committee Week in Florida’s Capitol: Welcome to the Festival of Ignorance
Legislators came to town for the autumn ritual of political harlotry they call “committee week.” Tallahassee’s collective IQ dropped by a good 60 points. That’s bad, but what they propose doing to Florida is worse. Diane Roberts reports.
‘We’re Running Out of People’: Flagler’s Covid Case Load Drops Sharply, But Vaccinations Also Plummet
Flagler County recorded just over 200 covid cases in the week ending today, the lowest total since early summer, but vaccinations have plummeted to a new low since after the initial rollouts. While school cases have also dropped, the Flagler school district is struggling through significant teacher and other staffing shortages.
The Story Behind the Pipe Failure on Royal Palms Pkwy: What Went Wrong, How It’ll be Fixed, What to Expect
The pipe failure beneath Royal Palms Parkway that closed the busy east-west road on Sept. 16 and will keep it closed until near mid-October is an example of Palm Coast’s aging infrastructure, which sometimes outruns the city’s ongoing $75 million plan to reinforce, repair or replace it.
Joseph Ladapo, Florida’s New Surgeon General, Signals Sharp Turn Away from CDC’s Covid Guidance
Florida’s new surgeon general is Dr. Joseph Ladapo, a UCLA heart specialist who has fully embraced Gov. Ron DeSantis’ approach to the covid-19 pandemic, which favors natural infections as a means of combating the pandemic and minimal state interference with parental discretion over masking, quarantining and vaccines.
The Connection Between Containers and Your Missing Christmas Presents
An estimated 90 percent of the world’s goods are transported by sea, with 60 percent of that – including virtually all your imported fruits, gadgets and appliances – packed in large steel containers. Without the standardized container, the global supply chain that society depends upon – and that I study – would not exist.
Flagler District Prepares to Re-Zone Schools for the First Time in Over a Decade in Face of Some Sharp Objections
The Flagler County School Board will vote on a rezoning plan in December, and on Tuesday will hear an updated, phased-in approach that will focus on the two middle schools first, where sixth graders will be shifted starting next year. Localized but intense opposition to rezoning plans compelled the administration to propose a more phased-in approach than a county-wide rezoning.
Covid Numbers Fall Across the Board in Flagler and Florida, Now Matching Winter Peak; Experts Stress Continued Caution
The covid numbers are falling across the board: in the community, in schools, in hospitals locally and across Central Florida, but with a caveat: the numbers today, while falling, are at the exact point where they were at the height of the winter wave–the third and until then most severe wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
Facebook Has Known of Instagram’s Documented Harm to Teens for Years
Facebook officials had internal research in March 2020 showing that Instagram – the social media platform most used by adolescents – is harmful to teen girls’ body image and well-being but swept those findings under the rug to continue conducting business as usual.
School District’s Request to Double Impact Fees Turns Into Hostile Inquisition by County Commission and Builders
In an unexpected turn, what the Flagler County school district thought was a mere formality before the County Commission turned into a 90-minute grilling by commissioners and a parade of doubt by builders who consider the district’s request to double impact fees ill-thought and ill-timed.
Volusia and Other School Districts Are Backtracking on Mask Policies and Broadening Opt-Outs at Parents’ Discretion
At least two school districts — Volusia and Lee — that previously adopted strict mask mandates have decided to allow parents to opt their students out of the policy for any reason, while a third, Indian River, now requires masks only at certain times when Covid-19 surges in isolated schools.
Palm Coast Approves a Manager Search Vulnerable to Councilmen’s Free-Wheeling Outside Formal Process
What screening of applicants for Palm Coast City Manager will take place in the formal process may be undermined by individual council members’ decisions to circumvent it to champion their own choices regardless, whether those candidates match minimum requirements or not.
City Rep Theatre’s 11th Season of Leviathans: Martin Luther King, Billie Holiday, Godot and that Reign of Terror
Covid permitting, the 11th season of Palm Coast’s City Repertory Theatre proposes its most ambitious line-up yet, with Martin Luther King Jr., Billie Holiday, a vengeful dead wife, a blind woman battling murderous intruders in her home, and a rebel fighting the tyranny of pay toilets in a dystopian world all gracing City Rep’s stage.
After A Fraud: A Tax Accountant Explains What To Do If You’re a Victim of an Unscrupulous Tax Preparer
Chris Kocher, a licensed CPA since 2003 and a long-time tax accountant in Bunnell, explains how to handle the fallout from revelations that numerous clients of Robert “Bob” Newsholme’s Flagler Tax Services may have been defrauded.
A Survivor Tree Grows in Palm Coast: 9/11 Ceremony at Heroes Park Dedicates Sapling From Ground Zero
Saturday evening in Palm Coast, in a 9/11 memorial ceremony organized by Patrick Juliano and the Palm Coast Fire Department, a sapling from the Survivor Tree was dedicated at Heroes Park.
How Another President’s Vaccine Rollout Eradicated a Deadly Disease, Without Ideological Animosity
On May 31, 1955, just weeks after the Salk polio vaccine was proved effective against the deadly and paralyzing disease, President Eisenhower outlined the benefits of universal vaccination and hinted he would use the full powers of the government to ensure inoculations. But cooperation from federal, state and local governments made that unnecessary. Polio was eradicated within a few years.
Black Lives Matter: Where We Stand
Black Lives Matter has been called the largest civil movement in U.S. history. Lately, the movement and its leading organizations have become more traditional and hierarchical in structure. Two scholars of worldwide African communities and cultures – Kwasi Konadu and Bright Gyamfi – discuss BLM as both a movement and an organization.
Number of Potential Victims Up to 57 in Bob Newsholme Tax Fraud Case as Slew of Schemes Involving Big Sums Emerge
Innumerable reports by his clients pointing to hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraud paint a picture of Bob Newsholme, the long-time owner of Flagler Tax Services, as a versatile but clumsy schemer. Newsholme seemed to have boxed himself in in a Ponzi scheme of his own making, hoping to stay ahead of the inevitable reckoning by enlarging his circle of fraud. But as it began to unravel, it unraveled very quickly. But his clients are now left to pick up the pieces–and pay what they owe to the IRS.
Set in Tallahassee, Flagler School Tax Rate Declines for 7th Year in a Row, and to Another Historic Low
The Flagler County School Board on Sept. 7 adopted its property tax rate and $212 million budget for 2021-22. The tax rate, set by lawmakers in Tallahassee, continues a two-and-a-half decade downward trend, to $5.865 per $1,000 in taxable value, down from $6 last year.
Sharp Drop in Covid Cases at Schools, Hospital and Community, But Flagler Deaths Have Nearly Doubled to 201 in 4th Wave
The fourth and gravest wave of the Covid pandemic has crested in Flagler County, with case loads in schools, at the hospital and in the community falling sharply, but at a heavy price: deaths from Covid-19 in Flagler have reached 201, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The county has coordinated a video PSA to push vaccinations, with the cooperation of every local government.
Palm Coast Policing Budget Will Jump 42% with 10 New Deputies, Tax Rate Will Dip a Smidge, but at Reserves’ Expense
The Palm Coast City Council Thursday evening ended weeks of wrangling over its budget and tax rate and voted 3-2 to approve awarding the sheriff all 10 requested additional deputies and reduce the tax rate enough to save the average homesteaded homeowner about $11, while using $530,000 from city reserves to make the numbers work.
Next Assault on Affordable Care Act: Preventive Care
The preventive health provision of the ACA has resulted in significant reductions in patient costs for many essential and popular services. But a court case is targeting preventing care, and appears headed for the Supreme Court.
Tattoos’ Long and August History of Meanings
Tattoos have a history as old as ancient Egypt and Greece, enriched through the ages by way of Native Americans, and given deep meaning more recently as expressions against oppression, racism and colonialism even as they’ve endured as signs of beauty and identity.
How Election Deniers Are Organizing at Local Levels to Seize Control of the GOP and Reshape America’s Elections
The stolen election myth is inspiring thousands of Trump supporters to take over the Republican Party at the local level, from city councils to school boards to county commissions, as fact-denying extremists and militants exert mounting partisan influence on how elections are run.
Buried Power Lines Aren’t Fail-Safe
Underground lines are susceptible to damage from water incursion driven by storm surges or flooding. So, choosing the location of power lines means choosing which threat is more manageable. And the public ultimately pays for maintaining the power grid, either via their electric bills or through taxes.
‘Our Darkest Hour’: Flagler County Sheriff Eulogizes Deputy Paul ‘Looch’ Luciano, ‘Invisible Hero’ Felled by Pandemic
“This is a tough day for all of us. And, we begin this service doing the same thing we have been doing for the last 7 days, wondering why Paul lost his life serving and protecting our community. We may never know that answer,” Sheriff Rick Staly said today in his eulogy of Corrections Deputy Paul Luciano, the jail’s first line-of-duty death in the department’s history.
Experienced Opelka Powers His Way Into 3rd Round of U.S. Open for First Time
Thursday afternoon, on a picture-perfect afternoon in New York that followed a once-in-a-generation amount of flooding and disarray in this city, Opelka was the wiser, savvier player, schooling 19-year-old Lorenzo Musetti of Italy, 7-6 (1), 7-5, 6-4, to advance to the third round for the first time.
When Human Life Begins Is a Question of Politics, Not Biology
Understanding what it is to be human requires a lot more than biology. And scientists can’t establish when a fertilized cell or embryo or fetus becomes a human being. Flawed surveys and political declarations can’t change the fact.
Flagler Schools Have 3rd Highest Covid Infection Rate Among 38 Florida Districts Reporting Figures; Masked Districts Fare Better
The Flagler County school district has the third-highest rate of Covid infections among students and staff out of 38 Florida school districts that are reporting their Covid numbers since the resumption of the school year less than four weeks ago, a FlaglerLive analysis finds. There is still no “appetite” for changing course and adopting a mask mandate, according to the school board member who tried enacting one two weeks ago, though data points to a direct correlation between masks and lower infection rates in Florida districts.
How Warm Gulf Patch Quickly Turned Hurricane Ida Into a Monster Storm
As Hurricane Ida headed into the Gulf of Mexico, a team of scientists was closely watching a giant, slowly swirling pool of warm water directly ahead in its path. That warm pool, an eddy, was a warning sign.
Covid Hospitalizations in Flagler Crest, But Schools See 173 Infections in 3 Days and County Adds 10 Deaths
Admissions at AdventHealth Palm Coast hospitals in central Florida, which had reached record levels in the fourth Covid wave, crested seven days ago, and have been falling each day since–slightly, but visibly. Covid deaths in Flagler and school district infections are another matter.
Armed with Towering Expectations, Opelka Cruises to First-Round U.S. Open Win
Tuesday on Court 17 of the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center Opelka did what veteran high seeds are supposed to do: Take out a tricky opponent in straight sets, saving your body and energy for future rounds. Struggling in the opening set, Opelka used his skills and experience to turn back Soonwoo Kwon of South Korea, 7-6 (3), 6-4, 6-4.
Is It a Crime to Forge a Vaccine Card?
When people are caught knowingly buying, selling or using false cards, the proof of guilt will often be clear. The real question is about the appropriate punishment. The law gives prosecutors and judges huge discretion on how to charge and sentence offenders.
Hey, GOP: There’s a Museum Up in Montgomery Y’All Really Ought to See
Diane Roberts reports from the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Ala., a silent but devastating testimony to how Americans terrorized and murdered other Americans for wanting to live as full citizens of this country. The Equal Justice Initiative is here to remind us that Jim Crow isn’t gone. Our history still warps our present.
Who Wants to Be Ron DeSantis’s Surgeon General? No Easy Answers.
Scott Rivkees announced he will leave his post as surgeon general and secretary of the Florida Department of Health next month. But the move comes amid a surge of COVID-19 cases and deaths. Combine that with Gov. Ron DeSantis’ antagonism to federal health authorities and mask mandates, and it might make it difficult to find a replacement.
The Supreme Court Ended the Eviction Ban. Now What? 4 Questions Answered.
The Supreme Court on Aug. 26, 2021, ended the Biden administration’s ban on evictions, putting millions at risk of losing their homes. Legal scholar Katy Ramsey Mason explains what the ruling means, who will be affected and what happens next.
Judge Rules DeSantis Had No Authority to Ban School Mask Mandates or Punish School Boards That Adopt Masking
Judge John Cooper of the 2nd Judicial Circuit Court of Florida ruled today that Gov. Ron DeSantis had no legal authority under the recently-enacted Parental Bill of Rights to prohibit local school boards from adopting mask mandates that did not include opt-out provisions. The judge found DeSantis’s order “capricious” and not based in evidence, but rather based on an incomplete reading of the Bill of Rights.
ISIS-K, the Taliban’s Rival Group Behind the Kabul Airport Attack
ISIS-K sees the Afghan Taliban as its strategic rivals. It brands the Afghan Taliban as “filthy nationalists” with ambitions only to form a government confined to the boundaries of Afghanistan. This contradicts the Islamic State movement’s goal of establishing a global caliphate.
Clues to Misinformation Behind Public’s and Right-Wing Media’s Misuses of Vaccine Database
Unverified reports of vaccine side effects in the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, or VAERS, aren’t the smoking guns portrayed by right-wing media outlets, but they can offer insight into vaccine hesitancy and misinformation.
Florida House Rep. Sabatini Threatens Flagler School Board of Legal Action in Letter Laced in Fabrications Over Covid Rules
Florida House Rep. Anthony Sabatini wrote a letter to Flagler Superintendent Cathy Mittelstadt and the school board today falsely claiming Indian Trails Middle School students are “being deprived of their right to a public school education,” and building on fabrications about the illegal quarantining of a child at Indian Trails Middle School that began pinballing around local social media pages last week.
Behind the Feds’ Tesla Investigation, and the Future of Self-Driving Cars
The probe covers 765,000 Tesla cars – that’s virtually every car the company has made in the last seven years. The investigation will put pressure on Tesla to reevaluate the technologies the company uses in Autopilot and could influence the future of driver-assistance systems and autonomous vehicles.