Reversing a recommendation by its planning board and significant public opposition neighboring the proposed development, the Bunnell City Commission unanimously approved the final site plan for Phoenix Crossings, a planned 28-unit affordable-housing apartment complex for people with disabilities and other difficulties, and for the elderly. None like it exists in Palm Coast or Flagler County. The 5-year-old proposal is the work of Sandra Shank and her Abundant Life Ministries, a non-profit. The Bunnell Planning Board on April 1 recommended denial of the site plan on a 3-2 vote.
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Daily Cartoon and Briefing
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, May 19, 2025
Flagler, Palm Coast & Other Local
Judge Lauren Blocker’s Elevation and Judge Stasia Warren’s Retirement Open 2 More Seats on 7th Circuit Bench
With the retirement of Circuit Judge Stacia Warren and the elevation to Circuit Court of County Judge Lauren Blocker, the Judicial Nominating Commission for the circuit will conduct a new round of interviews for candidates looking to fill the two vacancies. Applications are due by June 23.
Palm Coast Man, 26, Charged with Making Lewd Selfie Video While Holding 8-Month-Old Daughter
Timothy Wiliams IV, a Daytona Beach transient who shares custody of a Palm Coast toddler, is at the Flagler County jail on a second-degree felony charge of lewd exhibitionism in his daughter’s presence. According to law enforcement, Williams, 26, uploaded a 12-second video clip of himself nude, holding his daughter and masturbating when she was 8 months old. She is a little older now.
Palm Coast Council’s Charles Gambaro Calls Norris Lawsuit Against Him ‘Frivolous’ and Mayor’s Conduct an ‘Abdication’
In a letter to the community, Palm Coast Council member Charles Gambaro on Sunday said Mayor Mike Norris’s conduct, from suing to get Gambaro off the council to conspiracy theories to evading City Hall deeply concerning, and the mayor’s refusal to fulfill numerous responsibilities “a troubling and unprecedented abdication of the fundamental duties he swore to uphold when taking office and deprive our citizens of full representation in their government.” Gambaro, for his part, intends to continue to serve.
More Flagler, Palm Coast & Other Local
Dog Surfing Hilarity Conquers Flagler Beach as Chi-weenie, Corgis and Costumes Thrill to 4th Hang 8 Extravaganza
The Hang 8 Dog Surfing and Costume Contest returned to Flagler Beach for its fourth edition Saturday with a few repeat winners as the six-hour event south of the pier combined hilarity with humane causes against a picture-perfect backdrop of blue skies, blue oceans and gentle waves perfectly calibrated to surfing paws. Hang 8 was conceived by Suzie Johnston and Eric Cooley four years ago, becoming a signature event for Flagler Beach since.
In Palm Coast Town Hall, David Jolly Gives Local Democrats Something to Cheer About as He Readies Run for Governor
David Jolly gave a crowd of a couple of hundred Democrats something to cheer about in a town hall-style appearance Wednesday evening at Palm Coast United Methodist Church. Two weeks ago he also launched an electoral committee, Florida 2026, and now says he’s “actively considering running for governor.” Based on his polished, carefully calibrated and stump-like appearance in Palm Coast–and based on the rousing response he received–his announcement appears to be a matter of when, not if.
Palm Coast Will Charge Transaction Fees on Electronic Utility and Other Payments 2 Months After Rate Increases Kicked In
Starting June 1, all Palm Coast customers paying their utility bills by credit or debit card–67 percent of customers last year–will see their bills increase by $1.95 per month, or 3.5 percent if they pay in person. Payments by electronic checks will cost 43 cents per transaction. The Palm Coast City Council in February, overriding its finance director’s recommendation, unanimously approved changing the payment model to pass those costs on to customers. Until now, the city was absorbing $700,000 worth of such fees. Customers may still avoid paying the new transaction fees if they pay bills by check or in cash, in person.
Majority of Palm Coast Council Willing To Scrap Certain Restrictions on Commercial Vehicles in Residential Driveways
Palm Coast may finally revise its commercial-vehicle ordinance, removing a ban on the parking of commercial vehicles in residential driveways. The proposed allowance would apply to commercial pick-up trucks, work vans and similar work trucks, including trucks with ladders and racks and a few other allowances. Commercial messaging–or any messaging, including political, poetic or polemical messaging–willl no longer have to be covered up if it exceeds 3 square feet on each side.
The Annual Memorial to Fallen Officers Is a Near-Daily Ritual for Sheriff Rick Staly
When he took office as Flagler County Sheriff in January 2017, Rick Staly started a ritual. Every time a law enforcement officer’s life was lost in the line of duty, he’d write two cards: one to the agency that lost the officer, and one to the family of the fallen.
Court Sets Arguments for July 3 on Legitimacy of Charles Gambaro’s Palm Coast Council Seat
A July 3 hearing is set before Flagler County Circuit Judge Chris France to determine the validity of Palm Coast Mayor Norris’s lawsuit claiming that Council member Charles Gambaro was appointed to fill out a two-year term last October in violation of the city charter. Norris contends the council should have held a special election for the District 4 seat, and Gambaro should not have continued past Election Day in November.
Matanzas High School Celebrates Airy New $23 Million Project, Which May Be Last Needed Expansion in the District
A few months ahead of time, Matanzas High School on Tuesday marked a ceremonial opening of “the space that we have dreamed about and planned for for so long,” the naturally cheery Principal Kristin Bozeman told a crowd of a few dozen people who’d gathered for the occasion. They stood at the foot of the expanded Building 5, a 20,000 square foot addition. Projected student population declines this could be the last needed expansion in the district.
Palm Coast Council Launches Review of City Charter, This Time Seeking an Actual Advisory Committee
The Palm Coast City Council is launching a review of the city charter. The year-long process will include the appointment of a five-member committee and public hearings. Any proposed amendments will appear on the Nov. 3, 2026 general election ballot, should the council vote to place them there. Theoretically, the council could vote down any amendment recommended by the charter review committee, which, like all other council committees, sits only in an advisory capacity.
Palm Coast Will Consider Lowering Citywide Speed Limit to 25 and Let Residents Request Traffic-Calming Devices in Neighborhoods
Palm Coast government will develop a process to let residents request traffic-calming measures on certain streets almost citywide. The Palm Coast City Council’s decision is the result of a $100,000 pilot study that included installing three different traffic-calming methods in the F-Section, among them speed cushions on Florida Park Drive and Cimmaron Drive.
AdventHealth Palm Coast’s 3rd Robotic Surgical System Vastly Expands ‘Equity of Care’ While Improving Outcomes
AdventHealth Palm Coast’s two hospitals now have three robotic systems and four surgeons trained on them, enabling the machines’ tiny incisions and great precision to reduce recovery time and pain for patients while improving outcomes. The $2.6 million da Vinci 5, just unveiled locally, was funded through the AdventHealth Palm Coast Foundation, the non-profit arm of the hospital.
Superintendent LaShakia Moore Is Taking on ‘School Choice’ on Her Terms: Stop Competing with Vouchers at a Disadvantage
Flagler County School Superintendent LaShakia Moore is all for school choice. Choice is good. Choice is necessary. But choice, to be authentic, must be fair. In Florida and in Flagler County, school choice isn’t a choice of equals. It forces public schools to compete at a vast disadvantage, while underwriting private and homeschooling. Students have been draining away from the district. Moore wants to take that on. “It will reflect who we are and how I lead. So we will take it on,” Moore says, as the district prepares a new strategy to project Flagler County’s public schools as still the best choice.
The Conversation
Here’s What Makes the Most Dynamic and Sustainable Cities
The top 10 cities in 2025 were London, New York, Paris, Tokyo, Berlin, Washington DC, Copenhagen, Oslo, Singapore and San Francisco. The top three all do particularly well in human capital, which includes features like educational and cultural institutions. They also score highly on international profile, which looks at indicators of global interest, such as the number of airport passengers and hotels.
Florida and Beyond
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, May 18, 2025
Troop 472 Summer Camp Car Show and Fundraiser in Central Park, Palm Coast Farmers’ Market at European Village, NYU withholds a student’s diploma for speaking out about the Gaza genocide at his graduation.
America’s Cancer Research, Best in the World, Is in Jeopardy
The United States has long led the world in cancer research. It has spent more on cancer research than any other country, including more than US$7.2 billion annually through the National Cancer Institute alone. But that legacy is under threat. Funding delays, political shifts and instability across sectors have created an environment where basic research into the fundamentals of cancer biology is struggling to keep traction and the drug development pipeline is showing signs of stress.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, May 17, 2025
The third annual Hang 8 Dog Surfing Competition in Flagler Beach, swing Through the Years Dinner Dance Benefit for St. Thomas Episcopal Church, The Saturday Flagler Beach Farmers Market, when Ronald Reagan was shot and John Hinkley unwittingly helped pass the biggest tax cut in history until then.
More Florida and Beyond
How Florida’s Wildlife Corridor Aims to Save Panthers and Black Bears
The Florida Wildlife Corridor is a statewide system of interconnected wildlife habitat that turns 15 this year. It is built on conservation efforts that date back to the 1980s and 1990s, when researchers from the University of Florida created maps of existing and proposed conservation areas that interlinked across the state. Today, the Florida Wildlife Corridor spans 18 million acres – about half of the state. Ten million of these acres are protected from development.
Two Florida congressional Democrats Want Hope Florida Investigated
Two Florida congressional Democrats have asked federal officials to investigate allegations that the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) and Hope Florida Foundation inappropriately diverted Medicaid funds to two unrelated political committees last year.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Friday, May 16, 2025
Buddy Taylor Middle School’s annual “Night at the Museum” features works created by sixth grade students, the ethics of the Times voyeuristic report on the death of Virginia Giuffre, Life Magazine on a picture of three dead Americans.
Don’t Bet on Hydrogen Cars Just Yet
Hydrogen will play a significant role in achieving net zero carbon emissions by replacing natural gas in industrial and domestic heating. But it remains difficult to see how hydrogen can compete with electric vehicles, as the bulk of the car, bus and light-truck market looks set to adopt battery electric technology, which are a cheaper solution than fuel cells.
Broward County Circuit Judge Gary Farmer Indefinitely Suspended Over ‘Pervasive’ Behavior Unfit for the Bench
The Florida Supreme Court on Wednesday indefinitely suspended Broward County Circuit Judge Gary Farmer, a former Senate Democratic leader, after an investigative panel accused him of “pervasive and extensive” behavior demonstrating “unfitness to hold office.” Farmer was elected as a judge in Broward County’s 17th Judicial Circuit in 2022 after six years in the Florida Senate. He served as minority leader during the 2021 legislative session but was ousted after a vote of no confidence by fellow Democrats.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, May 15, 2025
The Palm Coast Code Enforcement Board hears an appeal from a solicitor who was denied a permit, the Marineland Commission meets, yachts race in Central Park, Medicaid cuts move ahead to facilitate a tax cut for the rich, and what Ted Kennedy said about that sort of crime in 1980.
Supreme Court Hears the Challenge to Birthright Citizenship
For more than 150 years, almost all people who were born within U.S. territory automatically received citizenship – regardless of their parents’ immigration status. President Donald Trump’s January 2025 executive order on birthright citizenship – stating that children born in the U.S. to parents who are not in the country legally, or who are not permanent residents, cannot receive citizenship – threatens to upend this precedent. The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments on the case on May 15.
Florida University System Leaders Plead with Court To Restore Discriminatory Restrictions on Chinese Students
Saying Florida is trying to protect against “nefarious foreign-government influence,” higher-education leaders this week asked a federal appeals court to overturn a ruling that blocked part of a 2023 law restricting ties between state universities and colleges and China. The March 28 injunction ruling focused on the students, who are from China and say the law has prevented them from working as graduate teaching assistants, positions that carry stipends and other benefits.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Wednesday, May 14, 2025
The River to Sea Transportation Planning Organization Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Committee meets, Weekly Chess Club for Teens, Mother’s Day in Gaza and the eradication of a population the size of Palm Coast’s.
Consequences of Repealing Section 230, the ‘Law That Built the Internet’
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, passed in 1996 as part of the Telecommunications Act, has become a political lightning rod in recent years. The law shields online platforms from liability for user-generated content while allowing moderation in good faith. Lawmakers including Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Dick Durbin, D-Ill., now seek to sunset Section 230 by 2027 in order to spur a renegotiation of its provisions.
Children May Attend Drag Shows, Court Rules, Striking Down Florida Law
Describing the law as “substantially overbroad,” a federal appeals court Tuesday upheld a preliminary injunction blocking a 2023 Florida law aimed at preventing children from attending drag shows. The 2-1 majority opinion said that “by providing only vague guidance as to which performances it prohibits, the act (the law) wields a shotgun when the First Amendment allows a scalpel at most.” The decision by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals backed the Central Florida venue Hamburger Mary’s in a First Amendment challenge to the law.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Tuesday, May 13, 2025
Clay Jones on the grifting of a 747, the Palm Coast City Council talks dredging and commercial vehicles in driveways, the Community Traffic Safety Team meets, Alastair Horn on Napoleonic corruption, Robert Caro on Robert Moses’ corruption.
Your Text Abbreviations Send the Wrong Message
The mere inclusion of abbreviations, although seemingly benign, start feeling like a brush-off. In other words, whenever a texter chops words down to their bare consonants, recipients sense a lack of effort, which causes them to disengage. It’s a subtle but pervasive phenomenon that most people don’t intuit.
Commentary
Threatening Diversity Threatens Growth
Dramatic shifts in US policies on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) carry deep economic consequences. Beyond the immediate harm to trans individuals, these policies pose threats to multinational companies that have long defended inclusive workplace values. Their leaders must now navigate a cultural minefield where staying silent risks public backlash, while openly supporting trans employees can invite legal and political complications. The business repercussions of this moral issue could affect everything from brand reputation to talent retention.
To Protect Florida’s Environment, Conservation Is Cheaper Than Restoration
Restoration projects are a major industry all over Florida. The biggest example is the Everglades, which has become the largest and most expensive environmental restoration project in human history. The Everglades were once regarded as an obstacle to progress, development, and farming, all of which conspired to get rid of it. Then we learned our lesson: the Everglades are a vital natural habitat. Despite the clear lesson of the Everglades, our shortsighted leaders keep allowing the same damage or destruction of other precious parcels of Florida’s ecosystems.
Palm Coast Mayor Mike Norris Thinks the FBI or CIA Is Bugging His Phone
In the course of a lengthy conversation with a Palm Coast resident who was investigating why and how a six-second voice mail from Palm Coast Mayor Mike Norris’s phone ended up disseminated publicly in a clumsy attempt to accuse a council member of corruption, Norris suggested he may have been “wiretapped” by the FBI or CIA. It was the latest in a continuing series of bizarre behavior and statements by the mayor.