Flagler County’s $114 million beach management plan is looking like a sand castle on the county’s critically eroded shore, and the water is rising. The Flagler County Commission today could not give its administration–or itself–anywhere near the clear direction needed to forge ahead with a plan every one of its five members agrees is critically needed. Three commissioners find the plan’s revenue formula problematic. The workshop ended with deeper uncertainty as commissioners gave their administration direction to produce yet more alternatives.
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Daily Cartoon and Briefing
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, May 5, 2025
Flagler, Palm Coast & Other Local
Palm Coast Mayor Norris Sues Palm Coast, Seeking Councilman Gambaro Booted and Special Election Held
Palm Coast Mayor Mike Norris today filed an emergency suit against Palm Coast government and Council member Charles Gambaro, charging that Gambaro’s appointment last fall violated the charter. The suit seeks to have Gambaro removed through “a judgment of ouster” and a special election declared for the District 4 seat. Norris has been claiming that Gambaro’s appointment was illegal since soon after he was sworn-in late last November. The lawsuit was filed days after Gambaro made an unsuccessful motion for the council to ask Gov. Ron DeSantis to remove Norris from the council.
Last of Palm Coast’s City Manager Candidates Withdraws, Clearing the Way for Pause and Reset Months from Now
Richard Hough, the last remaining candidate for Palm Coast city manager, withdrew his name from consideration this morning, ending a year-long search that began on a previous council’s crutches and ended amid unprecedented turmoil for the council seated since November.
Flagler Beach Reels at Death of SunBros Café Owner Travis Sundell, 49, ‘Passionate Part of What Makes This Town Special’
Travis Gene Sundell, the 49-year-old owner and operator, with his wife Leigh Ann, of SunBros Café in the heart of Flagler Beach since 2021, died Friday. Family, friends, neighbors and regular patrons of the restaurant and bar, which one regular compared to “Cheers” for its friendliness, were reeling at the unexpected announcement this weekend. Sundell died from from an aortic aneurysm.
More Flagler, Palm Coast & Other Local
Students Will Be Banned from Using Cell Phones in Florida Elementary and Middle Schools
Florida lawmakers late Friday approved barring students in elementary and middle schools from using cell phones during the school day — and testing the idea in high schools. Current law prevents students from using cell phones during instructional time, but the change would expand that prohibition to throughout the school day in elementary and middle schools. Rep. Demi Busatta, a Coral Gables Republican who spearheaded the proposal, described it as “bell to bell.”
Palm Coast Has a City Manager. A Replacement Can Wait Until the Council Defuses Its IED.
The Palm Coast City Council did the right (and impressive) thing when it voted down both of the last two remaining candidates for city manager on Tuesday. It’s now time to shelve that search, stick with Lauren Johnston as city manager, and work on restoring the City Council’s reputation before launching a new search. The city is not in crisis. The same recycled gadfly demagogues addressing the council at every meeting should not create the false impression that it is.
Flagler Humane Society Board Members Brazenly Reproach City and County Officials’ Push for Accountability
Palm Coast council members and county commissioners, meeting jointly earlier this week to discuss their long-frayed relationship with the society, have been dissatisfied with what they see as poor accountability and transparency at the non-profit, and not enough oversight by the governments. A pair of Humane Society board members’ language and lecturing did not help.
Mike Waltz Out as National Security Adviser, In as UN Ambassador
Mike Waltz, a former Florida congressman [who represented Flagler County] and became known for sharing U.S. plans to strike Yemen on a Signal group chat, was out as White House national security adviser on Thursday. President Donald Trump announced he will instead nominate Waltz to be the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, a position that requires U.S. Senate confirmation.
Mayor Norris and Partisans Turn Council Meeting on His Charter Violations and Improprieties Into One More Sideshow
The Palm Coast City Council’s special meeting today heard and discussed an attorney’s independent investigation sustaining allegations that Mayor Mike Norris violated the charter by unilaterally seeking the ouster of top staffers, behaving unprofessionally at City Hall and repeatedly demeaning staff. But the report was almost a sideshow as the meeting devolved into often baseless screeds from the floor and self-pity from Norris.
Recruiter’s Advice to Palm Coast Council in City Manager Hire: Pause, ‘Settle Down’ and Gel Before Restarting Search
The consultant who coordinated Palm Coast’s search for a new city manager is recommending that the council pause its search for now, that it regroup, go through a facilitated process for its members to better understand each other and “gel” before moving on to another search. Only one candidate remains, Rich Hough. The council had asked for a white paper on budgeting from him earlier this week. That will not happen, for now.
Stephen Cox, 15-Year Veteran of Flagler Beach Fire Department and Leader Before His Time, Is Named City’s Fire Chief
Stephen Cox, a nearly 15-year veteran of the Flagler Beach Fire Department who’s long represented its new generation, was appointed its fire chief earlier this month, from a pool of 15 candidates. He replaces Bobby Pace, who’d retired in February from the post he’d held for 12 years.
Yet Another City Manager Candidate Drops Out After Palm Coast Council’s Disfavor, Leaving Last One Standing in Uncertainty
Paul Trombino, one of the last two finalists for the Palm Coast city manager job, withdrew his candidacy this morning, less than 24 hours after the Palm Coast City Council made clear in a series of split votes that he doesn’t have the council’s full confidence or enthusiasm. That leaves one man standing: Richard Hough. The council did not feel any differently about him. Three other finalists had dropped out before they were interviewed.
City Repertory Theatre Untames Shakespeare, Doo-Wop and R&B with “RockabillieWillie”
City Repertory Theatre’s production of “RockabillieWillie,” which opens Friday at CRT’s black box theater in Palm Coast’s City Marketplace, is a mash-up of scenes from Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew,” “Romeo and Juliet” and “Henry V,” plus juxtaposed quotes and quips from 22 more of the Bard’s plays and a few of his sonnets. RockabillieWillie” also includes live performances of old-school rockabilly, R&B, doo-wop and rock ’n’ roll hits such as Johnny Otis’s “Willie and the Hand Jive,” Buddy Holly’s “Oh Boy,” the Monotones’s “Book of Love” and more.
A Sharply Divided Palm Coast City Council Fails to Appoint a New City Manager In Series of Messy Votes
As with so much in the recent history of the council, tonight’s attempt to appoint a permanent city manager was messy, it lacked unity, and it ended in deadlock as the council voted in zigzags against both Paul Trombino and Richard Hough in a half dozen 3-2 votes. The council opted to ask both candidates to write white papers on budgeting by next week to allow for yet another vote. Whether either candidate will agree is unclear, especially after this evening’s deliberations.
32-Year-Old Maine Resident Accused of Using Xbox to Threaten Palm Coast Boy’s Life and Family
James M. Maynard, a 32-year-old resident of a Bunnell-size town in inland Maine that gave birth to two of that state’s governors, was arrested and jailed there on a Flagler County warrant after a local investigation determined he was the alleged source of continuous death threats against a Palm Coast boy and his family through Xbox, the networked video game console.
The Conversation
How Groupthink Creates Intolerance
People struggle to express tolerance for different moral values – for instance, about sexual orientation, helping the poor, being a stay-at-home mother and so on. In study after study, people are less willing to help, share with, date, be roommates with and even work for people who have different moral values. Even children and adolescents express more willingness to shun and punish moral transgressors than people who do something personally obnoxious or offensive but not immoral.
Florida and Beyond
University of Michigan President Santa Ono Is the Sole Finalist to Become President of the University of Florida
Santa Ono, who has led the University of Michigan since 2022, is the sole finalist to become president of the University of Florida, UF announced Sunday. A presidential-search committee recommended that the UF Board of Trustees approve Ono after a search that began last year following the abrupt resignation of former President Ben Sasse. Kent Fuchs, a former UF president, has served as interim president.
Rising Electricity Demand Could Bring Three Mile Island Back to Life
Three Mile Island was the site in 1979 of a partial meltdown at the plant’s Unit 2 reactor. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission calls this event “the most serious accident in U.S. commercial nuclear power plant operating history,” although only small amounts of radiation were released, and no health effects on plant workers or the public were detected. Unit 1 was not affected by the accident. University of Michigan nuclear engineering professor Todd Allen explains what restarting Unit 1 will involve, and why some other shuttered nuclear plants may also get new leases on life.
Religious Charter Schools’ Fate May Hinge on Justice Roberts
The Supreme Court on Wednesday was divided over a Catholic virtual charter school’s bid to become the country’s first religious charter school. With Justice Amy Coney Barrett recused from the case, the outcome appeared to hinge on the vote of Chief Justice John Roberts, who asked probing questions of both sides but did not make his position clear.
More Florida and Beyond
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, May 4, 2025
Bringing back the décrotteurs, RockabillieWillie At City Repertory Theatre, Paws for Music: Benefit for Community Cats of Palm Coast, the unending corruptions of Napoleon and his family.
Social Security Could Run Short on Funds Within a Decade
Under current law, when the trust fund is empty, Social Security can pay benefits only from dedicated tax revenues, which would, by that point, cover only about 79% of promised benefits. Another way to say this is that when that trust fund is depleted, the people who rely on Social Security for some or the bulk of their income would see a sudden 21% cut in their monthly checks in 2036.
A Gutted Education Department Is Rolling Back Civil Rights and Targeting Transgender Students
The Education Department is being radically reshaped away from education, fairness and equity toward a more prosecutorial arm of the federal government as it negates civil rights investigations and ramps up investigations targeting transgender students and schools that apply more event-handed treatment of students and athletes. Civil rights offices are closed. Workers are fired. Investigating discrimination in schools is practically “impossible.”
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, May 3, 2025
RockabillieWillie At City Repertory Theatre, Arbor Day in Palm Coast’s Central Park at Town Center, The Flagler Beach All Stars hold their monthly beach clean-up, the end of an era and time’s dark matter.
Jesse Helms’s Children: The Renewed Push To Defund PBS and NPR
The Republican Party’s long-standing goal of ending federal funding for NPR, the nation’s public radio network, and PBS, its television counterpart, may be near. Across the country, 1,500 independent stations affiliated with NPR and PBS air shows such as “Morning Edition,” “Marketplace,” “PBS NewsHour,” “Frontline” and “Nova.” Some 43 million people tune into public radio every week, and over 130 million watch PBS every year, according to the networks.
Florida Lawmakers Raise New Barriers to Citizens’ Ballot Initiatives
With Democrats calling the changes an “assault on the very spirit of Florida’s democracy,” the Republican-controlled Legislature on Friday finalized a plan that will impose additional hurdles on the ballot-initiative process and heighten penalties for wrongdoing. Gov. Ron DeSantis pushed lawmakers to crack down on the process after highly contentious and expensive battles over proposals last year that sought to place abortion rights in the state Constitution and allow recreational marijuana for adults.
Jeffrey Hutchinson Killed for the 1998 Murders of His Girlfriend’s Three Children
After the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his final appeals, Jeffrey Hutchinson was executed Thursday night at Florida State Prison for the 1998 murders of his girlfriend’s three children in Okaloosa County, according to the state Department of Corrections.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Friday, May 2, 2025
RockabillieWillie At City Repertory Theatre, Sneaker Ball Gala at the Community Center, Bunnell’s State of the City, First Friday Garden Walks at Washington Oaks Gardens State Park, Rex Stout on getting up in the morning.
How Probation Fuels Mass Incarceration
On any given day, 1.9 million people are incarcerated in more than 6,000 federal, state and local facilities. Another 3.7 million remain under what scholars call “correctional control” through probation or parole supervision. That means one out of every 60 Americans is entangled in the system — one of the highest rates globally. Yet despite its vast reach, the criminal justice system often fails at its most basic goal: preventing people from being rearrested, reconvicted or reincarcerated.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, May 1, 2025
The Palm Coast City Council holds a special meeting to review the findings of the investigation of Mayor Mike Norris that found him to have violated the city charter, Eugène Pottier and his Internationale, the true Labor Day.
Politically Motivated Deportations from the Chinese Exclusion Act to Pro-Palestinian Activists
The recent deportation orders targeting foreign students in the U.S. have prompted a heated debate about the legality of these actions, especially as many individuals were facing removal because of their pro-Palestinian advocacy. The current removal orders targeting student activists echo America’s long and lamentable past of jailing and expelling immigrants because of their race or what they say or believe – or all three.
Attorney General Flouts Federal Judge’s Order Suspending Florida Immigration Law, and May Face Sanctions
Attorney General James Uthmeier could face contempt sanctions over a letter he sent to Florida law enforcement agencies labeling as illegitimate a court order suspending a state immigration law that led to the arrest of a U.S. citizen. In an order issued late Tuesday night, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams wrote that Uthmeier will have to prove that he shouldn’t face legal consequences over his greenlighting of arrests under the law, which she had temporarily blocked as likely unconstitutional.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Wednesday, April 30, 2025
The US Supreme Court justices hear arguments in a Catholic charter school case that could open the gates for public funding to go directly to religious schools, Separation Chat, Open Discussion, weaponry bazaars.
Commentary
Mark Carney and Canada’s Game-Changing Election
Canada’s 2025 federal election will be remembered as a game-changer. Liberal Leader Mark Carney pulled off a dramatic reversal of political fortunes after convincing voters he was the best candidate to fight annexation threats from the United States. Canadians gave the Liberals their fourth mandate since 2015, although the race against the Conservatives was much closer than polls predicted. Nonetheless, only four months ago, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre had a 25-point lead in public opinion polls and a fairly secure path to victory.
Trump Dictates Press Coverage. His Model: Hungary’s Viktor Orbán
In his first 100 days, Trump asserted new control over the press, starting with those who cover him daily. In February 2025, his administration barred The Associated Press from the Oval Office for using “Gulf of Mexico” rather than adopting the president’s newly named “Gulf of America.”
100 Years of Art Deco
On 28 April 1925, the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts opened in Paris. It was a landmark event in the evolution of art, architecture and design, and aroused great interest both for the works on display and for their impact.