ADVISORY: A photo showing blood from a shooting is depicted below. UPDATE 2:43 pm: The Flagler Beach Police Department has confirmed the victim is an 18-year-old male. His injuries are not believed to be life-threatening. The FBPD is asking those with information relevant to the case to contact the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office at (386) 313-4911, or Crime Stoppers of Northeast Florida at 1-800-277-TIPS. A man was shot in Flagler Beach on Sunday just outside the city fire station, authorities have confirmed. The victim bled into the street before being dragged away by a witness, and then take ..read more

40-year-old Brandon Valentine, a resident of Palm Coast’s W Section, was arrested this week for allegedly hitting his 91-year-old grandfather, according to a new report from the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office. Valentine has been in custody since Thursday on one felony and one misdemeanor charge. According to the report, Valentine was his grandfather’s caretaker. He and the victim initially gave conflicting accounts of what happened, but detectives used a video taken on his phone to obtain much-needed evidence to criminally charge him. The FCSO was first called out on April 14th, after they re ..read more

The record for youngest person ever elected to the state legislature may soon change. At least it will if Jacksonville native Benjamin Sandlin gets his way. Sandlin, a 20-year-old Democratic candidate, is running for the District 12 seat in Florida’s state House of Representatives. He’d be the youngest legislator in state history, a year younger than Amber Mariano was when she was elected. Sandlin is set to face off against Wyman Duggan, the incumbent representative who’s served since 2018. He’s the only challenger filed with the state so far, in any party, to go against Duggan, a Republican ..read more

An Ormond Beach woman was arrested on Friday for allegedly breaking into her ex-husband’s home and trying to stab him in his sleep. 40-year-old Melinda Gould has been in custody ever since at the county jail in Bunnell. The incident reportedly began when Gould called 911 at around 2:40 am to request a wellness check on her ex-husband’s home in Bunnell. She’s said to have claimed she heard gunshots in a nightmare of hers. A deputy with the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office responded, and found all the lights off and nothing happening. When the deputy called Gould back, she reportedly told him “go ..read more

Last year the Palm Coast City Council threw a curveball to city management by passing a rollback millage rate, a provision that prevents homeowners from having to pay increased property taxes even as their home appreciates. The measure’s immediate effect on city business is a reduction in revenue from prior projections, as the city often budgets for a modest bump in property taxes as homes increase their worth. The longest-running champion of holding the line on these taxes, or even decreasing them, is Vice Mayor Ed Danko. The City Council has entered preliminary discussions about where they’l ..read more

The latest figures on gas prices across the state of Florida show that the average cost of a gallon of gas is finally starting to inch downward, following a period of consistent increases. The data, released by AAA spokesperson Mark Jenkins, shows a 16-cent decrease over a one-week span in the average cost of gas, followed by a nine-cent jump back up, leaving Florida motorists with a seven-cent decrease in the aggregate. The average cost of a gallon of gas in Florida was listed at $3.57 as of Sunday, according to Jenkins. That price is three cents below the mark this time last month, and a dim ..read more

Four people were wounded with non-life-threatening injuries when a gunman opened fire on Seabreeze Blvd in Daytona Beach on Saturday, the Daytona Beach Police Department announced. The DBPD initially revealed to the public that they were investigating a shooting, and that four victims had been wounded. They have since announced that a suspect has been taken into custody. The suspect, 21-year-old Misael Maldonado, was arrested after a brief police pursuit in the immediate aftermath of the shooting. He was booked into the Volusia County Branch Jail on four counts of attempted murder, plus one co ..read more

The Flagler Free Clinic will now be offering its services to a wider array of people, the clinic announced in a statement on Wednesday. The change comes as a result of new legislation passed in Florida, the statement says. The biggest change to the system is that the maximum annual income for one to be eligible for the free clinic’s services has increased from 200% of the federal poverty level to 300%. According to the federal government’s online healthcare portal, that number is $15,060 for an individual, $20,440 for a family of two, $25,820 for a family of three, and $31,200 for a family of ..read more

At a press conference in Naples on Tuesday, Governor Ron DeSantis signed a piece of legislation to increase research toward Florida’s red tide crisis. The move came alongside a promise to spend $1.5 billion in environmental restoration in the Everglades, plus a $100 million commitment to support Florida’s Wildlife Corridor. “I am proud of our investments in land conservation to conserve and connect Florida’s natural landscapes, preserve working lands, and provide for the safe passage of Florida’s endangered species,” DeSantis said. “I am also happy to sign legislation continuing research effor ..read more

For the third straight month, the unemployment rate in Flagler County is at 4.1% according to data released by the Palm Coast-Flagler Regional Chamber of Commerce. Its trend over the last year has been a steady crawl upward, with the figure this time last year coming in at 3.2%. The overall number of Flagler residents currently working, either within the county or out of it, did increase a bit month over month. The figure for February 2024 showed 49,742 working residents, which went up by 134 to 49,876 in the March 2024 numbers. There were ten fewer residents seeking employment by these same n ..read more