About a month ago Mike Lagasse, who’d headed Flagler County government’s environmental projects and been its land manager since 2011, left the county for a job in St. Johns County government as its environmental division manager. On Monday, Lagasse got a tribute from the floor of the County Commission by Richard Hamilton.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Tuesday, August 20, 2024
It’s Election Day, it’s also (heaven help us) School Board day, so we may need a few random acts of insanity, or a trip to Kiribati and the Palau islands. But there’s also Food Truck Tuesday.
Assassinations Are Murder, and Always Unlawful. Period.
The term “assassination” is not defined under international law. Legal scholars rely on standard dictionary definitions where assassination is defined as “murder by sudden or secret attack often for political reasons.” But treaties and other international law do make clear that killing for political reasons by sudden or secret attack is unlawful.
Education Department Disputes Teachers Union’s Vacancy Rate Claims
Opening day teacher vacancies dropped by 13.3% in 2024 compared to 2023, according to the Florida Department of Education. A news release from the department did not include the total number of vacancies, nor did officials respond to a request for the number.
Palm Coast City Council Member Cathy Heighter Resigns, Upending Budget and Election Timing
Palm Coast City Council member Cathy Heighter resigned Friday, less than two years into her first term. City Manager Lauren Johnston received Heighter’s resignation letter by text this morning. The resignation upends the council at a pivotal time: it is about to approve next year’s budget and its new Comprehensive Plan. It is in the middle of an election. And the proximity of the November election and the timing of ballot eligibility has the city administration and its lawyer scrambling to figure next steps.
Orlando’s A-1 Block Corporation Planning Concrete Block Manufacturing Plant Next to Flagler County Fairgrounds
A-1 Block Corporation of Orlando will build and open a 55,000-square-foot concrete-block manufacturing plant on 25 acres just north of the Flagler County Fairgrounds off Sawgrass Road. The Flagler County Planning Board approved the project’s site plan last week. The site was formerly residential and used to board horses. It is currently categorized as pastureland. It was rezoned. It is bordered by industrial land to the north. There are no residential parcels on Sawgrass anymore.
Marshall Thomas, Matanzas Student Accused of Sexually Assaulting 10th Grader and Stealing Guns, Pleads Out
Marshall Thomas, the former Matanzas High School student accused of stealing his father’s firearms to face down other teens at Holland Park and of sexually assaulting a fellow-student during class, has been committed to a high-risk juvenile justice program until his 21st birthday, following which he will be on probation for the balance of five years. Thomas turns 18 on Wednesday.
Ocala Appeals Ruling That Public Prayer Vigil Organized by Police Chief and Others Was Unconstitutional
Attorneys for Ocala last week filed a notice that is a first step in asking the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a June 26 decision by U.S. District Judge Timothy Corrigan that the city violated the Establishment Clause of the Constitution by organizing and carrying out the prayer vigil.
Charlotte E Venetianer, 1926-2024
Charlotte E. Venetianer, a long-time resident of Palm Coast who moved to Delray in her latter years, died on July 8 at age 98.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, August 19, 2024
Mosquito control meets, the Flagler County Commission meets, it’s election eve, passing the torch to the Joan Didion Olympics in Los Angeles to the tune of John Williams’s “Fanfare” from 1984.