After decades of steady improvement, the death rate of America’s children and teens shot up between 2019 and 2021 — and Covid-19 wasn’t the reason. Gun-related deaths represented the largest share of the increase — by far.
Backgrounders
My Date With Jerry Springer
In November 1998 I was traveling the country on a year-long assignment and at that point working on a piece on American discourse. I’d chosen Illinois as a prism: the various grounds of the Lincoln Douglas debates at one end and the Chicago-based Jerry Springer Show at the other. Springer agreed to let me hang out with him half a day, interview him and attend his show, thankfully not as a guest.
Flagler Beach, With Unusually Limited Transparency, Is on a Schedule to Hire Next City Manager By Mid-July
The Flagler Beach City Commission is on course to hire its next city manager by mid-July, but through an accelerated timeline that involves the least public input or transparency of any recent executive searches for local governments. That’s unusual in Flagler Beach, whose commission over the past decade and a half–regardless of make-up–has prized transparency and deliberation, at times to painful extremes. It’s also about to change, the commission chairman says.
David Alfin Files Formal Request to Re-Name Community Center After Late Mayor Jon Netts
The Palm Coast Beautification Committee Thursday evening is expected to recommend renaming the Palm Coast Community Center after the late Jon Netts, a city founder and its longest-serving council member and mayor. The nomination was filed by Mayor David Alfin.
County Plan to Move Whispering Meadows Equine Therapy Ranch to Fairgrounds Collapses as State Says No
The state has rejected Flagler County government’s plan to move the Whispering Meadows Ranch–the equine therapy non-profit–to the county fairgrounds, saying it would privatize public land. The rejection is the latest setback in the ranch’s two-year effort to leave its John Anderson Highway property, where it has operated for 16 years, until neighbors started objecting to its presence.
Dreaded Franchise Fee and Public Service Tax Back on Table as Palm Coast Faces $52 Million Street Fix
Facing a $52 million backlog to resurface a deteriorating road system, the Palm Coast City Council is discussing adopting utility franchise fees and public service taxes that have previously drawn angry opposition from residents, as well as exploring raising a local sales surtax through the county.
Disney Monorail Is Next on DeSantis Hit List
The Republican-controlled Senate Fiscal Policy Committee, chaired by Travis Hutson, who represents Flagler County, on Tuesday amended a transportation bill (SB 1250) to apply Department of Transportation safety standards to monorail lines that connect Walt Disney World resorts and parks.
In Florida, We Are All Child Abusers Now
The Florida Legislature is legalizing a Jim Crow-like system of punishing, demonizing and denying the existence of LGBTQ children. Few sessions of the Florida Legislature provided the legal framework for as much state-sponsored and citizen-empowered terrorism against children as this one.
180 Palm Coast-Area Muslims and Mayor Alfin Celebrate End of Ramadan on 2nd Anniversary of Bunnell Islamic Center
Palm Coast and Flagler County’s fast-growing Muslim community marked Eid-el-Fitr, the celebratory end of Ramadan, with Mayor David Alfin today at the Palm Coast Community Center and the anniversary of the emergence of an Islamic Center from a founding meeting at Holland Park.
Challenged in Flagler Schools: Elana K. Arnold’s Damsel, a Review and a Recommendation
Elana K. Arnold’s “Damsel” is among the 22 books that a trio of individuals have sought to ban from high school library shelves in Flagler County. Here’s an unexpected recommendation by FlaglerLive’s reviewers to ban the book.