Flagler County School Board members Colleen Conklin and Cheryl Massaro, each in her own way, spoke their farewells at their last voting School Board meeting, though both will serve through another workshop in November, where a celebration of their tenures is planned. Conklin has been on the board since 2000, Massaro since 2020.
Elections 2024
Trump’s Lies Politicize FEMA’s Disaster Relief
Rumors and lies about government responses to natural disasters are not new. Those rumors don’t usually come from former presidents. Yet in the wake of hurricanes Helene and Milton, former President Donald Trump spread falsehoods about the federal government’s response to the disaster. Misinformation on the topic became so widespread that the Federal Emergency Management Agency, known as FEMA, set up a webpage to debunk the rumors spawned by Trump.
Florida Supreme Court Rejects Challenge to State Agency Campaigning Against Abortion Rights Amendment 4
The Florida Supreme Court denied a petition from a South Florida attorney who alleged that Gov. Ron DeSantis and other state officials interfered with the campaign for the state’s proposed abortion-rights amendment. The justices unanimously sided with the DeSantis administration in one of the legal challenges that emerged after a state health agency published a webpage alleging that Amendment 4 “threatens women’s safety.”
Republicans Follow Trump’s Lead in Landslide Shift and Falsehoods on Vaccines
Trump has presided over a landslide shift in his party’s views on vaccines, reflected this campaign season in false claims by Republican candidates during the primaries and puzzling conspiracies from prominent conservative voices. Republicans increasingly express worry about the risks of vaccines. A September 2023 poll from Politico and Morning Consult showed a narrow majority of those voters cared more about the risks than the benefits of getting inoculated. On at least 17 occasions this year, Trump has promised to cut funding to schools that mandate vaccines.
DeSantis Appoints Hofberger to a County Commission Seat For Which She Is a Candidate in November
DeSantis appointed Ashlee Hofberger to the open the Escambia County Commission seat Friday, roughly four weeks before voters get to pick her on a more permanent basis, and on the heels of her getting 37% in a closely-contested, three-way primary for the seat vacated by former Commissioner Robert Bender in District 4.
Why CNN Is Changing Up Its Polling
Pollsters have been turning to a variety of survey techniques – online options among them – in seeking to avoid yet another embarrassment in a presidential race. In polling this year’s presidential race, CNN has drawn respondents from an SSRS panel, which is a large group of people willing to complete surveys from time to time.
Palm Coast City Council Candidates Ray Stevens and Andrew Werner Sharpen Differences in Radio Face-Off
Ray Stevens and Andrew Warner, the two candidates in the runoff for the District 3 seat of the Palm Coast City Council, faced off on WNZF’s Free For All Fridays this morning in a more focused and spirited discussion than candidates typically do at soporific and rarely challenging forums. The two candidates tangled for 65 minutes over development, their past, their associations, the reason they’re running, and why they’d be a better councilman than the other guy.
DeSantis Dispatches National Guard to Ports in Move Seen as Politicizing Longshoremen’s Strike
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday said members of the Florida National Guard and the Florida State Guard will go to ports where union longshoremen are on strike seeking higher pay. With the presidential election about a month away, DeSantis and other Republicans have increasingly tried to tie effects of the strike to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee. They also have criticized the Biden administration’s response to the hurricane.
Flagler School Board is Doing Nothing to Encourage Applicants for Seat Vacated by Sally Hunt. Here’s How to Apply.
The Flagler County School Board discussed the appointment of Sally Hunt’s replacement for the first time Tuesday, for just four minutes. It had no clue what to do next, and has no intentions of informing the public that the application window is open, or facilitating applications. The board chair has had contact with the governor’s appointment office, but did not say what that entailed other than getting an acknowledgement from that office that Hunt had resigned.
A Majority of the Palm Coast City Council Now Opposes Its Own Debt Referendum, Yet It Remains on the Ballot
Newly appointed Palm Coast City Council member Charles Gambaro attempted to nullify a controversial proposed referendum on the Nov. 5 ballot. City Attorney Marcus Duffy counseled against it. That left the council in a startling position of defending a proposed referendum a majority of the council opposes. The ongoing debate is illustrative of the extent to which the proposed referendum has lost credibility and the way it is fracturing the council.