The guilty verdict and sentencing of Marcus Chamblin last week in the shooting death of Deon Jenkins did not end that case. Derrius Bauer, his co-defendant, is scheduled for trial in September. Bauer previously refused a plea deal or to be a witness for the state, against Chamblin. He is now paying the price of loyalty, having few options, none of them likely to foreclose on a fate similar to Chamblin’s.
Main Content
Daily Cartoon and Briefing
![Joe's Cannibal Sacrifice by Gary McCoy, Shiloh, IL](https://flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/cannibals-474x324.jpg)
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Tuesday, April 23, 2024
Flagler, Palm Coast & Other Local
![Christian Michael Smith.](https://flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/christian-smith-150x150.jpg)
Palm Coast Man Accused of Attacking a Woman, Then Breaking Into Her Ex’s Home and Attacking Him
Christian Michael Smith, a 25-year-old resident of Quarter Horse Lane in Bunnell, faces two felonies, including one punishable by life in prison, on accusations that he briefly imprisoned and assaulted the mother of his child, then drove to the Palm Coast home of the same woman’s ex, with whom she also has a child, broke in, and assaulted him there.
![erosion ian flagler beach](https://flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/condos-erosion-150x150.jpg)
Construction Begins on $24 Million, 1.3-Mile Seawall at South End of Flagler Beach, Adding to City’s Clangs
Flagler Beach might as well be known as Construction City for the rest of the year. The second, but nowhere near last, gargantuan project to clang the city began today as the Florida Department of Transportation’s contractors started work on a $24 million, 1.3-mile seawall at the south end of Flagler Beach–what will be the longest sea wall the city has ever known, though it won’t necessarily be visible when completed.
![Sisco Deen, left, with Dan Warren, at a 2010 event organized by the Flagler County Historical Society. Warren, who died in 2011, was the State Attorney for the Seventh Judicial Circuit, which includes St. Johns, Flagler, Putnam and Volusia County, starting in 1962, when he took on the KKK and the John Birch Society in St. Augustine, and ended the stranglehold both organizations had on the city, thus bringing about integration. (© FlaglerLive)](https://flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/dan-warren-1-150x150.jpg)
Flagler Beach Will Declare April Sisco Deen Month in Perpetuity as Scholarship Takes Historian’s Name
The Flagler Beach City Commission on Thursday is set to be the first city to declare April “Sisco Deen Month” in perpetuity, in honor of the archivist and long-time member of the Flagler County Historical Society, who died last August at 83. Deen was a Flagler Beach resident.
More Flagler, Palm Coast & Other Local
![Brendan Depa when he was at his ECHO group home. He wasbeen in detention at a juvenile jail starting in late February 2023, then at the Flagler County jail since turning 18 last August. He is to be sentenced on May 1. (© FlaglerLive)](https://flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/brendan-depa-8-150x150.jpg)
The Dis-Education of Brendan Depa
Brendan Depa, the now 18-year-old former Matanzas High School student to be sentenced on May 1 on a first-degree felony count of assaulting a teacher’s aide, is alone being punished for what in fact amounts to a systematic and catastrophic failure, on the part of Matanzas High School and district officials, to follow Depa’s Individualized Education Program, which set out guidelines and requirements on how to contend with his mental health issues.
![Impact fees will help expand such infrastructure as Flagler Beach's sewer plant, above. (© FlaglerLive)](https://flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/sewer-plant-3-150x150.jpg)
Typical House Will Cost $5,000 More in Flagler Beach as City Approves Series of New Impact Fees
It’ll cost builders $5,000 more to build the typical 1,500 to 2,000-square foot house in in Flagler Beach, a cost that will be passed down to buyers of new homes, as the city commission last week approved an increase in water and sewer impact fees and instituted new impact fees for fire, police, the library and parks and recreation.
![florida flagler county unemployment march 2024](https://flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/Unemployment-mar-2024-florida-2-150x150.jpg)
Flagler Unemployment Holds at 4.1% as Local Home Sales Near 4-Year Low and Time to Contract Hits 8-Year High
Flagler County’s March unemployment rate held at 4.1 percent for the third straight month, remaining above 4 percent for six of the last eight months even as county residents netted 134 new jobs and the number of the unemployed remained flat. The slowing pace of new workforce residents is reflected in the slowing pace of home sales, which are near a four-year low. That is one of several local economic indicators that, should they persist, may be of concern to those in the housing industry.
![Town Center Boulevard is to the left. The 37 acres DC Blox acquired to build a data center is to the right. (© FlaglerLive)](https://flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/dc-box-palm-coast-150x150.jpg)
Why Is Palm Coast Backroom-Dealing Tax Incentives with a Private Company?
Palm Coast is in the middle of a secret deal with an Atlanta-based company called DC Blox, which bought 34 acres in Town Center for $3.3 million last fall. It plans to build a data center there to land several undersea internet-data cables, by way of Flagler Beach. The city and the county are cooking up some kind of tax incentive with the company. We don’t know how much. We don’t know for how long. Presumably, we’ll find out only when the deal is sealed.
![What Cody's Corner will look like, at the intersection of State Road 11 and County Road 304. (FDOT)](https://flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/codys-corner-3-150x150.jpg)
Construction of Roundabout at Cody’s Corner, One of Flagler’s Deadliest Intersections, Begins Monday
Finally, construction of the roundabout first planned in 2018 at Cody’s Corner–the intersection of State Road 11 and County Road 304, one of the deadliest in the county–begins Monday. The roundabout is the result of two studies that confirmed what local residents have always known: the intersection is a magnet for crashes, with six deaths there since 2014–two in 2022 alone–and 15 injuries.
![School Board member Cheryl Massaro has been displeased with Will Furry's role as chair. But her criticism Tuesday missed the mark. (© FlaglerLive)](https://flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/furry-150x150.jpg)
Tempers Again Flare at School Board Over Disagreement and Misunderstanding of Members’ Roles
Signaling continuing tensions underlying the dynamics of a sharply divided Flagler County School Board, tempers again flared among its members Tuesday evening over the right of members to speak their mind–or not–as Cheryl Massaro inaccurately accused Will Furry, the chair, of violating rules by addressing a recent vote in an Observer letter to the editor and Christy Chong accused her of being a bully.
![new developments](https://flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/somerset-150x150.jpg)
Palm Coast Approves Final Regulatory Step in 4 Developments Totaling 533 Single-Family Homes
The Palm Coast City Council in rapid-fire succession Tuesday approved the final step clearing the way for four developments totaling 533 single-family homes, the final-plat approval that essentially means lots will be sold and homes built on infrastructure and according to plans that won regulatory approval several years ago. Some of the developments were more dormant than others.
![donna stancel palm coast drainage committee](https://flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/stancel-drainage-150x150.jpg)
After Trickle of Interest, All 5 Applicants Are Appointed to Palm Coast’s ‘Drainage Advisory Committee’
Only six people applied to be members of the Palm Coast Citizens Drainage Committee, few of them part of the vocal throngs, and one withdrew before the council had a chance to make its choices. The advisory committee required a minimum of five members and at least one alternate, and could have had as many as nine members and two alternates. Given the dearth, the council had no choice but to appoint all five members when it made that decision on Tuesday.
![gambino rv slinging](https://flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/rv-gambino-150x150.jpg)
Bunnell Man Faces 2 Felony Child Abuse Count After Accusations He Recklessly Slung Occupied RV Around
Michael Gambino, a 51-year-old resident of Hibiscus Street in Daytona North, faces two felony child abuse counts and a battery count after his family accused him of intentionally driving recklessly as he towed the RV in which his wife and her two children were huddling. His wife called police from the RV while Gambino was still driving.
![School District CFO, left, and Ryan Diesing, the district's IT director, at a School Board workshop today. (© FlaglerLive via YouTube)](https://flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/wormek-diesing-150x150.jpg)
School District Still Cagey About $719,000 It Lost to Fraud, But Lawsuit Possible as Details Emerge in Drips
Six months after it was defrauded of $719,000 in a conventional phishing scheme, district officials had little to disclose in an update to the school board, though about $20,000 was recovered and a board member suggested that a lawsuit may be ahead in hopes of recovering more. The money was due the construction company building the Matanzas High School addition.
![Flagler Beach is overrun with visitors and revelers on July 4. The city is not willing to jeopardize safety by having July 4 fireworks that other public safety agency could not help with anyway. (© FlaglerLive)](https://flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/flagler-beach-21-150x150.jpg)
No July 4 Fireworks in Flagler Beach Until 2027, But City Intends to Reconquer the Day, and the Skies, That Year
Flagler Beach hasn’t had July 4 fireworks since 2019. It will not have them again until 2027, by which time the pier, the boardwalk and the beach will have been rebuilt, assuming hurricanes, which have a malicious mind of their own, don’t interfere. But the city is intent on staking its place as the home of July 4 fireworks in that future when it is able to host the blasts again, restoring that old tradition.
The Conversation
![Clara Bow appeared in 58 films in just over a decade.](https://flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/clara-bow-474x324.jpg)
Taylor Swift’s Homage to Clara Bow
One track on Taylor Swift’s new album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” honors a long-celebrated, oft-miscast heroine of American feminism: actress Clara Bow. Bow was a woman way ahead of her time, a star who owned her success and her sexuality. There’s the popular perception that Bow was a victim of her own demons. But her story is anything but a cautionary tale.
Florida and Beyond
![Players competing in a League of Legends tournament. Esports FHSAA](https://flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/esports-150x150.jpg)
Florida High School Athletic Association May Recognize Video Gaming as an Official Sport
The Florida High School Athletic Association could potentially sanction competitive video gaming, or esports, as an official sport, amid growing interest from member schools. Many schools already have video gaming teams or programs, but none are recognized as a sport.
![Meanwhile in the Trump Trial by Dave Whamond, Canada,](https://flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/trump-trial-150x150.jpg)
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, April 22, 2024
The Flagler County Beekeepers Association and the Bunnell City Commission meet, Israel makes a desert in Gaza and calls it peace as it somewhat withdraws, though the killing continues.
![A homeless person near an elementary school in Fruitdale Park in Grants Pass, Ore.](https://flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/homeless-6-150x150.jpg)
Supreme Court Will Decide Constitutionality of Laws Like Florida’s Against Homeless
On April 22, 2024, the Supreme Court will hear a case that could radically change how cities respond to the growing problem of homelessness. It also could significantly worsen the nation’s racial justice gap.
Briefs and Releases
Commerce Parkway Construction Images Show Leveling of Thick, Long-Undisturbed Forest
Seesawing Gas Prices Tick Up
Flagler Beach Will Declare April Sisco Deen Month in Perpetuity as Scholarship Takes Historian’s Name
St. Johns County Among 3 Finalists for Site of Florida Museum of Black History
July 4 Celebration from Flagler Beach Parade to Palm Coast Fireworks Announced
More Florida and Beyond
![At Orlando's Arab-American Fest last year. (© FlaglerLive)](https://flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/orlando-2-150x150.jpg)
A Bittersweet Arab American Heritage Month
April is National Arab American Heritage Month. It should be a time to celebrate the contributions of the over 3.5 million Arab Americans who strengthen our proud nation. But right now, it’s impossible to feel celebratory as Palestinian-Americans reel from the immense pain and horror of an unfolding genocide against the 2.3 million Palestinians of Gaza, as Israel’s unrelenting bombardment and mass starvation of civilians continues. Adding insult to injury, Israel is using U.S.-supplied weapons to commit these atrocities.
![Earth Day by Bill Day, FloridaPolitics](https://flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/earth-day.jpg-150x150.gif)
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, April 21, 2024
Palm Coast Farmers’ Market at European Village, Ormond Beach Celtic Festival, Billy Strings at St. Augustine Amphitheater, Policeman ‘Mackerel’ meets Miss Herring on a New York corner.
![loneliness kills](https://flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/loneliness-150x150.jpg)
Loneliness Is Killing Middle-Ages Americans
A study makes clear that middle-aged Americans today are experiencing more loneliness than their peers in European nations. This coincides with existing evidence that mortality rates are rising for working-age adults in the U.S.
![Speaker Mike in Jeopardy by Dave Granlund, PoliticalCartoons.com](https://flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/mtg-johnson-150x150.jpg)
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, April 20, 2024
Flagler VegFest at Flagler County Fairgrounds, Live From the Waterworks: Gamble Rogers Folk Festival’s Monthly Concert Series, Michelangelo meets AK-47.
![Bob Graham speaking at an Obama campaign rally at the Tallahassee Senior Center in September 2008. (Florida Memory)](https://flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/bob-graham-1-150x150.jpg)
Bob Graham Was Among the Rare Dissenters to Dare Resist Bush’s Iraq War Lies and Follies
War fever was rampant in October of 2002 – 9/11 was still raw – and Team Bush was busy smearing anyone who voiced any qualms about kicking butt. Dissent was deemed “unpatriotic.” But Bob Graham had qualms and refused to knuckle under.
![Israel has made unlivable or razed three out of four home in Gaza.](https://flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/gaza-demolished-150x150.jpg)
Israel’s AI-Aided Massacre of Gazans
The Israeli army used a new artificial intelligence (AI) system to generate lists of tens of thousands of human targets for potential airstrikes in Gaza. One intelligence officer said the system “made it easier” to carry out large numbers of strikes, because “the machine did it coldly”.
![Kevin Guthrie. (© FlaglerLive)](https://flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/kevin-guthrie-3-150x150.jpg)
Five Questions for Kevin Guthrie, Florida’s Emergency Management Director
As director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management since April 2021, Kevin Guthrie–who was Flagler County’s emergency management director between 2013 and 2016–has run point on disasters from Category 4 hurricanes to a deadly condominium-building collapse in Surfside. Guthrie also has been charged with overseeing the evacuation of Floridians from strife-torn Haiti, along with a controversial program to transport migrants to “sanctuary” areas of the country.
![Stone Age Laws by Dave Whamond, Canada, PoliticalCartoons.com](https://flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/womens-rights-2-150x150.jpg)
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Friday, April 19, 2024
Flagler and Florida’s unemployment numbers for March are released, the Supervisor of Elections holds a voter registration drive at Matanzas and FPC, Town Hall Meeting with Palm Coast Council Member Cathy Heighter, the 10th hottest month in a row, ever.
![iran weaponry israsl](https://flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/iran-weapons-150x150.jpg)
Iran’s Strategic Failure Against Israel
Iran’s unprecedented multi-front attack on Israel constitutes a de facto declaration of war and marks the first direct assault against Israel from Iranian soil. However, despite the scale of the operation, it appears to be a tactical failure.
![ron desantis chaplains](https://flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/desantis-god-150x150.jpg)
Signing Bill Inviting Chaplains Into Public Schools as Counselors, DeSantis Scoffs at Challenges and Church State Wall
The state won’t allow satanists to take advantage of a new law allowing religious chaplains to serve as counselors in public schools for students whose parents approve, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday while signing the legislation. The governor also predicted the state would prevail if the new law draws a legal challenge over separation of church and state concerns.
![clay jones](https://flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/trump-kushnes-150x150.jpg)
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, April 18, 2024
Drug court, a new Caglecast: Flushing Fox News, Clarence Darrow’s anniversary, story time for preschoolers, William Manchester’s disillusion with himself.
Commentary
![Palestinians look for survivors after a Israeli strike in Gaza on Oct. 31, 2023.](https://flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/gaza-destroyed-300x200.jpg)
Israel Damaged or Destroyed 70% of Gaza’s Homes
Over a decade ago, a United Nations report described the Gaza Strip as virtually unlivable, adding that it would require “Herculean efforts” to change that. Today, after six months of bombardment, mass displacement and siege by Israel, the task of rebuilding Gaza seems practically unimaginable.
![O.J. Simpson listens to testimony during his 1995 trial, in which he was acquitted of murder charges.](https://flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/simpson-race-300x200.jpg)
‘I’m Not black, I’m O.J.’: O.J. Simpson and the Race Trap
Simpson was charged in two murders and during the trial became the epitome of Black, male toxicity. Though acquitted – in large part because of the Los Angeles Police Department’s racist history of police brutality – his trial exposed the racial divisions within America and the deep-seated resentment that many Black people had for the U.S. criminal justice system.
![trump attorneys courtroom images](https://flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/trump-attorneys-300x200.jpg)
Trump on Trial: What the Images Might Show
Three things will be worth looking for in the visual coverage of Trump’s appearance: surprises, body language and symbolic juxtapositions. But even in the most camera-friendly jurisdictions, such as New York and Florida, photojournalists are subject to strict rules about placement and procedure.