From living through Hurricane Andrew at Ground Zero 20 years ago to rebuilding a home and a business in its wake, Frank Gromling shares lessons learned and advice for Flagler County and Florida residents, applicable in any hurricane emergency.
All Else
Dominic Mone, 21, Who Drowned Near Flagler Beach Pier Friday, Is Discovered Saturday Morning
Dominic Mone of Orlando went swimming with his older brother in Flagler Beach Friday morning when a wave swept both under. Dominic never resurfaced. The drowning is the first in a lifeguard-protected zone in Flagler Beach in six years.
Flagler Students’ ACT Scores, Reflecting College Readiness, Fall for 4th Year in a Row
If Flagler County were a state, its composite score of 18.6 would rank at the very bottom of the table, below Mississippi’s 18.7, well below the national average of 21.1, and a universe away from the scores of students in New England and the Northeast.
Without Evidence But Plenty of Cash, Palm Coast Approves 52 Spy Cameras, Up from 10
The Palm Coast City Council’s agreement to increase the city’s traffic spy cameras to up to 52 is backed by no crash data and no scientific evidence that the 10 existing cameras improve safety, but Palm Coast stands to make up to $437,000 a year from the new scheme.
An 11-Year-Old Girl Begins Middle School on the Wings of Her Grandmother’s Legacy
Andrew Skerritt’s grandmother never went further than the third grade before she dropped out to help raise her younger siblings, yet the educational values she gave him will be passed down for generations, he writes.
Flagler School Board Hails Sales Tax Victory and Revenue But Readies to Lose $2 Million
As Sue Dickinson and Colleen Conklin took their seats after winning a fourth term, the school board learned that its sales tax revenue was up to $4.2 million, thanks to more sales activity in the county. But the district is also losing at least $2 million from the expiration of an unrelated tax by year’s end.
Skirting Landon’s Flogging of Cline Construction, Palm Coast Awards New Contract
The Palm Coast City Council awarded S.E. Cline Construction a $208,000 contract to build a water-control structure a week after City Manager Jim Landon argued to the council, harshly and publicly, that Cline was falling down on the job.
After 22 Years of Mostly Broken Promises, County Stops Hunter’s Ridge Development
The Flagler County Commission voted unanimously to stop all permitting on the 5,000-acre development that has yet to go beyond promises, while its developer has failed to meet a laundry list of county demands and requirements.
News-Journal Dynasty’s Post-Mortem: Federal Judge Snips Golden Parachutes’ Last Lines
A federal district judge ruled that Georgia Kaney, the News-Journal’s former publisher, and David R. Kendall, its former chief financial officer, must pay almost half a million dollars in legal fees Cox Newspapers incurred to avoid paying the pair $5.5 million in severance, the latest wrinkle in the collapse of the local newspaper dynasty.
Wallace Stevens Read by Bill Murray
Bill Murray reads two poems by Wallace Stevens, “The Planet on the Table” and “A Rabbit As King of the Ghosts” as part of Poets House’s 17th Annual Poetry Walk.