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Backgrounders

Factual Yowls Aside, Palm Coast Says Community Cats’ Trap, Neuter and Release Program Is Working

November 15, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 18 Comments

palm coast community cats tnr

The Palm Coast City Council heard an enthusiastic report on the city’s partnership with Community Cats and its Trap, Neuter and Release program, which seeks to limit the feral cat population, with volunteer caretakers feeding and caring for the cats. The report contained notable factual errors and some lack of perspective.

Realtors Want Their Signs in Rights of Way. Palm Coast Warns that Hate and Other Signs Would Follow.

November 14, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 34 Comments

realtor signs rights of way palm coast free speech

Palm Coast Council member Ed Danko is leading the charge on behalf of Realtors and other businesses to open up city rights of way to their advertising signs on weekends. Fellow Council member Theresa Pontieri is warning that doing so would open up rights of ways to every sign imaginable, including hate signs, while overwhelming the city’s Code Enforcement Department. The council is split on an issue it will have to decide soon.

Consultant Says Palm Coast Residents Must Pay Cost of Future Growth With Higher Water Bills. Council Recoils.

November 14, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 51 Comments

Costly waste: Palm Coast's water and sewer infrastructure doesn't come cheap. (© FlaglerLive)

Growth is increasing your cost of living as an existing resident of Palm Coast, and you’re going to have to pay for it in higher water and sewer bills, according to a utility-rate consultant Palm Coast government hired. City Council members are not nearly so sure, and are asking for new numbers, possibly sharply raising impact fees on developers and builders.

Man Destroys a Room in Reckless Shooting Spree at Topaz Motel Before His Arrest at Gunpoint Blocks Away

November 13, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 8 Comments

topaz motel incident

A 35-year-old man who claimed he was being chased by assassins with AR-15 rifles fired numerous rounds through the door and windows of Room 214 at the Topaz Motel in Flagler Beach, facing State Road A1A, in a shooting spree that destroyed the room.

154 Participants Later, Flagler Cares’ Opioid Recovery Initiative Marks Its First Year, With New Wheels

November 13, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 1 Comment

core program flagler cares

The Coordinated Opioid Recovery initiative launched in Flagler County a year ago under the umbrella of Flagler Cares, umbrella. It’s a multi-layered approach that shepherds individuals toward recovery through medically-assisted treatment, peer-to-peer counseling, mental health and other services. Last week it marked its anniversary with, among other things, the ribbon-cutting for an outreach vehicle run by Flagler Open Arms Recovery Services.

Condemn Palestinians’ Genocidal Rhetoric–and Israel’s Genocidal War

November 12, 2023 | Pierre Tristam | 49 Comments

There is no question that "river-to-the-sea" emblems and rhetoric, like that t-shirt sold at an Arab fest in Orlando last May, is a genocidal, anti-Semitic call for the eradication of Israel. (© FlaglerLive)

There’s unquestionably some river-to-the-sea anti-Semitism out there. It should be and is being denounced. But conflating all criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism is itself a form of bigotry that places Palestinian lives beneath contempt and Israeli policy above reproach, even as swaths of Gaza in November 2023 look like Dresden in February 1945 and anti-Palestinian rhetoric in media and government continues to be indistinguishable from the vilest racism. 

Controversial PragerU Materials that Distort Science and Whitewash History Gain Foothold in Florida Schools

November 11, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 9 Comments

The organization, formally the Prager University Foundation but known as PragerU, is founded and run by conservative talk-show host Dennis Prager

PragerU, which is not a university, is founded and run by conservative talk-show host Dennis Prager and funded by a number of like-minded philanthropists. PragerU touts its conservative view as a “free alternative to the dominant left-wing ideology in culture, media, and education.” But critics say it distorts science and whitewashes unpleasant aspects of historical events.

As It Fields Flood of Complaints, Palm Coast Is Revising Building Rules to Limit New Houses’ Fill Elevations

November 10, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 47 Comments

The house under construction at 98 Birchwood Drive and the concerns by neighboring residents about its elevation, which they say may cause flooding on their yards, has brought intense attention to an issue numerous Palm Coast residents have reported across the city as new homes have gone up. (© FlaglerLive)

Palm Coast government, responding in part to mounting complaints about flooding seemingly caused by new construction of much higher homes in the city’s quarter-acre single family home lots, is working swiftly to limit how high the slab elevation of new homes, and the fill beneath it, may go. A new house at 98 Birchwood Drive has been ground zero of a problem that until now had not drawn broad attention or responses by the city.

Bowing to Bitter Public Opposition, Council Kills Seminole Woods Apartments and Limits Development to 416 Homes

November 8, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 29 Comments

Seminole Woods Boulevard along the proposed boundary of the Cascades development in Seminole Woods. (© FlaglerLive)

In a twin blow to the developer–and to the city’s meager apartment market–the Palm Coast City Council Tuesday rejected a rezoning application that would have allowed for an apartment complex near the south end of Seminole Woods Boulevard, and rejected a land use change that would have allowed for the total number of housing units there to go from 416 to 850.

Judge Orders 85-Year-Old Man Accused in Woodlands Murder to Be Evaluated for Competence

November 6, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 7 Comments

charles kidd jr second degree murder

Circuity Judge Terence Perkins today ordered a neuropsychological evaluation of Charles Kidd Jr., the 85-year-old former resident of Blare Drive in Palm Coast’s Woodlands accused of murdering 36-year-old Mark Ruschmeier in August.

A Student Is Bitten By a Wild Rat at Buddy Taylor Middle School’s Farm; Teacher Reprimanded

November 2, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 31 Comments

A section of the farm at Buddy Taylor Middle School. (© FlaglerLive)

Two Buddy Taylor Middle School students were bitten and one of them injured by wild rats, while two dozen students were exposed to the rats as a teacher was flushing them out of a hole with a water hose at the school’s farm. The activity was neither part of a lesson plan nor of the curriculum.

Drone Footage Shows Extent of Flagler Playhouse Fire’s Irreparable Devastation; Likely an Electrical Cause

October 31, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 4 Comments

A drone image of the Flagler Playhouse taken on Monday by Flagler County Fire Rescue.

Drone footage of the aftermath of the Flagler Playhouse fire shows annihilating damage you cannot see from street level, with the entirety of the theater–the main building–as if systematically bombed through its nave. The multilayered roof of metal, asphalt shingles and wood has collapsed, melted from within. The iconic spire somehow kept standing at the front of the building, held up by metal trusses, though it’s a matter of time before it is removed.

Two Crashes Kill Three People In Deadliest Day This Year on Flagler Roads

October 30, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 15 Comments

A tow truck took the motorcycle after the crash at U.S. 1 and Karat Path at the edge of Seminole Woods in mid-morning Sunday. Both riders were killed. (© FlaglerLive)

In the deadliest day on Flagler County roads this year, three people died in two unrelated vehicle crashes barely two hours apart on Sunday in Palm Coast.

Politicians Love To Cite Crime Data. It’s Often Wrong.

October 28, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 8 Comments

ron desantis diane roberts

When Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis announced his presidential campaign in May, he proudly told the nation that Florida’s crime rate in 2021 had reached a 50-year low. But really, DeSantis couldn’t say for sure. That’s because fewer than 1 in 10 law enforcement agencies in his state had reported their crime statistics to the FBI.

The Big Reveal
Riding Brightline: The Great, the Brash and the Ugly

October 27, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 24 Comments

Hello Brightline. Our train pulling into the station in Orlando. We would have barely a few minutes to board before it sped off to Miami. (© FlaglerLive)

Earlier this month FlaglerLive Editor Pierre Tristam and his son took a 24-hour round-trip from Orlando to Miami aboard Brightline’s new high-speed line, discovering what may be–what ought to be–the future of rail travel in Florida with all its pleasures, possibilities and limitations. Here’s the story of the trip and a review of the travel experience.

School Board Attorney Gavin Fends Off Firing Squad as Superintendent Will Negotiate Possible Transition

October 27, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 20 Comments

Flagler County School Board Attorney Kristy Gavin during Thursday evening's 135-minute meeting about her fate. She was not fired. (© FlaglerLive)

The Flagler County School Board Tuesday evening again stopped short of firing Kristy Gavin, its attorney, after it was sharply cautioned by Superintendent LaShakia Moore against taking such a vote without counsel and risking serious financial consequences. The board voted 4-1 to allow Moore to negotiate moving Gavin to the position of staff attorney, answering to only to Moore.

Hailey Lulgjuraj Ended Chemo a Week Ago. She Is Hosting a Benefit for Breast Cancer Patients and Survivors Saturday.

October 26, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 1 Comment

Hailey Lulgjuraj with her husband Tony and their children, Christian, the oldest, and Sebastian. (Hailey Lulgjuraj)

Hailey Lulgjuraj has just ended treatment after she was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a double mastectomy. She never stopped working. She decided to channel her gratitude toward the first annual “Tides of Hope” benefit for breast cancer patients and survivors at Oceanside Beach Bar & Grill, the Flagler Beach restaurant her husband co-owns with her brother in law. She tells the story behind the benefit.

Curtis Ceballos’s Invisacook Stove, Built in Bunnell, Lands on Time Magazine’s Top Inventions of 2023

October 26, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 5 Comments

Curtis Ceballos in the studio portion of the Invisacook manufacturing plant in Bunnell. Ceballos developed the Invisacook induction cooktop stove five years ago. This week, Time named it one of the best inventions of 2023. (© FlaglerLive)

Five years ago Curtis Ceballos, a Palm Coast entrepreneur and inventor, developed Invisacook, an induction cooktop stove that essentially makes the cooktop disappear: no more flames, no more red-hot coils, no more burning surfaces. It’s manufactured in Bunnell and sold worldwide. This week, Time Magazine named the invention one of the best of 2023.

Flagler County Cultural Council Wants You To Know: ‘We’re Here To Stay.’ But It’s Going to Need Help.

October 23, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 3 Comments

FC3 flagler county cultural; council

FC3, the Flagler County Cultural Council, has big ambitions–among them, to be known as the county’s designated arts agency, as the driver, supporter, coordinator and promoter of local arts, culture and history, and as a magnet for state and national grants that will help local cultural agencies thrive, or incubate new ones. But for all its giddiness, the organization, after three years, remains cash-poor and mostly in the organizational stage.

Voices from Gaza: ‘These Could Be Our Final Days.’

October 22, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 14 Comments

A man evacuating from a-Rimal neighborhood in Gaza City, in a sector already demolished by the Israeli bombings. (Muhammad Sabah/B'Tselem)

Olfat al-Kurd is a 45-year-old a mother of four, and Muhammad Sabah, 42, both residents of Gaza, provide testimonies about their attempts to escape bombings and find secure refuge inside the 140 square mile enclave–exactly the geographic size of Bunnell. Gaza’s population is 2 million.

An Honest Conversation About Old Age

October 22, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 19 Comments

old age conversation

“Honest Aging: An Insider’s Guide to the Second Half of Life,” by Rosanne Leipzig, is the most comprehensive examination of what to expect in later life. “So much of what’s out there is dishonest, claiming to teach people how to age backwards,” Leipzig said. “I think it’s time we say, ‘This is it; this is who we are,’ and admit how lucky we are to have all these years of extra time.”

Florida’s Manatees Should Never Have Been Delisted from Endangered

October 21, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 5 Comments

A manatee at the Santa Fe River. (FWC)

Six years ago the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service took Florida manatees down a notch on the endangered list, reclassifying them as merely “threatened.” Now, after nearly 2,000 have died over the past few years, the feds say they may put them back on the top of the list. Manatees had previously been on the endangered list longer than since the Endangered Species Act of 1973. They were an entry on the original list issued in 1967.

In Gaza, Fighting Atrocities with Atrocities Compounds the Indefensible at Civilians’ Expense

October 20, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 21 Comments

Israel hasn’t won a war since 1967, and even that proved to be the untenable occupation and low-grade war it has faced for decades. It’s not about to win against Hamas. Hamas knows this. Israel knows it. Civilians are paying. Civilians alone will lose, as revenge substitutes for strategy and both sides perpetrate war crimes.

Palm Coast Moving To Loosen Sign Ordinance, Allowing More Free Expression–and Realtors’ Sales Pitches

October 20, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 30 Comments

The sign that started it all, in Gilbert, Arizona, leading to a 2015 Supreme Court decision that found unconstitutional any attempt by local governments to regulate the content of signs. The image is taken from a brief filed with the court.

A proposed rewriting of Palm Coast’s sign ordinance would not change the look of the city markedly, preserving most of the restrictions in place now. But a draft ordinance–still very much a work in progress–errs on the more permissive than restrictive side, now that local governments are largely (but not entirely) barred from regulating what signs say. That means homeowners will get to express themselves more freely, including with hate speech. Realtors will get to plant more signs.

Grim Year for Local Arts as 3 Big Organizations Vanish and Palm Coast Drops Grants to Lowest-Ever Level

October 18, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 12 Comments

ukraine national orchestra

Palm Coast government on Tuesday scaled back its Cultural Arts Program almost by half, offering $20,000 to 13 organizations the coming year. It is the lowest nominal level since 2012, and the lowest level in the city’s history when adjusted for inflation. The retreat takes place in a year that has seen the disappearance of three major cultural organizations in Palm Coast and the county.

Superintendent LaShakia Moore’s $175,000 Salary Is Significantly Less Than a Predecessor’s, When Adjusted

October 17, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 11 Comments

LaShakia Moore at a recent School Board meeting. Starting tonight the "interim" part of her superintendent title will be eliminated. (© FlaglerLive)

The four-year contract with Superintendent LaShakia Moore the Flagler County School Board is ratifying tonight calls for less compensation than that awarded the two other executive of the county’s largest governments, even though Flagler schools have more employees than both combined, and it is less, in adjusted numbers, than the starting pay of Bill Delbrugge, who in 2005 became superintendent, like Moore, without previous such experience.

Matanzas Brawl Was Long Simmering: Parents Had Alerted the School and Sought Mediation, To No Avail

October 16, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 52 Comments

Parents of Matanzas High School students who face charges and were disciplined over a brawl last week say they had attempted to address the situation in the run-up to the brawl, but they say Kristin Bozeman, left, the principal, was unaware of the situation until it occurred, while Assistant Principal Fred Terry, right, would not allow mediation between parents. (© FlaglerLive)

The Matanzas High School brawl last week did not occur out of nowhere. According to eight of the parents involved, several of them had been warning the school administration of problems well before, asking for a series of measures, all neglected or turned down outright by the administration, to an apparently unaware principal, Kristin Bozeman, who would tell several of the parents that she was unaware of the issues until the day of the brawl.

Ex-Matanzas Student Brendan Depa Will Plead Out in Teacher-Assault Case, Leaving His Fate to a Judge

October 11, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 22 Comments

Brendan Depa in court today, next to Teifke. (© FlaglerLive)

Brendan Depa, the former Matanzas High School student who drew global attention and a first-degree felony charge as an adult after a video of his assault on a paraprofessional circulated, will plead out, avoiding a trial. But he will also be taking the risk of a steep sentence.

Monserrate Teron Is Sentenced to Life in Prison for Raping His Niece as Child’s Mother Describes a Family Wrecked

October 11, 2023 | FlaglerLive | Leave a Comment

Monserrate Teron stepping down from the stand after he addressed the court at his sentencing today. (© FlaglerLive)

Monserrate Teron, the former Army nurse a jury last July found guilty of raping his 7-year-old niece, was sentenced this morning to two life terms, plus 30 years on an additional charge. Teron turns 60 in two weeks. The victim’s mother described to the court the day-to-day of her daughters’ harrowing lives since, accusing a large part of Teron’s family as “enablers.” That side of the family again today insisted that Teron is innocent.

What Does Palm Coast Hope to Be ‘When We Grow Up’? City Launches 14-Month Plan to Listen and Respond

October 10, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 17 Comments

Consultants Silvia E. Vargas, at the mic, and Kathie Ebaugh at the whiteboard, gathering initial expectations from City Council and Planning Board members about what they want the 14-month comprehensive plan process to entail as they discussed the launch of that plan this afternoon at City Hall. (© FlaglerLive)

What should Palm Coast look like in 2050? City Hall today kicked off a 14-month process to answer that question, to do so by engaging as many residents as possible as inclusively as possible along the way, ending with a document that will re-imagines the city’s blueprint as its residents want it to be at mid-century. The result of that exercise will be a complete re-write of the city’s “Comprehensive Plan,” the first since 2004.

Judge Orders One Final Mediation in Hopes of Averting Trial in Captain’s BBQ Suit Against County

October 9, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 7 Comments

Captain's BBQ, to the left, at Bing's Landing. The lawsuit it filed against the county is four years old. (© FlaglerLive)

The Flagler County Commission met behind closed doors for the first time in over three years this morning to discuss a possible settlement of the four-year-old lawsuit by Captain’s BBQ at Bings Landing. The judge in the case ordered the two sides again to go to mediation to avoid a January trial. Mediation and an attempted settlement that made significant concessions to Captain’s in 2020 failed as commissioners rejected the proposal.

State Attorney’s Jason Lewis, Near-Invincible Prosecutor, Wins 7th Judicial Circuit’s Lifetime Achievement Award

October 6, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 3 Comments

Assistant State Attorney Jason Lewis had no idea he would be the State Attorney's recipient of the Boyle Award for th Seventh judicial Circuit. (© FlaglerLive)

Assistant State Attorney Jason Lewis, a ferocious, annihilating prosecutor who’s as genial outside the courtroom as he is fearsome inside it, since 2014 has managed the Flagler outpost of the State Attorney’s Office and oversees its homicide attorneys in the four-county Seventh Judicial Circuit.

Palm Coast Issued Development Orders for 4,138 Homes This Year Alone, and Has 13,361 ‘in Pipeline’

October 5, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 46 Comments

Too much? (© FlaglerLive)

While City Council member Theresa Ponstieri significantly overstated the actual number of homes the council approved this year, there is no question that Palm Coast is growing rapidly, and that Council policy is doing all it can to accelerate that growth, with increasing rumbles from existing residents who think, like Pontieri, that the pace is too rapid.

Bob Snyder, ‘Giant During Covid,’ Steps Down from Flagler County Health Department He Led for 11 Years

October 3, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 11 Comments

Bob Snyder looks up to retirement. (© FlaglerLive)

Bob Snyder, who’s led the Flagler County Health Department since 2013, was the co-architect of the county’s response to the Covid pandemic and more recently ensured that the department’s funding more directly reflect the county’s population, after decades of imbalance, stepped down and opted for retirement Sunday, six months before he was planning to do so.

Here Are the 3 Lawsuits Against the District the School Board Will Discuss Behind Closed Doors Tuesday

October 2, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 2 Comments

Tuesday's closed-door meeting was initially requested by school board members, contrary to state law, which authorizes only the school board attorney to call such "shade" meetings. (Marcus Wallis on Unsplash)

When the Flagler County School Board meets behind closed doors early Tuesday afternoon, a meeting that may at least in part be in violation of state law, it will discuss three pending lawsuits against the district, and potential settlements in two of them, including an employment discrimination lawsuit scheduled for trial in federal court in December.

Flagler School Board Wants ‘Standing’ Closed-Door Meetings Every 3 Months. That Would Be Illegal.

October 2, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 12 Comments

School Board members Will Furry, Christy Chong and Sally Hunt have been on the board for less than a year. Their grasp of sunshine is tenuous. (© FlaglerLive via Flagler Schools TV)

The Flagler County School Board directed its attorney to schedule “standing” closed-door meetings every three months to get updates on litigation facing the district. Such meetings would be illegal, as was the board assuming the authority to set such meetings, according to Florida law and a veteran local government attorney.

When Sisco Deen Reconnected Descendants to the Local Legacies of General Hernández, Bings and MalaCompra

October 1, 2023 | FlaglerLive | Leave a Comment

Sisco Deen, standing, with descendants of Gen. Hernandez, at the MalaCompra archeological site. (Flagler County Historical Society)

The late Sisco Deen and his wife Gloria played a central role in exhuming history and reconnecting descendants and state historians with the local legacy of General Joseph Hernández, who owned a plantation residence in what became Bings Landing Park and was the first Hispanic in Congress.

U.S. Supreme Court Will Hear Challenge to Florida Law Forcing Social Media to Carry Objectionable Content

October 1, 2023 | FlaglerLive | Leave a Comment

aca still standing

The Texas and Florida legislatures passed the laws at the center of the disputes in 2021. The Florida law, known as S.B. 7072 or the Stop Social Media Censorship Act, prohibits social-media companies from banning political candidates and “journalistic enterprises.” The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to weigh in on the constitutionality of the controversial laws.

Bible Challenge in Flagler Schools Unravels Inconsistencies, Arbitrariness and Confusion in Review Process

September 29, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 33 Comments

LaShakia Moore, then in her role as assistant superintendent, eplaining to volunteers the district's book-challenge reviewing process--a process the district is not following with a challenge filed regarding the Bible. (© FlaglerLive)

A challenge of the Bible’s presence in some of Flagler County’s public school libraries is unraveling the inconsistencies, contradictions, flaws, and arbitrariness of Flagler County’s book-challenge process. The challenge, filed by Palm Coast resident Bob Gordon, cites 67 passages he claims are sexually explicit, sadistic, graphically violent and bigoted.

At Post-Segregated Assemblies Town Hall, Superintendent Bridges Conversation Beyond Walls and Outrage

September 28, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 7 Comments

Superintendent LaShakia Moore addressing the Carver Center audience Wednesday evening. (© FlaglerLive)

Flagler Schools Superintendent LaShakia Moore hosted a town hall at the Carver Center in predominantly Black South Bunnell Wednesday evening in the wake of the segregated assemblies at Bunnell Elementary School. The audience of some 110 and the superintendent engaged in an open conversation about education and community involvement, with only two moments when the assemblies and their aftermath were discussed.

Contrasting with Depa Case, Judge Dismisses Charge Against Autistic Female Who’d Assaulted Teacher at Matanzas

September 27, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 19 Comments

Reba Johnson in court today, moments before the felony case against her was dismissed. (© FlaglerLive via zoom)

A felony assault charge against Reba Johnson, now 20, an autistic student who had attacked her teacher at Matanzas High School, was dropped today after she was continuously found incompetent to stand trial,. It’s a sharp contrast with the ongoing charge against Brendan Depa, who faces a more severe felony charge after he attacked a paraprofessional last February, though Depa’s and Johnson’s profiles parallel each other in many, but not all, respects.

Michael Benkert, on the Run for 19 Days Since Flagler Beach Trailer Park Manhunt, Is Arrested

September 26, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 4 Comments

The heavy police presence around the trailer park in Flagler Beach the evening of Sept. 7. (© FlaglerLive)

Michael Benkert, the thrice-imprisoned 31-year-old Palm Coast resident who had terrorized family members in Flagler Beach and whose evasion from law enforcement turned a trailer park there into a police-chase zone three weeks ago, was finally apprehended, along with his twin brother Anthony, and faces a half dozen charges, three of them felonies.

Montessori School Owner Kerri Huckabee, 54, Arrested on 3 Felonies in Dispute with Flagler Beach Neighbors

September 25, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 34 Comments

The Nardone property in the foreground was built in 2018, immediately adjacent to that of Kerri Huckabee, who has been angered by the Nardones' surveillance cameras and lights. (© FlaglerLive)

Kerri Ann Huckabee, 54, the long-time owner of the Montessori school in Flagler Beach that moved to Bunnell in 2018, was arrested on three felony charges, including a second degree felony, and for kicking two police officers, and was booked at the Flagler County jail. The arrest was the result of long-running antagonism toward her neighbors on South 23rd Street since they moved in in 2018.

Clarence Thomas Secretly Participated in Koch Network Donor Events

September 23, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 15 Comments

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was at the Bohemian Grove, a secretive all-men’s retreat in Northern California, with billionaire industrialist David Koch, right, and Ken Burns, whose films Koch has financially supported.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has attended at least two Koch donor summits, putting him in the extraordinary position of having helped a political network that has brought multiple cases before the Supreme Court.

Flagler County Approves Higher Taxes, Palm Coast Stays Level, But Claims of ‘Historic’ Rollback Are Inaccurate

September 21, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 17 Comments

Not quite sine die: the council meets again on Oct. 3. (© FlaglerLive)

Palm Coast and Flagler County government this week adopted their budgets and tax rates for the 2023-24 fiscal year with little controversy and so few people in the audience at final hearings that you could count them on one hand. The county raised taxes, the city kept its taxes flat. Palm Coast going back to the rolled back rate was not unique, as some council members claimed or thought.

UCF May Close Three Campuses

September 20, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 1 Comment

The state university system’s Board of Governors on Wednesday will consider proposals by the University of Central Florida to close three campuses no longer in use. The proposals involve the South Orlando Campus, the UCF Leesburg campus and the UCF Palm Bay campus.

‘Savannah Asked Me To Never Be Silent.’ A Survivor of Brenan Hill’s Violence Speaks.

September 18, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 4 Comments

savannah gonzalez

Brenan Hill was convicted on Friday for the murder of Savannah Gonzalez, 22. Shanell Torchia was a previous victim of Hill’s violence, and the mother of his child: he was a fugitive from justice, and the charges she had filed, when he shot Gonzalez. Torchia speaks out about her experience, her friendship with Savannah, and the dangerous leeway granted abusers.

Covid Deaths in Florida Near 91,000

September 17, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 19 Comments

As of Thursday, 90,740 resident deaths from Covid-19 had been reported, according to Florida Department of Health data released Friday. That was up from 90,232 reported deaths two weeks earlier.

City Repertory Theatre’s Audacious New Season Runs from ‘Perfect’ Love to Witch’s Cat to Freud’s Lingerie

September 16, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 3 Comments

John Sbordone. (Mike Kitaif)

Palm Coast’s City Repertory Theatre’s news season includes heady classics rarely staged in East-Central Florida: “Educating Rita” and Edward Albee’s unnerving “The Zoo Story.” There are acclaimed but off-the-radar, even experimental works: “Vinegar Tom,” Caryl Churchill’s Brechtian take on 17th-century witchcraft trials, and Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour’s bizarro, undirected “White Rabbit Red Rabbit.” Contemporary works include “Edges: A Song Cycle” and the comedy “Hysteria,” wherein Salvador Dalí meets Sigmund Freud.

Ed Danko Attacks City Staffer With Baseless Claims in Public Meeting, Drawing Sharp Rebuke from Mayor

September 14, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 54 Comments

The Palm Coast City Council's Ed Danko hectoring Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Maeven Rogers at Tuesday's meeting, before turning to argue with Mayor David Alfin, who brought Danko under control. (© FlaglerLive via Palm Coast TV)

Palm Coast City Council member Ed Danko verbally attacked and disparaged the city’s resiliency and sustainability officer in a public meeting on Tuesday, baselessly calling her presentation “propaganda,” questioning why she had a job, and sparring with Mayor David Alfin, who brought him under control.

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