Circuit Judge Terence Perkins for the second time in five weeks on Tuesday defended his decision to deny Joseph Bova the right to represent himself during his trial on a first-degree murder charge at the end of September. Bova was found guilty and Perkins sentenced him to life in prison. The case is on appeal.
Rights & Liberties
Status of Migrant Children in Florida Shelters Cloaked in Secrecy in Name of ‘Privacy and Security’
Florida officials have a relatively limited role the state plays in ensuring the well-being of children who were separated from their families after crossing the country’s southern border and being detained.
Florida’s Parental Consent Abortion Bill Is Intended to Shame and Scare Pregnant Girls
“We’re stridently noisily pro-choice creatures,” conservative writer Nancy Smith says. “You know why? Because we remember what it was like to grow up in towns and cities without Roe V. Wade. We were there, eyes wide open.”
China Plays the NBA
The obvious prioritization of commercial ties with a government that’s attacking demonstrators in Hong Kong and putting millions of ethnic Uyghurs in concentration camps is a damning statement about what the league — and the economic system it operates in — truly values.
Judge Says Florida May Not Deny Felons Right to Vote if “Genuinely Unable” to Pay Obligations
The federal court ruling was only a partial victory for voting-rights and civil-rights groups that challenged the constitutionality of a new state law designed to carry out a constitutional amendment restoring voting rights to felons who have served their sentence.
What Life On the Margin Feels Like
The University of Wisconsin-Madison, is in an uproar over a video to promote the school’s homecoming that features no students of color. Here’s how young people of color feel at being treated like “others.”
Gender Traitors: Fired While Gay
The Supreme Court will decide three cases that ask a question you should be offended to hear still asked today: may an employer fire a worker for being gay? The answer in most states, including Florida, is yes.
A “Highly Effective” Teacher Loses His Job at FPC. He Says It Was Retaliation for Whistle-Blowing. District Disagrees.
Robert Sprouse is claiming in a whistleblower action that his contract was not renewed because of the way he reported on a male senior’s repeatedly inappropriate and harassing behavior toward several girls–to school officials, the sheriff’s office and the Department of Children and Families.
Calling It an “Administrative Nightmare,” Federal Judge Urges Lawmakers to Revamp Felon Voting Law
U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle made the comments as he finished a two-day hearing in a challenge to the law, which was passed along partisan lines by the Republican-dominated Legislature this spring and signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Rabbi Shapiro Makes Legal Case Against Flagler School Board Reviving Invocations at Meetings
Palm Coast’s Merrill Shapiro, a member of the national board of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, presented legal arguments at a talk Thursday against the Flagler County School Board’s potential return to starting meetings with invocations.
Federal Lawsuit Challenging Florida’s Felon-Voting Rules Appears Moot as Amendment 4 Battle Continues
Legal battles are intensifying over a state law carrying out a constitutional amendment that restored felons’ voting rights, but the new process appears to be ending an older lawsuit that challenged what one federal judge branded Florida’s “fatally flawed” clemency system.
Disagreements Persist About Flagler School Board’s Religious Invocations Past and Future
A divided Flagler County School Board has yet to decide whether and how to conduct invocations at the start of its meetings following Chairman Janet McDonald’s out-of-order introduction of a pastor and her invocation at the August meeting.
Millions of Americans’ Medical Images and Data Are Available on the Internet. Anyone Can Take a Peek.
Medical images and health data belonging to millions of Americans, including X-rays, MRIs and CT scans, are sitting unprotected on the internet and available to anyone with basic computer expertise. The records cover more than 5 million patients in the U.S. and millions more around the world.
Sheriff Mike Chitwood Smears Our Judges
Volusia Sheriff Mike Chitwood’s call on Chief Judge Zambrano to “overturn” another judge’s ruling on a convicted sex offender’s bond shows contempt for and misunderstanding of the very laws Chitwood was sworn to uphold. He sets a noxious tone.
A Black Senator Feels Bamboozled By All-White Panel Discussing Racism and White Nationalism
Senate Minority Leader Audrey Gibson said blacks and Hispanics, the targets of racism, were not represented by a panel of experts who appeared before a Senate committee exploring issues related to mass violence and white nationalism.
A Gun Registry In Florida Is a Bad Idea. Just Ask Canada.
A panel of Florida economists weighed the burden of a proposed constitutional amendment that aims to ban assault weapons but grandfather in guns already circulating, as long as their owners register them with the state. Bad idea, says Nancy Smith.
Trump Taps Justices Luck and Lagoa For Federal Bench Just Months After Joining Florida Supreme Court
DeSantis praised the nominations of Lagoa and Luck for seats on the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a statement issued by his office. The governor appointed the pair to the Florida Supreme Court shortly after he took office in January.
Contributions Are Pouring In For Assault Weapons Ban Aiming for 2020 Ballot
Ban Assault Weapons NOW, the political committee behind the proposed constitutional amendment, drew more than 28,000 contributions totaling $595,000 in August, by far the largest amount in a single month since the committee was launched in March 2018.
Obscenities Aside, Kimberle Weeks Appeal May Come Down to Judge’s Baffling Decree on ‘Public Meetings’ Definition
Circuit Judge Margaret Hudson refused to allow a definition of “public meetings” during ex-Elections Supervisor Kim Weeks’s trial last year even though both defense and prosecution wanted a definition, which went to the heart of the case. That’s now a central plank in Weeks’s appeal.
DeSantis Wants Federal Judge to Pause Felon Voting Rights Lawsuit Challenging Restrictions
The Republican governor and Secretary of State Laurel Lee on Tuesday asked U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle to put the federal lawsuit on hold until the Florida Supreme Court rules in a related case.
Groups Dispute Linking Financial Dues to Restoration of Felons’ Voting Rights
An amendment to the Florida Constitution restoring voting rights to felons who have completed their sentences does not require payment of “legal financial obligations,” plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit challenging the law argue in a new court filing.
Interviews for Flagler County Judge: Several Convincing Choices, A Few Odd and Startling Ones
After 24 interviews by a nominating commission, several Flagler County based candidates for Flagler County judge stood out for the short-list that will go to Gov. Ron DeSantis, who’ll make the appointment later this year.
Christian Prayer at Flagler School Board Breaks 5-Decade Precedent, Without Most Board Members’ Consent
School Board Chair Janet McDonald’s decision to start Tuesday’s meeting with a prayer by a pastor had not been approved by the board nor placed on the agenda, a violation of board procedures and a break with a nearly 50-year precedent.
Palm Coast Makes Candidates’ Campaign Finance Reports Accessible Electronically
Palm Coast candidates for office’s campaign finance reports will finally be accessible to the public through the web, free of charge, through the Flagler County Supervisor of Elections’ website.
Stop Criminalizing Children in the Name of School Security
The rash of zero-tolerance felony arrests of children that the Flagler school district experienced last year unjustly makes examples of adolescents in the name of a security establishment focusing on the wrong threats across the state.
Facing Up to 50 Years in Prison for Raping Autistic Girl, Sex Offender Gets Probation. Court Delays Release: He Has No Place To Live.
Sam Christopher Andolina, 39, was charged with raping and molesting a 13-year-old autistic girl in Palm Coast. He is to be sentenced to 10 years’ probation, but his sentence is being delayed for having no place to live locally.
Joe Mullins Steps Back From Harsher Homeless and Panhandling Rules After Hearing St. Augustine’s Rigid Approach
Flagler’s Public Safety Council heard how the homeless and panhandlers have been largely (but not completely) criminalized in St. Augustine, but were not eager to replicate the approach in Flagler.
Two Late Candidates Increase Pool to 24 for Flagler’s County Judge Seat as Speed-Dating Interviews Are Scheduled
Palm Coast’s Lynette Callender and Jacksonville’s Monique Hawkins are late entrants in what will be speed-dating-like interviews for Flagler County judge on Aug. 24 at the Flagler County courthouse.
End-Running Federal Lawsuit, Gov. DeSantis Petitions Florida Supreme Court on Felon Voting Rights
A week after asking a federal judge to toss out a lawsuit on the issue, Gov. Ron DeSantis is seeking guidance from the Florida Supreme Court about a controversial state law requiring people convicted of felonies to repay financial obligations before they can regain the right to vote.
Of Course Guns Have Nothing To Do With It
Mountains of evidence link America’s mass killings to the massive amount of guns in circulation, but let’s go ahead and pretend that guns have nothing to do with it, nor the absence of sensible gun control.
Florida Senate Will Study White Nationalism and Other Factors in Mass Violence
In the run-up to the 2020 legislative session, the Florida Senate will review acts of mass violence such as the deadly shootings this weekend in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, along with factors such as white nationalism.
What “Abolish ICE” Really Means
All evidence suggests that immigrants are far from the national security threat the Trump administration claims they are. Regardless of status, they’re more law-abiding than native-born citizens.
Abortion Waiting Period Back in Play as Florida Appeal Court Overturns Lower-Court Decision
The 24-hour waiting period case could eventually become a key test for the Florida Supreme Court, which has historically backed abortion rights but is now dominated by conservative justices.
Sheriff’s Deputy Fired For Failing to Take Action With Wrong-Way Car That Ended in Fatal Crash, Is Ordered Reinstated
Robert Finn in his patrol car crossed paths with Wendell Parker going the wrong way on an I-95 exit ramp moments before Parker died in a head-on collision with another car. Finn was fired a year ago, but ordered reinstated this week.
State Will Appeal Ruling That Struck Down Law Penalizing Local Officials For Regulating Guns
Florida will appeal a circuit judge’s ruling that struck down a state law threatening tough penalties for local officials and governments that approve gun regulations.
Assault Weapons Definition Is Key as Proposed Ban Heads For Floridians’ 2020 Ballot
The proposed constitutional amendment would prohibit “possession of assault weapons, defined as semiautomatic rifles and shotguns capable of holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition at once, either in fixed or detachable magazine…”
Three University Students Pose With Guns In Front of Shot-Up Emmett Till Memorial
Three students were suspended from their fraternity house, Kappa Alpha, after we shared an Instagram photo one of the men posted that was taken in front of a sign commemorating the murder of the 14-year-old black youth in 1955.
Siding With Local Governments, Judge Strikes Law Penalizing Officials Who Pass Gun Rules Stricter Than State’s
In 2011, Florida lawmakers approved a series of penalties that local governments and officials could face if they violated the prohibition on gun laws that are stricter than the state’s.
Coming Out in Rural America
“I came out to my parents via email the same week I figured it out myself because it’s no big deal in our family. Others aren’t as lucky; some people’s families still disown them.”
When They Go Low, the Squad Goes Bold
Despite the frenzy, Omar and Reps. Rashida Tlaib, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Ayanna Pressley — popularly referred to as “the squad” — are keeping the focus on policies to bring justice to their constituents.
Bi-Lingual Elections A Go: Florida Preparing Spanish-Language Ballots Statewide for 2020
The issue has been the subject of a federal lawsuit filed last August, three months before the 2018 general election, by groups representing Spanish-speaking Floridians.
Go Back Where You Came From
No American can tell another to go back where he or she came from, at least not with a straight face: We’re all carpetbaggers in America going back to the original ones who crossed over the Bering Strait.
Both Republicans, One Florida Senator Wants to Protect Undocumented Migrants, Another Wants to Punish Them
Senate Judiciary Chairman David Simmons would give undocumented immigrants legal permits to work and drive in Florida while Sen. Joe Gruters would harshen up penalties for the undocumented.
The Broader Attack Behind Trump’s ‘Go Back’ Where They Came From Slur
It would be a mistake to reduce President Trump’s tweets against four members of Congress to their racism. Rather, argues Jeffrey C. Isaac, they also articulated a broader reactionary agenda that goes beyond racism and that targets the left in general.
Citing Police Role and Trust, South Miami Will Challenge New Law Banning Sanctuary Cities
“As soon as [police] are seen as somebody who might turn you in if you called for assistance, they’re no longer trusted and they can no longer do their primary job,” the South Miami mayor says.
Court Rules Brevard County Commission’s Prayer at Meetings Discriminatory Against Non-Believers
“Brevard County has selected invocation speakers in a way that favors certain monotheistic religions and categorically excludes from consideration other religions solely based on their belief systems,” a federal appeals court ruled.
Our Immigrant Prisons Are An Atrocity
As reports surface about immigrant children sleeping on concrete floors and people being forced to drink water from toilets, one fact has become unmistakably clear: It’s well past time to demand an end to Trump’s cruel and inhumane treatment of immigrants.
Inside the Secret Border Patrol Facebook Group Where Agents Joke About Migrant Deaths and Post Sexist Memes
The three-year-old group, which has roughly 9,500 members, shared derogatory comments about Latina lawmakers who plan to visit a controversial Texas detention facility on Monday, calling them “scum buckets” and “hoes.”
Barbara Petersen, Fierce Open Government Advocate for 25 Years, Is Stepping Down From First Amendment Foundation
Barbara Petersen’s retirement from the First Amendment Foundation, after 25 years, takes place as legislators have piled up 1,122 exemptions to Florida’s open government laws.
Group Files Federal Suit Challenging Florida Restrictions on Felons’ Voting Rights Moments After DeSantis Signs New Law
A partisan firestorm erupted in the waning days of this year’s legislative session after Republicans tacked onto the elections package provisions aimed at implementing the voter-approved constitutional amendment that restores the voting rights of felons who have completed their sentences.