
Weekend and through Christmas:: Dry, cool, highs in the 50s to 60s, lows in the 30s to 50s. 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: 1
The OED’s Word of the day: misosophy, 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
- 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
“At Christmastime in 1991, [Johnny Carson] announced in his monologue that General Electric had sent him a holiday card which announced that ‘in lieu of a gift, a G.E. employee has been laid off in your name.'”
–From the obituary of Johnny Carson, The New York Times, Jan. 24, 2005.
Previously:
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.
Note: This is the last Briefing of the year, with few events this weekend in the lead-up to Christmas. You can keep up with what few daily events there will be in the next 10 days through our Coming Days. We’ll be back on Jan. 2. Happy New Year.
In Court: The third day of a week-long trial in the case of Michael Bowling, the 47-year-old Palm Coast man facing charges of molestation of 15-year-old girl during a sleep-over at her Bowling’s daughter’s house. Today, the prosecution may finish its case and the defense present its own, including testimony by the defendant. Bowling also faces rape charges involving a girl in his charge, starting when she was 8 and going on for several years. That trial would take place next year. Jury selection took place Monday. 9 a.m. in Courtroom 401 at the Flagler County courthouse. See the background story here.
Friday: Teacher workday in Flagler County schools, winter break begins for students. School resumes on Monday, Jan. 7.
Friday: Christmas Party with Santa at the Palm Coast Community Center, 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., 305 Palm Coast Parkway NE. A new holiday party for residents will begin this season for guests to share a favorite cookie recipe and a fun visit with friends. Refreshments will be served and fees are $5/person.
Friday: Winter Solstice Sunrise Celebration at Washington Oaks Gardens State Park, 6400 North Oceanshore Blvd., Beachside, 7 a.m.
Saturday: 5K run/walk and block party with local businesses in Flagler Beach, and entertainment from South 2nd Avenue to Daytona Avenue and 5K route. 4 to 9 p.m.
Rotary Club Annual Fantasy Lights Festival in Palm Coast’s Town Center’s Central Park, through New Year, every evening until 9 p.m. Free admission, with recommended donation to the Rotary Club, which makes the lights possible.
Blood Donations: The Big Red Bus will be at the following locations this week (schedule your donation by going to the website and entering a Palm Coast zip code, then locating one of the venues below):
- Friday: Epic Theaters, 1185 Central Avenue, Palm Coast, 1 to 6 p.m.
- Saturday: Flagler Humane Society, 1 Shelter Drive, Palm Coast, 11 a.m. 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
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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 |
New Girl: Palm Coast Interim Manager Beau Falgout announced it in an email: “We are proud to announce the birth of our daughter, Vera Rose Ann Falgout!! Born at 4:25pm, 8.5lb, 20.5in…She is perfect in every way and we are so in love!”

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.
TAX ISSUES ON TABLE: The Revenue Estimating Conference will discuss the Tax Collection Enforcement Diversion Program, monthly revenue estimates and a long-term revenue analysis. (Friday, 9 a.m., 117 Knott Building, the Capitol.)
UNEMPLOYMENT NUMBERS RELEASED: The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity will release a November unemployment report. (Friday, 10 a.m.)
—-Compiled by the News Service of Florida and FlaglerLive
In Coming Days in Palm Coast, Flagler and the Occasional Beyond:
To include your event in this section, please fill out this form. Feb 25 Thu Feb 25 @ 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Feb 25 @ 5:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Mayor, City Commissioners and City Manager emails: Feb 26 Fri
Feb 26 @ 9:00 am – 10:30 am The Scenic A1A PRIDE Committee meets at 9 a.m. at the Hammock Community Center, 79 Mala Compra Rd. off A1A in the Hammock. Friends of A1A Scenic & Historic Coastal Byway is a non-profit organization. Its mission is to preserve, protect, promote and enhance the outstanding resources of the 72-mile A1A corridor through northeast Florida’s coastal counties of Flagler and St. Johns. The organization is composed of volunteer citizens who collaborate with municipalities, government agencies and other civic groups to improve facilities, amenities and promote interpretive stories about the area’s intrinsic resources including nature, culture, recreation, archaeology, scenery, and history.To subscribe to A1A’s emails, go here. Feb 28 Sun Feb 28 @ 12:30 pm – 2:00 pm Mar 1 Mon Mar 1 @ 7:00 am – 9:00 pm
For Palm Coast Alateen Sereniteen and Al-Anon meetings, go here. For help with alcoholism or if you think you have a problem with alcohol you can contact the Flagler County Helpline at 386-445-help (386-445-4357). SAMHSA’s (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration) National Helpline 1-800-662-HELP (4357) is a free, confidential, 24/7, 365-day-a-year treatment referral and information service (in English and Spanish) for individuals and families facing mental and/or substance use disorders. The referral service is free of charge. If you have no insurance or are underinsured, SAMHSA will refer you to your state office, which is responsible for state-funded treatment programs. SAMHSA can often refer you to facilities that charge on a sliding fee scale or accept Medicare or Medicaid. If you have health insurance, you are encouraged to contact your insurer for a list of participating health care providers and facilities. ![]() Mar 1 @ 9:00 am – 12:00 pm
Contact the commissioners by email:
Mar 1 @ 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm The Nar-Anon Family Group for those affected by someone else’s addiction meets at 6 p.m. at St Mark by the Sea Lutheran Church, 303 Palm Coast Pkwy. There are no dues or fees. The only requirement for membership is that there be a problem of addiction in a relative or friend. We’re never affiliated with any other organization or outside entity. Do you need Nar-Anon? Ask yourself these questions. Addiction is a family disease. It affects the relationships of those close to the addict: parents, spouses, siblings, children, longtime friends, and employers. If someone’s addiction is affecting you, first you must help yourself. Nar-Anon is a twelve step support group for families and friends of addicts. There are no dues or fees to join. Just come to a meeting. You will hear others, who are going through similar problems, talk about how they cope and find recovery. Watch the video: Palm Coast Alateen Sereniteen and Al-Anon meetings: Alateen, part of Al-Anon Family Groups, is for teens bothered by someone else’s drinking. The group meets at 8 p.m. every Monday at Advent Health, 60 Memorial Medical Parkway, Palm Coast, at the south entrance, in meeting room D. Al-Anon meets at the same time. For more information about Alateen or Al-Anon, call toll free 1-888-4AL-ANON, or visit www.al-anon.org. Note: All Alateen meetings are only open to teenagers who have been affected by another person’s drinking. For AA and NA meetings in Palm Coast, Flagler Beach and Bunnell, go here. Mar 2 Tue Mar 2 @ 2:30 pm – 3:30 pm Mar 2 @ 3:00 pm – 5:30 pm The Flagler County School Board meets for an agenda workshop at 3 p.m. Training Room 3, 3rd floor, Government Services Building, 1769 E Moody Blvd., Bunnell. The meeting is an information workshop only. The agenda workshop focuses on items the board will take action on at its next regular meeting. The school board’s full agenda is accessible here. See previous board meeting videos here. The School Board members and their email addresses: Mar 2 @ 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm Flagler Beach’s Planning and Architectural Review (PAR) Board meets at City Hall at 5:30 p.m., 105 S 2nd St Flagler Beach. The Planning and Architectural Review Board consists of seven residents: Paul Chestnut, Term Length: May 10, 2017 – May 9, 2020 Mar 2 @ 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm Mar 2 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Mar 2 @ 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm The Hammock Community Association holds its monthly meeting at 7 p.m. at the Hammock Community Center, 79 MalaCompra Road, Palm Coast. To join the association as a member, click here. Becoming a member of The Hammock Community Association ensures that you are kept informed on what is going on in the community such as:
Mar 3 Wed Mar 3 @ 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm
Mar 3 @ 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm Mar 3 @ 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm Paws to Read at the Flagler County Public Library 2500 Palm Coast Pkwy NW, Palm Coast, in the Children’s Department. The Flagler County Public Library in partnership with the Flagler Humane Society offer the opportunity for kids ages 4-8 to read to a real dog. Every Wednesday from 4 to 5:30 p.m. First Come – First Serve. Contact: Alyssa Gilbert or Theresa Ten Eyck at 386-446-6763 or email: [email protected] Mar 4 Thu Mar 4 @ 10:00 am – 11:00 am The Widow, Widower’s Support Group meets at 10 a.m. at the Palm Coast Community Center, 305 Palm Coast Pkwy. NE. Have you suffered the loss of your significant other? This is a chance to meet others who have had a similar loss in their life. Free but please register at www.parksandrec.fun/seniors. More info: 386-986-2323.
Mar 4 @ 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm Mar 5 Fri
Mar 5 @ 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Mar 6 Sat Mar 6 @ 9:00 am – 2:00 pm Creative Bazaar: Arts and Crafts Flea Market at the Palm Coast Arts Foundation’s venue at 1500 Central Avenue, open to shoppers from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., open to anyone who wants to sell, for $25 for a 10×10 space if you’re a PCAF member, $35 for non-members. Ask about canopy and table rental. Call 225-4394. Creative Bazaar is held every first Saturday of the month. Mar 7 Sun Mar 7 @ 12:30 pm – 2:00 pm Mar 7 @ 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm Community Mental Health Crisis Roundtable: Join us for our monthly community roundtable discussions regarding our current mental health crisis. We will discuss needs, barriers and both short/long term solutions. You have a voice and the community deserves action! Help us bring change that our county desperately needs. All welcome. No exclusions. First Sunday of every month, 3 to 4 p.m. at Peace by Pieces Healing & Wellness, 300 Palm Coast parkway SW unit 9, Palm Coast. Mar 8 Mon Mar 8 @ 7:00 am – 9:00 pm
For Palm Coast Alateen Sereniteen and Al-Anon meetings, go here. For help with alcoholism or if you think you have a problem with alcohol you can contact the Flagler County Helpline at 386-445-help (386-445-4357). SAMHSA’s (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration) National Helpline 1-800-662-HELP (4357) is a free, confidential, 24/7, 365-day-a-year treatment referral and information service (in English and Spanish) for individuals and families facing mental and/or substance use disorders. The referral service is free of charge. If you have no insurance or are underinsured, SAMHSA will refer you to your state office, which is responsible for state-funded treatment programs. SAMHSA can often refer you to facilities that charge on a sliding fee scale or accept Medicare or Medicaid. If you have health insurance, you are encouraged to contact your insurer for a list of participating health care providers and facilities. ![]() Mar 8 @ 3:30 pm – 5:00 pm The Flagler County Land Acquisition Committee meeting is cancelled. The committee was to meet at 3:30 p.m. at the Government Services Building, First Floor Conference Room, 1769 E Moody Blvd., Bldg 2, Bunnell. The committee is an advisory board to the county commission on the acquisition and management of environmentally sensitive lands, recreation, and water recharge areas. The committee is scheduled to meet once a month, but seldom does. Committee members: Anne Wilson – 05/06/1996 to 05/17/2019 Mar 8 @ 4:30 pm – 5:45 pm
The board members and their terms are as follows: Mar 8 @ 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm The Nar-Anon Family Group for those affected by someone else’s addiction meets at 6 p.m. at St Mark by the Sea Lutheran Church, 303 Palm Coast Pkwy. There are no dues or fees. The only requirement for membership is that there be a problem of addiction in a relative or friend. We’re never affiliated with any other organization or outside entity. Do you need Nar-Anon? Ask yourself these questions. Addiction is a family disease. It affects the relationships of those close to the addict: parents, spouses, siblings, children, longtime friends, and employers. If someone’s addiction is affecting you, first you must help yourself. Nar-Anon is a twelve step support group for families and friends of addicts. There are no dues or fees to join. Just come to a meeting. You will hear others, who are going through similar problems, talk about how they cope and find recovery. Watch the video:
![]() Palm Coast Alateen Sereniteen and Al-Anon meetings: Alateen, part of Al-Anon Family Groups, is for teens bothered by someone else’s drinking. The group meets at 8 p.m. every Monday at Advent Health, 60 Memorial Medical Parkway, Palm Coast, at the south entrance, in meeting room D. Al-Anon meets at the same time. For more information about Alateen or Al-Anon, call toll free 1-888-4AL-ANON, or visit www.al-anon.org. Note: All Alateen meetings are only open to teenagers who have been affected by another person’s drinking. For AA and NA meetings in Palm Coast, Flagler Beach and Bunnell, go here. Mar 9 Tue Mar 9 @ 9:00 am – 10:00 am Mar 9 @ 11:00 am – 1:00 pm
Mar 9 @ 5:00 pm – 6:30 pm Mar 10 Wed Mar 10 @ 8:45 am – 10:00 am
Mar 10 @ 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm
Mar 10 @ 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm Mar 10 @ 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm Paws to Read at the Flagler County Public Library 2500 Palm Coast Pkwy NW, Palm Coast, in the Children’s Department. The Flagler County Public Library in partnership with the Flagler Humane Society offer the opportunity for kids ages 4-8 to read to a real dog. Every Wednesday from 4 to 5:30 p.m. First Come – First Serve. Contact: Alyssa Gilbert or Theresa Ten Eyck at 386-446-6763 or email: [email protected] Mar 10 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Code Enforcement Board members are Joy Allen, Delories Hall, Kenneth Gordon, Julie Auiar and Stephen Woodin Sr. Mar 11 Thu Mar 11 @ 10:00 am – 11:00 am The Widow, Widower’s Support Group meets at 10 a.m. at the Palm Coast Community Center, 305 Palm Coast Pkwy. NE. Have you suffered the loss of your significant other? This is a chance to meet others who have had a similar loss in their life. Free but please register at www.parksandrec.fun/seniors. More info: 386-986-2323.
Mar 11 @ 5:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Mayor, City Commissioners and City Manager emails: Mar 12 Fri
Mar 12 @ 10:30 am – 11:30 am Palm Coast Book Club 10:30-11:30 a.m. at Palm Coast Community Center, 305 Palm Coast Pkwy. NE. Do you love to read? Once a book is selected, participants will need to purchase and read it on their own. Each month we will meet to discuss the chosen book and share our impressions, reactions, and feelings about it. Free but registration required. Book title and registration at www.parksandrec.fun/adults. More info: 386-986-2323. Subscribe |
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 Dec. 7, 2018, with a link to the full week in review here.
Road and Interstate Construction:
Cultural Coda
Charpentier: Messe de Minuit pour Noel (Midnight Mass for Christmas)
Previous Codas:
- Mozart – Violin Concerto No.3, Hillary Hahn
- Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, Ivan Klansky, piano
- Victor Herbert’s Irish Rhapsody
- Malcolm Arnold: Serenade for Guitar and Strings
- Claude Bolling – Suite for Chamber Orchestra and Jazz Piano Trio: Gracieuse (Carlo Pari)
- Aldo Ciccolini Performs Brahms’s Intermezzo n.2 op.118
- Erik Bosgraaf in performance at Wilton’s Music Hall
- Erik Bosgraaf & the Stradivarius of the recorder
- Medtner : Sonata for Piano in A Minor Op. 38 n°1 “Reminiscenza” (Evgeny Svetlanov)
- Ferdinand Ries: Quartet in D minor
- Rossini: Sonata Nr. 1 in G Major
- Copland’s 3rd Symphony
- Zdenek Fibich: Poem Op. 41, No.4 from “At Twilight”
- Kuhlau: Sonatine No.1 in C Major, Op. 20
- Beethoven 33 Variations on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli Op 120, Gavin Arturo Gamboa, piano
- Philip Glass: American Four Seasons with violinist Robert McDuffie
- Elgar’s “Nimrod”: Daniel Barenboim with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, 1997
- Valentina Lisitsa plays Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2
- Ravel : Piano Concerto in G major (Martha Argerich : Orchestre national de France)
- Schubert: Piano Sonata No.20 D.959 / Paul Badura-Skoda (1993)
- Antonio Vivaldi’s “Vedro con mio diletto” from Il Giustino by Jakub Józef Orliński
- Bill Evans Trio: Some Day My Prince Will Come (1965)
Pogo says
@Christmas, 2018
Reading Into Einstein’s God Letter
By Louis Menand
“…Einstein had what might be called a night-sky theology, a sense of the awesomeness of the universe that even atheists and materialists feel when they gaze up at the Milky Way. Is it too awesome for human minds to know? A scientist from a generation before Einstein, William James, thought that maybe we can’t—maybe our brains are too small. There might indeed be something like God out there; we just can’t pick it up with the radar we’ve got. In James’s lovely metaphor, “We may be in the universe as dogs and cats are in our libraries, seeing the books and hearing the conversation, but having no inkling of the meaning of it all.”
The best thing in Einstein’s letter to Gutkind is not the grouchy dismissal of traditional theology. It’s the closing paragraph, where Einstein puts all that aside. “Now that I have expressed our differences in intellectual convictions completely openly,” he writes, “it is still clear to me that we are very close to each other in the essentials, that is, in our evaluations of human behavior.” He thinks that if he and Gutkind met and talked about “concrete things,” they would get along fine. He is saying that it doesn’t matter what our religious or our philosophical commitments are. The only thing that matters is how we treat one another. I don’t think it took a genius to figure this out, but it’s nice that one did.”
Link to full article
https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/reading-into-albert-einsteins-god-letter