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‘Freedom Week’ to offer Sales Tax Breaks

ByJim Turner

TALLAHASSEE — Florida is about to find out how much a week of sales-tax “freedom” translates into capitalism.
Starting Thursday, in what lawmakers dubbed “Freedom Week,” people will receive sales-tax breaks when they make a wide range of purchases that could help spur them to be more active after being limited by the coronavirus pandemic.
Shoppers from Thursday through July 7 will be able to avoid paying all or part of sales taxes on purchases such as grills; bicycles; fishing and camping gear; kayaks and canoes; tickets for concerts, movies and ball games; gym memberships; boxes of softballs and sleeves of tennis balls; and even sunscreen.

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Apalach favorite son Humphries, FAMU champion, dies

ByThe Times

Frederick S. Humphries, Sr., Ph.D., under whose leadership Florida A&M University was named College of the Year, and who was a lifelong cheerleader and advocate for his alma mater, died Thursday, June 24 in Orlando. He was 85. The Apalachicola-born Humphries, a renowned scholar, charismatic, visionary, and innovative administrator and admired public servant, left a…

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Alligator Point firefighters get training, equipment boost

ByDavid Adlerstein

The Alligator Point Saint Teresa Volunteer Fire Department has been named a 2021 grant recipient by Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation, receiving $32,030 funding to be used to purchase Hurst Extrication Tools. “We’re so thankful for the support from Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation and our local Firehouse Subs restaurant, in Tallahassee,” said Robert Gates,…

Large investors buy up most tax certificates

ByDavid Adlerstein

More people are paying off their real estate taxes, and as a result, fewer people are buying up their delinquent taxes. County Tax Collector Rick Watson said last month’s sale of delinquent taxes yielded about $876,410 in sales, with 711 individual certificates. This represents fewer total certificates, but a slightly higher total value, than last…

ABC 3rd graders exceed state reading average

ByDavid Adlerstein

The negative effect of the coronavirus pandemic on language arts scores among Franklin County third graders this past spring appears to have hit the Franklin County Schools much harder than it did the Apalachicola Bay Charter School. The Florida Department of Education reported that 54 percent of third-grade students statewide this year scored a “satisfactory”…

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Jobless rate improves, labor force grows

ByDavid Adlerstein

Franklin County’s unemployment numbers improved slightly in May, even as the size of the labor force grew According to preliminary numbers released Friday by the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, the preliminary seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in May was at 3.8 percent, two-tenths of 1 percentage point better than the April rate of 4.0 percent….

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Paving the old school

ByDavid Adlerstein

The Panhandle Players, the Forgotten Coast’s community theatre group, made a request to the county earlier this year to repair the lot at Apalachicola’s Chapman Auditorium, which it oversees. The county has come through. Commissioner Noah Lockley used $27,310 funds from his road paving budget to pave the lot with asphalt in front of the…

Franklin County Schools reinforces dress code

ByDavid Adlerstein

The Franklin County Schools have reinforced the importance of the school’s dress code, making several changes to address areas that needed correction. While the school board still must approve the revised dress code as part of the code of conduct, Principal Laurence Pender outlined the proposal with the school board at a June workshop. In…