In documents filed in federal court in Tallahassee, voting-rights groups and five individual plaintiffs alleged that the plan Gov. Ron DeSantis pushed through the Legislature should be blocked because it will reduce — or eliminate — the chances of Black candidates being elected in North Florida and the Orlando area.
Florida & Beyond, and All Opinions
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, April 30, 2022
Florida Master Gardener Plant Clinic at the public library, “Proof,” the David Auburn play, is staged at the Flagler Playhouse, Nixon and Kissinger’s invasion of Cambodia, Walter Lippmann on good will.
It’s Not Just Florida: Here’s How Brits’ Right to Protest Has Been Restricted
Britain’s police, crime, sentencing and courts bill has become law after an extended period of back and forth between the House of Commons and House of Lords. From its conception, the bill has been extremely controversial, particularly because of the increased powers it hands to police to stop protests.
Gov. DeSantis Vows to Sign Law Allowing Open, Permitless Gun Carrying Before He Leaves Office
Citing some 25 states that have already done it, Gov. Ron DeSantis gave “constitutional carry” — allowing people to carry guns without concealed weapons permits — his full endorsement during a news conference on Friday.
State School Board Appoints Sen. Manny Diaz Jr. as Florida’s Education Commissioner, Replacing Corcoran
Diaz will assume the role June 1 and become the state’s first Hispanic education commissioner. In the meantime, Department of Education Senior Chancellor Jacob Oliva–a former Flagler school superintendent–will serve as interim leader of the agency.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Friday, April 29, 2022
“Proof,” the David Auburn play, is staged at the Flagler Playhouse, the Flagler County Public Library hosts its latest free history presentations by Zach Zacharias, Luka Tristam performs Vittorio Monti’s “Czardas,” Tom Wicker on reporters.
Why Do Teens Engage in Self-Harm?
By all accounts, young people are experiencing a seemingly unprecedented level of emotional distress. Humans tend to behave in a way to seek pleasure and avoid pain. Why then would some intentionally hurt themselves?
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, April 27, 2022
The Flagler Beach City Commission meets and will discuss the year’s July 4 fireworks, mortgages and the basics of preparing them at Cornerstone, Community Night at the Flagler Playhouse with “Proof.”
DeSantis Vetoes Controversial Rooftop Solar Bill, Handing Victory to Environmental Groups
The bill (HB 741) dealt with a somewhat-wonky issue known as “net metering.” But it drew a fierce debate during this year’s legislative session, as supporters said the state needed to end subsidies for people with rooftop-solar systems and opponents contended the measure would cripple the rooftop-solar industry.
Reptiles: Why One in Five Species Face Extinction
A first-of-its-kind global assessment of more than 10,000 species of reptiles (around 90% of the known total) has revealed that 21% need urgent support to prevent them going extinct. But since reptiles are so diverse, ranging from lizards and snakes to turtles and crocodiles, the threats to the survival of each species are likely to be equally varied.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Wednesday, April 27, 2022
Circuit Judge Terence Perkins hears several pleas in minor cases, we feature the first of three soloists at the FYO’s final concert, plus Ulysses Grant, Edward Gibbon and Walter Lippmann.
It’s Not Enough to Protect Parks and Preserves in Isolation
As human development spreads ever farther around the world, very few large ecosystems remain relatively intact and uninterrupted by highways, cities or other human-constructed obstacles. Linking protected areas from Yellowstone to the Yukon shows the value of conserving large landscapes, not just isolated parks and preserves.
DeSantis Signs Voting Restrictions Into Law, But State Suspends Enforcement, Complying with Court Order
In a notice to Chief Judge Mark Walker of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, Secretary of State Laurel Lee said officials also would place a hold on provisions restricting use of ballot drop boxes to county election supervisors’ main or permanent branch offices used for early voting.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Tuesday, April 26, 2022
“Screenagers,” a free documentary screening at the Flagler Auditorium, The Palm Coast City Council talks parks and future goals, Bertrand Russell between prudence and passion, Frederick Law Olsmtead’s bi-centennial.
Weaponizing Children in Domestic Conflicts
There are approximately 5.7 million cases of domestic abuse in the U.S. each year, and in some of those, mothers and fathers use children to manipulate and harm the other parent. This behavior can include directly pressuring the child to spy on the abused parent or threatening the abused parent that they will never see the child again if they leave the relationship.
DeSantis Signs Disney-Punishing Bill, Would Shift Nearly $1 Billion in Debt to Taxpayers
If the special taxing district is dissolved, Disney’s nearly $1 billion debt obligations, revenues and responsibilities would be transferred to Osceola and Orange counties’ taxpayers and those of the small cities of Lake Buena Vista and Bay Lake.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, April 25, 2022
The Flagler Youth Orchestra is in performance for its season-ending concert tonight, the Bunnell State of the City address by the mayor, a potential animal cruelty trial on circuit court’s docket, Kafka’s Great Wall of China.
If Elon Musk Takes Twitter, Free Speech Would Lose
While making Twitter free for all “within the bounds of the law” seems like a way to ensure free speech in theory, in practice, this action would actually serve to suppress the speech of Twitter’s most vulnerable users.
What Are Book Bans Really About? Fear.
While those behind these campaigns hide themselves behind the mask of “parental control,” they’re really concealing fear: Fear of a country and world that’s changing around them; fear of voices that were kept silent too long who are now speaking up and demanding their seat at the table of power, and, mostly, fear of the erosion of their own privilege.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, April 24, 2022
Splish Splash: A Bobby Darrin Tribute, at te Flagler Auditorium, two well-known guest preachers at First Church of Palm Coast, including Rev. Dr. Clifton Davis, who played Rueben Gregory on the popular NBC TV series, “Amen,” and a few words about Latitude Margaritaville Daytona Beach.
French Voters’ Blank-Vote Rejection of Macron and Le Pen
France elects its next president on Sunday. The election as a whole has failed to spark widespread enthusiasm among many disappointed and often apathetic voters, despite the starkly different visions for France displayed by the candidates.
DeSantis Signs Bill Restricting Discussions of Race and Gender in Workplace as Critics Call It Unconstitutional
The culture-war bill HB 7, described as “Individual Freedom,” restricts conversations about race and gender in schools and workplaces. State Sen. Manny Diaz Jr. was a Senate co-sponsor of the bill and voted for it. (He’s now up for the Florida Education Commissioner job.)
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, April 23, 2022
The Hispanic American Club of Palm Coast Hosts its 35th Anniversary Dance, Victoria Machado at the Palm Coast Historical Society, a Dave Bowers Photography Exhibit, Federico Pulina’s Chopin etudes, Orwell deals with the police rounding up his books.
Clarence Thomas and the Supreme Court’s Missing Ethics Rules
In the past, the Supreme Court of the United States has cast aside pleas to adopt an ethics code for the justices. The actions of Justice Clarence Thomas’ wife, Virginia – who pushed the White House to overturn the 2020 presidential election – have once again thrown light onto this long-standing conflict: How accountable should the justices be?
Federal Appeals Court Strikes Down UCF’s ‘Discriminatory Harassment’ Policy as Chilling Free Speech
The 38-page opinion by a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals backed arguments by the group Speech First, which has represented students at universities in various parts of the country. Judge Kevin Newsom wrote that the UCF policy “objectively chills speech because its operation would cause a reasonable student to fear expressing potentially unpopular beliefs.”
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Friday, April 22, 2022
Violectric: Classical Musicians Who Rock, at Palm Coast Arts Foundation’s Big Tent tonight, Community Cats of Palm Coast’s Meowy Hour BBQ, reopening “Fawlty Towers,” the arrogance of adults.
How Russia Does ‘Patriotic Education’
The Russian government has launched a series of patriotic education campaigns aimed at Russia’s youth to encourage them to regard the war in Ukraine as a continuation of the second world war and to feel a personal connection to the Russian soldiers fighting there.
House Republicans Jam Through Redistricting Bill as Democrats’ Black Caucus Protest
After abandoning the chamber for a little more than an hour, Speaker Chris Sprowls and his fellow Republicans returned and called the vote on the DeSantis map, which eliminates Black “access” seats in North and Central Florida, cutting Black Democratic representation in half.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, April 21, 2022
The Flagler Beach city administration shows off its new glass-crushing recycler, Palm Coast Mayor David Alfin delivers the State of the City address, Dostoevsky on laughter and character.
The Visceral Trouble with Beer
Drinking beer and spirits is linked to elevated levels of visceral fat – the harmful type of fat that is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, and other health complications – whereas drinking wine shows no such association with levels of this harmful fat and may even be protective against it.
Snubbing Parental Authority, DeSantis Administration Now Targets Youth Transgender Treatment
The Florida Department of Health on Wednesday released guidance that said treatment such as puberty-blocking medication and hormone therapy should not be used for transgender youths, clashing with federal officials over the issue.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Wednesday, April 20, 2022
The Tourist Development Council, the Flagler County Technical Review Committee, the Contractor Review Board and the Palm Coast Planning and Land Development Board all meet today, and Kwentel Moultrie’s trial will head for jury deliberations.
Can Jaguars Make It Back to the United States?
There are only two main corridors in the western borderlands that jaguars could use to get into the U.S. Maintaining these corridors is crucial to connect fragmented habitats for jaguars and other mammals, such as black bears, pumas, ocelots and Mexican wolves.
DeSantis Opens Special Session with Retaliatory Salvo Against Disney Over ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Stance
Ratcheting up a fight with Walt Disney Co., Gov. Ron DeSantis expanded a special legislative session to consider eliminating a decades-old governing district set up for Disney World and nearby properties.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Tuesday, April 19, 2022
The Palm Coast City Council takes up its gargantuan self-raise again, Day Two of Kwentel Moultrie’s trial, Food Truck Tuesday, Thomas Mann’s Dilettante, Bach’s great English Suite.
Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroes and the Darker Side of the 60s
There is a sinister edge to Andy Warhol’s pop art portraits of Marilyn Monroe because many were produced in the months following her unexpected death in 1962. On the surface, the works may look like a tribute to a much-loved icon, but themes of death, decay and even violence lurk within these canvases.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, April 18, 2022
Kwentel Moultrie goes on trial on a first degree felony charge of sexual battery, the Flagler County Commission considers a noise ordinance and a $6.2 million hangar project at the airport, Dostoevsky’s Raw Youth, and it is also World Heritage Day.
‘Every Day Feels Unsettled’: Educators Decry Staffing Shortage
A shortage of teaching staff affects every student. One principal explained that learning stalls when “students in classes with revolving subs may spend the hour playing video games with no structure or learning happening.” Administrators describe waking up with dread knowing they’ll have to scramble to find coverage for absent staff.
Claiming ‘Indoctrination,’ Florida Education Department Rejects 41% of Math Textbooks Submitted
Friday afternoon heading into a holiday weekend, statewide education officials announced that they rejected 54 math textbooks out of 132 — that’s 41 percent — claiming that some of the materials attempt to “indoctrinate” kids with references to so-called critical race theory.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, April 17, 2022
An Easter Egg Hunt at St Thomas Episcopal, Easter Sunday services at Santa Maria del Mar and Mother Seton, the fall of Phnom Penh to the Khmers, John McWhorter on the “Elect.”
How Misreading the Christian Gospels fuels Anti-Semitism
The pernicious belief that Christianity replaced or supplanted Judaism is known as Christian supersessionism. Christian supersessionism has not only fed into negative perceptions of Jews and Judaism since antiquity, but has also incited violence against Jews.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, April 16, 2022
Egg hunts for adults and children in Bunnell and Palm Coast, easter services at the local Catholic churches, the Invictus Games for recovering servicemen and women begin today at The Hague in the Netherlands, today begins National Park Week, remembering Henry Mancini and a few words from Barry Lopez.
Jackie Robinson Was a Radical. Don’t Fall for the Sanitized Version of History.
Though Robinson was a fierce competitor, an outstanding athlete and a deeply religious man, the aspect of his legacy that often gets glossed over is that he was also a radical. Celebrations of his career risk downplaying his activism during and after his playing career.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Friday, April 15, 2022
Good Friday has courts, schools (for students, not teachers, who have a workday), county, city and law enforcement offices closed. Time to use the day to make good on your Carver Center auction bids.
Elon Musk Claims Twitter’s Better Off Going private. Corporate Governance Experts Disagree.
A big problem with private companies is they lack the safeguards of public corporations – like outside ownership and independent oversight. As such, they escape the scrutiny of these public overseers. The CEO of a public company is subject to an array of constraints and a varying but always substantial degree of oversight. Not so the CEO of a privately held company.
DeSantis Signs 15-Week Abortion Ban Into Law During Quasi-Religious Ceremony
Gov. Ron DeSantis went to church Thursday to sign a 15-week abortion ban into law during a ceremony bearing many of the accoutrements of a worship service. The American Civil Liberties Union immediately promised to challenge the law in court.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, April 14, 2022
Sheriff Rick Staly holds the fifth annual public Addressing Crime Together meeting this evening, the Flagler Beach City Commission meets, remembering Steinbeck’s “Grapes of Wrath” and Eugene Debs’s famous speech on justice.
When Are Book Bans Unconstitutional? A 1st Amendment Scholar Explains
Government actions that some may deem censorship – especially as related to schools – are not always neatly classified as constitutional or unconstitutional, because “censorship” is a colloquial term, not a legal term. Some principles can illuminate whether and when book banning is unconstitutional.
Seven Years On, a Judge Signs Off on Legality of Florida’s 24-Hour Waiting Period for Abortion
After nearly seven years of legal battling, Judge Angela Dempsey issued a ruling Friday that upheld the constitutionality of a 2015 law that called for women to wait 24 hours after initial visits with physicians before having abortions.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Wednesday, April 13, 2022
The quarterly Public Safety Coordinating Council is today, the annual George Washington Carver Foundation Auction, pre-trials in circuit court, Eudora Welty on Dick Cavett.