As of Monday some 40 local and state candidates had confirmed attendance at Thursday’s Tiger Bay Meet and Greet, what is expected to be the largest election gathering of the sort for Flagler County and Palm Coast politics ahead of the Aug. 20 primary. The three-hour free event starting at 5 p.m. Thursday at the Palm Coast Community Center will include a voter-registration drive organized by the Supervisor of Elections’ office, and a straw poll, which one candidate is criticizing as a “sham.” He appears isolated.
Main Content
Daily Cartoon and Briefing
![Clay Jones Commandments](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/commandments-1.jpg?resize=474%2C324&ssl=1)
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Wednesday, June 26, 2024
Flagler, Palm Coast & Other Local
![Mayor David Alfin at a town hall style meeting at Panera Bread in April. (© FlaglerLive)](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/alfin-tiwn-hall.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
Palm Coast Mayor Alfin’s Sudden Spate of City-Aided ‘Town Halls,’ 2 Months from Election, Raises Red Flag
Palm Coast Mayor David Alfin’s decision to hold weekly “Share with the Mayor” gatherings at the City Hall flagpole is drawing criticism from an opponent in the mayoral race and a request by the council as a whole for a legal opinion on the legality of city aided town hall style meetings in proximity to an election. Alfin defends the practice, saying he is continuing the practice of “Share with the Mayor,” in effect throughout his term, by other means.
![Laura Boehmer and Oscar Anderson of Southern Group, Palm Coast's lobbying firm, in a screen capture from one of the firm's videos. Boehmer and Anderson appeared before the Palm Coast City Council this morning.](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/southern-group.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
Palm Coast Reels Back Talk of Firing Its Lobbyists as Southern Group’s Emissaries Deliver Veto-Proof Defense
A presentation to the Palm Coast City Council today by its Southern Group lobbyists was a response to an inquisition, albeit an inquisition that, by the time the pair of lobbyists had sat down in person in front of the council, had already been sharply dialed down to a sort of Marriage Encounter session. The council critics’ aim was no longer to criticize or threaten dissolution but to learn, recalibrate and grow, especially as the lobbyists twice reminded them of Palm Coast’s record appropriation hauls of the last two years.
![Daniel Hilbert, left, with his attorney on Monday, before Circuit Judge Terence Perkins. (© FlaglerLive via zoom)](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/daniel-hilbert-sentence.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
Convicted Murderer With Prior Stalking History Sentenced to 15 Months for Stalking Girl, 15, in R-Section
It was a disturbing report of a repeat offense by a convicted violent felon several times over: A 15-year-old Matanzas High School student told authorities Daniel Hilbert, 53, a neighbor, had been accosting her, befriending her, then stalking her at her R-Section bus stop, and once assaulting her physically. She had pictures and video. The former convict was sentenced to 15 months in prison and nearly four years on sex-offender probation.
More Flagler, Palm Coast & Other Local
![Even though it struck Flagler County only as a tropical storm, Hurricane Matthew in 2016 left a trail of damaged homes hanging on cliffs at the edge of severely eroded dunes in the unincorporated north part of the county. Those property owners remember well, and some are now urging the county to move forward with a special taxing district, even if they are singled out. (© FlaglerLive)](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/damaged-homes.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
Some Hammock Residents Tell Flagler County: Tax Us for Beach Protection, and a Commissioner Sees Opportunity
Even as cities’ unhappy reactions have forced Flagler County quickly to retreat from a proposal to create a new tax for almost all residents and businesses in the county, Flagler County Commissioner Donald O’Brien is encouraging his colleagues on the commission to consider a special taxing district that would target just the northern 10 miles of the barrier island in the unincorporated part of the county.
![Cody Robert Spiegelhalter.](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/Spiegelhalter.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
15-Month-Old Hospitalized After Seizing from Pot Ingestion; Father Charged With Felony Child Neglect
A 15-month-old Flagler County girl who ingested marijuana her father allegedly left unattended was hospitalized at Wolfson’s Children’s Hospital in Jacksonville for Sunday after seizing and developing a distended stomach. Her 26-year-old father, Cody Robert Spiegelhalter, was booked at the Flagler County jail on a felony charge of child neglect.
![A rendering of a town home at the Hammock at Palm Harbor, a project whose final plat the City Council approved last week.](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/rendering-hammock-palm-harbor.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
Palm Coast Council Approves Final Step for 51 Town Homes at The Hammock at Palm Harbor
The Palm Coast City Council last week approved the final plat for 51 town homes in The Hammock at Palm Harbor, a 15-acre subdivision on the south side of Clubhouse Drive, about 200 feet west of Palm Harbor Parkway. The new owners are marketing the town homes for $360,000 for a 1,181-square-foot three-bedroom and $427,000 for a 1,853 square-foot three or four-bedroom.
!["What District am I running for?" Jose Fabiani asked as he was filling paperwork to run as a write-in in a County Commission race on June 13, with his handler, Dennis McDonald, standing by to the right, and Supervisor of Elections Kaiti Lenhart looking on. Fabiani had to redo the paperwork. (© FlaglerLive)](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/fabiani1.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
The Write-In Fraud
Two people who have zero intention to run campaigns have filed to run as write-ins, closing two Flagler County Commission races to 51 percent of the electorate in cynical maneuvers to benefit Ed Danko and Kim Carney in their respective races, against Pam Richardson in one and Nick Klufas and Bill Clark in the other. The write-in fraud takes advantage of a loophole in the law that enables anyone, without paying a dime or showing any intention to campaign, to be a write-in, thus closing otherwise open primaries.
![Then-County Engineer Faith al-Khatib during one of her last public appearances for Flagler County, at a meeting on the beach renourishment project in Flagler Beach. She had worked for the county for 18 years. (© FlaglerLive)](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/al-khatib-lawsuit.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
Celebrated Ex-County Engineer Faith al-Khatib Sues Over Termination, Citing Racism and Illegalities
Faith al-Khatib, for 18 years the Flagler County engineer and public works director repeatedly praised for securing millions in state and federal dollars for county projects, is suing the county for wrongful termination and retaliation, citing favoritism, illegal acts she refused to perform for the administration, and racism. Al-Khatib is of Palestinian extraction. It is the second lawsuit filed against the county by a former employee alleging discrimination in the past year.
![flagler florida unemployment may 2024](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/Unemployment-may-2024-florida-2.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
Flagler County’s Unemployment Rate Declines to 3.6%, But Growth in Working-Age Labor Force Stalls
Flagler County’s May unemployment rate was 3.6 percent, down from 3.9 percent in April, as the rate continues to oscillate within the same narrow band it has for a year and a half. Previously steady growth in the labor force, however, has stalled. After rising earlier this year, it declined for the second month in a row, to 51,383, almost exactly where it stood a year ago. The labor force reflects working-age adults with families as opposed to children or retirees, who account for 60 percent of the county’s population.
![](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/celebration.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
Palm Coast Arts Foundation’s Parting Legacy: a $69,000 Gift to City Repertory Theatre
Ending its 20-year-run, the Palm Coast Arts Foundation today handed over a $69,000 gift to City Repertory Theatre, the largest gift the theater troupe has ever received and one of the largest cultural gifts ever recorded from a non-governmental organization to another in Flagler. PCAF was required to disburse its remaining funds to a kindred non-profit before closing its books.
![The rest of the county may love Flagler Beach a bit too much. (© FlaglerLive)](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/flagler-beach-24.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
Flagler Beach Demolishes Any County Plan To Make Barrier Island Pay Higher Tax for Beach Protection
If the county plans any taxing method to pay for beach protection that taxes the barrier island more than it does the rest of the county, Flagler Beach will not sign off. Four of the five city commissioners are opposed to any such plan, and the fifth is skeptical of the county’s approach. Flagler Beach is especially resentful of the county for even discussing various proposals, however preliminary, without having included Flagler Beach in the discussions from the start.
![old dixie motel](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/old-motel.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
Court Rules Old Dixe Motel Owners Have 10 Days to Provide County $250,000 Deposit Owed Since 2021
The owners of the derelict Old Dixie motel have 10 days to provide the Flagler County Clerk of Court a $250,000 deposit they have owed county government for three years as part of an agreement on the rehabilitation of the motel, Circuit Judge Chris France ruled in an order issued today.
![Flagler County's nine traditional public schools' enrollment ended the year pretty much where they started. (© FlaglerLive)](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/enrollment-1999-2024-2.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
For 17th Straight Year, Flagler Schools’ Enrollment Fails To Grow Despite Continuing Population Surge
In spite of growth that added 16,000 new residents to the county in three years, in spite of Palm Coast, the county and Flagler Beach issuing certificates of occupancy for some 3,200 housing units in 2023 alone, and in spite of similar growth trends in 2024, Flagler County schools are simply not attracting enough students to reflect that growth.
![An electric franchise fee could increase power bills by up to 10 percent in Palm Coast, but would require voter approval first. (© FlaglerLive)](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/franchise-fee.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
Palm Coast Takes a Step Closer to Utility Tax, But Only If Voters Approve in a Binding Referendum
The Palm Coast City Council today took its closest step in 25 years toward a utility franchise fee, an additional levy that would raise your power bills by up to 10 percent. Public opposition has defeated such fee proposals four times since 2011. But the council is leaving it to the voting public to decide what the fee should be, or if there should be a fee at all. The fee must be contingent on a future referendum. And the referendum must be binding.
The Conversation
![](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/macron-elysee.jpg?resize=474%2C324&ssl=1)
France’s Snap-Election Dare to Right-Wingers: What’s At Stake
French president Emmanuel Macron told French citizens he had “decided to give [them] back the choice of our parliamentary future through the vote”. These words, pronounced in reaction to the historic surge of the far-right National Rally at the European elections, triggered the dissolution of France’s parliament and snap elections on 30 June and 7 July.
Florida and Beyond
![florida sales tax holiday recreational](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/fishing-rods.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
Sales Tax Is Lifted On Slew of Recreational Items For All of July
Sales taxes won’t be collected in July on many supplies for boating, fishing and camping and tickets purchased for live music events, sporting events, fairs, festivals, theater performances and movies. Last year, the state offered the tax holiday for three months, but it will be limited to July this year.
![Debate Prep by Pat Byrnes, PoliticalCartoons.com](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/debate-prep.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Tuesday, June 25, 2024
The Palm Coast City Council meets in a budget workshop, the NAACP Flagler Branch’s General Membership meeting is tonight, on inflation in tipping, and a few thoughts on nationalism from Benedict Anderson.
![If your data was used to train an AI, it might – or might not – be safe from prying eyes.](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/privacy-1.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
How Machine Learning Can Violate Your Privacy
Machine learning has pushed the boundaries in several fields, including personalized medicine, self-driving cars and customized advertisements. Research has shown, however, that these systems memorize aspects of the data they were trained with in order to learn patterns, which raises concerns for privacy.
Briefs and Releases
DeSantis Signs Bill Banning Release of Balloons Into the Air
Dr. Andrew Weinfeld Appointed Chief Clinical Officer for AdventHealth East Florida Division
Supreme Court Reprimands 7th Judicial Circuit Judge Casey Woolsey Over Misleading Posts
After 14 Years, Sam Perkovich Sells Parkside Realty to Lauren McPherson
Flagler Sheriff’s Office Implements Rapid DNA at Jail with $250,000 State Grant
More Florida and Beyond
![supreme court trans care](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/fluid.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
Supreme Court Will Decide Legality of Transgender Care Bans in Decision That Will Affect Florida Law
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide whether a Tennessee law restricting puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender children is unconstitutional, in a closely watched case that is almost certain to affect similar laws in Florida and more than a dozen other states. Justices will hear the case in the fall, with a decision likely coming in June or July 2025.
![clay jones](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/bumpstocks.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, June 24, 2024
The Bunnell City Commission meets, the Flagler County Beekeepers Association holds its monthly meeting, on Margaret Sanger, the eugenics movement, and some of liberal America’s darker moments.
![Pygmy blue whale subspecies.](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/blue-whales.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
Blue Whales Beyond the Mysteries
Blue whales are fascinating animals. At 24-30 metres in length (longer than a basketball court) they are the largest creatures on Earth. They are also among the rarest. Estimates suggest that there are only around 5,000 to 15,000 blue whales left in the world.
![The killing of bears is about to increase in Florida. (FWC)](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/bear-killing.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
DeSantis Protects Left-Lane Laggards and Residents Who Shoot Bears in ‘Stand Your Ground’ Encounters
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday signed a controversial measure that will bolster self-defense arguments for people who kill bears on their property, while vetoing a bill that would have prevented motorists from cruising in the left lanes of highways.
![Worse than a Heat Dome by Jeff Koterba, patreon.com/jeffreykoterba](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/fake-news.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, June 23, 2024
The St. Augustine Music Festival, all free concerts, Farmer’s Market at European Village, what Donald Trump, Pope Boniface and King Philip IV have in common, and how the Federalist Society corrupts justice.
![A sliver of the International Criminal Court in The Hague.](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/icc-hague.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
America’s Duplicitous Hostility Toward the International Criminal Court
President Joe Biden condemned the ICC prosecutor’s application for arrest warrants for Israel’s and Hamas leaders as “outrageous” and accused the ICC of drawing false moral equivalence between Hamas and Israel. just a year ago, when the ICC issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and another Russian official for alleged international crimes in the Ukraine war, US officials were full of praise for the court. Biden welcomed the action, calling it “justified.”
![Hands up for trump by Guy Parsons, PoliticalCartoons.com](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/trump-lies.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, June 22, 2024
“Crows and Ravens: Birds of Myth and Magic,” a workshop by author and FlaglerLive culture writer Rick de Yampert, Local Ham Radio Clubs Test Emergency Capabilities, Coffee With Commissioner Scott Spradley.
![René Descartes (Frans Hals, Wikipedia Commons)](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/descartes-2.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
Descartes, the Deep State, Trump and QAnon
Radical doubt or scepticism was famously articulated by the 17th-century French philosopher and mathematician René Descartes in his Meditations on First Philosophy. Realising that many of his previous beliefs were mistaken, Descartes suggested that an all-powerful “evil genius” could be systematically deceiving him about his most basic beliefs – much like how the supposed deep state is apparently deceiving those who believe in QAnon.
![domestic abuse](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/heavy-toll.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
With Thomas in Dissent, Supreme Court Upholds Ban on Domestic Abusers Owning Guns
The U.S. Supreme Court Friday upheld a federal law that bars people subject to domestic violence restraining orders from owning a firearm. In an 8-1 decision on United States v. Rahimi, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the opinion that “our Nation’s firearm laws have included provisions preventing individuals who threaten physical harm to others from misusing firearms.”
![Clarence Doesn’t Care How It Looks by Ed Wexler, CagleCartoons.com](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/thomas-corrupt-1.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Friday, June 21, 2024
Flagler and Florida unemployment numbers are released, the Blue 24 Forum, the facts, inch by inch, about sea levels rising, a few words from Rachel Carson.
![Willie Mays playing stickball in Harlem in 1954.](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/willie-mays.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
A Final Goodbye to Willie Mays
Mays, who died on June 18, 2024, at the age of 93, was not only the greatest baseball player of the last 80 years, and quite possibly ever, but he was an enormously important figure in American sports, culture and history. His journey from the segregated Deep South of his childhood to being honored by President Barack Obama with the Presidential Medal of Freedom spans much of America’s racial history in the 20th and early 21st century.
Commentary
![Hezbollah propaganda in South Lebanon pins the responsibility for violence on American weaponry and "terrorism." (© Pierre Tristam)](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/hezbollah-1.jpg?fit=300%2C197&ssl=1)
If Israel and Hezbollah Go to War
The Israeli military is reported to have signed off on a major offensive against Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based militia, prompting fears that the situation could spiral into a full-blown war. The two sides have been exchanging fire since the conflict in Gaza began with the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7. But in recent weeks this has escalated considerably.
![People participate in an immigration rally in Homestead, Fla., in June 2023.](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/migrants-10.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1)
The Benefit of Biden’s Order Protecting Undocumented Immigrant Spouses of Citizens
Immigrants living in the U.S. without legal status but are married to U.S. citizens, will now have protection from deportation, President Joe Biden announced on June 18, 2024. In order to qualify, they must have arrived 10 or more years ago and be married to a U.S. citizen. Those who meet these criteria will be able to get work permits and can get on the pathway to citizenship while working and living in the U.S. legally.
![Will the US election put the brakes on any attempt to engage with Cuba?](https://i0.wp.com/flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/step-closer.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1)
A Step Closer to Normalization With Cuba
The U.S. State Department removed Cuba from its list of countries “not fully cooperating” with anti-terrorism efforts in mid-May 2024, but you would be forgiven for not noticing. Taking Cuba off the list is a big deal. This latest move is a potential step toward a rapprochement between Washington and Havana.