Thursday Briefing: Cops at Common Ground, Flagler Beach Talks Wickline and Taxes, Greyhound Racing Ban

flagler beach tornado — A tornado in Flagler Beach Wednesday? Bob Pickering, Flagler County Emergency Management weather specialist, sent out this photograph and circled what appeared to be a small tornado that spun over A1A during the storm Wednesday at 2:40 p.m. He wrote: ‘landspout touched down on A1A spun across beach and into ocean. Dissipated 10 seconds later. No damage reported, but got report of a door blown open on a nearby home. REACT storm spotter observed and reported to the volunteer Net Control station which was running a REACT spotter net at the time. Spotter networks operated by REACT and Amateur Radio were in operation at the time. It should be stressed that this was a very weak spin up which sometimes do occur in summer storms that encounter the opposing sea breeze.’

Today: Partly cloudy with chance of showers and thunderstorms in the morning, then mostly cloudy with showers and thunderstorms likely in the afternoon. Highs around 90. South winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60 percent. Tonight: Partly cloudy. A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms in the evening. Lows in the mid 70s. South winds 5 mph. Details here.
Today’s document from the National Archives and the Astronomy Picture of the Day.
Today’s tides: at the beaches, at the Intracoastal Waterway.
Drought Index: 34
The OED’s Word of the Day: heartsease, n..
The Live Community Calendar
Today’s jail bookings.

Today’s Briefing: Quick Links

First Light
In Flagler and Palm Coast
Flagler Jail Bookings and Last 24 Hours of Incident Reports
Announcements
In State Government
Cats and Dogs Looking For Homes
In Coming Days in Flagler, Palm Coast and Beyond
Fact-Checking the Knaves
Palm Coast Construction and Development
Local Road and Interstate Construction
Cultural Coda

“Where are the vaunts, and the proud boasts with which you went forth? Where are your banners, and your bands of music, and your ropes to bring back your prisoners? Well, there isn’t a band playing—and there isn’t a flag but clings ashamed and lank to its staff.”

–Walt Whitman, from “Specimen Days” (1882).

Previously:

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.

Common Ground Breakfast: Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly and Flagler Beach Police Chief Matt Doughney provide a law enforcement update in the Flagler County Chamber’s periodic Common Ground Breakfast series, 500 Riverfront Drive, Palm Coast, 8 to 9:15 a.m., Check-in begins at 7:30 a.m., breakfast at 8. Registration required by July 23, Members $25, guests and future members can attend for $35.

The Flagler Beach City Commission meets at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall. Commissioners will consider a lease-purchase of three garbage trucks and will discuss how to use the Wickline Center building as well as set a maximum property tax rate for next year. Commissioners will be able to lower the rate once they set it permanently in September, but not go higher than the rate they’ll set Thursday.

Blood Donations: The Big Red Bus will be at the following locations this week:

Thursday: Outback Steakhouse, 45 Plaza Drive, Palm Coast, from 4 to 9 p.m.
Friday: Flagler Fish Company, 180 South Daytona Avenue, Flagler Beach, 10 a.m. to noon.
Friday: Palm Coast City Hall, 160 Lake Avenue, 1 to 4 p.m.
Sunday: Walmart, 174 Cypress Point Parkway, Palm Coast, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Jail Bookings and Last 24 Hours' Incidents in Flagler, Palm Coast, Flagler Beach, Bunnell


Jail Bookings, June 19-22 Sheriff's night shift incident reports, June 21 Sheriff's day shift incident reports, June 21 Flagler Beach's night shift incident reports, June 21 Flagler Beach's day shift incident reports, June 21 Bunnell police's night shift incident reports, June 21 Bunnell police's day shift incident reports, June 21
Previous and archived reports

Sources: Flagler County Sheriff's Office, Flagler Beach Police Department, Bunnell Police Department. This is Flagler County's only comprehensive, one-stop compilation of all local law enforcement's daily day and night shift commanders' reports.

Announcements:

Nightly lane closures on Florida Park Drive to begin Monday, July 16 and continuing until Friday night, July 20. The Palm Coast Utility Department will be closing one lane of Florida Park Drive — a segment at a time – from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. nightly to allow for lining of the sanitary sewer system. The project will be done in rotating segments all along Florida Park Drive. Traffic control will be provided.

Garbage, recyclables & yard trash must be placed at curb no later than 6 a.m. Palm Coast reminds all residents to place their garbage, recyclables and yard trash at the curb no later than 6 a.m. on their scheduled pickup day. The city’s garbage collection contractor, Waste Pro, has recently changed the routing of some routes. With the summer heat, the re-routing will allow employees to focus on heavier volumes earlier in the day. With that, customers may see a change in the time of day their garbage is normally picked up. However, the days of collection (Monday-Thursday OR Tuesday-Friday, with yard trash on Wednesdays) is not changing. Issues with garbage service can be reported at that website, or by calling Customer Service at 386-986-2360.

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.

MANUFACTURING INCREASES SOUGHT: The Florida Chamber Foundation will help host the “Make More Manufacturing Summit,” with speakers expected to include representatives of CareerSource Florida, Space Florida, Enterprise Florida, the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity and industry groups. (Thursday, 7:30 a.m., Hyatt Regency Orlando International Airport, 9300 Jeff Fuqua Blvd., Orlando.)

PAROLE CASES HEARD: The Florida Commission on Offender Review will continue a two-day meeting in Broward County that will include taking up numerous parole cases. (Thursday, 9 a.m., Fort Lauderdale City Hall, 100 North Andrews Ave., Fort Lauderdale.)

INJECTION WELLS DISCUSSED: The Florida Department of Environmental Protection will hold a meeting about an application by the Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department for a permit to construct injection wells at the South District Wastewater Treatment Plant in Cutler Bay. (Thursday, 10 a.m., Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department, 3071 S.W. 38th Ave., Miami.)

GREYHOUND RACING BAN AT ISSUE: Leon County Circuit Judge Karen Gievers is scheduled to hear arguments in a battle about a proposed constitutional amendment that would ban greyhound racing at Florida dog tracks. The Florida Greyhound Association, which represents breeders and owners of racing dogs, filed a lawsuit in May seeking to keep the proposed constitutional amendment off the November ballot. The group contends that the measure, which was placed on the ballot by the state Constitution Revision Commission, is misleading and inaccurate. But attorneys for the state responded in a court filing this month and contended that the plaintiffs have “failed to meet their substantial burden” to block what is known as Amendment 13 from going on the ballot. “Because the ballot title and summary for the amendment provide ample notice to the electorate using clear and unambiguous language, this court should reject plaintiffs’ challenge and grant summary judgment in favor of defendants,” the state filing said. If the amendment receives approval from 60 percent of voters, it would outlaw greyhound racing at Florida tracks by 2020. Tracks would continue to be able to operate other types of gambling, such as poker rooms and, in Broward and Miami-Dade counties, slot machines. In a motion for summary judgment filed July 6, the greyhound association raised a series of arguments about flaws in the ballot title and summary, which are what voters see when they go to the polls. For example, the plaintiffs took issue with a description that the proposal “ends dog racing” because people in Florida would still be able to bet on greyhound races simulcasted from other states and people could still legally race dogs in Florida if betting did not occur. (Thursday, 2 p.m., Leon County Courthouse, 301 South Monroe St., Tallahassee.)

—-Compiled by the News Service of Florida and FlaglerLive

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

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Cats and Dogs Looking For Homes


The following is provided as a service to Community Cats of Palm Coast and the Flagler Humane Society. Should you have a lost pet and would like it noticed here, please contact us at [email protected].

Cats and Dogs Looking for Homes is provided as a service to Community Cats of Palm Coast and the Flagler Humane Society. Should you have a lost pet and would like it noticed here, please contact us at [email protected].

A Twitter List by PierreTristam

Keep Up with Donald Trump’s attacks on the press through the ACLU’s running tab here.

Keep Up with mass shootings in a running database here.

Palm Coast Construction and Development Progress Reports

Here’s a summary of the latest city developments as of July 20, 2018, with a link to the full week in review here.

Click to access week-in-review-july20-20181.pdf

Road and Interstate Construction:

Florida Department of Transportation Road Project List

Cultural Coda

Beethoven on Piano for Romsai the Elephant

From YouTube: “Romsai is an old bull elephant almost blind. I’m playing what seems to be his favorite composer. Music: Beethoven slow movement from Pathetique Sonata. Romsai lives at Elephants World in Thailand http://www.elephantsworld.org ”