Daily Briefing

Jerald Medders, serving 15 years in prison for raping an underage girl, is back in court this morning to correct his sentence, down to 12.75 years. “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle,” is not a metaphor for the Palm Coast City Council, but tonight’s movie in the park in Town center.

The Flagler Beach City Commission today recognizes James Heren and Stephanie Raffo for their efforts to save the life of patron at The Anchor restaurant, and Roseanne Stocker for her 22 years of service on the city’s Planning and Architectural Review Board, among numerous other civic and philanthropic involvements.

All eyes on Hurricane-Tropical Storm Elsa as it crosses over Florida from west to northeast, but impacts in Flagler are expected to be limited. A chance to rediscover Elsa Morante, the great author of “History.”

Langston Hughes’s great “Let America Be America Again.” All government offices and banks are closed today in observance of Independence day. Palm Coast’s Choral Arts Society Presents “Celebrate America” in a resumption of the society’s live concerts.

Hurricane Elsa was downgraded to a tropical storm. It’ll be crossing Cuba today as it continues to hook north-northwest, heading for the Florida Peninsula’s southwest region by Tuesday morning, and our own region by Wednesday morning.

It’s Freedom Fest all day, for free, at the county airport and the Palm Coast picnic at Central Park in Town Center starting at 5 and culminating at 9 p.m. with fireworks.

Leon Wiley, whom a jury on April 29 found guilty of raping his under-age step-daughter, is sentenced, the Tour goes on its longest romp through the heart of France, Christopher Lasch on our Orwellian politics.

A man who lured a 10-year-old girl into his apartment and was subsequently charged with child abuse is petitioning the court for conditional release pending his trial. Bill Barr is trying to rehabilitate his image. “History as a weapon is an abuse of history,” says Arthur Schlesinger Jr.

A special meeting of the school board to close out financial books, a Luau at the African American Cultural Society, the continuing farewell tour of Flagler County’s Rocket Man.

A quiet day in government except in court, and a Supreme Court decision not to take up a transgender case that means a similar St. Johns County case decided in favor of a student’s choice as to which bathroom to use in school is still the law in Flagler County.

The Bunnell City Commission meets for a light agenda, Flagler County government’s Heidi Petito reports to work as county administrator, Jean-Jacques Rousseau turns 309.

How Democratic Socialist India B. Walton managed to become the first woman–not to mention the first socialist–elected mayor of Buffalo; Flagler’s diminished drought index, Pablu Neruda’s distasteful personality.

A Yacht Rock Experience at the Flagler Auditorium, an odd statement from Alan Lowe about his (non) campaign manager, an interesting piece on African-American satire in the 21st century, and the Euro 2020 round of 16.

At the Auditorium Saturday, “Summer Breeze: a Yacht Rock Experience,” described as “all the smooth, sleek mellow pop-rock songs of the ’70s and ’80s.” The round of 16 starts Saturday at Euro 2020.

Flagler Beach Police Detective Rosanna Vinci will be recognized for receiving the Small Agency, Officer of the Year award from the Florida Police Chiefs Association. New rumbles in Palm Coast.

The Flagler Tiger Bay mayoral forum is tonight at the Palm Coast Community Center, with four of the six candidates in attendance. At Euro 2020, Portugal fights for a spot in the rounds ahead, and Orwell tells us what he thinks of Hitler.

The Palm Coast City Council discusses whether to support a county-initiated increase in the sales tax, a mayoral forum put on by pachyderms, and Croatia takes the field against Scotland in a long-shot hope to advance at Euro 2020, on its own Anti-Fascist Struggle Day.

The Flagler County Commission bids farewell to Administrator Jerry Cameron and likely appoints Jorge Salinas as its next interim, Flagler Beach’s golf course manager goes on trial for insurance fraud and DUI, a word about Al Hirschfeld, Obamacare and LBJ’s bombing angst.

A few thoughts on Father’s Day from Roth’s Levov to Bertrand Russell. Last day for two plays at CRT and the Flagler Playhouse. Richard Rorty on how “Each new generation of students ought to think of American leftism as having a long and glorious history.”

UNF-Mednexus-Palm Coast’s new director Miriam Griffin is on Free For All Fridays, “All in the Timing” at the black box theater by the Flagler Auditorium, Frank Bruni says goodbye with a mea culpa.

City Repertory Theater returns to an actual indoor stage, at the Black Box at the Auditorium, with David Ives’ ‘All in the Timing’ all weekend. Stages are alive and well: the Flagler Playhouse’s workshop production of “The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey” is also on all weekend.

All about credit unions at a virtual Flagler Tiger Bay lunch, Jasper Johns on becoming an artist, a man found not guilty by reason of insanity wants his total freedom back, and a trio of matches from Euro 2020.

The Flagler County School Board has a trio of meetings, most importantly a special meeting at 5 p.m. to discuss impact fees in light of a new law restricting how much those fees may be raised, just when the district needs them most. Plus Michael Jordan on being Black and the immorality of zoos.

The Bunnell city administration will start tracking its drivers. Jeff Bezos has money to burn. José de Nebra’s Vendado es amor, performed by Concerto Koln.

The memorial walk and vigil for the victims of the Pulse massacre in Orlando in 2016 begins with participants gathering at Wadsworth park in Flagler Beach after 6 p.m. The walk across the Flagler Beach bridge is at 7 p.m.

A weekend of performances and memorials: The Flagler Playhouse’s stage will come to life again, the Jacksonville Symphony performs Schubert’s “Great,” and the Pulse massacre’s victims are remembered with a walk and a vigil Saturday in Flagler Beach.

The Flagler Beach City Commission meets this evening, Drug Court is in session, and 19 percent of respondents in the latest poll still hold out the constitutional impossibility that Trump will be “reinstated” as president.

The reconvened and renamed Blue 22 Forum meets at the African American Cultural Society on U.S. 1 for its weekly discussions, and the drought index keeps climbing up in Flagler. After-hour vaccinations at the Department of Health in Bunnell this evening.

The Palm Coast City Council has a pair of meetings, one to vote on sending its deputy chief to head the county’s fire department for a few weeks, the other to workshop several key items, among them hiring the next manager. Plus Rushdie on which books you truly love and what they say about you.

The qualification window for the July 27 Palm Coast Mayor special election closes at noon today. The County Commission is scheduled to discuss the fate of Whispering Meadows Ranch on John Anderson Highway, but the expectation is that the item will again be tabled to allow for a compromised solution.

It’s D-Day plus 77 years. An excerpt from Ernie Pyle’s D-Day column. An otherwise relatively quiet day in the county.

Beach clean-up in the morning, Garden Club Celebration at midday, and the Palm Coast Pride Festival starting at 5 p.m. in Town Central’s Central Park, with music, food and speakers.

Flagler Beach City Manager William Whitson on WNZF’s Free For All, Palm Coast’s Reilly Opelka on Friday goes up against world #2 Daniil Medvedev, beach clean-up on Saturday, Pride Festival in Palm Coast’s Town center Friday evening.

Flagler Technical College’s graduates walk the stage, at 7 p.m. at the Flagler Auditorium. Flagler County’s drought index is rising steadily, worrisomely. A video of Flagler Beach City Manager William Whitson playing Taps.

Eyes will be on the Palm Coast City Council’s 6 p.m. meeting, expected to draw its share of blazin’ crazies as City Manager Matt Morton may (or may not) explain why he resigned and what council members are present try to maneuver their way through the resignation’s implications.

Bedraggled and jittery though it is, Palm Coast government–what’s left of it–this morning at 8 hosts its traditional Memorial Day ceremony at Heroes Park. U.S. Rep. Michael Waltz, fresh from voting against establishing a commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, and Council member Nick Klufas, will speak.

Flagler Beach marks Memorial Day in a ceremony at Veterans Park, so as not to conflict with Palm Coast’s and Flagler County’s commemorations on Monday. The sales tax “holiday” for hurricane supplies is ongoing through June 6.

  The Daily calendar is a compendium of local and regional political, civic and cultural events. It was suspended in March 2020 as was the Daily Briefing, as the Covid pandemic upended everyone’s schedules. We’re happy to be bringing both back, in altered forms. The Daily Calendar had a serious case of covid: it’s much […]

The Flagler Beach Commission considers tattoo parlor zoning regulations, Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, Jr., original stars and lead singers of the The 5th Dimension, at the Auditorium.

The Flagler school board picks a new superintendent, there may be some live bombing in the Ocala forest, the Palm Coast council again takes up Florida Park Drive and discusses the latest survey of residents.