|
April 25, 2024
07:30 am | 2 min read
Photo: Pixabay | Columbia County Observer graphic
|
April 24, 2024
01:30 pm
Photo: picjumbo_com via Pixabay |
Columbia County Observer graphic
|
April 24, 2024
07:30 am | 3 min read
Photo: Paddywagon
Irish Pub | Columbia County Observer graphic
|
April 16,
2024 6:30 am | 7 min read
Tallahassee –
Florida's ethically challenged Commission on
Ethics is poised to waive a $1,500 fine for
one of its commissioners. The commission
would give a colleague a free pass.
The
appearance of a conflict is obvious, and
the conflict is real.
|
April 12, 2024
3:30 pm | 11 min read
ALACHUA COUNTY, FL – This week, the
CareerSource Florida Crown (Region 7) saga moved
from Columbia County to Alachua County (Region
9). A series of events involving Florida Crown
(financial investigations, a mutiny by the
executive director and his staff, sexual
harassment redefined, and state agencies that
finally said ‘no mas’ and ordered FL Crown to
turn over its finances to District 9 (Alachua)),
put some of the problems of FL Crown in the lap
of CareerSource North Central Florida, aka,
Alachua County.
|
April 7, 2024
4:30 pm | 14 min read
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – The top management at
CareerSource Florida Crown again demonstrated
its dysfunctionality this past Wednesday when
the organization's IT Director, Ron Jones,
couldn't get its special meeting to kick off on
time.
Attendees from FloridaCommerce, CareerSource
Florida, board members, and members of the
public logged into the meeting. Then, the
Florida Crown IT broke down and couldn’t get the
meeting running.
|
March 28, 2024
2:00 pm | 11 min read
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FLORIDA –
The recent troubles at CareerSource
Florida Crown: bookkeeping issues;
website out of compliance with its
agreement with the state; failure to
properly notice meetings and an illegal
walkout of the executive director along
with the entire administrative staff
would have some Florida Crown defenders
calling them "technical" issues.
|
March 27, 2024
3:45 pm | 2 min read
LAKE CITY, FL –
The Lake City City Manager race is now down to
two finalists: Lake City Police Chief Gerald
Butler and former Pasco Assistant County
Administrator
Don Rosenthal.
|
March 25, 2024
7:00 am | 2 min read
FLORIDA –
As the nation observes National Medal of
Honor Day, facilities in Florida and
Texas are under construction to serve as
perpetual memorials commemorating the
heroic actions of recipients for their
valor and sacrifice.
|
March 20, 2024
9:35 am | 7 min read
LAKE CITY, FL – The latest Lake City City
Manager search took another confusing step on
Monday night when, out of the blue, the City
Clerk provided the City Council with a tentative
timetable and interview schedule for the three
City Manager candidates.
|
March 18, 2024
7:45 am | 5 min read
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FLORIDA – CareerSource FL
Crown Executive Director Robert Jones led FL
Crown staff walkout, shutting down the
administrative functions of the four-county
workforce special district – Columbia, Dixie,
Gilchrist, Union.
As reported earlier, on Monday,
March 11, 2024, the entire administrative staff
followed Executive Director Robert Jones out the
door.
|
March 16, 2024
2:30 pm | 4 min read
LAKE CITY, FL – On September 13, 2023,
Sylvester Warren III filed a complaint with the
Florida Commission on Ethics against City Clerk
Audrey Sikes. The events surrounding this
complaint began in June 2023. On March 13, 2024,
the Ethics Commission dismissed Mr. Warren's
complaint.
|
March 12, 2024
2:00 pm | 5 min read
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FLORIDA – The
three-year-long investigation into CareerSource
Florida Crown has culminated in the mass
resignation of Florida Crown's Executive
Director Robert Jones, the Director of Finance
Jeff Geering, the IT/Program Services Director
Ron Jones, and the two other office staff
members.
|
|
|
|
April 18,
2024 8:05 am | 3 min read
|
Feb. 27, 2024 10:35 am | 2 min read
|
Feb. 22, 2024 9:30 am | 5 min read
|
February 8,
2024 12:30 pm | 3 min read
|
January 27, 2024 7:15 am | 2 min read
|
January 15, 2024 5:00 am | 5 min read
|
January 10, 2024 1:00 pm | 2 min read
|
Dec.
28, 2023 09:35 am | 2 min read
|
Dec. 14, 2023 9:45 am | 3 min read
|
Dec. 12, 2023 3:10 pm | 5 min read
|
December
7, 2023 7:00 am | 2 min read
|
|
|
|
|
|
|