Tuesday Briefing: Vacation Rentals, Superintendent Search, Food Truck Tuesday, Patriot Award, Philip Roth

The five candidates for the French presidency in a debate last night, five weeks from the election round. From left, Benoît Hamon, François Fillon, Emmanuel Macron, Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Marine Le Pen. (© FlaglerLive) — The five candidates for the French presidency in a debate last night, five weeks from the election round. From left, Benoît Hamon, François Fillon, Emmanuel Macron, Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Marine Le Pen. The first-round, or primary, election is on May 7, when 11 candidates (six of whom did not make the cut for the debate) will be pared to two. The extreme-rightist Le Pen, a sharply more politically seasoned Trump, but also a more extreme version of Trump’s nationalism. She wants, for example, to eliminate the teaching of any foreign languages in French schools. And she said this at last night’s debate: ‘I want to stop immigration, legal and illegal.’ It is essentially guaranteed to be one of the two. ‘That is turning the French primaries campaign into a nerve-racking contest: a race for the candidate best placed to defeat Ms Le Pen,’ The Economist writes. ‘She has vowed to pull France out of the euro and to hold a “Frexit” referendum on the country’s membership of the European Union. The EU can survive, however creakily, the loss of Britain. But were France to abandon the club, it would spell the chaotic end of a project that, with its single market and its day-to-day political engagement, has sustained prosperity and undergirded peace. It is essential that French voters have a decent alternative to Ms Le Pen.’ Fillon, not so incidentally, was recently indicted for creating fake jobs for his family. (© FlaglerLive)

Today: Sunny. Highs around 80. Southwest winds 5 to 10 mph. Tonight: Mostly clear. Lows in the upper 50s. West winds 5 to 10 mph. Details here.
Drought Index is at 339.
Today’s tides: at the beaches, at the Intracoastal Waterway.
Today’s document from the National Archives.
The OED’s Word of the Day: fode, v..
The Live Community Calendar
Today’s jail bookings.

Today’s Briefing: Quick Links

First Light
In Flagler and Palm Coast
Flagler Jail Bookings and Sheriff’s Crime Reports
Announcements
In State Government
In Coming Days in Flagler, Palm Coast and Beyond
The Day’s Best Reads
Fact-Checking the Knaves
Palm Coast Construction and Development
Local Road and Interstate Construction
Cultural Coda

“I hadn’t been in New York in eleven years. Other than for surgery in Boston, to remove a cancerous prostate, I’d hardly been off my rural mountain road in the Berkshires in those eleven years and, what’s more, had rarely looked at a newspaper or listened to the news since 9/11, three years back; with no sense of loss–merely, at the outset, a kind of drought within me–I had ceased to inhabit not just the great world but the present moment. The impulse to be in it and of it I had long since killed.”

–Philip Roth, from Exit Ghost (Vintage International).

In Flagler and Palm Coast:

Note: all government meetings noticed below are free and open to the public unless otherwise indicated. Many can be heard or seen live through each agency’s website.

The Sheriff’s daily incident reports and jail bookings are posted here.

Keep in mind: March is Women’s History Month.

Vacation rentals: The Senate Regulated Industries Committee, chaired by Sen. Travis Hutson, who represents Flagler County, will consider a proposal (SB 188), filed by Sen. Greg Steube, R-Sarasota, that would prevent local governments from restricting the use of vacation rentals. Hutson filed an amendment to the bill last week, seeing his amendment as a “compromise,” but the Flagler County Commission on Monday sought to have him withdraw the amendment and fight the Steube bill outright. (2 p.m.)

See:

The Palm Coast City Council meets at 9 a.m. at City Hall in Town Center. Fire Chief Mike Beadle, Deputy Chief Jerry Forte, and Battalion
Chief Ron Petrillo will receive the Patriot Award. The council is expected to adopt its strategic action plan, a different way of describing its coming goals.

The Flagler County School Board holds a 3 p.m. workshop on its superintendent search. It will review the 41 applications for the job. Once again, the district inexplicably does not list the location of the meeting, though it will take place in Training Room 3 on the third floor of the Government Services Building, Bunnell. The board meets again a4 4 p.m. in a closed-door session for a student-expulsion hearing. It meets again at 5 p.m. for its one regularly scheduled meeting of the month, in board chambers at the Government Services Building.

Food Truck Tuesday, 5-8 p.m. at Central Park in Town Center, 975 Central Ave, Palm Coast. Purchase and enjoy delicious cuisine available from food trucks situated along Park Street next to Central Park. Free entertainment is also provided. Proceeds this month will benefit the Parks & Recreation summer camp scholarship fund. More info: www.palmcoast.gov.com/foodtruck or call 386-986-2323.

The Bunnell Planning and Zoning Board meets at City Hall, 201 West Moody Boulevard. The board will hear a special exception request to allow a multi-family residential project in the 4000 Block of East Moody Boulevard on property with a B-1, Business district zoning designation.

The Flagler County Chamber of Commerce hosts the 2017 Nonprofit Summit, presented by the Chamber and CareerSource Flagler/ Volusia. This one day professional development seminar is geared towards nonprofit organizations within the region. Speakers include Catrine Fredrikson, a marketing expert helping nonprofits and small businesses maximize marketing success, and Alyce Lee Stansbury, founder and president of Stansbury Consulting.
Stansbury is a 25 year fundraising veteran and seasoned advisor in non profit and board development.

Mostly Useless Information: Johann Sebastian Bach, the greatest musician of all times, is born on this day in 1685. In 1928, President Coolidge bestows the Congressional Medal of Honor on Charles Lindbergh for his flight across the Atlantic the previous May. In 1929, John D. Rockefeller starts wiping off the map the village of East View, near Tarrytown, N.Y., razing houses and businesses that had been home to 46 families, a general store , a post office and dance halls, after buying them all off for $700,000, the equivalent of just $10 million in 2017. Rockefeller wanted to clear the area because it was next to his estate, though part of the land was to be used for a rail line.

Announcements:

Palm Coast Arts Foundation’s Annual Picnics and Pops Concert With the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, at Town Center: Tickets for the 10th Anniversary event, on May 7 at 6:30 p.m., are $40 for members of the foundation, $45 for the general public, through March 15. After March 15, tickets are $45 and $50, and a table of 10 goes for $450 for members, $500 for the general public. For tickets go to www.palmcoastartsfoundation.com or call 386-225-4394. See a full flier for the event here.

In Florida and in State Government:

Note: Some proceedings below can be followed live on the Florida Channel. Most legislative proceedings can be followed through the Senate or House websites.

Crackdown on welfare recipients: The House Health Care Appropriations Subcommittee will take up a bill (HB 23), filed by Rep. Dane Eagle, R-Cape Coral, that would make changes in the state’s public-assistance system, including increasing penalties for failure to comply with work requirements. (8 a.m.)

welfare drug tests: The Senate Children, Families and Elder Affairs Committee will consider a proposal (SB 1392), filed by Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, that would require drug tests for public-assistance applicants who have drug-related criminal records. The bill focuses on people applying for benefits in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF, program. (4 p.m.)

Ignition interlock devices: The House Transportation & Infrastructure Subcommittee will consider a bill (HB 949), filed by Rep. Cord Byrd, R-Neptune Beach, that would expand the mandatory use of ignition interlock devices in drunken-driving cases. (8 a.m.)

Pollution notification: The Senate Environment and Natural Resources Appropriations Subcommittee will take up a bill (SB 532), filed by Sen. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, that is aimed at better notifying the public when pollution occurs. The bill comes after controversy about high-profile pollution incidents involving a sinkhole at a phosphate plant in Polk County and sewage discharges into Tampa Bay. (Tuesday, 9 a.m., 301 Senate Office Building, the Capitol.)

Healthy food: The House Agriculture & Property Rights Subcommittee and the Senate Agriculture Committee will take up bills (HB 1083 and SB 1592), filed by Rep. Larry Lee, D-Port St. Lucie, and Sen. Aaron Bean, R-Fernandina Beach, that would create a program at the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to help small retailers increase the availability of healthy food in low- and moderate-income communities. (4 p.m.)

Liquor wall: The Senate will hold a floor session and is scheduled to take up several issues, including a proposal (SB 106), filed by Sen. Anitere Flores, R-Miami, that would end a Depression-era law requiring liquor stores to be separated from groceries and other retail goods — an issue commonly referred to as the “liquor wall.” (11 a.m.)

Sanctuary cities: The House Local, Federal & Veterans Affairs Subcommittee will consider a proposal (HB 697), filed by Rep. Larry Metz, R-Yalaha, that would crack down on local governments that don’t comply with federal immigration laws — an issue involving what are known as “sanctuary cities.” (Tuesday, 12:30 p.m., 12 House Office Building, the Capitol.)

Direct primary care: The Senate Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee will take up a bill (SB 240), filed by Sen. Tom Lee, R-Thonotosassa, that would help clear the way for “direct primary care” agreements between physicians and patients. Direct primary-care agreements generally involve regular payments that patients or their employers make to physicians or other health providers. The payments cover patients’ routine primary-care services, cutting out the role of insurers. (2 p.m.)

Court caseloads: The House Appropriations Committee will hear presentations about judicial caseloads in circuit courts. (4 p.m.)

–Compiled by the News Service of Florida and FlaglerLive

In Coming Days in Palm Coast, Flagler and the Occasional Beyond:

♦ March 22: The boy Scouts Council holds its Golden Eagle Dinner at 6 p.m. at Hammock Beach Resort, honoring Bob Cuff, now a Palm coast City council member.
♦ March 23: Successful Women Sharing Career Strategies: a panel discussion hosted by the American Association of University Women (AAUW)‘s Flagler branch, and featuring Flagler County Engineer Faith Alkhatib, Andrea Barr of TechTalk Studios, Palm Coast Mayor Milissa Holland, social media manager and marketing analyst Carmenda Laymon, and Flagler County Supervisor of Elections Kaiti Lenhart. The panel is moderated by Nancy Duke, at 2 p.m. at Daytona State College’s Palm Coast campus, Building 3, Room 105.
♦ March 25: G.W. Carver Foundation Presents: “Motown Madness” (Tickets are $50.00 and include dinner and Music), a fund-raiser for the Carver Gym and the Carver Foundation, at the Carver Gym, 6 p.m.
♦ March 28: The Flagler Forum, the discussion group organized by Ed Fuller, hosts a panel discussion featuring Flagler County’s local media, including Palm Coast Observer Editor Brian McMillan, Flagler Broadcasting-WNZF General Manager David Ayres, Daytona Beach news-Journal Editor Pat Rice, and FlaglerLive Editor Pierre Tristam, at the Hilton Garden Inn, Palm Coast, at 6:30 p.m.
♦ March 30: The Flagler County Chamber of Commerce’s Common Ground Breakfast at 8 a.m. at Grand Haven Country Club features a panel including Palm Coast Observer Editor Brian McMillan, Flagler Broadcasting-WNZF General Manager David Ayres, Daytona Beach news-Journal Editor Pat Rice, and FlaglerLive Editor Pierre Tristam.
♦ March 30: Flagler County schools’ summer camps and activities expo, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Buddy Taylor Middle School-Wadsworth Elementary cafeteria.
♦ March 30: 2016 Artist of the Year Judi Wormek presents a demonstration of her work at 6 p.m. at Ocean Art Gallery, 206 Moody Boulevard (State Road 100) in Flagler Beach.
♦ April 1: Stetson University is hosting an open forum discussion with St. Petersburg immigration attorney Arturo R. Rios on recent changes in immigration actions and law including the expansion of enforcement capabilities. This forum is free and open to the public. The forum is scheduled for April 1 at 1 p.m. at the Marshall & Vera Lea Rinker Welcome Center, 529 N. Woodland Blvd., DeLand. Details here.
♦ April 4: The American Association of University Women (AAUW)’s Flagler branch has a wine and cheese social at the Hammock Cheese shop, 5368 N Ocean Shore Blvd, Palm Coast, starting at 4 p.m.
♦ April 6: Palm Coast Democratic Club meeting, 7 p.m. at the African American Cultural Center, US1 in Palm Coast.
♦ April 6: Tom Gargiulo will present a Gallery Walk and a Q&A on the works of 2016 Artist of the Year Judi Wormeck, at 6 p.m. at Ocean Art Gallery, 206 Moody Boulevard (State Road 100) in Flagler Beach.
♦ April 26: Anyone whose child has died is invited to an informal meeting to consider eventually establishing a local chapter of The Compassionate Friends, a nonprofit self-help bereavement support organization for families that have experienced the death of a child. There are some 650 such chapters across the country. The meeting will be from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Florida Hospital Flagler in classrooms A&B. for more information, call John Brady at 610/428-3139. To learn more about The Compassionate Friends, visit their national website at www.compassionatefriends.org. The meeting is open to all parents, grandparents, and siblings over age 18 who has suffered the loss of a child of any age.
♦ April 29: The People’s Climate Movement March, in conjunction with a march scheduled in Washington, D.C., will march locally, meeting at Wadsworth Park at 10 am and marching over the bridge to Veteran’s Park in Flagler Beach, where there we will a rally and speakers sharing a wide variety of issues and information on how to get involved.
♦ May 16: The Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission holds a hearing the the case of Circuit Judge Scott DuPont, who faces several charges of misconduct during his 2016 re-election election campaign. He has admitted wrongdoing. The 9 a.m. hearing is taking place in courtroom 406-7 at the Duval County Courthouse, 501 W. Adams Street, Jacksonville, before a six-member panel: Eugene Pettis, Steven P. DeLuca, Robert Morris, Michele Cummings, Harry Duncanson (a lay member of the commission) and Jerome S. Osteryoung.

The Day’s Best Reads:

Republicans want to focus on the leaks, not what they reveal. @ed_kilgore writes https://t.co/1uB0U8t9Zr

— New York Magazine (@NYMag) March 20, 2017

As Trump hits fifty days in office this week, his Presidency is teetering on failure: https://t.co/wnS9DnhZCW pic.twitter.com/wf6LYC3jlo

— The New Yorker (@NewYorker) March 19, 2017

If Jimmy Breslin were writing now, he would tell stories in the Trump era with a little more fun and a lot more rage https://t.co/c7RCtqUnQ0 pic.twitter.com/ckhdU4xjqf

— The New Yorker (@NewYorker) March 20, 2017

Public sees wealthy people, business corporations gaining influence in Trump era and the poor losing influence https://t.co/4jXjBPNwBC pic.twitter.com/qI6o50m38R

— Pew Research Center (@pewresearch) March 20, 2017

C-SPAN survey: Only 43 percent of Americans can name a Supreme Court justice https://t.co/dTe4PQX7gI pic.twitter.com/4wy9DZgZl2

— The Hill (@thehill) March 20, 2017

A Twitter List by PierreTristam

Palm Coast Construction and Development Progress Reports

The following is an update of ongoing permitting, construction and development projects in Palm Coast, through Feb. 24 (the city administration’s full week in review is here):

Click to access development-february-22-2017.pdf

Road and Interstate Construction: