Leaders in Palm Coast, the Flagler County Fire Department and the district’s largest school are battling Covid-19 in a two-week stretch that’s also seen the highest number of infections in schools, where the plan is to continue the option of remote learning past Christmas.
All Else
Court Refuses to Revisit School Reopening Ruling, Leaving State’s In-Person Preference in Place
An appeals court Monday refused to reconsider a decision that backed Gov. Ron DeSantis and Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran in a legal battle about the state’s push this summer to reopen schools amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Strange Case of Cornelius Baker’s Dangling Fate on Death Row, 13 Years After a Bunnell Murder
Conflicting Supreme Court cases gave convicted murdered Cornelius Baker hope that he could get a new sentencing trial and escape the death penalty, as have two previous Flagler death row inmates. But the conflicting cases, again reflecting the contradictions of Florida’s capital punishment laws, now leave his fate in an absurd twilight zone.
97-Room Hotel and 10 Town Homes Would Replace Flagler Beach Farmer’s Market Parcel in Heart of the City
A South Florida architect and resort developer is proposing to build a 97-room resort and 10 walk-up town houses for short-term renters in Flagler Beach on the rectangular vacant acreage in the heart of city best known for its weekend farmers’ market, which has not been active in the past year. The resort, 35 feet tall at its height, would vastly change the complexion and skyline of downtown, though it would also be a return to form of sorts.
We Need a Crisis-Proof Safety Net for Parents
The collapse of child care and traditional schooling is having a devastating effect on women in particular. Part of the problem is just plain sexism. But another part is more complicated.
Florida (and Flagler) Can Thank ‘Luck’ as Most Active Hurricane Season on Record Ends Monday
In a season that overlapped the coronavirus pandemic, most storms spun away from Florida, sparing communities double-barreled crises of responding to a major storm while contending with restrictions and safety concerns imposed by the coronavirus.
Supreme Court Refuses to Reinstate Death Sentences in Decision That Could Affect 2 Flagler Inmates
The decisions could apply to about 100 inmates, possibly including David Snelgrove of Palm Coast, who was removed from death row in January after his lawyer successfully argued for life without parole, and Cornelius Baker, whose hope for a new penalty-phase trial is still pending.
Trump’s Suicide Bomber Act
Liberals would be fools to think the election was a turning point. The next four years will be as much a trial of democracy as the last four, just more diffuse, the cancer cells of Trumpism poisoning states and localities, as we’ve already seen locally in the last couple of years. Not the America we know? If you’ve been paying attention since 1980, it’s exactly the America we know.
Audrey II Puts Bite in City Rep’s “Little Shop of Horrors,” Opening Outdoors on Thanksgiving Weekend
“Little Shop of Horrors” is City Repertory Theatre’s most expensive production in 10 years, and is intended in part to give theater-goers a break from pandemic fatigue even as the show easily invites allegorical leaps to the present-day.
Supreme Court Upholds Death Sentence of St. Johns’ James Terry Colley Jr. in Double-Murder
Justices unanimously rejected an appeal by James Terry Colley, Jr., who was convicted of killing his estranged wife, Amanda Cloaninger Colley, as she tried to hide from him in a bathroom of her home. He also was convicted of murdering Lindy Dobbins, who was hiding behind a chest in a closet when she was shot, according to the Supreme Court opinion.
CNN Commentator Alice Stewart at Flagler Tiger Bay Dec. 9
The Flagler Tiger Bay Club is set to host Emmy Award winning journalist and CNN Political Commentator Alice Stewart for the December 2020 meeting.
Kiwanis Club of Flagler County Fund-Raiser Raffle
The Kiwanis Club of Flagler County is offering our community neighbors 50 chances to win $50, during a 50 day period. This is their second annual 50/50/50 raffle with all proceeds benefiting the club’s youth programs and community charities. A $10 donation gives the bearer a ticket that covers all 50 days.
Two School Districts Had Different Mask Policies. Only One Had a Teacher on a Ventilator.
Eleven states let school districts decide whether students and staff must wear masks. One Georgia middle school where masks were optional–only about half of the children wore them–became the center of an outbreak.
Oral Arguments on Alachua’s Mask Mandate Evoke Hijabs, Nazis, KKK, Crime and, Finally, Public Health
Oral arguments about Alachua County’s mask mandate before a three-judge panel of the First Circuit Court of Appeal Monday was a spectacle of audacious leaps and strange analogies that nevertheless illustrated the sharp and far from resolved divide between mask proponents and anti-maskers, including on the judicial bench.
Black Voters Saved Our Democracy
Joe Biden may have won the presidency. But so too did white supremacy, xenophobia, and corruption. And as the violent pro-Trump protests that broke out in the capital recently show, we are indeed a nation divided.
Supreme Court Rejects Red-Light Camera Case, Leaving System in Place
The Florida Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to take up a case about whether a South Florida city’s red-light camera program violates state traffic laws, leaving in place a city’s camera and the enforcement system.
Powered by Vacation Rentals, Flagler’s Tourism Revenue Is Up Significantly as State’s Drops 30%
Flagler County’s tourism-tax revenue has gone up three successive months between July and September, substantially so in August and September, in contrast with statewide tourism revenue, which plummeted 30 percent in the third quarter. Vacation rentals, the beach, and vacationers traveling shorter distances account for the county’s success.
Disney Springs May Be Accessible By Train by 2022
The private passenger-rail service Brightline announced an agreement Monday with Walt Disney World to build a station at Disney Springs as part of expansion plans from South Florida to Central Florida.
‘That Covid Kicked My Butt’: Flagler Infections Reach 2nd-Highest Weekly Total, 32 in Schools
Flagler County has the 10th-lowest average in the last seven days among Florida’s 67 counties. But those are relative and deceptive numbers that appear better only in relation to much worse numbers elsewhere. In the absolute local numbers remain dismal–and dangerous–by any measure.
“That’s It?” Flagler Sheriff’s Detectives Arrest Five Women in Prostitution Sting After Placing Web Ads
The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office last Thursday arrested five women on misdemeanor prostitution charges in the second such local sting operation in three weeks. None of the women is a local resident.
Court’s Trump Appointees Strike Down Florida Bans on Bigoted ‘Conversion Therapy’ Aimed at LGBTQ Children
Two South Florida ordinances barred therapists from providing treatment or counseling that is designed to change minors’ sexual orientation or gender identity. Critics of such therapy say it harms minors who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. The federal court ruled against the ban on First Amendment grounds.
Stanley C. Drescher, 1931-2020
Stanley C. Drescher, 88, Flagler Beach’s One and Only Poet Laureate passed away on Friday, August 14, 2020
Recovery Stalls in Flagler and Volusia as Job Gains Slow, Consumer Confidence Drops and Covid Cases Surge
Flagler County’s unemployment rate in October was 5.7 percent, down a statistically insignificant decimal point from the previous month, and consumer confidence statewide again dropped in a reflection of the sharply worsening covid pandemic locally and statewide.
After Brush With Flagler Deputies, 2 Brothers Brag of Murdering 21 Year Old, But Questions Remain
Angel and Jojo Lobato, the two brothers involved in the traffic stop last week in Flagler County, were arrested in Polk County on first degree murder, grand theft and other charges connected to the stabbing death of 21-year-old Danne Frazier of Winter Haven.
Flagler Public Health Director Echoes Strong CDC Directives Against Travel at Thanksgiving as Covid Surges
Bob Snyder, who heads the Flagler health department, has been warning for weeks that the combination of holiday gatherings, cooler weather and more indoor activities would result in quicker spread of the disease at a time when community spread is already out of control in much of the country and not exactly under control in Flagler.
Two Projects Move Forward To Help Improve Water Quality in Region
The core mission work of the St. Johns River Water Management District took another step forward earlier this month with two projects to help improve water quality. A project to benefit the Indian River Lagoon — the Crane Creek / M-1 Canal flow restoration project — is moving forward with award of a contract for […]
Sheriff Presents 2020 Quarter 1 and 2 Awards
Typically FCSO holds quarterly awards ceremonies where recipients can invite their families and friends to congratulate them, however, with the current COVID-19 pandemic, the regular awards ceremony was postponed. During the week of November 9th, FCSO held several small ceremonies in order to recognize the award recipients.
Bar Deems Her ‘Not Qualified,’ But Senate Confirms Trump Nominee Kathryn Mizelle to Florida Judgeship
At 33, Kathryn Kimball “Kat” Mizelle is President Trump’s youngest federal judge appointee. She will serve in the Middle District of Florida, which includes Flagler County. She has never tried a case, criminal or civil. She was a former clerk for Supreme Court Judge Clarence Thomas.
Belle Terre Elementary Briefly Under Code Blue Alert for Bomb Threat This Morning
Belle Terre Elementary was placed under a “Code Blue” alert early this morning when a parent found a note in the parent’s child’s backpack mentioning a bomb. The parent found the note at the child’s home.
FPC Principal Tom Russell Reveals Covid Diagnosis as Cases Rise and State Extends Remote School Option To June
Russell’s revelation occurs as cases in Flagler and in Florida are rising sharply and the surge cascading over much of the nation, now reaching catastrophic proportions in many states, is beginning to ripple in Florida, where the state agreed to extend remote-learning options in all schools through June.
Finally Confronting Warming, Florida Lawmakers Set to Address Rising Seas and Flooding Systematically
Florida lawmakers’ new perspectives and readiness to more directly tackle the crisis represented a further evolution in the position of Florida Republicans about climate change. But environmentalists said the GOP leaders are not going far enough.
State Attorney Will Seek Death Penalty for Derrek Perkins in Stabbing Murder of Wife Brandi in Hastings
The victim, a resident of Green Cove Springs who worked at a restaurant in St. Augustine, had filed an injunction against Derrek the day before the stabbing and after several intimidating and threatening incidents involving him.
Palm Coast Fire Department Revives Its Junior Firefighter Program to Prepare Young Recruits for a Career
The program is not in competition with the Fire Academy at Flagler Palm Coast High School, but rather a complement to it: students enrolled in the academy are welcome to apply to be in the fire department’s program as it would provide the natural steps in the progression toward becoming a firefighter.
Calmer Swearings-In at County and School Board; Mullins Will Not Be Commission Chairman This Year
The Flagler County School Board and the Flagler County Commission held swearing-in ceremonies for a combined six new and re-elected members. Donald O’Brien was named chairman of the commission, Trevor Tucker chairman of the school board.
Flagler Commission Bids Charlie Ericksen Farewell After 8 Years as ‘Model for Comportment and Friendliness’
A pragmatist and a statesman-like county commissioner for eight years, Charlie Ericksen was a quiet, forceful contrast to some of the more boorish and crude elected officials who’ve managed to win seats in recent years.
‘Councilman Corrupt.’ ‘Councilman Full of Crap.’ It’s a Grim New Day on the Palm Coast City Council.
A confrontation between Palm Coast City Council members Eddie Branquinho and Ed Danko devolved into name-calling this morning soon after Danko was sworn in during an already tense meeting, signaling an unprecedented divide on the council.
Heralding ‘Big Change,’ County Approves Gardens Development on John Anderson With Few Conditions
The Flagler County Commission at a minute after 11 p.m. Monday approved The Gardens development of 335 homes on the east side of John Anderson Highway in a 3-2 vote, with few conditions, possibly ending the developer’s nearly two-year, three-front battle with county regulators, Flagler Beach government and a community organization that had opposed the proposal. But opponents hinted at litigation several times.
The Trump Campaign Can’t Find a Judge Who Will Ignore Facts — but It’s Trying
The Trump campaign’s legal strategy has come down to this: Even as judges dismiss lawsuits as baseless, it files nearly identical ones in new courts, hoping for more favorable judges. Failure has not slowed it down.
Judge Denies County’s Motion to Dismiss Captain’s BBQ Suit But Cracks Open a Way to Get There
While all but ridiculing the county’s claim that it had broken the law by approving a lease amendment with Captain’s BBQ without putting it out to bid, Circuit Judge Perkins was far more receptive to the county’s claim that the amendment had not yet kicked in, and so could not have been breached. He all but drew a map for the county’s next attempt to dismiss the lawsuit, pending the taking of depositions.
Behind an Investigation Alleging How a Case Worker Lied to Cover-Up a Pregnant Runaway Girl’s Escapes
A Flagler County Sheriff’s investigation points to a case worker’s alleged criminal misconduct as much as it does at cracks in a child-welfare framework that enabled a runaway girl, pregnant from a rape, to be out of supervision month after month even though her case worker allegedly knew where she was and how she would run away.
From Bogus Cures to ‘Frontline Doctors’: When False Covid Information Goes Viral
False or unverified information spreading through online support groups and by way of conspiracy theorists mislead patients, undermine trust in science and medicine in general, and lead to reckless behavior that exacerbates the pandemic’s toll.
It’s Not Trump’s Country — Even in ‘Trump Country’
Many of Trump’s rank-and-file voters aren’t such right-wingers at all: look at the multitude of overtly progressive ballot issues that won majority support on Election Day. Many were in blue states, but others came in purple states, and others deep in so-called “Trump Country.”
Rider Trauma-Evacuated in Vehicle-v-Motorcycle Crash at Belle Terre and Royal Palms in Palm Coast
A motorcyclist was seriously injured in a crash with a vehicle at the intersection of Belle Terre Parkway and Royal Palms Parkway in Palm Coast in early evening Sunday. No one else was injured.
Federal District Court in Jacksonville Honors 2 Flagler Palm Coast High Students in 19th Amendment Essay Contest
Sean Gilliam, a junior and International Baccalaureate candidate at Flagler Palm Coast High School, was the second-place winner Friday in the 2020 high school essay contest sponsored by the federal court for the Middle District in Jacksonville, taking home a $1,000 check, and junior Kenny Logan won honorable mention and $50. Both are students of FPC history teacher Allison Elledge.
2 ‘Armed and Dangerous’ Teen Brothers Connected to Missing Man’s ‘Brutal Murder’ Sought
JoJo Lobato, 19, fled from Flagler County Sheriff’s deputies after he was pulled over driving the car of a man reported missing, and later found dead, in Polk County. His brother Angel Lobato refused to speak with deputies and was released. Now both brothers are wanted fugitives in connection with the death of Danne Frazier, 21.
DeSantis Wants Court to Deny Further Challenges to School-Reopening Orders Across Florida
Trying to end months of legal wrangling, the state is urging an appeals court to keep in place a decision that backed Gov. Ron DeSantis and Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran in a fight about reopening schools during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In Flagler Beach, Eric Cooley Will Run Again, Linda Provencher Will Not, and Suzie Johnston Announces for Mayor
A Flagler Beach City Commission seat and the mayor’s seat are up in the March 2 election, with first-term incumbent Eric Cooley vying to keep his seat and Suzy Johnston, heir of the Johnston political dynasty in Flagler–and Cooley’s partner–seeking to replace Linda Provencher after Provencher’s 15 years of service as an elected official.
Disinformation and Allegations of Government “Threats” Are Delaying Dunes Project in Flagler Beach
False claims, disinformation, made up fears, “fairy tales” and allegations of government threats are hampering the county’s efforts to secure the necessary easements from a small group of hold-out property owners. Without the easements, the U.S. Army Corps will not proceed on its $25 million portion of the fully-funded project to protect 2.6 miles of beach.
Road Closure for Palm Coast’s Florida Park Drive on Nov. 20
Florida Power & Light is replacing a key power line infrastructure wooden pole with a concrete pole as a critical part of their infrastructure hardening program.
FPL Donates $10,000 to SMA Healthcare to Purchase iPads
SMA Healthcare (SMA) and the SMA Healthcare Foundation are pleased to announce that Florida Power and Light (FPL) has donated $10,000 to assist with a collaborative program between SMA and the Volusia Sheriff’s Office (VSO).