Ten members of the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office Emergency Response Team are deploying to Florida’s Big Bend region to assist in the areas hardest hit by Hurricane Idalia after being activated by the Florida Division of Emergency Management and the Florida Sheriff’s Association Task Force.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, August 31, 2023
Flagler County Comprehensive Plan update at Hammock Community Center, “digging out” from Idalia, the Charleston earthquake of 1886 and Edward Gibbon’s reflections on natural disasters.
Term Limits for Politicians Are Common. Why Not Age Limits?
Can politicians be too old to serve in office? Should society make retiring at a certain age mandatory for elected officials who run the country – like presidents and senators? Whatever view one takes on the ethics of age limits for politicians, voting remains the primary way to put one’s views into practice.
Rural Counties Begin Recovery from Hurricane Idalia: ‘As Bad as It Is, It Still Ain’t as Bad as It Could Have Been’
Category 3 Hurricane Idalia made landfall in Taylor County’s Keaton Beach area, and county Sheriff Wayne Padgett said other hard-hit areas included downtown Perry and Steinhatchee, “a little fishing village on the coast down there,” which he said had the most storm surge. “As bad as it is, it still ain’t as bad as it could have been,” Padgett said.
Great News: Brian and Hailey McMillan Buy the Palm Coast and Ormond Beach Observer
Hailey and Brian McMillan are the new co-owners of the Palm Coast and Ormond Beach Observer, an acquisition roundly applauded by the paper’s staff, community leaders and competitors. Matt and John Walsh founded the Observer in late 2009 and hired McMillan as their first editor. He’d led the paper until his reluctant departure 2022.
Hurricane Idalia Makes Landfall as Cat-3 Hurricane; Local Impacts on Flagler Limited, Evacuations Rescinded
After Hurricane Idalia became an “extremely dangerous” Category 4 storm, it made landfall as a Cat-3 in Florida’s Big Bend this morning. Effects on Flagler and Palm Coast are expected to be limited to rain and wind gusts as the storm’s track has shifted north.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Wednesday, August 30, 2023
Absent scheduling changes due to the storm, Michael Bowling, the former Mondex man serving 20 years in prison for molesting a girl at his stepdaughter’s sleepover, is in court arguing for a lesser sentence.
Shouldn’t You Be Napping at Work?
Short naps can boost mental functioning and memory, as well as improve alertness, attention and reaction time. Short naps are also linked to increased productivity and creativity. Because napping seems to improve creative thinking, some companies have attempted to harness this by introducing napping rooms into the workplace.
Gabriella Alo Pleads Out in Brutal, Dual Flagler Beach Attack, Leaving Herself Open to Steep Prison Sentence
Gabriella Alo, the 19-year-old woman accused, with her brother, of beating a teen and running over a woman’s foot at Wickline Park last January, pleaded to numerous charges that add up to a potential 67 years in prison, though she will likely face considerably less than that when she’s sentenced on Dec. 1. How much less is the question: she tendered an open plea to Circuit Judge Terence Perkins, who is neither softie nor sadist.
Hurricane Idalia’s Track Again Shifts North, Further Reducing Feared Flagler Impacts
Hurricane Idalia’s track shifted north again, further away from Flagler County, in the National Hurricane Center’s Tuesday evening report. That further reduces but by no means eliminates tropical storm force impacts in Flagler County, especially inland.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Tuesday, August 29, 2023
The Palm Coast City Council goes over its final budget for next year, A celebration of the life of the late Charlie Ericksen, keeping score on Donald Trump’s indictments and civil lawsuits.
Social Media Algorithms Warp How People Learn From Each Other
People are increasingly interacting with others in social media environments where algorithms control the flow of social information they see. Algorithms determine in part which messages, which people and which ideas social media users see.
Hurricane Idalia: Tropical Storm Impact in Flagler Wednesday as Schools Will Close and Shelter Open at Rymfire
Hurricane Idalia will make landfall in western Florida Wednesday and rapidly transit across the state, impacting at least western Flagler County with tropical storm force winds and rain. Flagler County schools will be closed Wednesday. A combined general population and special needs shelter will open at Rymfire Elementary in late afternoon Tuesday.
In Time for Idalia, Sales Tax ‘Holiday’ on Disaster Supplies in Effect Until Sept. 8
Retailers hope Floridians will stock up on storm supplies during the sales-tax “holiday” that started Saturday, particularly as the increasingly active hurricane season is bringing Hurricane Idalia through a vast portion of the state later this week. The state’s second “disaster preparedness” tax holiday of the year continues through Sept. 8.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, August 28, 2023
The Flagler County Commission holds a 2:30 p.m. workshop to discuss its beach management plan, the Flagler County Beekeepers Association meets, a cop beats a man with a tennis racket as the man is being attacked by a police dog.
What Is Bail?
Trump’s bail was set at US$200,000, while his former attorney Rudy Giuliani’s bail was set at $150,000. Megan T. Stevenson, a University of Virginia law professor who researches bail, answers questions about the American bail system and how the bail amounts in the Georgia election interference case reflect that system.
DeSantis Wants Children to Be Ignorant, Intolerant and Narrow-Minded
In Ron DeSantis’ Florida, teachers are expected to present a version of the world in which “gender” is not to be spoken of, “gay” likewise, there’s no climate crisis — the weather’s always changing! — Shakespeare needs to be toned down, the human body is disgusting, slavery had an upside, America is the best country that ever was and ever will be, and books that challenge any of these self-evident truths must be banned.
White Supremacist Murders 3 Black People at Dollar General in Jacksonville, Before Shooting Himself
Sheriff T.K. Waters said two males and one female — all Black — were killed in the shootings, and the shooter killed himself. He had been armed with an AR-15 style rifle and a handgun, with the rifle showing several swastikas. At the time of the news conference, the shooter’s name had not yet been identified, but Sheriff Waters said the man had authored manifestos that were provided to his parents, the media, and federal agents. The sheriff referenced the “disgusting ideology of hate.”
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, August 27, 2023
Palm Coast Farmers’ Market at European Village, how the FBI, not the Washington Post, brought down Richard Nixon, and once again, Pacho Flores’s performance, on the trumpet, of Arturo Marquez’s superb “Autumn Concerto.”
Ex-Wife Once Outsold The Great Gatsby. Why is No One Reading It Now?
Both “Ex-Wife” and “The Great Gatsby” are modern novels of love and loss, money and (mostly bad) manners. At first, “Ex-Wife” was far more successful than “Gatsby,” blasting through a dozen printings and selling over 100,000 copies. It’s forgotten, yet “Ex-Wife” deserves a place alongside Fitzgerald’s novel in classrooms and in the hands of a new generation of readers based on the merits of its style and contents.
Escambia County School Board Wants to Ban Any Book It Wishes
The Escambia County School Board is urging a federal judge to toss out a lawsuit filed by authors, a publishing company, parents and a non-profit organization challenging the removal or restriction of books in school libraries. It argues that it has authority to decide what books will be allowed in schools and that a new state law helps shield it from the allegations.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, August 26, 2023
The Saturday Flagler Beach Farmers Market, “Jerry and Moly and Sam,” a story by Raymond Carver, the Commitments at the dark end of the street.
Why Most Trump Trials Won’t Be Televised
The near blackout will leave 330 million Americans relying on news reports, artist renderings and social media posts for the bulk of their information, despite wanting to see the live proceedings for themselves.
GOP Lawmaker Proposes 8-Year Term Limits for County Commissioners
A House Republican on Thursday proposed a constitutional amendment that would impose eight-year term limits on county commissioners. Rep. Michelle Salzman, R-Pensacola, filed the proposal (HJR 19) for consideration during the 2024 legislative session, which will start in January. But turnover has not been an issue on the Flagler County Commission.
Flagler Schools Have a ‘Subgroup’ Problem. It’s Not Blacks. It’s Not Even Students.
It is now so routine to reduce individual students to cogs among subgroups enslaved to the expectations of standardized testing that our educators have lost sight of their purpose. The state’s transformation of education into a dehumanizing machinery is to blame. So is the Flagler County School Board’s emphasis on running the district as a business, and now branding its superintendent a “CEO.” The individuality and dignity of students is lost to a damaging bottom-line mentality.
Deep Disagreements Remain Between School District and Cities and Builders Over Enrollment and Impact Fee Dues
Are Flagler County’s public schools adding students? Will the district need to build new schools? Should it be drawing money from developers today even though it has no certain plans to build schools yet? Those questions were asked and answered with varying degrees of certainty and a lot more disagreements on Thursday in the latest meeting of a joint committee of local government representatives in charge of reviewing how much money developers are required to pay to defray the cost of new school construction.
Man Arrested at Flagler Beach’s Boardwalk for Swinging Bat, Threatening Adults and a Child and Calling Himself God
Stephen Douglass Torma, 43, swung a bat as he threatened passers by on Flagler Beach’s boardwalk, damaged the boardwalk with the bat then threatened a Flagler Beach police officer and his family with harm. Torma’s spiral has been traced in his court file over the last four years.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Friday, August 25, 2023
The Blue 24 Forum, the A1A Pride Committee meets, the death of Lolita, the The 57-year-old whale at the Miami aquarium, Susan Orlean on Willie.
Can We Prevent Another Great Extinction?
Southern California experienced a wave of wildfires 13,000 years ago. These fires permanently transformed the region’s vegetation and contributed to Earth’s largest extinction in more than 60 million years. This was a time marked by dramatic climate upheavals and rapidly spreading human populations. The parallels between the late Pleistocene megafaunal extinctions and today’s environmental crises are striking.
Flagler School Board Members Meet Behind Closed Doors to ‘Debrief’ Until Attorney Breaks Them Up
All five Flagler County School Board members met behind a closed door after a press conference this morning, until the school board attorney, who had been unaware of the meeting, broke them up. One of the board member insists no business before the board was discussed, and that the meeting was intended only to tell the superintendent she had done a good job at the press conference.
School Officials Forcefully Denounce ‘Segregation’ Assembly But Steps Ahead Are Vague Beyond ‘Conversations’
The denunciations were forceful and Interim Superintendent LaShakia Moore’s air of command over the most serious crisis of her tenure as interim was evident at a press conference this morning. But the steps ahead, beyond community meetings, more encounters with parents and students, and talk of “professional learning” with school employees, are far less clear even as the district positions itself against potential litigation.
Bunnell Principal Donelle Evensen on Administrative Leave as District Faces Fallout of Segregated Assembly
Donelle Evensen, the principal at Bunnell Elementary School for mere weeks, was placed on paid administrative leave today, and Superintendent LaShakia Moore asked that a three-hour board workshop scheduled for today, where she was to be interviewed for the permanent job, be postponed.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, August 24, 2023
School Board workshop on the hiring of LaShakia Moore as superintendent, Florida Humanities Speakers Series: “Respect: Soul Music and the Civil Rights Movement” at AACS, Yasser Arafat and Jorge Luis Borges.
What Florida Gets Wrong About George Washington and Enslaving Blacks
Florida officials want public school educators to misleadingly emphasize Washington’s efforts to abolish slavery. Yet Washington’s efforts to free Black people pale in comparison to how he fought to keep Black people enslaved.
Superintendent Lashakia Moore Issues Stronger Apology Over Bunnell Elementary’s Segregationist Assembly
Contrary to her written statement on Tuesday, today’s video statement by LaShakia Moore on the segregating of Black students in an assembly at Bunnell Elementary last week was more forceful, more clearly recognizing the breadth of the problem–as her statement on Tuesday had not–and twice included an explicit apology.
Bomb Squad Disarms Report of Grenades After Swarming Around House of Murder Suspect in Woodlands
The house at 20 Blare Drive, the scene of a murder by gunshot last week, drew authorities again today, including a bomb squad, after a resident reported finding a crate of grenades inside. But the crate ended up containing only ammunition.
School Board Will Hold 3-Hour Interview of LaShakia Moore for Superintendent, But Hopes You Won’t Attend
The Flagler County School Board is holding one of its most important public meetings of the year Thursday, between 9 a.m. and noon. Misleadingly referring to it as a “retreat,” the board will hold an extended interview with Interim Superintendent LaShakia Moore to determine whether it should end its search for a permanent superintendent and appoint Moore in September. Some members of the School Board would rather you did not know about the meeting, and did not attend.
Lyonel Jeune, 65, Arrested on 1st Degree Felony Charge in Hit-and-Run Death of William Rembert, 56
Lyonel Jeune, a 65-year-old resident of Beacon Mill Lane in Palm Coast, was arrested over the weekend and charged with a first-degree felony in the hit-and-run death of William Joseph Rembert, 56, on Dec. 1, 2021, at Palm Coast Parkway and Leanni Way, near Belle Terre Parkway. The charge carries a penalty of up to 30 years in prison on conviction.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Wednesday, August 23, 2023
The Flagler County Public Library Book Club takes on “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo,” Separation Chat, Open Discussion, memories of Baalbek and the Temple of Jupiter.
Why Trump’s Supporters Remain Loyal
People around the world — including many Americans — cannot understand why a sizeable portion of the United States population continues to support Donald Trump, despite an ever-increasing list of charges against him, including the latest indictments in Georgia. Here’s an explanation.
Palm Coast and Flagler County Plan Their Parks
A significant move towards improving future recreational spaces in Palm Coast and Flagler County was taken as the “Planning Our Parks” Master Plan Initiative was discussed by the Parks Master Plan consultant during a Palm Coast City Council meeting in early August.
Ex-Congresswoman Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, a Democrat, Will Seek to Unseat Sen. Rick Scott
Former South Florida Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Mucarsel-Powell is now a candidate for U.S. Senate, announcing Tuesday morning that she is seeking to unseat Republican incumbent Rick Scott in 2024.
Flagler Tiger Bay Roars Farewell to Founding President Greg Davis After Five Years
Greg Davis stepped down as Flagler Tiger Bay’s first president after five years in a farewell at the Palm Coast Community Center. Davis, Don Madden and others established the club over five years ago as a non-partisan forum that champions discourse and civility over polemic.
Flagler County Beats Sharp Retreat on Raising Sales Tax or on Increasing Road Levy on Daytona North
It’s messaging in a bit of a shamble, the Flagler County Commission on Monday beat a retreat on two fronts: it will not seek cities’ support in an attempt to raise the sales tax an additional half penny. And it will not raise the special tax Daytona North residents pay for road maintenance. Both issues had been controversial. The retreats underscore a combination of lacking, poor and conflicting messaging from the County Commission on one side and a rueful public reaction to both proposals on the other.
Dad Accused of Neglect as 4-Year-Old Child Wanders Across SR100 Against Traffic in Middle of Night
Christian Zaborowski, the 22-year-old father of a 4-year-old boy, faces a felony child neglect charge after authorities accused him of leaving his front door unlocked and being unaware that his son had wandered out of the apartment and onto State Road 100 after midnight Monday, where a vehicle came to a dead stop just before striking the child.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Tuesday, August 22, 2023
The NAACP Flagler Branch’s General Membership meeting this evening, cry the oil companies a river of oil, H.L. Mencken on the American press, the Cast of Curb Your Enthusiasm with Brian William.
Gender Apartheid in Afghanistan Is a Crime Against Humanity
The Taliban has denied Afghan women the most basic human rights in what can only be described as gender apartheid. Only by labelling it as such and making clear the situation in Afghanistan is a crime against humanity can the international community legally fight the systematic discrimination against the country’s women and girls.
Black Students at Bunnell Elementary Are Told Of ‘Early Grave’ If They ‘Clown’ Around and Don’t Perform
Bunnell Elementary’s Black 4th and 5th graders on Friday were singled out in two assembles, told that if they didn’t bring up their test scores, they could end up in jail, shot or dead, they were paired off to compete academically against each other, and the winners would get McDonald’s and Chick-fil-A. Their parents were never told. Parents are outraged. The superintendent acknowledges that while raising test scores is essential, the situation was mishandled.
Palm Coast Approves Doubling Housing Units to 845 at Lighthouse Harbor on Colbert Lane, Part of Future ‘Village’
The council approved several deviations from the Land Development Code to accommodate the developer, which is part of the Marina Village collection of developments. Between Marina del Palma’s 615 units to its immediate north and a 240-unit apartment complex immediately to the west of Colbert Lane, the cluster of new developments will add 1,400 housing units.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, August 21, 2023
The Flagler County Commission takes on the final plat approval for Veranda Bay, the Mosquito Control District Board meets, the day the Mona Lisa was stolen for the second time.