Layers for the defense and the prosecution told Circuit Judge Terence Perkins this morning that they may not be ready for the trial of Derrius Bauer, one of two suspects in the October 2019 killing of Deon O’Neal Jenkins, known as the Circle K murder, until next January.
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Daily Cartoon and Briefing
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Tuesday, March 28, 2023
Flagler, Palm Coast & Other Local
George Hanns, Defeated in 2016 After 24 Years, Plans Another Run for County Commission
George Hanns had served 24 years as a Flagler County Commissioner when he lost in 2016. He wants another run at it, this time as a Republican vying for the seat Donald O’Brien is vacating, and that Palm Coast Council member Ed Danko plans a run for.
Christina Marie Coe, 28, Missing Since March 22: Located
The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office is seeking the public’s help in locating Christina Marie Coe, a 28-year-old resident of Bunnell who left her Bunnell home at noon on March 22 and hasn’t been heard of since.
Challenged in Flagler Schools: Ellen Hopkins’s Tilt, a Review and a Recommendation
In “Tilt,” Ellen Hopkins gives us the powerful coming of age story of three very engaging, very different American teenagers. The novel is on the list of books three Flagler County residents are seeking to ban. A Flagler Palm Coast High School committee discusses the challenge on Thursday.
More Flagler, Palm Coast & Other Local
Reclusive, 15-ft Beaked Whale, Likely Sick, Strands in Flagler Beach Near Water Tower
For the second time in only 10 weeks, a rarely seen whale beached on Flagler County’s sands and was put down hours later before it was to be removed from the surf and transported by truck to Orlando’s SeaWorld for a necropsy.
Behind Principal Paul Peacock’s $7,500 Grievance, a Roil of Politics and Sideshow Maneuvers
Wadsworth principal Paul Peacock’s grievance appeal for a $7,500 supplement is not a complex issue for the School Board to decide on March 28. But it is taking place amid a peripheral stew of noise, politics, and maneuvering over the superintendent’s future, plus a threat of a lawsuit, all of which will challenge the board’s ability to stick to the merits of the appeal.
How a Palm Coast Organization Is Keeping Jazz Alive in Northeast Florida
Established in Palm Coast in 1986 by Eugene (Jeep) and Muriel McCoy, the North East Florida Jazz Association (NEFJA) has been celebrating and promoting Jazz for more than 35 years. It’s marking Jazz Appreciation Month with an April 1 concert featuring trumpetist Longineu Parsons II.
Proposed 16-Home Beachside Development South of Surf Club Troubles Residents and the County
Solitude at Matanzas Shores would be built on just under 4 acres of beachside land across from the Lakeside and Las Casitas developments, on State Road A1A. County commissioners are leery, and leaning against approving allowing 16 single-family homes there.
Superintendent’s Self-Evaluation Is 2 Points Short of ‘Highly Effective,’ With Notable Gaps
If it’s not a done deal–which it may well be–the self-evaluations may be key to Flagler School Superintendent Cathy Mittelstadt’s future, which can now fairly be called embattled as one school board member has been seeking her replacement, two have remained mum on her future, and only two have lent her support.
61-Year-Old Man Faces Animal Cruelty Charge in Killing of Family Cat
A 61-year-old resident of Lee Drive in Palm Coast was arrested Wednesday on a felony charge of cruelty toward animals, causing death, after he told sheriff’s deputies he choked and slashed the family cat. The cat died.
316-Unit Apartment Complex Off Whiteview Parkway Clears Hurdle, with Eyes on New Hospital
The Palm Coast Planning Board last week recommended approval of a 316-unit gated apartment complex on nearly 19 vacant acres on the West side of White Mill Drive and the north side of Whiteview Parkway, in the W-Section’s last remaining vast expanse of fallow land.
Sally Hunt Has Problems. The School District Is Paying the Price.
Flagler County School Board member Sally Hunt has a problem with truth. She has a problem with transparency. She has a problem with process. She has a problem with judgment. And she has a problem with the law. She’s also our problem. She’ll either lift this district or drag it down. Right now it’s not looking up.
A1A Protection Plan in Flagler Will Rely on Beach Renourishment, and a Sea Wall at South End
The state Department of Transportation’s much-anticipated plan to protect State Road A1A will mostly rely on existing plans by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to rebuild 2.6 miles of beach and dunes south of the pier, plans by Flagler County to rebuild beaches north and south of that stretch, and a DOT secant wall along the shore straddling the Flagler-Volusia county line.
Drone, Gas and SWAT Closed In on Armed Man on Ricker Place, Leading to Arrest After Stand-Off
Luis Ramirez, the 56-year-old man who held Flagler County Sheriff’s deputies at bay for two days before his arrest late Monday night, was severely depressed, intoxicated and threatening self-harm, and had fired at least one round from a firearm Sunday night while family members were in the house, but not at anyone in particular, sheriff’s reports say.
Palm Coast Council’s Proposed Prayer Policy Draws Out Opponents, Who Urge Silence
A few days after Palm Coast City Council member Ed Danko called a constituent a “piece of crap” for allegedly being an atheist and questioning the council’s proposed invocation policy, several people addressed the council this morning, mostly to recommend silence over invocations.
The Conversation
George W. Bush’s Promise of Democracy in Iraq, 20 Years On
While Iraq today has a constitution, a parliament and holds regular elections, the country struggles both with popular legitimacy and with practical aspects of governance, such as providing basic education for children. In 2023, Freedom House continues to score Iraq as “Not Free” in its measure of democracy.
Florida and Beyond
Drowning Public Schools in the Bathtub to Promote GOP Ideology
The slow financial strangling and demonization of public schools have set the stage for the direct infusion of millions and eventually billions of taxpayer dollars into the private sector.
DeSantis Signs Massive Expansion of Subsidized Private Education at Public Expense
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday signed an expansive voucher law to provide public money for children to attend parochial, secular and other private schools across the state, despite previous skepticism about letting millionaire and billionaire families participate in Florida’s K-12 school voucher programs.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, March 27, 2023
The Bunnell City Commission meets, the “Song of the birds” in Sufism and in music, walking as the solution to all your problems.
More Florida and Beyond
Woke’s Potential Despite the Culture War’s Mercenaries
Open-ended terms like woke can evolve over time to symbolize more than their creators could have ever imagined. Words used ambiguously and in excess can eventually become meaningless. They can even experience semantic bleaching. This is when words lose their meaning through repeated and varied usage.
House Republicans Attack Justice Department Memo Warning of Threats to Local School Boards
The GOP has for roughly 18 months targeted an Oct. 4, 2021 memo issued by Attorney General Merrick Garland instructing federal law enforcement across the U.S. to “open dedicated lines of communication for threat reporting, assessment, and response” on possible criminal threats to local school board members over politically charged issues that flared up during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, March 26, 2023
Palm Coast Farmers’ Market at European Village, “Scapino”‘s last performance at CRT, Amin Maalouf’s unexpected brothers and whether humanity can be saved.
‘Salam, Ramadan Mubarak!’: 4 Ways Schools Can Bring Ramadan Into the Classroom
As Muslims begin observing Ramadan, it’s a good time to consider the importance of building a strong sense of belonging at school. Affirming the identities of Muslim students and all minoritized and racialized learners is a way of creating a positive classroom culture.
$700 Million Affordable Housing Package Bans Rent Control Measures
The bill would create tax incentives for developers to build more affordable housing and expand a program designed to help working Floridians purchase homes, but leaves out rent-control measures as a tool to help the poor pay housing costs.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, March 25, 2023
Cracker Day at the Flagler County Fairgrounds, Wellness Expo at Flagler Palm Coast High School, “Scapino,” at Palm Coast’s City Repertory Theatre, Norman Borlaug far more than Gutzon Borglum.
Why the Bitter Reaction to the Coretta and Martin Luther King Jr. Sculpture?
Despite the intended show of mutual affection between Coretta and Martin Luther King Jr., two of the most revered civil rights leaders in modern American history, many of the tweets shared on national news feeds after the unveiling were crude and misinterpreted arms for other body parts.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: March 24, 2023
“Scapino” is back at Palm Coast’s City Repertory Theatre, the Scenic A1A Pride Committee meets, Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, Kissinger and Argentina’s disappeared.
Should the U.S. Ban TikTok? Can It?
Banning TikTok on work-provided phones is one thing. A full ban of the app is another matter, which raises a number of questions: What data privacy risk does TikTok pose? What could the Chinese government do with data collected by the app? Is its content recommendation algorithm dangerous? And is it even possible to ban an app?
In less Than 24 Hours, an ‘Open Carry’ Bill Is Introduced then Re-Holstered, Disappointing Advocates
But a permitless carry bill proceeds. That bill, HB 543, would repeal the requirement that Floridians who carry a concealed weapon must get a license through the state. It would also mean Floridians would not have to take a gun safety and training course.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, March 23, 2023
The Flagler Beach City Commission meets, the defamation suit against Ken Bryan gets a hearing on a motion to dismiss, the origins of OK, and Lebanon’s pick-up artist.
Commentary
DeSantis Is Destroying Florida Universities’ Hard-Earned Respect in the Name of White Nationalism
Florida’s public universities have been gaining national prominence and respect, with U.F. and FSU ranked Nos. 5 and 19 among public universities. DeSantis’s assault on academic freedom in the name of a white-nationalist, America-first curriculum is demolishing that hard-earned respect and making an embarrassment of the state.
In Congress, Civility Is Increasingly Out of Order
A growing list of norm-breaking events away from a long tradition of decorum and civility are coloring how the GOP-controlled House, during the 118th Congress, is conducting business.
Trump’s Latest Attempt to Degrade American Institutions
Autocratic populists like Donald Trump claim they are the sole voice of “the people” and those against them are “bad” or even “evil.” They undermine any and all opposition to them and attempts to hold them accountable, including independent institutions like courts, elections and the media. This is how such populists become so dangerous for democracy and the rule of law.
American Impressions
American Impressions 9 | South Dakota: Crazy
For the Sioux of South Dakota it’s been a tragic, unresolved legacy of exploitation in the Black Hills. The rape of the mountains by gold and uranium prospectors was followed by the carving of Mount Rushmore and, for the past 75 years, the ongoing desecration of the hills in the name of Crazy Horse–what was to be the largest sculpture in the world, but has turned into a lucrative tourist trap.
American Impressions 8 | North Dakota: A Life in Missiles
Virginia Lillico and her family spent their life in their homestead on land in the shadow of an ICBM missile silo in North Dakota at the height of the cold war and beyond. She never took safeguards seriously, thinking it was pointless.
American Impressions 7 | Montana: Ghost of the Prairie
It rises from wild grasses in Montana’s Golden Triangle, at the western extremity of the Great Plains, a massive hulk of concrete that makes no sense, that is as out of place as could be, and that will be there for thousands of years. It is a ghostly monument to the follies of the nuclear age.
American Impressions 6 | Montana: Backtracking Lewis and Clark
Lewis and Clark traveled the longest distances of any state in Montana. Backtracking their trail is an exercise in contrasts: Indian voices could now be heard as they couldn’t then, but so can those of Lewis and Clark, vividly, wonderfully and sometimes disturbingly, while the landscape has either been remade or remains as intact as it was then.
American Impressions 5 | Alaska Highway
The endless Alaska Highway is a famed road shrouded in impossible isolation and amnesia, where boundaries disappear into a twilight zone of the beautiful and the bizarre. It is an endless wormhole where the unexpected and the sublime are so common that they become monotonous, where the emptiness is so complete that you can feel like the last person on earth.
Sponsored Content
Dubai Becomes Another Florida?
Dubai is a major city on the coast of the Persian Gulf, which is known for its luxury, wealth and innovation. It is one of the most well-liked travel spots worldwide, and many compare it to the American state of Florida, which also attracts tourists with its beaches, nightlife and entertainment.