Michael Jennelle, the 53-year-old former resident of Palm Coast convicted in a March trial on seven counts of raping and molesting his granddaughter over several years, when she was between 7 and 9, was sentenced to life in prison today. One of his two victims described it as “his lifetime in prison for the lifetime of our memories that he’s left us.”
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Daily Cartoon and Briefing
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Wednesday, April 16, 2025
Flagler, Palm Coast & Other Local
224 New Houses Cleared to Build Off Royal Palms Parkway as Worries About Nightmare Intersection Intensify
The backups at the intersection of Royal Palms Parkway and Town Center Boulevard are nightmares. They’re about to get worse as the Palm Coast City Council cleared the way for the first 224 of a planned 333 single-family houses at “Sabal Preserve.” A three-way stop may be on the way. But city planners say a roundabout is the surest solution.
Shrimp Boat That Ran Aground in Beverly Beach Is Towed as Appeal for Help Is Issued
The term “mayday” (as in “mayday! mayday!) comes from the French for m’aider–help me. That’s what Capt. Corey Thomas is pleading since his shrimp boat, the Miss Montie, ran aground in Flagler Beach Sunday. The 50-foot steel-hull boat broke down, lost its anchor and drifted 20 miles north before beaching in the sands near the Si Como No Inn, just south of Osprey Drive.
Ex-County Commissioner Dave Sullivan Appointed to Palm Coast Council After Bruising Process
Dave Sullivan, the former county commission member, was appointed to the Palm Coast City Council’s District 3 seat vacated by an ailing Ray Stevens in late February. It’s a wonder Sullivan wasn’t himself ailing by the time he got the council’s vote: his appointment was not elegant. The council’s decision was on a 3-1 vote following several fractious, at times injurious and ageist public comments about Sullivan.
More Flagler, Palm Coast & Other Local
Flagler County Library Director Braces for Possible Cuts After Trump Order to End Library Support Agency
Assistant Flagler County Administrator Holly Albanese is preparing the county’s public library system, its Board of Trustees and local officials for possible local consequences of an executive order that seeks to end the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services, a mainstay of library and museum funding across the country. Cuts may be as little as $20,000, which the library system can easily absorb, or could be much larger if grants already awarded are called back.
Released from Prison Weeks Ago, Felon Is Arrested After Causing I-95 Crash with 3rd DUI
Released from sate prison weeks earlier and driving on a suspended license, Ryann Rae Davis, a 38-year-old resident of Whitehall Drive in Palm Coast and a convicted felon, faces two new felonies following an alleged drunk-driving crash involving two other vehicles on I-95 last Thursday. She’s now being held on $100,000 bond.
In Flagler Beach, a $140,000 Mobility Study Suggests Transportation Fees Won’t Be Just About Cars Anymore
The Flagler Beach City Commission approved a $140,000 appropriation for a “mobility study,” an essential step before the city can impose a transportation “mobility fee.” It is no longer called a transportation impact fee, because a “mobility” fee’s purpose is broader. It’s not just about adding lanes and sidewalks anymore, or simply increasing road capacity for cars and trucks. It’s about making even existing roads flow better, or examining parking concepts, or taking account of pedestrians, bicyclists, even water taxis.
Judge Finds Florida Violated Endangered Species Act and Backs More Manatee Protections
Pointing to ongoing threats to manatees, a U.S. district judge Friday said the state has violated the federal Endangered Species Act in its regulation of wastewater discharges into the Indian River Lagoon. Orlando-based Judge Carlos Mendoza issued a 21-page decision that sided with the environmental group Bear Warriors United, which argued discharges into the waterway along the East Coast led to the demise of seagrass and, as a result, deaths and other harm to manatees.
‘Enough Is Enough’: An Open Letter to Palm Coast Mayor Mike Norris
Aghast at Palm Coast Mayor Mike Norris’s paranoid and accusatory performance at the State of the City Address this week, a resident asks the mayor for a reckoning with himself–whether he is truly up to the job of serving the community to the best of his ability, to do so within the requirements of the city charter, and to bear the title of mayor honorably and responsibly.
Flagler Beach May Sell Ocean Palm Golf Course, Where Owner Plans Building the Size of Palm Coast City Hall
Flagler Beach government is considering selling the 40-acre, nine-hole Ocean Palm Golf Course at the south end of town to Jeff Ryan’s KTS Holdings, the current leaseholder of the property. Ryan would sign a deed restriction that would ensure the grounds remain a golf course in perpetuity. But Ryan is proposing to build a two-story, 30,000-square foot clubhouse and restaurant (the footprint would be 15,000 square feet, the building height 30 feet). The existing clubhouse is a one-story 1,560 square foot building built in 1961.
Palm Coast Assures DeSantis “DOGE” Team: The City Is Financially Sound
The Palm Coast government administration certified in late March to the governor’s office that the city has not encountered any of five criteria suggesting “financial emergency or distress” since 2018, and does not anticipate any ahead. Acting City Manager Lauren Johnston sent the letter confirming the fact to the governor’s so-called “Department of Government Efficiency” team on March 20. The letter is prompting some inaccurate speculation that the city manager was “declining” the state’s offer to audit the city.
Palm Coast Carnage: Mayor Norris Stuns Audience With Bleak Litany of Grievances at State of City Address
A day after he pulled up his truck to City Hall and cleared his office, Mayor Mike Norris delivered what amounted to a Palm Coast Carnage address to a stunned audience at the State of the City Thursday evening at the Community Center. A prickly, aggrieved, and paranoid-sounding Norris fabricated the story of a “blockade” of City Hall by homebuilders, attacked unnamed forces for allegedly orchestrating city employees’ complaints against him to drive him out of office, and referred to land owners as “swamp peddlers,” and challenged residents to chart a new course away from “people that have failed our community for more than 40 years.”
Flagler Beach Gets Its First Glimpse at App-Based Paid Parking, and Guardedly Likes What It Sees
The Flagler Beach City Commission got its first glimpse at an app-based paid-parking system for the city this afternoon from Passport Parking, a company with more than 800 clients across the country. The commission was non-committal, but most Flagler Beach residents who spoke approved of the plan, some guardedly, some enthusiastically–as long as the plan exempts Flagler Beach residents from paying–and some, disbelieving in a parking problem, opposed.
Lessons from Palm Coast’s Fuel Dump Folly
The push for building the ill-fated Belvedere Terminals fuel dump in Palm Coast was tied to a series of myths: that somehow Palm Coast’s overwhelmingly residential tax base is unsustainable. That its tax burden is lopsidedly on residential homes. That commercial and industrial development lowers property taxes. The premises are taken as gospel in this county and never tested. Not one of them is true.
On Probation for Aggravated Stalking, Zachary Tuohey Kept Trying Judge’s Patience. He Now Risks 2 Years in Prison.
Circuit Judge Dawn Nichols’s patience with Zachary Tuohey’s aggravated stalking case almost ran out in December. It did so on April 1, when she sent him to jail for contempt of court. On Tuesday, she warned his attorney that he is close to facing two years in prison.
The Conversation
Secular Americans Are Changing the Political Landscape
After climbing for decades, the percentage of Americans with no religion has leveled off. For the past few years, the share of adults who identify as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular” has stood at about 29%, according to a major study the Pew Research Center released Feb. 26, 2025. But this hardly means that the “nones,” or their impact on American life, are going away. In fact, their sheer size makes it likely that they will increase in political prominence.
Florida and Beyond
Florida Senate Proposes Tax Cuts Nearing $2 Billion Instead of House’s $5 Billion Sales Tax Cut
The Senate on Monday released a ratcheted-up package of proposed tax cuts, as it prepares for negotiations with the House, which has pitched a $5.43 billion measure that includes reducing the state’s sales-tax rate. The Senate Finance and Tax Committee is scheduled Tuesday to take up the Senate bill (SPB 7034), which would reduce revenue by $1.83 billion next fiscal year.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Tuesday, April 15, 2025
The Palm Coast City Council meets and picks a new member, Food Truck Tuesdays in Town Center, remembrances of Mario Vargas Llosa from “Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter” to “Conversations in the Cathedral.”
Mario Vargas Llosa the Great
The death of Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa (Arequipa, 1936 – Lima, 2025) marks the end of a Golden Age of Latin American literature. Just as there will not be another generation in Spain like that of Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Calderón de la Barca, Tirso de Molina, Góngora and Quevedo, in America there will not be another like that of Vargas Llosa, Gabriel García Márquez, Julio Cortázar, César Vallejo, Pablo Neruda, Jorge Luis Borges, Alejo Carpentier and Carlos Fuentes.
More Florida and Beyond
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, April 14, 2025
Kerouac on the road, Florida Man v. ski patrol, the Bunnell City Commission meets, the Flagler County Library Board of Trustees meets, and a look at how policy is devised in the Trump White House.
How Could FIFA Award Saudi Arabia 2034 World Cup?
FIFA officially awarded Saudi Arabia the 2034 World Cup. The Gulf Kingdom was the sole bidder. Human rights groups, though, have widely condemned FIFA’s decision – Human Rights Watch warned that there is “a near certainty the 2034 World Cup […] will be stained with pervasive rights violations.”
Florida Bill to Prevent Anonymous Complaints Against Cops Divides Law Enforcement
A bill that would withdraw citizens’ ability to lodge anonymous complaints against law enforcement officers sparked sharp disagreement between department leaders and rank-and-file officers. The bill (HB 317), sponsored by Miami-Dade Republican Tom Fabricio, is supported by groups representing law enforcement officers, such as the Fraternal Order of Police. Two of the most powerful lobbyist organizations in Tallahassee — the Florida Sheriffs Association and the Florida Police Chiefs Association — are firmly opposed.
American Rendition: Rümeysa Öztürk’s Journey From Ph.D. Scholar to Trump Target Languishing in Louisiana Cell
30-year-old Turkish national Rümeysa Öztürk is a former Fulbright scholar in a doctoral program at Tufts University. Here’s how, though charged with no crime, she ended up in a crowded cell in Louisiana, part of a sprawling, opaque apparatus designed to deport the maximum number of people with minimum accountability. Her lawyers describe it as the story of a Trump-era rendition, a callback to the post-9/11 practice of grabbing Muslim individuals off the street and taking them to locations known for harsh conditions and shoddy oversight.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, April 13, 2025
April 13, 1975: 50 years ago today, the beginning of long war. ‘Sense and Sensibility’ at St. Augustine’s Limelight Theatre, “Something Rotten,” at the Daytona Playhouse.
Supreme Court’s Order to Return Wrongly Deported Man: Rule of Law Matters
The Supreme Court has now said the order to facilitate Abrego García’s return is proper. But the high court also said the district court judge should further clarify its order, being mindful of the president’s authority when it comes to conducting foreign relations. The Salvadoran government seems to be imprisoning Abrego García at the request of the U.S. government.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, April 12, 2025
Sean Foo on the Greenland Grab, U.S. Rep. Earl Carter wants the island to be renamed “Red, White, and Blueland,” Second Saturday Plant Sale at Washington Oaks Gardens State Park, “Something Rotten,” at the Daytona Playhouse.
Foreign Accents Shape the Way We Interact
Foreign accents can have a big impact on the way we interpret meaning. In our increasingly globalised world, foreign accents are an inevitable part of communication, but studies suggest they can create barriers, not just in comprehension but also in perception of the speaker and social interaction.
Why Is the President Undermining Libraries and Museums?
A few weeks ago, President Trump issued an executive order calling for the elimination of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), adding to a growing list of illegal efforts to bypass Congress and abolish entire government agencies. All staff at the agency were placed on administrative leave on March 31. IMLS is an independent federal agency that provides crucial financial support to America’s 125,000 public, school, academic, and special libraries and museums nationwide.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Friday, April 11, 2025
John Cheever’s “Superintendent,” the Dallas String Quartet at the Fitz, State Attorney RJ Larizza, Sheriff Rick Staly and Family Life Center Director Trish Giaccone talk safety in Flagler County on Free For All.
Universities In Nazi Germany And The Soviet Union Thought Giving In To Government Demands Would Save Their Independence
Across the United States, many universities are dismantling DEI initiatives – closing and rebranding offices, eliminating positions, revising training programs and sanitizing diversity statements – while professors are preemptively self-censoring. While some universities may believe that compliance with the administration will protect their funding and independence, a few historical parallels suggest otherwise.
Bill Changing Gulf of Mexico’s Name in All Florida Documents and Textbooks Goes to DeSantis
The Senate on Wednesday gave final approval to a bill that would change dozens of state laws to carry out President Donald Trump’s directive that the Gulf of Mexico should be called the Gulf of America. The Senate also gave a final sign-off to a bill that would require the name change to start being reflected in materials at state agencies and schools.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, April 10, 2025
A few thoughts about the McKinley tariffs, your $2,000 iPhone, the Flagler Beach City Commission meets, Model Yacht Club Races at the Pond in Palm Coast’s Central Park.
Commentary
Tariffs Will Not Bring Back the Glory Days of Manufacturing
There is a broad fetishisation of manufacturing in many countries. One theory is that it is potentially ingrained in human thinking by pre-historic experiences of finding food, fuel and shelter dominating all other activities. But for Trump, the thinking is likely related to a combination of nostalgia for a bygone (somewhat imagined) age of manufacturing, and concern over the loss of quality jobs that provide a solid standard of living for blue collar workers – a core part of his political base.
From Greenland to Fort Bragg, Place Names as Political Tools
Place names are more than just labels on a map. They influence how people learn about the world around them and perceive their place in it. Names can send messages and suggest what is and isn’t valued in society. And the way that they are changed over time can signal cultural shifts.
Israelis Are Calling for Genocide of Palestinians with Impunity
Thirty years ago in Israel, advocating for genocide could land you in prison. Not anymore. Israeli clerics and officials are openly calling for the systematic massacre of Palestinians–genocide–in Gaza. The Israeli legal system is ignoring the rhetoric.