The bait shop that for decades burnished the Flagler Beach pier’s quaintness and served as gatekeeper to pier fishers and visitors, will close permanently as a city-run business on June 1. The city may consider leasing the small space to a private company, whether as a shop or as a different kind of business, but it won’t decide that until May.
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Challenged in Flagler Schools: Ellen Hopkins’s Crank, a Review and a Recommendation
Crank is the first book by Ellen Hopkins, a very popular young adult novelist, and the first in an autobiographical trilogy centered on her daughter’s crystal meth addiction. It is among the 22 books a trio of Flagler County residents want banned. A joint committee of Matanzas and FPC faculty take on the challenge this afternoon.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, April 17, 2023
The Flagler County Commission will again consider a controversial 16-home development on the beachside at the north end of the county, the East Flagler Mosquito Control District Board meets, Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman.
In Defense of Major League Baseball’s New Rules
There’s an almost mythical belief that baseball doesn’t change over time. When this assumption is challenged, accusations of blasphemy result. But baseball has changed, and so have the rules.
Republicans Lost GenZ with Expulsion of Two Black Lawmakers
As have many shameful lawmakers before them, Tennessee Republicans weaponized the rules of conduct to punish state Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson. But respectability politics mean nothing to GenZ. If such glaring issues as gun violence, healthcare, and climate change were not enough to engage the youth, watching racism and inequality so blatantly on display certainly did the job.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, April 16, 2023
The Hispanic Cultural Festival of Palm Coast, Pellicer Creek Raid Re-Enactment at the Ag Museum, Daytona State College Theatre’s “The Prom,” Picasso’s cigarette burn, LBJ on J. Edgar Hoover.
Trans Bathroom-Ban Bills Affect Private Businesses, Schools, Public Shelters and Healthcare Facilities
The sharply restrictive bills making their way through the Florida Legislature don’t just attempt to control bathroom use by transgender people but represent a much more “broad and vague” ban on gender-inclusive restrooms and changing facilities in private businesses, health care facilities, schools, public shelters, and jails.
Stetson Names Elizabeth Skomp New Provost and Vice President
Stetson President Christopher F. Roellke, PhD, announced that Elizabeth Skomp, PhD, will serve as the university’s next provost and vice president of Academic Affairs.
Anti-Mifepristone Court Decisions Rely on Bogus Medical Information and Flawed Reasoning
One decision cites no evidence – because there is none – that mifepristone alone causes complications. Further, it cites no evidence that access to mifepristone through the mail, or up to 10 weeks of pregnancy, increased the rate of complications.
Michael Blum, F-Section Resident on Probation, Arrested in Connection With Mortar Explosion
Michael Philip Blum, a 45-year-old resident of 18 Felter Lane, was arrested in connection with the unexplained suspected explosion in a swale at Fernwood Lane and Fleetwood Drive in Palm Coast Friday afternoon, a short distance from Blum’s house.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, April 15, 2023
Lt. General Mark Hertling speaks at the Hilton Garden Inn, Andrew Spar speaks at the Community Center, Curtis Gray memorial event, Matanzas High’s Pirate Players Present ‘Grease,’ Eric Schlosser, Ray Kroc and Fast Food Nation.
Flagler Beach Rotary Buys City Police a $10,000 Emergency Response Trailer
The Rotary Club of Flagler Beach is pleased to announce that the club has purchased a new Emergency Response Trailer for the City of Flagler Beach.
Much-Touted App Swiped Off as Flagler Beach Re-Focuses on Clunky Website to Communicate
Flagler Beach’s year-long attempt to launch an app that would improve engagement and communication with residents is flickering out. The City Commission Thursday evening voted unanimously to end development of the app and shift money allocated for it back to improving the city’s website. There was little indication that the city was interested in further app development, though that door remains ajar.
Mother of 6-Year-Old Faces Felony Child Neglect Charge Following DUI Crash on I-95
Earthalee Summers, the 32-year-old mother of a 6-year-old boy, faces a felony child neglect charge and several lesser charges, including drunk driving, after falling asleep and rear-ending a truck on I-95 in Palm Coast late Wednesday night, with her unsecured 6-year-old child possibly in the front seat of the car.
Boil-Water Advisory in Effect Citywide After Power Surge Briefly Knocks Out Bunnell Plant
A power surge this morning briefly knocked the Bunnell water plant off line, interrupting water service city-wide, Bunnell City Manager Alvin Jackson said. The interruption resulted in a cautionary boil-water advisory for residents and businesses across the city today.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Friday, April 14, 2023
LGBTQ+ Night at Flagler Beach’s Coquina Coast Brewing Company, Flagler County fair, the Cosmic Hippie at the Hammock Community Center, Matanzas High’s Pirate Players Present ‘Grease,’ the Paris world expo of 1900, explaining La Nina and El Nino, defining deviancy down.
The Challenge of Boosting Electrical Vehicle Market to 67% of U.S. Car Sales
The proposal would require a huge change in production and consumer choice. To put it in perspective, in 2022 about 6% of U.S. passenger vehicle sales were all-electric. But U.S. automakers are already ramping up to meet the California rules, as well as aggressive requirements in Europe and China.
Sheriff’s Office Investigating Likely ‘Unsubstantiated Rumor’ of Shooting at Indian Trails Middle Friday
The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office is investigating reports by students and parents at Indian Trails Middle School that the school will be the target of a shooting on Friday. The alleged threat appears to have originated from within the school, and appears to have little validity, but more than one source.
Florida Lawmakers Approve Abortion Ban Past 6 Weeks, One of the Most Restrictive in U.S.
In less than a year, Florida has moved from a 15-week abortion ban to the passage of one of the most restrictive bans in the nation — a 6-week abortion ban. The state House approved the legislation after at least six hours of questions, amendments, debate, protests and a final vote that will clear the way for Gov. Ron DeSantis to consider the bill.
Marketing Lab Opens at Matanzas High School, Giving Classroom a Real-World Vibe of Office Energy
Matanzas High School’s Marketing Lab is the newest addition to its marketing and finance program, a hands-on immersive experience for students to get the full workplace experience from conceiving products to pitching their marketability to developing advertising campaigns to selling. Superintendent Cathy Mittelstadt and Matanzas Principal Kristin Bozeman inaugurated the lab today.
Scattered Strong to Severe Thunderstorms Today in Flagler
The National Weather Service in Jacksonville cautions that today–Thursday–will bring unsettled weather to the Flagler-Palm Coast region.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, April 13, 2023
Matanzas High School Marketing Lab Ribbon Cutting, the Flagler Beach City Commission meets, Evenings at Whitney Lecture Series, Justin J. Pearson, “Defiant and Determined.”
Banning TikTok May Weaken Personal Cybersecurity
Blocking access to TikTok by filtering traffic destined for addresses believed to be owned by TikTok is possible but would be difficult to accomplish. Server addresses can be changed and a TikTok ban could devolve into a game of cat and mouse.
Louis Gaskin Killed 33 Years After Double-Murder as Mark Carman, Who’d Arrested Him, Witnesses
Louis Gaskin, who murdered Robert and Georgette Sturmfels in Palm Coast’s R Section in 1989, was killed by lethal injection Wednesday evening. Mark Carman, who arrested Gaskin 33 years ago, was among the witnesses to the execution, and spoke of the experience, as did others who turned up in opposition to the death penalty.
Renaming of Palm Coast Community Center After Jon Netts Draws Current Mayor’s Surprise Objection
The proposed renaming of the Palm Coast Community Center for the late Jon Netts turned oddly contentious at the Palm Coast City Council on Tuesday, with Mayor David Alfin–usually the conciliator–leading the charge, and Netts’s memory paying the price.
Palm Coast Plan Proposes 102% Increase in Stormwater Rates in 4 Years. Council Is ‘Uncomfortable.’
A Palm Coast government consultant is proposing a 102 percent increase in homeowners’ stormwater rates over the next four years, what would equate to an annual bill of $542–more than what some homeowners pay in city property taxes. The City Council isn’t ready to go that far, but steeply higher rates are coming.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Wednesday, April 12, 2023
Louis Gaskin is scheduled to be killed at Raiford state prison at 6 p.m., making him the first man convicted in Flagler to be executed since 1973. Separation Chat, Flagler County Fair, Stetson Guitar Ensemble, Bitcoin’s energy waste.
Fox News ‘Journalists’ Lied With Impunity. It’s Their Business Model.
Businesses exist primarily to make a profit and doing actual news isn’t essential. Adam Serwer, reporting for The Atlantic, wrote “sources at Fox told me to think of it not as a network per se, but as a profit machine.” Profit machines can hire anybody who falls off a turnip truck and label them journalists because the job has no standardized requirements.
Splitting from Palm Coast, Flagler County Stays With Waste Pro, at Rates 65% Higher Than 2017 Contract
After the County Commission signed on to a five-year contract valued at around $3 million annually, Waste Pro will remain unincorporated Flagler County’s trash hauler, but not Palm Coast’s, where FCC Environmental will be the trash hauler starting June 1. Waste Pro had picked up Palm Coast’s trash for the previous 16 years.
Owners of 10,000 Vacant Lots in Palm Coast May Soon Be Responsible for Mowing Rights of Way
Palm Coast government’s quarter-century-old practice of mowing the rights of way in front of vacant lots mostly at its own expense may be about to end. The Palm Coast City Council today agrees that the responsibility should shift to the property owners, and that it should be enforced by the city’s code enforcement officers.
U.S. Supreme Court Refuses to Block Execution of Flagler’s Louis Gaskin, Set for Wednesday
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to block the execution of Death Row inmate Louis Gaskin, who is slated to face lethal injection Wednesday in the 1989 murders of a Flagler County couple.
Flagler Youth Orchestra’s Final Concert of Season at Auditorium on April 26
The Flagler Youth Orchestra performs its third concert of the 2022-23 season on Wednesday, April 26th, at 7 p.m. at the Flagler Auditorium in Palm Coast. Conductor Joe Corporon and fellow associate conductors of the FYO will lead five orchestras with more than 300 string musicians — a cross-section of public, private and homeschooled students.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Tuesday, April 11, 2023
The Volusia-Flagler Sierra Club General Membership meeting this evening, the Palm Coast Council and Flagler Planning Board meet, get to know Free Mom Hugs.
Efforts to Ban Critical Race Theory Have Hit 49 States
Researchers at the UCLA School of Law Critical Race Studies Program have created a new database to track attempts by local and state government to outlaw the teaching of the theory, which holds, among other things, that racism is not just expressed on an individual level, but rather is deeply embedded in the nation’s laws and policies.
Volusia GOP House Rep. Webster Barnaby Likens Trans People to ‘Mutants,’ ‘Demons and Imps’
Florida House Rep. Webster Barnaby, A Volusia County Republican, called trans people “demons” and “imps,” and compares them to “mutants living among us on planet Earth” during a House Commerce Committee meeting on a bill that would ban transgenders’ use of bathrooms of their choice.
Andrew Mintz, Man at Center of Head-On Crash at Flagler Beach Pier, Faces Felony Charge
Andrew Mintz, the 34-year-old Palm Coast man at the origin of a three-vehicle crash near a crowd of officials and others by the Flagler Beach pier on April 1, has been charged with aggravated fleeing and eluding police while causing injuries or property damage, a second-degree felony with a penalty of up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
Behind Mittelstadt’s Firing: ‘An Out of the Closet Lesbian’ Who Refuses to Kiss Chamber’s Ring
The bigoted, vengeful firing of Superintendent Cathy Mittelstadt will deeply stain Flagler County’s reputation for business or great schools: Neither the three school board members nor the chamber of commerce who orchestrated the ouster could find a single reason to fire her, fabrications aside. Malevolence was enough.
Appeals Court Upholds Life Conviction of Keith Johansen in Brandi Celenza Murder, With a Minor Exception
The Fifth District Court of Appeal today upheld the murder conviction of former Palm Coast resident Keith Johansen, who is serving a life sentence at a state prison in Lowell for the shooting death in 2018 of Brandi Ruth Celenza, who was 25.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, April 10, 2023
Pete Young, John Rogers and Tonya Gordon are sworn-in at the Bunnell City Commission, trial week in felony court, the giant sucking sound of brains escaping Florida.
Global Warming Is Powering More Home Runs
More home runs might sound exciting, but that boost in homers is also a visible sign of the much larger problems facing sports and people worldwide as the planet warms.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, April 9, 2023
Palm Coast Farmers’ Market at European Village has an Easter Egg Hunt, a complete performance of Hendel’s messiah (on video), how Ramadan and Passover are clashing in Jerusalem.
Millions At Risk of Losing Free Preventive Care After Court Ruling on Obamacare
A federal judge in Texas’s ruling would eliminate free coverage for many basic preventive care services and medications. The federal government appealed the ruling to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Strong Nor’easter Conditions and Erosion Expected on Easter Sunday and Monday
The National Weather Service in Jacksonville is cautioning that strong north-northeasterly winds will develop in the wake of a cold front tonight and Sunday at coastal locations including all of Flagler County’s, with strong winds continuing through Monday.
The Closing of the Floridian Mind
Ron DeSantis’ crackdown on thinking has got teachers so spooked, and so emboldened censorious Christian nationalists, that knowledge is being ripped out of public education in this state, even before his ridiculous laws are officially in place.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, April 8, 2023
An anti-LGBTQ church in Palm Coast organizes a candy drop, the Saturday Flagler Beach Farmers Market, Gamble Jam at Gamble Rogers Recreation Area.
Massive Bloom of Brown Seaweed Heading for Florida, Threatening Sea Life
Scientists who monitor the formation of sargassum in the Atlantic Ocean say that 2023 could produce the largest bloom ever recorded. That’s bad news for destinations like Miami and Fort Lauderdale that will struggle to clean their shorelines.
Anti-Trans ‘Bathroom Ban’ Is Quickly Moving Through Florida Legislature
Florida could be next in line to criminalize transgender adults who intentionally enter a restroom or changing facility opposite their sex at birth, according to two bills hastily moving through the Legislature. Similar bathroom bans are advancing through legislatures around the country.
Volusia-Flagler YMCA and Mayor Alfin in Big Push to Open Y in Palm Coast in About 2 Years
The Volusia Flagler Family YMCA is working with Palm Coast Mayor David Alfin and a corps of local community members to bring a YMCA to Palm Coast, with a rough goal of having a local facility under construction or near completion in about two years.
Crumbl Cookies Opening Soon at Palm Coast’s Island Walk
Crumbl Cookies, the barely six-year-old company that started with one store in Utah and has since grown to over 600 bakeries in 49 states, is preparing to open its first store in Palm Coast, in the Island Walk shopping center.
First Book Bans. Now School Libraries: Sally Hunt Thinks Media Centers Could Be Shrunk.
Flagler County School Board member Sally Hunt thinks some school libraries may be too large and under-used. She wants to rethink library spaces and media specialists’ roles, and thinks the public library could be the repository of books unwanted on school campuses.