The city of Orlando wants the court to help determine how to handle the unreleased portions of 911 emergency communications involving the June 12 massacre at the Pulse nightclub.
Rights & Liberties
Gun In Hand, Tax Collector Johnston Heralds Fast-Track Concealed-Weapon Permitting
Flagler County Tax Collector Suzanne Johnston took herself and most of her staff through a gun-safety class and shooting session at the range to prepare for her office’s new service: processing and fast-tracking concealed-weapons permits, starting today (June 22).
Salvaged by Revels’s Diplomacy, Pot-Decriminalization Proposal Will Now Seek Cities’ Approval
The proposal would allow cops to issue civil citations to people caught with small amounts of marijuana, avoiding a criminal record. But its success depends on approval from all cities and the county commission, which is yet to come.
A Transgender Latina Teen Speaks: They’re Killing Us. Help Us Stop Them.
Many Republicans invoked fears of international terrorism, but most said nothing about the members of our LGBTQ communities, who were the very targets and victims, writes Grace Dolan-Sandrino.
As Exceptionally American As It Gets
Our mass shootings have developed their own set rituals and denials, none so lethal as the complicity with murder that blames the wrong targets while excusing guns.
For LGBT, Always That Target on Their Backs
It turns out shooter Omar Marteen may have been motivated by both homophobia and Islamic radicalism. That should not come as a surprise, writes Nancy Smith.
Adam Putnam Says Orlando Mass Murderer Had Cleared All Legally Required Background Checks
Putnam runs the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which oversees weapons permits in Florida. The department hasn’t released Mateen’s application paperwork.
Donald Trump’s Fascism and His Appeasers
Trump will fade. Trumpism may not. And the longer the Republican establishment is willing to appease him as a better alternative to Clinton, the more it legitimizes his racism as an acceptable American value.
Florida Justices Appear Skeptical in Challenge to Open-Carry Ban, Deferring to Legislature
Justices Barbara Pariente and Peggy Quince questioned how the current state law allowing citizens to receive concealed-weapons licenses to carry firearms suppresses gun ownership.
Florida Government’s Legal Bill For Fighting Same-Sex Marriage: $500,000
The settlements came after U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle ruled in April that the lawyers in the consolidated cases were entitled to the fees, and nearly two years after Hinkle first ruled that Florida’s voter-approved same-sex marriage ban was unconstitutional.
Can You Be Punished For Refusing DUI Test? 2 Highest Courts About to Decide.
Sept. 1 arguments before the Florida court on the question may be made moot by a decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, expected in June, on the same issue. U.S. Justices were skeptical of breath tests.
Profiling By Computer in Florida: What Algorithmic Injustice Looks Like in Broward
Courtrooms are using computer programs to predict who will be a future criminal, informing decisions from bail to sentencing. Meant to be fairer than human biases, one such program in Florida is particularly likely to falsely flag black defendants as future criminals, wrongly labeling them this way at almost twice the rate as white defendants.
Judge Rejects Sweeping Challenge to School System, But case May Head for Supreme Court
A Leon County judge said lawmakers met their constitutional obligation to provide free, quality public education for Florida students, but advocates plan to appeal, laying the groundwork for a landmark opinion by the Florida Supreme Court.
Transgender Indecency
There were pragmatic ways to ensure access to bathrooms for transgender people until lawmakers hijacked the process with predatory bans that dehumanize people and make a mockery of decency.
Are We Finally Ready For Smart Guns? Daytona’s iGuns Technologies Aims For Yes
The iGun’s chip technology only works within centimeters and makes it impossible for anyone other than the person wearing the ring to fire it. Some gun advocates are resistant for various reasons.
Pressured to Defy Obama Order on Transgender Bathrooms, Scott and Bondi Stay Mum So Far
Opponents of allowing transgender students to use restrooms of their choice could lead to a breakdown in school discipline or even attacks, supporters say there is no evidence of that.
Flagler’s Pot De-Criminalization Proposal Wilts, But Narrower Version Still Possible
A work group meeting Tuesday to craft an ordinance raised more questions and objections than showed agreement, though the proposal is still moving forward in a much narrower version, and has many hurdles yet to cross.
Separate But Equal: Palm Coast Sidesteps Transgender Bathroom Bind With Private Facilities
Palm Coast hopes to avoid the transgender-bathroom controversy by including private bathrooms in its $525,000 project for new facilities in Town Center and Indian Trails Sports Complex.
A Right To Die, Even For 20-Somethings
The revelation that a 20-something woman chose to die from PTSD related so 10 years of sexual abuse tests the boundaries of assisted suicide, but not if context and compassion replace armchair judgments.
License for Probable Cause: Justices Rule You May Be Pulled Over For Any Visible Tag Issue
Florida Justices, in a 5-2 decision, rejected an appeal from a driver stopped by Orlando police because a tag light and wires were hanging over the license plate on a vehicle he was driving.
South Florida Judge Declares State’s New Death Penalty Law Unconstitutional
While the decision is not necessarily controlling in Flagler County and the rest of Florida, it again muddies the fate of a law barely eight weeks old, and further sheds a harsh light on Florida’s outlier system of executions.
For Flagler’s Gun Shops, New Residents Spur Brisk Business But Laws Conceal Debate
Flagler County’s gun shop owners say fear and a need for protection rather than hunting still drives much of their business, but they have differing views on gun regulations and the need for additional laws.
Housing Restrictions on Sex Offenders Spread Even as Evidence Shows They Don’t Work
The restrictions can make offenders’ lives less stable by severely limiting their housing options, and can push them away from family, jobs and social support — all of which make it more likely they will abuse again.
Florida’s Death Penalty Alive and Willed as Guzman Is Sentenced to Die For 3rd Time in Daytona
A jury in Daytona Beach today voted 11-1 to recommend death for James “Chico” Guzman in the hacking to death of David Colvin, 48, at a motel on Ridgewood Avenue on Aug. 10, 1991.
No, Pat Mooney, Immigrants Aren’t Cattle
Republican candidate Pat Mooney, running for the congressional seat that includes Flagler, managed to compare all Syrians to terrorists, all tourists and immigrants to cattle, and called for foreigners to be “chipped” and tracked the moment they enter the country.
In a Blow to Business, Supreme Court Bans Workers Comp Limits on Attorney’s Fees
The ruling stemmed from a case in which an attorney was awarded the equivalent of $1.53 an hour in successfully pursuing a claim for benefits for a worker injured in Miami.
In Florida, Court Rules, a 55-Year Prison Sentence For a Juvenile Is Not a Life Term
Anthony Julian Collins was two months shy of 17 when he was committed an attempted second-degree murder, carjacking with a firearm and attempted armed robbery.
Right to an Attorney Often a Myth as Public Defenders Are Overworked and the Poor Bullied to Plea
There is a lack of funding for public defense in every state, and people charged with low-level misdemeanors, often poor minorities, suffer the most as public defender offices focus their few resources on felony cases.
Florida Justices Block 24-Hour Abortion Waiting Period Pending Review
On a 5-2 vote, justices granted a stay of a lower court’s order allowing the 2015 law to take effect. The Supreme Court said it would keep the stay in place while it decides whether to review the decision by the 1st District Court of Appeal.
Does Arabic Offend You?
When a traveler’s stupidity and racism lead to a fellow-traveler being searched, interrogated and kicked off a plane for speaking Arabic, not only do we all have a problem. We are the problem.
Florida Justices: Cops May Not Keep Lawyer From Client Even in Voluntary Interviews
While a murder suspect was being voluntarily interrogated before he confessed, his lawyer appeared at the sheriff’s office but cops wouldn’t let the lawyer see his client.
Poll-Tax Redux: Millions Free From Jail Are Barred From Voting By Criminal Debt
Debt from fines starts at sentencing and can grow at interest rates of 12 percent or more while inmates serve their sentences. It continues to grow after they’re released and face the numerous barriers to finding work and housing.
Public Agencies That Violate Sunshine Law Must Pay Attorney’s Fees, Supreme Court Rules
Justices rejected arguments that agencies should be shielded from paying plaintiffs’ legal fees if public-records requests are handled in “good faith.”
Nurse Assistants at Grand Oaks Rehab Strike for $15/hr Wage in Echo of National Movement
Workers at Grand Oaks Rehab Center in Palm Coast, most on poverty wages, walked out for 24 hours, though they’d given the facility almost two weeks’ notice and replacements ensured no residents lacked care.
Islam’s Contempt for Self-Criticism: From Salman Rushdie to Kamel Daoud
When the Algerian journalist Kamel Daoud linked rapes in Germany on New Year’s Eve to Muslims’ extreme sexual deprivation and “unhealthy relationship with women, their body, and desire,” he was vilified, and silenced.
Outside Gov. Scott’s Office, a Battle Over Alimony Bill’s Elevation of “Father’s Rights”
The most contentious part of the measure involves not alimony but offspring. It would tell judges that, when determining child-custody arrangements, they should begin with a “premise” that children should split time equally between parents.
Why North Carolina’s New Anti-LGBT Law is a Trojan Horse That Kills Workers’ Rights
Another provision banned local minimum wage laws like the $15-an-hour “living wage” ordinances gaining traction around the country. The state minimum wage is $7.25 an hour.
Gateway Drug Bunk: No, Smoking Pot Doesn’t Lead to Harder Drugs
Smoke pot and be merry. Cops’ and politicians’ claims that pot is a gateway drug is baseless fear-mongering intended to stop the legalization of marijuana. But it’s time to dispense with the lie once and for all.
Has Business Biased Florida’s Workers Comp Law Too Far Against Labor? Court Will Decide
Plaintiffs argue that lawmakers have taken too many rights and benefits from people who get injured on the job, while business groups say a 2003 law kept costs from “spiraling.”
Criminal Immunity: Prosecutors Are Rarely Punished for Mistakes and Misconduct
The Innocence Project alleges that prosecutors across the country are almost never punished when they withhold evidence or commit other forms of misconduct that land innocent people in prison.
A Bunnell Man Is Falsely Arrested Over Name Error, and Case Proceeds Despite Corrections
In a nightmare of the persistence of bureaucratic errors, Dakota Ward, 19, who’s never been in trouble, was confused with another man and falsely arrested on a battery charge last week. His case is still proceeding.
Declaring 2008 Amendment Unconstitutional, Judge Closes Book on Gay-Marriage Ban in Florida
In a harshly worded ruling, U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle chastised state officials like Pam Bondi for reluctance in acknowledging that the Florida ban had been overturned
Flagler County Supportive of Broadening Discrimination Protection in Housing for LGBT
Barbara Revels, who chairs the county commission, is proposing an amendment to a housing ordinance to extend non-discrimination protection to individuals for sexual orientation.
Garlanded: Smart Republicans Need To Find Their Inner Brain
The Republican Senate’s submission to Mitch McConnell and the right-wing lobbies over the blocked Garland nomination is reason enough for voters to elect a Democratic majority, argues Martin Dyckman.
No, Florida, You May Not Count Prisoners Who Can’t Vote in Redistricting Tallies
A federal judge has struck down county commission districts in a rural North Florida county — a potentially precedent-setting decision that could play into a challenge of the state’s congressional lines.
Sheriff Applauds New Law Regulating Police Authority to Seize Cash and Property
“Civil asset forfeiture” is a controversial practice that gives police authority to seize cash, cars, homes or pother property suspected of use in a crime even absent an arrest. Florida just reformed the law to make forfeiture more difficult and accountable.
The Closing of the Academic Mind
Any denial of academic freedom is a blow struck against the meaning of a university. The irony today is that some of the most worrying attacks on academic freedom have been coming from inside university.
Supreme Court Halts Double Murderer James Asay’s Execution, 2nd Stay in 4 Weeks
Hours after hearing arguments in the case, the Florida Supreme Court on Wednesday indefinitely postponed the execution of Mark James Asay, a convicted double murderer scheduled to die on March 17.
Florida Court Clears Way for 24-Hour Waiting Period Before an Abortion
Florida joins 27 other states with waiting periods. Opponents say the law would impose hardships on women seeking abortions because it would force them to miss work, lose wages and pay for additional child care and travel.
Too Many Questions Beg The Answer: End the Death Penalty in Florida
Rick Scott shouldn’t plan on signing any more death warrants soon, if ever, argues Martin Dyckman, even as the Florida House “cured” what the U.S. Supreme Court specifically found wrong with Florida’s death penalty.