Tuesday Briefing: Wetlands Restoration Reckoning, Palm Coast Survey, Starlight Video, MHS Concert

Oceans Fence and Railing, above, won Best Float in Saturday's Starlight Parade through Palm Coast's Town Center, Lowe's won Best of Parade, FPC won Best Marching Unit, Innovative Dance Company won Best Decorative Vehicle, and Matanzas won Best School Pride. See the full video under Announcements below. — Oceans Fence and Railing, above, won Best Float in Saturday’s Starlight Parade through Palm Coast’s Town Center, Lowe’s won Best of Parade, FPC won Best Marching Unit, Innovative Dance Company won Best Decorative Vehicle, and Matanzas won Best School Pride. See the full video under Announcements below.

Today: Cooler. Mostly cloudy in the morning then becoming partly cloudy. Highs in the upper 50s. Northwest winds 5 to 10 mph. Tonight: Clear. Lows in the upper 30s. Northwest 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: 119
The OED’s Word of the day: ruvid, adj.
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

“Getting straight A’s requires conformity. Having an influential career demands originality. In a study of students who graduated at the top of their class, the education researcher Karen Arnold found that although they usually had successful careers, they rarely reached the upper echelons. “Valedictorians aren’t likely to be the future’s visionaries,” Dr. Arnold explained. “They typically settle into the system instead of shaking it up.”

–From Adam Grant’s “What Straight-A Students Get Wrong,” The New York Times, Dec. 8, 2018.

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.

The Palm Coast City Council meets in workshop at 9 a.m. at City Hall in Town Center. With its two new board members on board, the council will discuss an update on its 2019 priorities and hear a presentation on the 2018 citizen’s survey, among other items.

Wetlands restoration: The St. Johns River Water Management District Board meets starting at 9 a.m. with a Finance, Audit and Administration Committee, then at 11 a.m. with the full board, which will hear an update on the controversial wetlands restoration project planned for the area along the Intracoastal Waterway near Flagler Beach, with possible action on the item. See FlaglerLive’s previous coverage here, here and here.

The Value Adjustment Board holds a hearing at 10 a.m., Government Services Complex, 1769 E. Moody Blvd, Bldg, 2. Third Floor, Room 3B, Bunnell.

The Flagler County Planning and Development Board meets at 6 p.m. in Board Chambers at the Government Services Building, 1769 E. Moody Blvd., Bldg. 2, first floor, Bunnell. The board will discuss membership rules relating to the planning board.

Town Hall meeting: Flagler County Commissioner Joe Mullins, Bunnell Mayor Catherine Robinson and and Bunnell City Manager Alvin Jackson host a community meeting at the Versie Lee Mitchell Community Center, 405 E. Drain St., Bunnell, at 6 p.m.

Matanzas High School hosts its winter concert at Pirates Theater at 7 p.m., 3535 Pirate Nation Way, Palm Coast.

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):

Wednesday: Banfield Pet Hospital, Target Shopping Center, 5270, East Highway 100, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Wednesday: Flagler Department of Health, 301 Dr. Carter Boulevard, Bunnell, 2 to 5 p.m.
Thursday: Starbucks in Target, Target shopping center, 5270, East Highway 100, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Thursday: Gamble Rogers Memorial State Recreation Area, 3100 South Oceanshore Boulevard, Flagler Beach, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Friday: Chick Fil A, 1000 Palm Coast Parkway, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Friday: Advance America Palm Coast, 800 Belle Terre Parkway, Palm Coast, 2 to 7 p.m.
Sunday: Starbucks, Island Walk, 250 Palm Coast Parkway, 11 a.m. to 4 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:

Watch Saturday’s Starlight Parade Through Town Center

On the video, you will see this year’s outstanding entries as they make their way through Town Center, with the wonderful Fantasy Lights in Central Park as the backdrop. The Starlight Parade was hosted by Palm Coast Fire Chief Mike Beadle and his wife, DeeDee, and this year’s Grand Marshal leading the parade was Bill Butler, recently retired City of Palm Coast Landscape Architect, who is responsible for the landscaping that makes Palm Coast so beautiful and is also one of the Rotary Club of Flagler County’s founders of the annual Fantasy Lights.

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.

LEGISLATIVE ETHICS ON AGENDA: The House will hold a meeting for its members on ethics in the Legislature. (Tuesday, 9 a.m., Reed Hall, House Office Building, the Capitol.)

BUDGET, RULES, BILL DRAFTING DISCUSSED: The House will hold orientation-type meetings that will include an introduction to the state budget, an introduction to House rules and an introduction to bill drafting. (Tuesday, 10:15 a.m., budget meeting, Reed Hall, House Office Building, the Capitol. Also, 10:15 a.m., rules meeting, 306 House Office Building, the Capitol. Also, 10:15 a.m., drafting meeting, 404 House Office Building, the Capitol.)

MEDICAID, PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND OFFICE ACCOUNTS AT ISSUE: The House will hold orientation-type meetings about the Medicaid program and governance and performance in the pre-K through 12th grade system. It also will hold a meeting for House members to better understand their office accounts. (Tuesday, 11:30 a.m., Medicaid meeting, Morris Hall, House Office Building, the Capitol. Also, pre-k through 12th grade meeting, 11:30 a.m., 306 House Office Building, the Capitol. Also, 11:30 a.m., office accounts meeting, Reed Hall, House Office Building, the Capitol.)

FINDING BALANCE AND PRESENTING BILLS DISCUSSED: The House will hold a meeting for members about balancing family, work and service. Also, it will hold a meeting about presenting bills and a meeting titled, “Things I Wished Someone Told Me When I Started.” (Tuesday, 12:30 p.m., balancing meeting, members dining hall, the Capitol. Also, 12:30 p.m., presenting bills meeting, Room 333, the Capitol. Also, 12:30 p.m., “Things I Wished Someone Told Me When I Started,” House Majority Office conference room, third floor, the Capitol.)

HIGHER ED, ETHICS AND LEAGIS AT ISSUE: The House will hold orientation-type meetings about the higher-education system, ethics and the LEAGIS legislative computer system. (Tuesday, 1:30 p.m., higher education, 306 House Office Building, the Capitol. Also, 1:30 p.m., ethics meeting, Reed Hall, House Office Building, the Capitol. Also, 1:30 p.m., LEAGIS meeting, Room 333, the Capitol.)

SENATORS GET ETHICS TRAINING: Jeremiah Hawkes, the Senate general counsel, will make a presentation to senators about ethics issues. (Tuesday, 2 p.m., 401 Senate Office Building, the Capitol.)

RESPECT, APPROPRIATIONS PROJECTS ON TABLE: The House will hold meetings for its members about respect in the workplace and filing appropriations project bills. (Tuesday, 2:30 p.m., respect meeting, Reed Hall, House Office Building, the Capitol. Also, 2:30 p.m., appropriations project bills, 404 House Office Building, the Capitol.)

HUKILL HONORED: The Senate will hold a memorial service for Sen. Dorothy Hukill, a Port Orange Republican who died Oct. 2 after a recurrence of cervical cancer. Hukill, who was 72, represented Senate District 14, which is made up of southern Volusia and northern Brevard counties. Hukill was first elected to the House in 2004 and was elected to the Senate in 2012. New Smyrna Beach Republican Tom Wright won the Nov. 6 election to succeed Hukill in Senate District 14. (Tuesday, 3:30 p.m., Senate chamber, the Capitol.)

BUDGET, RULES, BILL DRAFTING DISCUSSED: The House will hold meetings for its members about “advanced” budget training, “advanced” rules training and “advanced” bill drafting. (Tuesday, 3:30 p.m., budget training, Reed Hall, House Office Building the Capitol. Also, 3:30 p.m., rules training, 404 House Office Building, the Capitol. Also, 3:30 p.m., bill drafting, 306 House Office Building, the Capitol.)

PROPERTY TAXES ON TABLE: The Revenue Estimating Conference will analyze ad valorem, or property, taxes. (Tuesday, 9 a.m., 117 Knott Building, the Capitol.)

PSC TAKES UP UTILITY ISSUES: The Florida Public Service Commission will take up a series of utility issues, including a continuing dispute between Florida Power & Light and the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy about FPL’s recovery of costs related to an environmental clean-up project in Miami-Dade County. The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy objects to FPL passing along costs to customers for the project, which involves addressing a saltwater plume that moved from the utility’s Turkey Point complex into nearby groundwater. (Tuesday, 9:30 a.m., Betty Easley Conference Center, 4075 Esplanade Way, Tallahassee.)

CITRUS FORECAST ISSUED: The U.S. Department of Agriculture will release its monthly forecast for Florida’s 2018-2019 citrus growing season. (Tuesday, noon.)

—-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.

[ai1ec view="agenda"]

To include your event in this section, please email the details, including date, time, a brief description of the event, contact information, and, if you wish, an image, please use this form.

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 Dec. 7, 2018, with a link to the full week in review here.

Click to access week-in-review-dec-9-2018-developments.pdf

Road and Interstate Construction: