Allan P. Avellan, who allegedly told his children he could get in trouble for it, was arrested and charged with a third-degree felony of distributing obscene materials to minors after twice casting explicit videos from his phone to a television screen where his children and their friends were hanging out. Three days later, William Naughton, 26, was arrested on the same charge for flashing girls in the Target parking lot with his phone.
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8 Years in Prison for Connor Anderson, Who ‘Terrorized’ Smiles Bar Patrons in Shooting
Connor Anderson, the 31-year-old man who wrestled with the Smiles Nite Club bartender and others and fired his gun six times inside the bar last November, was sentenced to eight years in prison, followed by five years on probation, after a sentencing hearing where Anderson described himself as disgusted with his act.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Friday, October 13, 2023
Two sentencings in felony court, LGBTQ+ Night at Flagler Beach’s Coquina Coast, the “ReAwaken America Tour brings us back to Richard Hofstadter’s Paranoid Style in American Politics, Friday the 13th.
Banning Supervised Drug Injection Sites for Addicts Does More Harm Than Good
While much of the political discourse surrounding the ban of supervised injection sites has focused on protecting neighborhoods where drug activity happens in parks and on the streets, ample evidence suggests that banning supervised injection sites may instead jeopardize the people and communities the policy was intended to protect.
Palm Coast Tornado Confirmed, ‘Multiple, Severely Damaged Homes’ in B-Section, Some Homeless
Flagler County Emergency Management and other first responders are investigating a tornado touching down in Palm Coast’s B Section around 4:45 this morning, leaving a trail of downed trees, downed power lines, damaged roofs, fencing and power losses. There are no reports of injuries.
City Repertory Theatre’s Double Bill of Dares: Albee’s ‘Zoo Story,’ and an Unpredictable ‘Rabbit’
“White Rabbit Red Rabbit” will be staged with no rehearsals, no director, no set and performed over four nights by four different actors who will have never before read the script. Also on the double-bill, Edward Albee’s very first play, “The Zoo Story,” making it one of City Repertory Theatre’s more daring evenings.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, October 12, 2023
The Flagler Beach City Commission meets, Luíseach Nic Eoin, Senior Editor at Nature Ecology and Evolution, is the featured speaker at Whitney’s lecture series, innocent lives lost.
Claudia Goldin’s Nobel Prize
The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics has been awarded to 90 men since 1969 and just three women. The third woman to win the prize, distinguished Harvard labor economist Claudia Goldin, was honored on Oct. 9, 2023, for her decades of work studying the gender pay gap. It wasn’t a victory just for her but for women in the field.
Ex-Matanzas Student Brendan Depa Will Plead Out in Teacher-Assault Case, Leaving His Fate to a Judge
Brendan Depa, the former Matanzas High School student who drew global attention and a first-degree felony charge as an adult after a video of his assault on a paraprofessional circulated, will plead out, avoiding a trial. But he will also be taking the risk of a steep sentence.
Monserrate Teron Is Sentenced to Life in Prison for Raping His Niece as Child’s Mother Describes a Family Wrecked
Monserrate Teron, the former Army nurse a jury last July found guilty of raping his 7-year-old niece, was sentenced this morning to two life terms, plus 30 years on an additional charge. Teron turns 60 in two weeks. The victim’s mother described to the court the day-to-day of her daughters’ harrowing lives since, accusing a large part of Teron’s family as “enablers.” That side of the family again today insisted that Teron is innocent.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Wednesday, October 11, 2023
Palm Coast’s Imagine 2050 Community Engagement Session at the Community Center, Monserrate Teron, found guilty of abusing his niece, is sentenced, Brendan Depa is in court for a pre-trial, Salman Rushdie on Prozac Nation.
Eyeless in Gaza: A Key to Understanding This War
How did Gaza become one of the most densely populated parts of the planet? And why is it the home to militant Palestinian action now? Understanding the answers to those questions provides crucial historical context to the current violence.
11 Matanzas High School Students Face Arrest for Fighting, Three on Felony Charges
The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office filed charges against 11 Matanzas High School students on Monday following a brawl that involved students hitting each other, landing a punch on a teacher, attacking an administrator and resisting a deputy. It is the largest mass arrest at the school since it opened in the fall of 2005.
What Does Palm Coast Hope to Be ‘When We Grow Up’? City Launches 14-Month Plan to Listen and Respond
What should Palm Coast look like in 2050? City Hall today kicked off a 14-month process to answer that question, to do so by engaging as many residents as possible as inclusively as possible along the way, ending with a document that will re-imagines the city’s blueprint as its residents want it to be at mid-century. The result of that exercise will be a complete re-write of the city’s “Comprehensive Plan,” the first since 2004.
School Board Members’ Questions to Outside Counsel Reveal Worry of Lawsuit If They Fire Their Attorney
Three Flagler County School Board members have submitted nine questions to two attorneys the board hired for at least $5,000 to examine how it could fire Board Attorney Kristy Gavin without getting sued. The board members wrote the questions and circulated them outside of a public meeting. The questions had not been disclosed publicly until this article.
In Lawsuit Settlement DeSantis Administration Will Stop Censoring Covid Death Counts and Vaccinations
The DeSantis administration has agreed to release years of previously suppressed data about Covid’s spread in Florida to settle a lawsuit filed by a former state House member, a government openness group, and news organizations. The Florida Department of Health will resume posting on its website details of vaccination counts, case counts, and deaths weekly by county, age group, gender, and race in the future.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Tuesday, October 10, 2023
The Palm Coast City Council meets in workshop, then again in a special workshop with its planning board to talk about Imagine 2050, the next comprehensive plan, Donna Tartt’s Goldfinch, swimming in the Seine.
Israel-Hamas War: No Matter Who Loses, Iran Wins
Analysts are suggesting that Tehran’s fingerprints can be seen on the surprise attack on Israel. At the very least, Iran’s leaders have reacted to the assault with encouragement and support.
16-Year-Old Student Arrested for Biting Her Teacher at Matanzas High School
The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office Friday arrested a 16-year-old student at Matanzas High School after the teen got into a physical altercation with another student and bit a school staff member who was attempting to break up the fight.
Don O’Brien Said to Consider Dropping Out of House Race, Pam Richardson Runs for County Commission
Darryl Boyer, one of three Republican candidates in the primary for the state House seat that Paul Renner is relinquishing in 2024, said today that Donald O’Brien, one of the other two competitors for that seat, told him he was likely dropping out of the race. At the same time, Pam Richardson, the Realtor-broker, has joined the Republican primary race for O’Brien’s Commission seat, also contested by Ed Danko and Victor Barbosa.
Flagler’s Family Life Center Nets $26,000 from Creekside Festival Donation as 10,000 Turn Out
Last weekend’s edition of the Creekside Music and Arts Festival at Princess Place Preserve made up for last year’s, when Hurricane Ian made the park impassable and forced the event to move to the Agriculture Museum. The two-day event drew 10,000 people and netted the Family Life center a $26,000 donation from Flagler Broadcasting, which organized the event.
Judge Orders One Final Mediation in Hopes of Averting Trial in Captain’s BBQ Suit Against County
The Flagler County Commission met behind closed doors for the first time in over three years this morning to discuss a possible settlement of the four-year-old lawsuit by Captain’s BBQ at Bings Landing. The judge in the case ordered the two sides again to go to mediation to avoid a January trial. Mediation and an attempted settlement that made significant concessions to Captain’s in 2020 failed as commissioners rejected the proposal.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, October 9, 2023
The Flagler County Commission meets behind closed doors to talk litigation, the Bunnell City Commission meets, debating Columbus.
Branson, Missouri’s Lesson to Live Theater ‘In Crisis’
American live theater, especially regional, non-profit theater, is on the verge of collapse. One place to look for ideas is the tourist town of Branson, Missouri. Scholars and theater critics have ignored this mecca of live entertainment that attracts millions of people a year, largely because of its reputation for cheesy performances and political conservatism.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, October 8, 2023
Palm Coast’s and AdventHealth’s Pink on Parade 5k Run/Walk in Town Center, Creekside Music and Arts Festival, the determinism of 2+2=4, Daniel Boorstin on Charlie Rose and pseudo-events.
Serenity Now: Meet Jon Fosse, Winner of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Literature
Despite having been in the running for the award for a number of years, Fosse, as with several other 21st century European laureates like Elfriede Jelinek and the controversial Peter Handke, is still largely unknown in the English-speaking world. Fosse’s massive literary oeuvre includes roughly 40 plays as well as novels, poetry collections, essays, children’s books and translations.
In Florida, Surgeon General Normalizes Medical Quackery
In 2021, when Ron DeSantis brought the Quack Ladapo to Florida, it was like returning to a simpler, much stupider time, when docs prescribed drinking a little ground unicorn horn mixed with water as a cure for the plague. Or if you were fresh out of unicorns (or the virgins you need to catch them), you could always try chicken butt.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, October 7, 2023
Creekside Music and Arts Festival today and tomorrow, Monthly Volunteer Clean-Up Day at the Florida Agriculture Museum, Maze Dayz Fall Festival, Stetson Choral Festival, housing prices, Víkingur Ólafsson’s new Goldberg Variations.
Narges Mohammadi Wins the Nobel Peace Prize on Behalf of Millions of Iranian Women
Prominent Iranian women’s rights advocate Narges Mohammadi has won the 2023 Nobel peace prize for her long fight against the oppression of women in Iran. Mohammadi is serving multiple prison sentences in Evin prison in Tehran on charges which include spreading propaganda against the state.
State Attorney’s Jason Lewis, Near-Invincible Prosecutor, Wins 7th Judicial Circuit’s Lifetime Achievement Award
Assistant State Attorney Jason Lewis, a ferocious, annihilating prosecutor who’s as genial outside the courtroom as he is fearsome inside it, since 2014 has managed the Flagler outpost of the State Attorney’s Office and oversees its homicide attorneys in the four-county Seventh Judicial Circuit.
Before Her Leap Off the Flagler Beach Bridge, Untouched Drinks and a Purse Left Behind
The Flagler Beach Police Department identified the woman who jumped from the Flagler Beach bridge Wednesday afternoon and survived as Mandy Michelle Mincey, a 47-year-old woman with no reported home. She was also known as Mandy Monroe. Earlier that day she had been at a bar and had ordered drinks, but left them untouched as she ran to the bridge.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Friday, October 6, 2023
First Friday in Flagler Beach, the Nobel Peace Prize is announced, Stetson Choral Festival, the John Marchi-John Lindsey mayoral race and that Lloyd Bentsen-Dan Quayle moment.
The Supreme Court Is Privileging Christians Ahead of Others’ Dignity
On issues where the Christian right’s First Amendment claims directly threaten the equal citizenship of sexual minorities, the court leaves no question about which side it’s on, privileging Christians over all others.
15-Year-Old FPC Student Faces Aggravated Assault Charge for Pointing Toy Gun at Others
“I really thought it was done, like all of my life was over,” a student said after the 15-year-old student pointed the gun at him and clicked the trigger. Florida law does not distinguish between real and toy guns when either are used to give the impression that someone is armed, and criminal charges are filed accordingly.
Palm Coast Issued Development Orders for 4,138 Homes This Year Alone, and Has 13,361 ‘in Pipeline’
While City Council member Theresa Ponstieri significantly overstated the actual number of homes the council approved this year, there is no question that Palm Coast is growing rapidly, and that Council policy is doing all it can to accelerate that growth, with increasing rumbles from existing residents who think, like Pontieri, that the pace is too rapid.
Palm Coast’s 2023 Photo Contest Draws 900 Submissions and 6 Winners
With over 900 photo submissions in the City’s 2023 Annual Photo Contest, the photos capture the essence of Palm Coast across six distinctive categories: Residents, Pets, Landscape, Wildlife, Recreation, and Events. Participants were able to submit up to 20 photos per person with six chances to win a grand prize ‘Category Winner.’
With District Financial Procedures Ensnarled, School Board Pursues Firing Attorney, But With a Lifeline
The board’s discussion took an unexpected turn as the possibility of saving Kristy Gavin’s job in a different capacity–she would answer to the superintendent as a staff attorney–gelled around a consensus that perhaps reflects the board’s leeriness at fostering either more controversy or more difficulties for its new superintendent, who already relies a great deal on Gavin and her unparalleled institutional history.
Ex-Volusia Council’s Heather Post Agrees to Pay $1,000 Fine Over Missed Financial Disclosure Filing
The Florida Commission on Ethics’s advocate, in a joint agreement with former Volusia County Council ember Heather post, is recommending that Post pay a $1,000 fine for failing to file her financial disclosure form for 2021 on time. The agreement also calls for Post to be publicly reprimanded and censured.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, October 5, 2023
The Nobel Prize for Literature is announced this morning, making this the most important day of the year. No drug court today. Bach’s Toccata in C Minor, and a few words from the late Alan Siegal on good writing.
If You Think the House Is Fractured, Look at America
The House of Representatives did something that had never been done before in the nation’s history: It ousted the speaker of the House. Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, lost his job in a vote of 216 to 210. Charles R. Hunt of Boise State University’s School of Public Servic offers a sense of what this historic development might mean for the government at the moment, as well as for American democracy over the longer term.
With $719,000 Almost Certainly Lost to Fraud, School District Turns to Insurance in Hopes for Recovery
Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly this afternoon confirmed that the amount of money the Flagler County school district lost in a wire-transfer phishing scheme is $719,583, but that “it’s close to 100 percent long gone.” The district made the payment on Sept. 22. Its fraudulent nature was not detected until Tuesday morning–11 days later, an eternity of comfort for phishing scams to evade controls and make it out of the country.
Woman Survives Suicide Attempt Off Flagler Beach Bridge as Rescuers Pull Her from Intracoastal
A woman survived an apparent suicide attempt off the Flagler Beach bridge early this afternoon as passersby immediately alerted authorities, and paramedics dove into the Intracoastal to rescue her.
Sheriff Chitwood’s Dangerous, Irresponsible Attacks on News-Journal’s Frank Fernandez
Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood’s repeated, vilifying and unjustified attacks on News-Journal reporter Frank Fernandez irresponsibly and dangerously inflame his social media base at a time when reporters’ safety is nothing to take lightly–the more so when a law enforcement chief who should know better is stoking the flames. Volusia County media should respond in concert.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Wednesday, October 4, 2023
Bridge and Games at Flagler Woman’s Club, James Taylor is back in court, battling his life term, the Flagler County Republican Club meets, Weekly Chess Club for teens, more Gatsby and the 7 Train in snow.
Where the Supreme Court Stands on Banning Books
Until the U.S. Supreme Court takes up a newer case, the lower courts will look to existing precedent, set in a legal ruling that dates back to 1982. In that ruling, the court declared that school personnel have a lot of discretion related to the content of their libraries, but this “discretion may not be exercised in a narrowly partisan or political manner.”
Flagler School District Loses ‘Significant Amount of Money’ in Apparent Phishing Scheme Involving Vendor
The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a case of fraud, or phishing, targeting the Flagler County school district and one of its vendors. The district may have lost as much as $700,000 intended for one of the contractors building the Matanzas High School addition. If it is a case of phishing, the likelihood of recovering the money is not high, especially since the district may not have been timely either in discovering the fraud or in reporting it.
Bob Snyder, ‘Giant During Covid,’ Steps Down from Flagler County Health Department He Led for 11 Years
Bob Snyder, who’s led the Flagler County Health Department since 2013, was the co-architect of the county’s response to the Covid pandemic and more recently ensured that the department’s funding more directly reflect the county’s population, after decades of imbalance, stepped down and opted for retirement Sunday, six months before he was planning to do so.
Alleged Circle K Robber Flees with $368 and Is Apprehended Near the Library
John Ramsey Davis, a 44-year-old homeless man, faces felony charges after allegedly robbing the Circle K at Palm Coast Parkway of $368 Monday night. Flagler County Sheriff’s deputies apprehended him shortly afterward near the public library. No one was physically hurt. The stolen money was recovered.
For $3 Million Rebuild of Splash Pad at Holland Park, Palm Coast Turns to Trusted Contractor
Palm Coast government is turning to a trusted contractor, Daytona Beach-based Saboungi Construction–fresh from its ramped up transformation of Waterfront Park–to repair the desolate splash pad at Holland Park, a two-year-old blight on the city’s prized park system and an eyesore at the flagship park almost since it opened in May 2021.
Judge Exonerates ‘Christian’ Teacher Who Refused to Refer to Trans Student by His Preferred Pronouns
An administrative law judge Monday backed a Miami-Dade County teacher who reportedly told a transgender student that, “I’m a Christian, and my God made no mistakes” while refusing to call the student by preferred pronouns.