In 2009, more soldiers died from suicide and high-risk behavior than in combat. The Pentagon is drafting Florida State to fight the epidemic.
All Else
A Halloween Concert of Myth and Poetry and a Neanderthal Friend-Raiser: Culture Worth the Miles
The Orlando Philharmonic’s Halloween concert, Edward Gorey at the Orlando Museum of Art, ‘Girls Night: The Musical,’ and the Neanderthal Ball friend-raiser at the Orlando Science Center, plus plenty more.
The Live Wire, Oct. 26: Depression Polling and Normal Mailer on Dan Quayle
A Depression Gallup Poll from 1935 with familiar results, Norman Mailer diagnoses the GOP in 1992, Trotsky’s assassination remembered, an iphone editorial, and more.
Election Primer: Amendment 4, “Hometown Democracy” and Sprawling Misinformation
Amendment 4, Florida’s so-called “Hometown Democracy” amendment, is an attempt to give voters a voice in major local development initiatives. It’s also rife in misinformation.
The Live Wire, Oct. 25: Rove’s Warrior Nation, Tea Parties and Renoir
Why we love war, the tea party goes up against Karl Rove, Scalia takes Kagan to the gun range, the best don’t ask don’t tell moments, and more.
Leveraging Little Miss Flagler Into a Halloween Campaign to Feed the Hungry, and More
Daviana Campbell, the 11-year-old winner of Little Miss Flagler 2010, is throwing a 5th and 6th grade Halloween dance Oct. 29 to raise money and food for the hungry. That’s just for starters.
With Verve and Survivors, Bunnell Pinks Up In 4-Mile Breast Cancer Awareness Walk
Bunnell’s first annual “Going the Extra Mile” walk for breast cancer awareness Saturday morning drew some 160 people and raised $2,500.
Live Wire Weekend, Oct. 22-24: Wikileaks Hell, Beirut’s Marines, Orlando’s Palin
Sarah Palin brings her bonkers act to Orlando, Wikileaks honors the truth, massive oil is spotted in the Gulf of Mexico, American religion isn’t that bad, and more.
Education Foundation’s 20th Anniversary: Video and Photo Gallery
Watch a video celebrating 20 years of the Flagler County Education Foundation, and a vanity photo gallery of the evening’s celebrations at the Hammock Duns Club. In color, too.
John Mica’s Politbureau: How the Chamber Endorses While Pretending Not to Endorse
Flagler County’s Whigs and wigged coupled and clapped at the Palm Coast Yacht Club as John Mica accepted tributes and dispensed charismatic prepositions on his way to a 10th term in Congress.
“Jesus Christ Superstar” Launches Flagler Playhouse’s 32nd Season
The play and the movie of the “rock opera” were charged up with controversy in 1971 and 1973. These days, “Jesus Christ Superstar” is a nostalgic bath of 70s music and only quaint hints of subversion.
Election Primer: Class-Size Amendment 8 Is a Reasonably Multi-Edged Sword
With the class-size amendment — Amendment 8 — approving it would save money and give schools some flexibility, but it would let the Legislature off the hook on its financial commitment to education.
The Live Wire, Oct. 21: Miss Flagler County’s Latest, Sink and Scott’s Loudest, Palin’s Diva Act
Amanda Dack gives us a Miss Flagler County update, St. Augustine wins best place to retire, Sink and Scott fang up, Dizzy Gillespie makes a birthday appearance on the Muppet Show, and more.
The Live Wire, Oct. 20: Debt Dummies, Lolita, George Carlin and EE Cummings
How not to pay your credit card bills, Confederate fallacies, reading “Lolita” at 12, Calgary’s new Muslim mayor, George Carlin on Religion, and more.
Dim-Witted Larcenist Puts Palm Coast on David Letterman’s Lips and Map
It was a small-town news item pulled out of the Palm Coast Observer’s crime blotter. It got Letterman and Paul Shaffer going for the whole segment as they poked around Palm Coast’s location.
The Live Wire, Oct. 19: Florida Apartheid, Rick Scott’s Fuzziness and an Unsavory Duke List
Arizona’s war on undocumented immigrants migrates to Florida, in a whiter worse version, Rick Scott has memory problems under oath, the “Duke Screw List” surfaces, and more.
Calvary Christian’s Bus Ministry: Treasuring the Homeless, One Sunday at a Time
Every Sunday, Calvary’s school buses pick up some 120 homeless men, women and children to clean, feed and clothe them while ministering to them without illusions.
The Live Wire, Oct. 18: Mica’s Night Terrors, the Davidsons’ Park and Tea Party Writ
The ex-News-Journal’s Davidsons get a pasturage, John Mica wants you to be scared of Heather Beaven, tea partiers think the Constitution is a biblical excerpt, and Facebook is betraying your privacy.
Gorey Stories, Deadly Artists and International Arts Day: Culture Worth the Miles
Slightly frightful stories to go with Halloween and Edward Gorey at the Orlando Museum of Art, Mozart’s time machinery, oral histories come to the celery stage, International Arts Day on Oct. 25, and more.
Live Wire Weekend: Imam Bill O’Reilly On The View, Palm Coast’s Rut, Rich Tax Cuts
Bill O’Reilly makes an ass of himself on The View, when Florida sued Rick Scott, Justin Bieber uncovered as a pedophile and other disasters.
The Live Wire, Oct. 14: Foreclosure Crisis 2.0 and the Limits of Tolerance
The foreclosure crisis goes viral, school uniforms get another hearing, boobs against breast cancer, Beirut’s rebirth, tolerance’s limits, and more.
Governing Divide: Nurses Are for Sink, Doctors Are for Scott, Voters Still on Mars
The GOP’s Rick Scott snubbed the Florida Nurses Association, Democrat Sink visited in person. For doctors, Scott would take a hatchet to malpractice lawsuits–doctors’ overriding wish.
Election Primer: Amendment 2 Loop-Holes a Tax Exemption for Soldiers in War Zones
Amendment 2 would give soldiers in Iraq or Afghanistan (or future war zones) a property tax exemption but only if they own homesteaded property. The amendment is more controversial than you’d expect.
The Live Crime Blotter, Oct. 1-5, 2010
A woman’s house is burglarized–for meat and chicken packs in the freezer; a fight at Smiles Night Club; a 29-year-old man is tasered; an injured deer is put out of its misery; and more.
Election Primer: Amendments 5 and 6 Pit Power Against Voters in Redistricting
Florida’s proposed Amendments 5 and 6 would diminish the power of incumbents and legislative majorities to pick their own voters when they draw up voting districts every 10 years.
The Live Wire, Oct. 13: Ask, Tell, Repeal, and More Foreclosure Follies
The last days of “don’t ask don’t tell,” Florida gives up on banning gay adoptions, how cable TV “news” is demolishing US politics, a sit-down with art critic Robert Hughes, and more.
Why Republicans Are Listed First All Over Flagler’s Nov. 2 Ballot (It’s Not a Conspiracy)
Being listed first does matter in local races, especially in non-partisan ones, as lazy or uninformed voters tend to go for the first choice they’re presented.
The Live Wire, Tuesday, Oct. 12: Pink Boots Lenny Keeps His Job, Hiaasen on Amendment 4
Palm Coast’s Breast Cancer Awareness man of the week, Lenny Grocki, was not fired; Carl Hiaasen speaks truth to Amendment 4 detractors; Wall Street continues to rake it in, and much more.
Abu Ghraib Brutality in Florida’s Youth Prisons: Suit Charges Rape and Other Abuses
A class-action law suit against a private Florida juvenile prion contractor claims children were physically abused, forced to have sex with counselors, and kept from seeing lawyers.
The Live Wire, Monday, Oct. 11: A Nate Update, St. Pete Goes for Crist, Plus Yukon Gold
The latest on 7-year-old Nate in ICU; St. Pete Times Goes for Crist, Everglades’ sugardaddy deal goes through, Amendment 4 and sex offender hysteria, plus the Yukon, SNL at 35 and Art Blakey at 91 and more.
At Indian Trails, a Visa to Middleworld By Way of 2012’s Maya Calendar Rubbish
The Jaguar Stones trilogy authors Jon and Pamela Voelkel brought their live spectacle, humor and accurate history to some 90 Indian Trails Middle School students, setting a calendar’s record straight along the way.
When Courts and the Justice Department Conceal, Deceive and Lie: A Gitmo Fabrication
A U.S. District Court opinion about an Al-Qaeda suspect held at Guantanamo Bay’s Gitmo prison was removed from circulation and rewritten, revealing critical alterations and insights into the Justice Department’s elaborate deceptions, which undermine the credibility of the court system.
To Counter Bullying, Flagler Sheriff Is Giving Away 3,000 Internet Monitoring Programs
The free programs enable parents to keep track of their child’s internet activity and exposure, from chats to bullying, though the cyberbullying problem may be overstated.
Live Wire Weekend, Oct. 8-10: Torture Made in China (and America), Bullies and Trump
The Chinese Solzhenitsyn, Liu Xiaobo, wins the Nobel peace prize, class-size moves on, Ellen DeGeneres mourns bully victims, Orson Welles talks politics, Donald Trump talks presidential bid again, and much more.
Losses Accelerating As Economy Drops 95,000 Jobs Overall; Private Sector Adds 64,000
Economists had expected a loss of only a few thousand jobs. The September figures, led by government job declines, are in line with a continuing trend downward in Florida.
The City of Palm Coast’s Problem With Breast Cancer Awareness Month? Not Regulation.
Lenny Grocki, a Palm Coast utilities employee, was told to go home and take off his pink steel-toed boots. When he switched to pink laces and pink socks, he was told he’d face disciplinary action for those, too.
The Live Wire, Oct. 7: Mario Vargas Llosa, “Christian” Homophobes, Soldiers and Privacy
The Nobel Prize goes to a great writer for once: Mario Vargas Llosa; plus the Supreme Court case on homophobes at soldiers’ funerals and more on privacy, obesity and hometown democracy.
The Live Wire, Oct. 6: Ormond’s Bikini Grab, Sink and Scott Neck, Grayson’s Times
Ormond Beach annexes the Cheaters’ strip club property, suspended for being black in middle school, oil drilling ban may make it to the 2012 ballot, and more.
The Live Wire, October 5: Why I’m Voting Republican
Dull day in the Flagler Beach murder trial of Gregory Wood, double-deaths at SeaWorld, the Holy Land pretends to be generous, Roth’s Nemesis, Alien again and more.
The Live Wire, Oct. 4: Sink, Scott and Shuttle Layoffs, Plus the Long Liberal List
Enterprise Flagler begs off, the book on Sink and Scott, space shuttle layoffs begin, your elections for sale, the end of foreclosure (for now), media mistrust, famous liberals, and more.
Flagler 911: The Live Crime Blotter, Sept. 26-29, 2010
A rash of stolen laptops all over the place, a rash of smashed up car windows and stolen purses left in those cars, an assault and battery, a suspiciously acting private investigator, and, unfortunately, more.
Idioting Up Over Islam, Rev. Franklin Graham Reveals America’s More Present Dangers
This time, Rev. Franklin Graham is unable to get away with his usual offenses and fallacies on Islam during a town hall with Christiane Amanpour.
Live Wire Weekend: Jimmy Flynt’s Ex-Cop Friends, Flagler Beach’s Bad Cop, Sink Sinks
Why Bunnell is stuck in the 1950s, an ex-cop in Flagler Beach is on probation, Scott overtakes Sink, undocumented immigrants leave, Heidegger returns, and more.
The Live Wire, Sept. 30: Glenn Beck’s AA Obsession, Obama’s Shadiness, Rubio’s Roving
Obama loves his privileged secrets, Glenn Beck loves himself, goodbye to Tony Curtis, hello to Karl Rove (behind Rubio), Congress tells the Moon to go to hell, and more.
Census: Flagler’s Population Stalls at 91,600; 28% of Housing Units Vacant; Poverty Rising
The 2009 population figures mean that Flagler will almost certainly not cross into six-figure territory when decennial census figures are announced. Figures on housing, income, poverty and insurance were also released.
Income, Employment and Labor Data for Flagler County and Palm Coast, 2009 Census Bureau Community Survey
Detailed, charted table of the Census Bureau’s employment, income and labor data for Flagler County and Palm Coast, 2009 American Community Survey.
Population and Demographics Data for Flagler County and Palm Coast, 2009 Census Bureau Community Survey
Detailed, charted table of the Census Bureau’s population and demographics data for Flagler County and Palm Coast, 2009 American Community Survey.
Social Profile for for Flagler County and Palm Coast, 2009 Census Bureau’s Community Survey
Detailed, charted table of the Census Bureau’s social profile (marriages, divorces, origins) data for Flagler County and Palm Coast, 2009 American Community Survey.
Housing and Real Estate Data for Flagler County and Palm Coast, 2009 Census Bureau’s Community Survey
Detailed, charted table of the Census Bureau’s housing, development and real estate data for Flagler County and Palm Coast, 2009 American Community Survey.
The Live Wire, Sept. 29: Apologias from Kent Sharples, Alan Grayson and Socrates
Bush and Cardinal Newman has nothing on Kent Sharples, Alan Grayson and Marco Rubio slither, consumer confidence tanks, the Florida tea party is attacking judges, and more.