Parents’ Nights Out via the Palm Coast Community Center, Teen Chill Zone at the city’s Aquatic Center, auditions this weekend at the Flagler Playhouse for Neil Simon’s “Rumors.”
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The Inherent Racism of Anti-Vaxx Movements
While many accuse anti-vaxxers of a selfish disdain for the health and safety of others, there is a underlying aspect of these movements that needs to be more widely recognized. Vaccine resistance movements have always been led by white, middle-class voices and promoted by structures of racial inequality.
Delta Variant Attacks Vaccineless in Flagler and Florida as Covid Cases and Hospitalizations Shape into 4th Wave
Covid-19’s extremely infectious Delta variant is zeroing in on those without vaccines, who make up the entirety of the 430 hospitalizations in Central Florida’s AdventHealth hospitals alone. The proportion of those vaccinated in Flagler and Florida remains below 50 percent.
Palm Coast Art District Chalks Up New Festival During Food Truck Tuesday
During Food Truck Tuesday on July 20, Palm Coast’s Parks and Recreation Department will also host a Chalk Art Festival. The event takes place at Central Park in Town Center from 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. and is open to all ages. The festival is hosted by the city’s Jared Dawson.
Eleanor Shinnick, 1928-2021
On Thursday, July 8, 2021, Eleanor Shinnick, loving wife, and mother of Joseph Shinnick, Ellen Pugner, and Elaine Studnicki passed away at age 92.
Supervisor of Elections Kaiti Lenhart Issues Statement on Election Security
Flagler County Elections Supervisor Kaiti Lenhart issued the following statement this morning, in light of the ongoing special election for Palm Coast mayor, which culminates with in-person voting on July 27. Mail balloting has been ongoing, and early voting begins Saturday and runs until July 24.
FPC’s Shauntiana Stafford, 17, Killed Herself in 2019. Her Mother is Suing Flagler Schools, Charging Wrongful Death
Seemingly the first such lawsuit in recent decades in Flagler, the case opens a rare window into bullying issues behind normally restrictive student privacy laws, potentially revealing in detail the psychological and mental context of a student in the weeks and months leading up to her death, her relationship with school staffers, and the district’s responses in all its intricacies.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, July 15, 2021
A wrongful death case in civil court, Rembrandt’s birthday, and “one of the few things that stands between us and an accelerated descent into darkness”: The Enlightenment.
Renner and Other GOP Leaders Launch Digital Ad Promoting Conservative Ideals; Democrats Push Back
GOP state leaders are utilizing social media for their 2022 campaign efforts to promote conservative policies that they say have helped Florida to recover from Covid-19 and protect Floridians’ freedoms — though Democrats disagree.
Cuba Protests: 4 Essential Reads on Dissent in the Post-Castro Era
Street protests erupted across Cuba on July 11, 2021, with crowds of Cubans demonstrating against food scarcity, medicine shortages and economic misery in their island nation. Here are four stories that describe current conditions in Cuba and the recent history behind this rare public outpouring of anger.
Their Boat Sank in Minutes 10 Miles Offshore of Flagler Beach: How 4 Men and 2 Boys Kept Their Cool Until Rescued
A group of six Palm Coast boaters off on a snapper fishing trip Saturday (July 10) rapidly sank two hours into their trip, 10 miles offshore. Quick action, level heads and a series of fortunate events led to their rescue by another fishing boat, then the Coast Guard. here’s their story.
Palm Coast’s Joseph Carroll, 42, Indicted on 1st Degree Murder in Overdose Death of Michael Burnett Jr.
Michael Burnett Jr. was 31 when he overdosed on drugs allegedly sold to him by Joseph Carroll, 42, and Allyson Bennett, 39, in 2018. Bennett this week pleaded to manslaughter, and faces up to 15 years in prison. Carroll was indicted on the first-degree murder charge, a capital felony, on Tuesday.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Wednesday, July 14, 2021
The joys of living in a state that cares for its residents, Bastille Day, the many pleasures of studying the Enlightenment, and J.D. Vance’s lineage from Flannery O’Connor.
63% of Workers who File an EEOC Discrimination Complaint Lose Their Jobs
People who experience sex discrimination, race discrimination and other forms of discrimination at work aren’t getting much protection from the laws designed to shield them from it, researchers found.
Palm Coast Fire Department and Mayor Recognize Firefighters who Saved Teen
The Palm Coast Fire Department (PCFD) recently recognized the efforts of firefighters for their actions in helping to save the life of a juvenile who had climbed onto the overpass of Palm Coast Parkway & I-95 bridge on Father’s Day. The teen was having a mental health crisis and was a threat to herself.
State Board of Education Considers Overhaul of School Standards, Including Civics and U.S. ‘Exceptionalism’
Florida’s State Board of Education on Wednesday will consider adopting a wide-ranging overhaul of curriculum standards across multiple subjects in public schools, including guidelines for teaching civics and government courses and Holocaust education.
As If Global Warming Weren’t Enough: Rupert Murdoch Is Launching Fox Weather
A prominent media analyst, said it best the other day: “How do you address the fact that weather changes are caused to some degree by humans when you have a media property with a history of challenging that fact?”
Flagler Free Clinic Receives $75,000 Donation, Largest-Ever Gift, as AdventHealth Auxiliary Sunsets
The non-profit Flagler Free Clinic has been providing poorer residents free healthcare since 2005. Friday the clinic received its biggest donation ever, from the AdventHealth Palm Coast Auxiliary.
‘It’s News to Me,’ Barbosa Tells Council of His Alleged Fugitive Status, Before Meeting Tips Into Brawl Again
The Palm Coast City Council’s five-hour workshop today had its share of tense moments before devolving again into a verbal brawl as Victor Barbosa professed ignorance about the allegations behind his apparent fugitive status before verbally dueling with Mayor Eddie Branquinho again.
Edward Charles Stiles, 1957-2021
Edward Charles “Chuck” Stiles, 64, of Gainesville / Palm Coast, Florida, passed away on July 1, 2021, at his home in Palm Coast.
Sheriff Requests 10 Additional Deputies for Palm Coast, a 28% Policing Budget Increase Posing Dilemma for City
The Sheriff is asking for 10 deputies from Palm Coast and 15 from the county in line with a staffing analysis he commissioned last year. But Palm Coast’s budget for next year includes other costly priorities and assumes a slight tax increase as it is. The Sheriff’s request is complicating the city’s math and council members’ already strained dynamics.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Tuesday, July 13, 2021
Put your seat belts or HazMat suits on: the Palm Coast City Council meets in workshop this morning at 9 at City Hall, though misbehavior is unlikely: the place will be crawling with top cops: the sheriff is making a pitch for policing in the years ahead.
Nobles’ Resignation Added to Baxley’s, Bunnell Invites Residents to Apply for 2 Commission Seat Appointments
The Bunnell commission decided on seeking two appointments within the month in an evening of farewells and surprises, with Commissioner John Rogers revealing that he had just been battling Covid-19, and had been gravely ill, and former County Commissioner Nate McLaughlin, looking fit and conversant, making his first public appearance in a government setting since he suffered a stroke in February.
Zaila Avant-garde, 2021 National Spelling Bee Champ, Stands Where Black Children Were Once Kept Out
When Zaila Avant-garde, 14, won the 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee on July 8, 2021, she became the first Black American to win in the competition’s history. Shalini Shankar, a scholar of spelling bees, breaks down the importance of this historical moment.
Flagler Beach Mayor Throws Marker Against Supporting Organizations Appearing on Joe Mullins Infomercial
Flagler Beach Mayor Suzie Johnston, with fellow-commissioners’ support, severed her support for the Family Life Center, the shelter for abused people, after the center’s director appeared on Joe Mullins’s partisan infomercial on WNZF, what Johnston described as crossing a line. Mullins recently had slurred Flagler Beach commissioners as “cowards” and has been in an open feud with Commission Chairman Eric Cooley.
When It Absolutely, Positively Doesn’t Have to Lead to This: Gun-Toting Road Rage Incident Lands Man in Jail
A 32-year-old delivery driver for FedEx was making deliveries in Palm Coast Thursday afternoon when, passing by the Brass Tap in the Island Walk shopping center, his way was blocked by another vehicle idled in the middle of the road. The man blocking his way then allegedly flashed a gun.
As Condo Tower Death Toll Reaches 90, Renner Says No Need for Immediate Changes to Building Codes
Rep. Paul Renner, a Palm Coast Republican set to take over as House speaker following the 2022 elections, pointed to the inability of the Champlain Towers South condo association to quickly address safety and structural repairs needed for the once 12-story building.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, July 12, 2021
The Flagler County Commission may settle its differences with Whispering Meadows Ranch and will discuss impact fees, and the Bunnell City Commission will bid farewell to Bill Baxley, the senior-most member of Flagler County’s elected officials, as he retires.
Trump Before Trump: When Nixon VP Spiro Agnew Attacked News Media
In 1969 Spiro Agnew in a speech written by Patrick Buchanan attacked the press with almost unprecedented venom, anticipating a run of anti-media presidents that culminated with Trump. Buchanan later remembered that as Nixon read his proposed draft, he heard him mutter, “This’ll tear the scab off those bastards.”
Proud Boys and Other Extremists Rally at Florida’s Old Capitol to Demand Release of Jan. 6 Insurrection Lawbreakers
About 100 people rallied on the lawn of the Historic Capitol Museum in Tallahassee. They flashed signs at passersby and chanted, “Let them go,” in reference to people arrested during the Jan. 6 attack.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, July 11, 2021
England gets its greatest chance yet to end its 55-year drought of championships in international soccer competition when it meets Italy at Wembley in London at 3 p.m. Palm Coast time, in the final of Euro 2020.
Five Lessons on Bringing Truth Back to Politics
Democracies have felt precarious – in the US, during the Trump presidency, and in countries like Brazil, Hungary and Poland currently. Integral to such corrosion of democracy (as George Orwell made clear in his novel 1984) is the distortion of truth and facts in favor of a particular agenda.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, July 10, 2021
Vaccine resistors, Cathar country for the Tour de France–those heretics the Catholic Church attacked and decimated in one of the forgotten genocides of history–and advice from Flaubert about the inane.
Councilman Barbosa Under Federal Investigation Following Allegation of Kidnapping and Extortion; Sheriff’s Investigation Deems Him a Fugitive
Palm Coast City Council member Victor Barbosa may be a fugitive from justice in Costa Rica, where he has been “considered armed and dangerous on the charge of Kidnapping,” according to Flagler County Sheriff Chief Dan Engert, who has requested that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigate the matter.
Yes, States Got More Money from Washington than they Needed for Covid Relief
It appears that the pandemic-related economic downturn in states was quite muted, confounding everyone’s expectation. For example, sales tax revenues actually grew by 0.5% in fiscal year 2020 and are on track to increase 2% in fiscal year 2021.
County and Whispering Meadows Ranch Draft Roadmap to Move Equine Therapy Non-Profit to Fairgrounds
Whispering meadows Ranch and county government are on the verge of an agreement that would set the path for a long-term partnership, leasing land to the ranch at the county fairgrounds and ending the controversy, prompted by a few neighbors, that has surrounded the ranch’s operations in recent months on John Anderson Highway.
James Harris, Accused of Molesting Girl For 5 Years, Is Seeking Bond Waiver and Release from Jail
James Edwin Harris, the 61-year-old owner of Jimmy’s Hang Ten restaurant arrested a week ago on charges that he’d been molesting his step-daughter, has filed for a motion to be released from jail without a bond.
The Weekend Cartoon and Live Briefing: Friday, July 9, 2021
Jerald Medders, serving 15 years in prison for raping an underage girl, is back in court this morning to correct his sentence, down to 12.75 years. “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle,” is not a metaphor for the Palm Coast City Council, but tonight’s movie in the park in Town center.
Trump Can’t beat Facebook, Twitter and YouTube in Court but the Fight Might Be Worth More Money than a Win
No one involved with this case could be serious about winning in federal court. But that is not the “court” to which the former president is playing. Donald Trump is after money, and the federal court stage is another way to get it.
An Alan Lowe Campaign Message: 60 Seconds, 2 Violations of Law, 3 Falsehoods, 4 Misleading or Deceptive Statements
Lowe’s contempt for facts was apparent in his run for the mayorship last year and has characterized his renewed run in the July 27 special election for mayor. If all six candidates are sincere, including Lowe, only Lowe makes explicitly false statements, misleading claims, legal violations, and ideologically-driven pitches that have little to no connection to Palm Coast governance.
Flagler Sheriff’s Deputy Lentino Suspended Pending Investigation into Dating Violence Involving 21-Year-Old Woman
Flagler County Sheriff’s deputy Robert Lentino, 26, who has been with the agency three years, was relieved of duty–with pay–just before noon today pending an investigation of an allegation of dating violence against his 21-year-old girlfriend.
Should You Be Concerned About the Delta Variant in Flagler? Absolutely, Health Officials Say–If You’re Not Vaccinated
The bottom-line verdict on the Delta variant of the coronavirus is this: it is far more transmissible than its predecessors. It is more virulent. Vaccinated people, while not immune, are extremely unlikely to be gravely sickened by it. Unvaccinated people remain susceptible to easy infection, a greater chance of serious illness, and death.
Florida Realtors’ Support for Ballot Initiative to Protect Affordable Housing Fund Rises to $13 Million
If approved by 60 percent of voters, the proposed ballot measure would establish in the Florida Constitution the State Housing Trust Fund and the Local Government Housing Trust Fund. It would require that the trust funds receive at least 25 percent of the revenue from documentary-stamp taxes — which are collected on real-estate transactions — and would detail how the money could be used to address affordable housing.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, July 8, 2021
The Flagler Beach City Commission today recognizes James Heren and Stephanie Raffo for their efforts to save the life of patron at The Anchor restaurant, and Roseanne Stocker for her 22 years of service on the city’s Planning and Architectural Review Board, among numerous other civic and philanthropic involvements.
In Bunnell, One Commissioner Resigns, Another Is Ailing and Absent, Leaving 2 Seats Vacant for Budget Season
Bunnell City Commissioner Bill Baxley resigned–or retired–after eight years on the commission, and Donnie Nobles has been absent after strokes, leaving the commission with the choice of leaving the seats vacant until next March, or making at least one appointment.
Ed Danko Fumes, Accuses and Menaces as Politics of Destruction Point to Palm Coast Council’s Potential Direction
In a preview of the sort of council to come if Ed Danko gets Alan Lowe elected mayor and aligns with Victor Barbosa, as Danko has continuously suggested, Tuesday’s Palm Coast council meeting was a rank display of the politics of destruction, of an elected official lashing out publicly and brutally against his own colleagues and the only two people on the council who report to him while distracting from a still-active internal investigation against him.
Carol Bacha, Palm Coast Mayor Candidate: The Live Interview
Carol Bacha is a candidate for Palm Coast Mayor in the July 27 special election. All registered voters in the city may cast a ballot in that non-partisan election regardless of party affiliation or location in Palm Coast.
Elsa Spares Flagler as It Cuts Swath of Heavy Rains and Power Outages Through Some of Florida’s Poorer Counties
Tropical Storm Elsa made landfall late this morning in Taylor County, and although its path was well west of Flagler County spare it, the storm was cutting a path through Florida’s poorer counties, dumping torrents of rain and leaving thousands without power.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Wednesday, July 7, 2021
All eyes on Hurricane-Tropical Storm Elsa as it crosses over Florida from west to northeast, but impacts in Flagler are expected to be limited. A chance to rediscover Elsa Morante, the great author of “History.”
Critical Race Theory: What it Is and What, Gov. DeSantis, It Is Not
Americans are used to viewing their history through a triumphalist lens, where we overcome hardships, defeat our British oppressors and create a country where all are free with equal access to opportunities. Obviously, not all of that is true.