The Flagler County Commission meets in the evening, the East Flagler Mosquito Control District meets in the morning, and the histories and pleasures of Calvados, drink of the gods on Mont-Saint-Michel.
Florida & Beyond, and All Opinions
Corporations Are DEI’s Great Hope
Whether the many attacks on DEI – first from right-wing bloggers, then from the Supreme Court, and then from the president – will affect the makeup of Fortune-level boards in 2025 and beyond remains to be seen. But so far, these boards are diversifying and seeing the value in DEI.
The Sun Is Setting on Government Transparency in Florida
Florida, the “Sunshine State,” once known as a beacon of government transparency, is growing ever darker, and the clouds are spreading throughout the United States. Legislators have passed more than 1,100 exemptions to the Florida Sunshine Law, and growing.
Florida Law Banning Kids off Some Social Media Prevails as Judge Refuses to Block It
A federal judge has rejected a request to block a 2024 Florida law aimed at keeping children off some social-media platforms, ruling that industry groups did not show they had legal standing to challenge the measure.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, March 16, 2025
‘The Drowsy Chaperone,’ at St. Augustine’s Limelight Theatre, Farmer’s market at European Village, the pandemic of backing in, how parking lots have ruined the urban landscape.
The Women Behind the Babylonian Captivity
The church may not have seen women as equals, but nevertheless, their work was key to the workings and finances of the papal court and its surroundings. The fact is made obvious in the archives by simply following the money. It was hardly glamorous work but necessary for the functioning of the papal court.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, March 15, 2025
The Saturday Flagler Beach Farmers Market, Democratic Women’s Club of Flagler County meeting, Coffee With Commissioner Scott Spradley, ‘The Drowsy Chaperone,’ at St. Augustine’s Limelight Theatre.
In Red and Blue States, a Surge of Laws to Protect Teen on Social Media
In 2024, approximately half of all U.S. states passed at least 50 bills that make it harder for children and teens to spend time online without any supervision. Research shows that adolescents who spend more than three hours a day on social media have an increased risk of anxiety and depression. Almost half of teens have faced online bullying or harassment, with older teen girls most likely to have experienced this. Social media use has been linked to self-harm in some cases.
Norman Mugford, Alarmpro Owner and Longtime Member of Palm Coast Code Enforcement Board, Dies at 76
The City of Palm Coast honors the memory and celebrates the life of Norman Mugford, who passed away on Monday, March 3, 2025, at the age of 76. Norman was a dedicated public servant whose tireless commitment significantly shaped Palm Coast, particularly through his extensive service on the Palm Coast Code Enforcement Board.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Friday, March 14, 2025
Flagler Outreach Brings Social Service Providers to Cattleman’s Hall, ‘The Drowsy Chaperone,’ at St. Augustine’s Limelight Theatre, the misfortunes of the phrase “leader of the free world.”
Even Florida’s Naturalized Citizens Are Fearful of State’s New Anti-Immigrant Laws
Nearly two-thirds of non-U.S. citizens and one-third of U.S. citizens who responded to a survey, said they hesitated to seek medical care in the year after Florida’s anti-immigration law, SB 1718, was enacted. Laws like SB 1718 amplify preexisting racial and structural inequities. Structural inequities are systemic barriers within institutions — such as health care and employment — that restrict access to essential resources based on one’s race, legal or economic status.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, March 13, 2025
The Flagler Beach City Commission meets, the Bunnell City Commission and its planning board hold a joint workshop on the 8,000-home development of the Reserve at Haw Creek, Christopher Lasch and tariffs.
Brain-Training to Stave Off Dementia Is Unproven. Here’s What Might Help.
People can make changes throughout adulthood that can help prevent or delay cognitive decline and even reduce their risk of dementia. These include quitting smoking and properly managing blood pressure. Brain-training games, which claim to optimize your brain’s efficiency and capacity at any age, are unproven.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Wednesday, March 12, 2025
Flagler County, Flagler Beach, Palm Coast, Bunnell and Beverly Beach governments hold a joint meeting to discuss a beach-management plan, Michael Jennelle’s trial, day 3, the risibility of Palestinian-Israeli prisoner exchanges.
American Imperialism Is Back
Embracing traditional U.S. imperialism would upend the rules that have kept the globe relatively stable since World War II. That would unleash fear, chaos – and possibly nuclear war.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Tuesday, March 11, 2025
The Flagler School Board holds a trio of meetings, two of them open, the Palm Coast City Council discusses its comprehensive plan, the Flagler County Planning Board meets, on the imminent dissolution of the world.
Severe Prison Sentences and ‘Truth-in-Sentencing’ Laws Don’t Work
Tough-on-crime policies are surging again, despite research showing they do little to reduce crime, particularly violent offenses. Research highlights the inefficacy and unintended consequences of these laws. There is no compelling evidence that punitive sentencing policies discourage individuals from engaging in criminal activity. And states without truth-in-sentencing laws have seen their crime rates fall to roughly the same degree as states that have the laws.
Lawmakers Scheme Toward Paying Less Than Minimum Wage to Workers in ‘Job Training’
The Republican-controlled Commerce and Tourism Committee voted 5-3 along party lines to approve the measure (SB 676), which would provide an exemption to the voter-approved minimum wage when employees are involved in “a structured work-study, internship, pre-apprenticeship program, apprenticeship program or other similar work-based learning opportunity.” The proposal is aimed at helping people gain skills through entry-level work experience, even though the minimum wage is intended for entry-level workers.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, March 10, 2025
The trial of Michael Wayne Jennelle on a capital felony charge and three life felonies begins, the library board meets, the Bunnell City Commission is asked to approve a $7 million change order for its sewer plant, the benefits of vaccines.
How Map-Makers Shape the Middle East’s Conflicts
Since the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, different governmental and nongovernmental organizations and political interest groups have engaged in what can best be described as “map wars.” Maps of the region use the naming of places, the position of borders and the inclusion or omission of certain territories to present contrasting geopolitical visions. To this day, Israel or the Palestinian territories may fall off some maps, depending on the politics of their makers.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, March 9, 2025
‘The Drowsy Chaperone,’ at St. Augustine’s Limelight Theatre, Gavin Newsom’s turnaround on transgender athletes, Palm Coast Farmers’ Market at European Village, a trsangenderish scene from Alexandre Dumas.
USAID’s History of Good Works
USAID is a government agency that, for more than 63 years, has led the United States’ foreign aid work on disaster recovery, poverty reduction and democratic reforms in many developing and middle-income countries. A yearlong pause in USAID’s work on health, food and agriculture in the world’s poorest countries would raise malaria deaths by 40%. It would also result in an increase of between 28% and 32% in tuberculosis cases, among other negative effects.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, March 8, 2025
“The Ten Foods of Florida,” by Dr. Gary Mormino, Gamble Jam, part of the 2025 History Academy Talk Presented by the Palm Coast Historical Society, American Association of University Women (AAUW) Monthly Meeting, Our Lady of Guadalupe.
English, Official US Language? Piénsalo Otra Vez
In halting its Spanish-language communications, the White House is ignoring the demographic reality of the U.S. and rejecting a long-standing tradition in American government of making key civic information accessible to the public. These changes, while mostly symbolic, signal the Trump administration’s unwelcoming stance toward Spanish specifically and multilingualism in general.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Friday, March 7, 2025
First Friday in Flagler Beach, First Friday Garden Walks at Washington Oaks Gardens State Park, Frank Wedekind’s Spring’s Awakening, remembering Dr. Ruth, ‘The Drowsy Chaperone,’ at St. Augustine’s Limelight Theatre.
Firing Squads and the Disturbing History of Executions in the U.S.
The resumption of death by firing squad is part of a morbid search for “better” execution methods. It comes amid concern over botched lethal injection attempts and a scarcity of the drugs needed to carry out such executions. In 2020, the first Trump administration expanded how federal execution can be carried out to include ghoulish methods such as hanging, the electric chair, gas chamber and, indeed, the firing squad.
GOP Lawmakers Seek Draconian Obstacles on Citizens’ Ballot Initiatives
After fierce — and expensive — political battles last year about abortion rights and recreational marijuana, Florida lawmakers Thursday began moving forward with a proposal that would place additional restrictions on the ballot-initiative process.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, March 6, 2025
The Flagler Beach City Commission holds a workshop on the county’s Beach-Management Plan, Joanna Russ’s The Female Man and the Library of America’s new edition of her works, ‘The Drowsy Chaperone,’ at St. Augustine’s Limelight Theatre.
Defying Science, Florida Lawmakers Prepare to Scrap Later Start Time for High Schools
With school districts across the state expressing support, Florida senators Monday started moving forward with a bill that would repeal requirements aimed at later daily start times in many high schools. Lawmakers in 2023 approved the requirements, citing a need for older students to get more sleep. [The need is supported by extensive research that points to better academic performance and better health.] The requirements are slated to take effect in 2026, but as the deadline has neared, districts have said they are struggling to comply.
State of the Monarch
If there are any limits to a president’s power, it wasn’t evident from Donald Trump’s speech before a joint session of Congress on March 4, 2025. When the Constitution was written, many people – from those who drafted the document to those who read it – believed that endowing the president with such powers was dangerous. The danger is here.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Wednesday, March 5, 2025
Palm Coast’s Code Enforcement Board meets, the chess club at the public library, Barbara Ehrenreich’s “Natural Causes” and the misguided mania to live longer, a little advice from Steinbeck.
What Is a Tariff?
The world is lurching ever closer to a full-blown trade war as the U.S., China, Europe, Canada, and Mexico talk tariffs and retaliation. It’s important to first understand what a tariff actually is and does before we can determine whether new trade barriers are good or bad.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Tuesday, March 4, 2025
Flagler Beach and Bunnell hold their municipal elections, Flagler Beach’s Planning Board meets, the Palm Coast City Council meets in the evening, the sad annual survey of freedom in retreat around the globe, when an entire nation is in denial.
A Compulsion to Dominate and Sabotage Deal-Making, Undermining Democracy
Toxic masculinity is a version of masculinity that discourages empathy, expresses strength through dominance, normalizes violence against women and associates leadership with white patriarchy. Trump’s reaction to Zelenskyy in the Oval Office illustrates how these inclinations stymie the president’s purported dealmaking abilities, undermine democratic values and make the world a more dangerous place.
Federal Judge Clears Way for Publishers’ Lawsuit Against Florida and Volusia Boards of Education Over Banned Books
With major publishing companies and authors arguing a 2023 state law violates First Amendment rights, a federal judge Friday refused to dismiss a lawsuit against members of the State Board of Education over the removal of school library books. U.S. District Judge Carlos Mendoza, appointed by President Obama, rejected a state motion to dismiss the case, which also names as defendants members of the Orange County and Volusia County school boards.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, March 3, 2025
The Flagler County Commission meets and considers approving a $3 million land purchase, the Beverly Beach Town Commission meets, Babylonian Craptivity day 43 and the normalization of catastrophic politics.
Behind Louis Vuitton’s Luxurious Generosity
The reopening of Notre-Dame de Paris has recalled debate over the €200 million contribution of France’s Bernard Arnault, the CEO of the LVMH luxury group, to its restoration. From founding the Louis Vuitton Foundation in 2014 to regular multi-million-euro donations, Arnault’s patronage has become almost synonymous with the LVMH brand. But what drives these expenditures? What do Arnault and his luxury empire stand to gain? And what risks are they taking?
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, March 2, 2025
Palm Coast Farmers’ Market at European Village, ‘One Slight Hitch,’ at Daytona Playhouse, ‘The Drowsy Chaperone,’ at St. Augustine’s Limelight Theatre, Henry James’s women, and “The Third Person,” SNL’s first episode.
How Midlife Became a Crisis
Some clichés are like planets, their gravitational pull too strong for all but the most propulsive acts of creativity. Middle age is one of these. The changes often associated with being in your 40s and 50s – gray hairs, career doldrums, time’s squeaky-wheeled chariot drawing near – can seem as inevitable as aging itself.
Egmont Key, Ground Zero for Sea Level Rise in Florida, Is a Preview for Coastal Communities
Egmont Key is a bellwether, an observable Ground Zero for local sea level rise, our canary in the climate-change coal mine. The island you see today from the top of the Sunshine Skyway bridge is smaller than the island you saw last year. The island you see today is 300 acres smaller than it was in 1898. This may be the future of barrier island communities like Flagler Beach.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, March 1, 2025
SpringFest 2025 at Joanne B. King Park in Bunnell, ‘One Slight Hitch,’ at Daytona Playhouse, Speakeasy: The North East Florida Jazz Association presents the Amy Alysia Quartet in concert, ‘The Drowsy Chaperone,’ at St. Augustine’s Limelight Theatre, James Carville on what Democrats can do.
Cutting Government Dollars from Scientific Research Cheats Breakthroughs at Our Future’s Expense
Biomedical research in the U.S. is world-class in part because of a long-standing partnership between universities and the federal government. On Feb. 7, the U.S. National Institutes of Health issued a policy that could weaken the position of the United States as a global leader in scientific innovation by slashing funds to the infrastructure that allows universities and other institutions to conduct research in the first place.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Friday, February 28, 2025
Flagler Schools College and Career Fair at the Palm Coast Community Center, St Thomas Episcopal Rummage Sale, Resume Writing Workshop at the public library, Acoustic Jam Circle At The Community Center In The Hammock, on Don DeLillo’s “Falling man” and Rushdie’s “Fury.”
Trump’s Power Grab v. Article 2 of the Constitution
Article 2 does not grant the president unlimited power. While almost all modern presidents flex their muscles in the initial stages of their administration, the first weeks of the second Trump presidency have seen a rapid-fire, often dizzying array of executive actions that have sparked heated, even virulent, disputes among politicians, the media and citizens about how much power the president of the United States should have.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, February 27, 2025
The Flagler Beach City Commission meets and hears the county administrator’s beach-management tax plan, the Palm Coast Beautification talks house paint colors, ‘One Slight Hitch,’ at Daytona Playhouse, juxtapositions about knowledge.
Paul Dunbar’s Brief, Shining Life
In his short yet prolific life, Dunbar used folk dialect to give voice and dignity to the experience of Black Americans at the turn of the 20th century. He was the first Black American to make a living as a writer and was seminal in the start of the New Negro Movement and Harlem Renaissance. Dunbar also penned one of the most iconic phrases in Black literature – “I know why the caged bird sings” – his poem “Sympathy.”
Florida Lawmakers Look to End Ban on Compensating Wrongfully Imprisoned If They Have Prior Felonies
Florida is the only state with a wrongful incarceration compensation program that excludes people with prior felonies, a restriction that makes the vast majority of exonerees in the state ineligible for payments. According to the National Registry of Exonerations, 91 people in Florida have been exonerated since 1989. Five of those exonerees have received compensation.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Wednesday, February 26, 2025
The Flagler Woman’s Club hosts Candidates’ Night for the Flagler Beach City Commission. Candidates in the Bunnell City Commission races have also been invited, Descartes’ obtuse thoughts about animals and pains.
The Trump Monarchy
In America’s constitutional balance, Congress passes the laws, the president administers the laws, and the courts interpret the laws. This elegant but simple system stood in contrast to the nearly unshackled power of the British king, who ruled over the American colonies before independence. During its first month, the second Trump administration has pushed a new balance of these powers, granting the president expansive and far-reaching authority. These actions imperil the power of elected lawmakers to pass legislation, oversee the federal government and exercise spending authority.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Tuesday, February 25, 2025
The Palm Coast City Council discusses the Flagler Humane Society and an airport zoning ordinance, on Florida Gov. Sidney Catts, who signed Flagler County into existence, and who had a sordid history.