Eric Philip Galdabini, a 56-year-old resident of 126 Birchwood Drive in Palm Coast, had circled by a couple walking in the B-Section and asked a 21-year-old woman if she wanted a ride before he stopped the car and rushed her boyfriend. The two scuffled, Galdabini slashed at the man with a pocketknife, and was later arrested on an aggravated battery with a deadly weapon count.
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The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, January 27, 2024
Flagler Woman’s Club 1st Responders Chili Challenge at Veterans Park, EDGES: A Song Cycle, at City Repertory Theatre, Blue Spring Manatee Festival, consumer confidence, Fran Lebowitz, Art Buchwald on Ronald Reagan.
Holocaust Memorial Day and the Unsung, Ordinary People Who Made a Difference
The theme for the 2024 Holocaust Memorial Day, which takes place on January 27, is the “fragility of freedom”. This year is an especially poignant one, marking 80 years since the deportation and murder of Hungarian Jews, when the gas chambers of Auschwitz were working at full capacity, and also the 30th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide.
Bill Lowers Florida State Guard Training Standards, Allows Use Outside the State, and Broadens In-State Mission
The Florida State Guard, revived by Gov. Ron DeSantis, could operate outside Florida and be called into service anytime he “deemed necessary,” under a bill approved Thursday by a House panel. The bill also removes a requirement that state guard standards and training be equivalent to the Florida National Guard.
On His Trial’s Eve, Marshall Thomas, 17, Is Arrested for the 3rd Time in 18 Months, This Time for Distributing Porn to Kids
Marshall Thomas, 17, has twice been released on bond since his original arrest in July 2022, and both times has re-offended, getting charged with serious felonies. Now, on the eve of his trial in Flagler County on charges of molesting a girl at Matanzas High School, and on two counts of stealing firearms, prosecutors in Flagler County are asking that Thomas’s bond be revoked following his latest arrest, in Wisconsin, on charges of distributing child pornography to other children.
3rd Annual Tunnel to Towers 5K Palm Coast Is Set in Town Center on Feb. 3
The City of Palm Coast will host its 3rd Annual Tunnel to Towers 5K Run/Walk Palm Coast on Saturday, February 3, 2024 at Central Park in Town Center, beginning at 8 a.m. The previous two events raised nearly $30,000 with all proceeds going to the foundation.
County Commissioners Plan to Develop 4 or 5 New Economic Development Incentives to Diversify Tax Base
The Flagler County Commission is looking to step up its incentive programs for economic development, focusing on certain approaches more than others, as it looks to diversify the local tax base and expand on the availability of local jobs in a county where nearly half the working population of 51,000 people commutes out of county.
Flagler Beach Will Sign 3-Year, $94,000 Deal for New Year’s Eve Fireworks, But With an Escape Clause
The Flagler Beach City Commission will approve a three-year, $94,000 deal with My Three Sons, the fireworks company, to produce New Year’s Eve fireworks through 2026, assuming there’s a place from where to set them off. The deal stems from last New Year’s Eve fireworks display, the first in the city on that date, which My Three Sons produced to local acclaim.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Friday, January 26, 2024
Gladys Knight in concert at Flagler Auditorium, Edges: A Song Cycle, at City Repertory Theatre, Mozart, Vivaldi and Handel at Jacksonville Symphony, the resurgence against DEI.
How AI Threatens Free Speech
A serious danger which gets surprisingly little media attention is the impact new artificial intelligence technologies are likely to have on freedom of expression. And, in particular, how they’re able to undermine some of the most foundational legal tenets that protect free speech.
Rymfire Elementary’s Allison Kucharski Is Flagler Schools’ Teacher of the Year, Jimmy Sorrentino Wins Honor
Allison Kucharski, a second-grade teacher at Rymfire Elementary School, was named Flagler County Schools’ Teacher of the Year, and Jimmy Sorrentino, Buddy Taylor Middle School’s campus advisor/security and a coach, was named District Employee of the Year Wednesday evening at the district’s annual celebration of itself at Flagler Auditorium.
At Joint Meeting of Local Flagler Governments, Homelessness Draws a Vague Pledge to Seek Funding
A joint meeting of Flagler County’s cities and the county again took up homelessness and again mostly deferred to non-profits and churches to pick up the pieces. But officials also agreed at least to explore state funding possibilities. More firm commitments to tackle the issue are still lacking.
Flagler Receives $15.7 Million from State for Beach Project, Making Dip Into Reserves Unnecessary
Flagler County will not have to dip into its reserves for $15.7 million after all. The county administrator said late this morning that the Florida Department of Transportation had just wired money pledged to the county to cover the county’s share of the cost of the long-awaited U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ beach-reconstruction project in Flagler Beach, which begins in late spring.
Palm Coast’s Noah Michael Urban, 19, Faces 14 Counts of Cryptocurrency Fraud in Federal Indictment
A federal judge in Jacksonville on Monday signed an order to have former Palm Coast resident Noah Michael Urban held in prison pending trial, and finding him at risk of fleeing if he were released meanwhile. Urban is alleged to have stolen virtual currency from five victims’ accounts by fraudulently obtaining their personal identifying information, managing to take control of their cell phone numbers, and gaining access to their online accounts and cryptocurrency exchange accounts.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, January 25, 2024
The Flagler Beach City Commission meets, Neil Simon’s ‘The Sunshine Boys,’ at Daytona Playhouse, oranges from Florida to Arizona, The Simpsons’ Prediction for 2024.
Transgender Regret? Research Points to No Such Thing.
Evidence suggests that less than 1% of transgender people who undergo gender-affirming surgery report regret. That proportion is even more striking when compared to the fact that 14.4% of the broader population reports regret after similar surgeries. For example, studies have found that between 5% and 14% of all women who receive mastectomies to reduce the risk of developing breast cancer say they regretted doing so.
Clarifying Its Own Roles, School Board Finally Approves Carver Gym Agreement with Expanded PAL Presence
It took half a year, but the Flagler County School Board Tuesday evening approved the new agreement that will revamp and control the operation of the Carver Center, or Carver Gym, in Bunnell, in cooperation with Flagler County, the City of Bunnell, the Sheriff’s Office and its Police Athletic League. PAL will have a much larger role running activities at the center.
Youth Climate Activists in Tallahassee Demand ‘Immediate and Bold Action,’ but Lawmakers Aren’t Interested
Youth climate activists gathered on the steps of the Old Capitol building in Tallahassee Wednesday morning with a direct message for state lawmakers: Start taking “immediate and bold action on climate change.” But there’s a quantum distance between what the activists desire and what the GOP-controlled Legislature is actually doing in the 2024 session regarding the issue.
Parents Jailed on 6 Felony Counts of Child Neglect Over Abject House Conditions as DCF Takes 3 Children
Michelle Sofia, 35, and Willie Lee London, 41, are facing three felony child neglect charges each in connection with Bunnell police discovering their three children living in abject conditions at 811 Hymon Circle, with no food, running water or sanitation. The children are an 11-year-old girl, a 12-year-old boy and a 17-year-old boy.
School Board’s Sally Hunt Would Like You To Follow ‘Chain of Command’ Before You Contact Her
The School Board’s Sally Hunt made the startling assertion toward the end of Tuesday evening’s board meeting, placing parents and constituents in a subordinate role to what she twice described as a a board as “super boss,” and in effect reversing the roles of elected officials and constituents: she as an elected official is the boss. She wants constituents, her subordinates, to follow the chain of command, starting at school and through the administration, before their case is elevated to her level.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Wednesday, January 24, 2024
One-Stop Help Night at Flagler Cares, Flagler Village, Flagler Tiger Bay hosts Gloria Herndon, Joint workshop of local governments, Harry Belafonte and Norman Jewison and the art of cultural appropriation.
Remember Me: More Pets Are Getting a Mention in Obituaries
By the mid-2000s, roughly one to four per cent of obituaries mentioned pets. Since 2015, this number has climbed as high as 15 per cent. As obituaries grow longer and more detailed, it only seems fair that animals get some attention. It has become more common to mention someone’s pet, or love of animals. Passages also grow more detailed. Beyond the pet’s name, we learn whether they were a “hoity-toity poodle,” a “loyal companion” or “the best dog ever.”
Will Furry Claims Kristy Gavin’s Firing Was ‘For Cause.’ His Termination Letter Contains No Such Thing.
School Board Chairman Will Furry insisted today that the firing letter he signed on Monday and that went to Kristy Gavin, the former school board attorney, was “for cause,” as required by her contract. The one-page letter, obtained by FlaglerLive, contains no cause. The silence on the matter appears to be one more weapon in Gavin’s arsenal should she sue the district for breach of contract and wrongful termination.
Cell Towers Behind FPC’s Football Field Is Not a Health Problem, School Board Is Told, and May Be There Years
A consultant the Flagler school district hired to survey and analyze the health hazards, if any, of the monopole cell tower behind the bleachers at Flagler Palm Coast High School had a simple conclusion today: the tower is not a problem. It’s not close to being a problem. And the School Board’s options with it are limited to none as it is leasing space at least until 2046.
School District Attorney Kristy Gavin Is Fired as Board Turns to Evaluating 2 Firms for New Legal Representation
Ending weeks of uncertainty, Kristy Gavin, the Flagler County School Board’s attorney since 2006, was fired on Monday, a district spokesman confirmed today. The firing is ostensibly for cause, though it sets up a likely legal battle between Gavin and the district, which severed her contract 18 months before its end. Meanwhile this morning, the School Board evaluated two law firms interested in representing the board–GrayRobinson and the Douglas Law Firm.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Tuesday, January 23, 2024
The school board has a trio of meetings, first to talk about its next attorney, but with a good deal of secrecy, “The Kitchen Witches” at Limelight Theatre, Rabelais’ great perhaps.
Israel Now Ranks Among the World’s Leading Jailers of Journalists
At the top of the list sits China with 44 in detention, followed by Myanmar (43), Belarus (28), Russia (22), and Vietnam (19). Israel and Iran share sixth place with 17 each. The journalists Israel detained were all from the occupied West Bank, all Palestinian, and all arrested after Hamas’s horrific attacks from Gaza on October 7. But we know very little about why they were detained.
County Forced to Approve $15.7 Million Stop-Gap for Dunes’ Army Corps Project, Leaving Reserves Threadbare
With its administration’s promise that it’s only for a short time–a matter of days–the Flagler County Commission this afternoon approved drawing $15.7 million out of its reserves to pay the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the county’s share of the cost of the long-awaited beach-rebuilding project south of the Flagler Beach pier. Flagler County had to do so because it had not yet received an equivalent amount from the state to cover the cost. But that leaves its reserves dangerously bare.
Objecting to County’s Control of Fees, School Board’s Massaro Not Ready to Sign Off on Carver Center Yet
Flagler County School Board member Cheryl Massaro, who had formerly run the Carver Center, is not ready to sign off on a joint agreement in the works for months with the county, the Sheriff’s Office and Bunnell on running the facility, raising new concerns about the county taking over authority for setting rental fees there.
Don Foley Replaces Jason Wheeler as School District’s Communication Coordinator
Flagler Schools Superintendent LaShakia Moore has chosen Palm Coast resident Don Foley as the district’s new Communications Coordinator. Announced at the December 2023 School Board meeting, Foley began his duties serving the district on Jan. 8.
Defense Calls Out Sharp Inaccuracies in Arrest Account of Migrant Facing Manslaughter Charge in Death of Deputy
The defense lawyer for Virgilio Aguilar Mendez, the 18-year-old migrant held for over eight months on an aggravated manslaughter of an officer charge in the death of a St. Johns County deputy, is calling his arrest “legally insufficient,” describing his arrest report as a series of misrepresentations and misapplications of the law, and citing the medical examiner’s report to conclude that the death of the deputy was unrelated to the arrest.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, January 22, 2024
The Flagler County Beekeepers Association meets, the Bunnell City Commission meets, Clay Jones on DeSantis’s and Haley’s wishy-washiness, the Cedars of Lebanon through the ages and by drone.
Misinformation: Fact-Checking Journalism’s Evolution and Impact
A series of studies published over recent years have shown that, while fact-checks will, of course, not alter an individual’s long-held worldview, they can and do have “significantly positive overall influence” on reader’s factual understanding and “reduce belief in misinformation, often durably so.” Two recent studies have shown that so-called “warning labels” attached to online content “effectively reduce belief and spread of misinformation” and do so “even for those most distrusting of fact-checkers.”
DeSantis Is Kaput
Something is terribly wrong here: Iowa, a far-off land of snow and butter, failed to give our Ronbo a win. Yet he did everything right. He visited all 99 counties. He shook hooves with every single cow. He displayed the depth of his feelings toward his wife when he gave her a warm handshake after one of the debates.
DeSantis, Seeing No ‘Clear Path to Victory,’ Drops Out and Endorses Trump
Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended his campaign for the Republican nomination for president on Sunday, saying in a video posted on X that didn’t see “a clear path to victory” in light of his poor showing in the Iowa caucuses, and endorsing Donald Trump in the election.
The Child Tax Credit Changed My Life. Bring It Back.
A myth exists in America that financial well-being follows if we just work hard and make good choices. But it’s not that simple. At some point, most of us face unforeseen obstacles — from physical or mental health challenges to lost jobs, economic downturns, and natural disasters. Along with low wages and other structural causes of poverty, that puts financial well-being out of reach for about 140 million people in this country.
Proposal to Limit County Commission Terms to 12 Years Advances in Florida House
A House panel Friday approved a proposal that would impose 12-year term limits on county commissioners in most of the state, after changing an earlier version of the bill that would have led to eight-year limits.
Ex-GOP Chief Christian Ziegler Won’t Face Rape Charge But Voyeurism Probe Continues
Sarasota police Friday said they do not have “probable cause” to charge former Republican Party of Florida Chairman Christian Ziegler with sexual battery but are asking prosecutors to review allegations of video voyeurism. The announcement came less than two weeks after state party leaders removed Ziegler from the chairmanship amid the police investigation into Ziegler’s sexual encounter with a woman in October.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, January 21, 2024
EDGES at City Repertory Theatre, Great Organists at Stetson, Mid-Century Modern Combo at Jacksonville Symphony, Jo Koy laughs it up at the Peabody, the little libraries of Mesa and Saul Bellow’s Clara.
Is America Enduring a Slow Civil War? A Look at the ‘Undertow.’
Jeff Sharlet’s “The Undertow” tells how the cultural divisions in American society could allow such a thing as the storming of the Capitol by Trump supporters to happen. (And how, despite everything that’s happened since, he remains the Republican frontrunner for the 2024 presidential race.) Sharlet believes that event is part of a “slow civil war” that threatens the future of the American republic.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, January 20, 2024
EDGES: A Song Cycle, at City Repertory Theatre, Whitney Houston Tribute at Flagler Auditorium, Neil Simon’s ‘The Sunshine Boys,’ at Daytona Playhouse, the poetry of Gary Snyder, and the cold-weather shelter opens again tonight.
Why Extreme Cold Happens in a Warming World
Extreme cold-weather events often occur in association with changes to another river of air high above the jet stream: the stratospheric polar vortex, a great stream of air moving around the North Pole in the middle of the stratosphere. When this stratospheric vortex becomes disrupted or stretched in part due to warming, it can distort the jet stream as well, pushing it southward in some areas and causing cold air outbreaks.
In Free Florida, the Dictionary Is Dangerous to Your Children
A few people who call themselves parents but are really frustrated bullies who want everyone else to lead the miserable lives they do, at least when they’re not engaging in threesomes, have successfully made black holes of Florida’s school and classroom libraries and further marginalized slews of children whose one solace might have been that one book.
Mustering the Barest Majority, Jury Votes 8-4 to Recommend Death for Julio Rivera in Roberto Ovalle Murder
Concluding a weeklong sentencing trial, a Volusia County jury voted 8-4 today to recommend the death penalty for Julio Rivera, the 52-year-old former fugitive who shot and killed his friend at a DeBary self-storage facility on Dec. 8, 2019. The death penalty recommendation is one Florida’s first under a new standard that does not require a jury’s unanimity.
Man Who Killed Victim’s Dog Is Jailed for Aggravated Stalking After Sending 48 Texts Violating No-Contact Order
Ellory Thomas “Tommy” Buehl, 33, is at the Flagler County jail on a felony aggravated stalking charge after he sent 48 texts to his ex-girlfriend in violation of an injunction and a no-contact order. To dissimulate his identity, Buehl would allegedly get new phone numbers after sending texts. Prosecutors have filed a motion asking the court to deny Buehl bond because of the danger he may pose otherwise, and a history of violence toward the victim, including the killing of her dog.
Flagler County Ends Year with 3.7% Unemployment, 12th-Highest Rate in Florida
Flagler County ended 2023 with an unemployment rate of 3.7 percent and an average unemployment rate of 3.5 percent for the year, down slightly from the average of 3.6 percent in 2022. It is the 12th highest in the state. While the monthly report indicates continued healthy employment, it also hints at a couple o concerning underlying trends, with a slow-down in the growth of Flagler’s workforce and a significant jump in the number of people collecting unemployment.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Friday, January 19, 2024
A Free Bobby Jo Valentine Community Concert at St. Thomas Episcopal, how Americans view race, how Shelby Steele viewed Obama and defined the age of white guilt.
Your Laundry Is a Top Source of Microplastic Pollution
The most common microplastics in the environment are microfibers – plastic fragments shaped like tiny threads or filaments. Microfibers come from many sources, including cigarette butts, fishing nets and ropes, but the biggest source is synthetic fabrics, which constantly shed them.
Palm Coast’s Sen. Hutson Votes with Majority in Latest Bid to Scale Back Local Vacation-Rental Regulations
Almost every year since 2014, Florida lawmakers have been trying to reduce local regulatory control on the booming vacation-rental industry or shift it to the state–what’s called “pre-emption.” The state would then bar local governments from enacting many of their own regulations. A Senate panel today cleared the way for the latest such attempt, with Sen. Travis Hutson in the majority. The bill goes to the Senate floor next.
Graffiti on Bridges in Palm Coast C-Section Concern Residents and Prompt Talk of Surveillance Cameras
Residents of Palm Coast’s C-Section are concerned about recurring graffiti that’s been re-appearing on bridges on Colorado Drive and Colchester Lane, after city crews painted over a spate of graffiti there last year.