With half of all renter households now spending more than 30 percent of their income on housing, millions are one emergency away from homelessness. Punishing people for our country’s failure to ensure adequate housing for all is inherently “cruel and unusual.” Widespread homelessness directly violates the human right to housing under international law, which must be recognized in the United States.
All Else
Recreational Pot Amendment Backers Raise $61.5 Million as DeSantis Attacks
The political committee sponsoring a ballot initiative that would allow recreational marijuana collected nearly $314,000 in new donations, according to its latest campaign finance filing. Smart & Safe Florida has now raised nearly $61.5 million in its effort to pass the initiative.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, July 21, 2024
Iration and Pepper at the St. Augustine Amphitheater, Idith Zertal and Akiva Eldar’s “Lords of the Land,” Ilan Pappé and the biggest prison on earth in Gaza and the West Bank.
Just One Drink a Day Can Bump Up Your Breast Cancer Risk by 5% to 9%
Did you know that casual drinks with friends or having a “wine mom” moment to unwind could actually be nudging up your risk for breast cancer? It sounds like a buzzkill. But it’s a truth that many might not know: Alcohol actually causes breast cancer.
J.D. Vance Praised Alex Jones as a Truth-Teller and Said the ‘Devil Is Real’
Sen. J.D. Vance, whom Donald Trump named as his vice presidential running mate Monday, told a group of influential young conservatives in a closed-door speech in 2021 that they should stand up for “nonconventional people” who speak truth, such as Infowars founder Alex Jones, projected a time when Kamala Harris would imprison conservatives in droves, and said the financial elite is full of sex perverts.
Palm Coast and Flagler Schools Collaborate at Annual Principals Breakfast
The City of Palm Coast and Flagler Schools joined forces on Wednesday for the annual Principals Breakfast, a collaborative event aimed at fostering a stronger partnership between the city’s leadership and the educational community.
To Neutralize Write-In Fraud, Switch to Republican: An Open Letter to My Flagler County Neighbors
Jake Scully, a lifelong Democrat until this summer, says the only way to get around the fraud of two-write-in candidates closing two County Commission races to almost 50,000 voters is to switch to Republican before the July 22 deadline.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, July 20, 2024
The Saturday Flagler Beach Farmers Market, Democratic Women’s Club of Flagler County meeting, Buddy Guy performs a rescheduled show in St. Augustine, and on casuistry.
The Free Market Myth: How the US Manipulates Global Markets for Economic Supremacy
For years, Democratic and Republican administrations in the US have touted the virtues of free trade to the rest of the world, working towards establishing a multilateral trading system that limits the use of protectionist policies. But it’s hypocritical.
Police Investigating ‘Suspicious’ and Violent Death of Sally J. Byrd, 66, in Flagler Beach
Flagler Beach Police are investigating the “suspicious” death Thursday morning of “Sally J. Byrd, 66, a resident of Pebble Beach Village at the south end of Flagler Beach. A man is in custody in Georgia in connection with the case, after stealing the woman’s car and fleeing the area.
Pam Richardson, Flagler County Commission District 5 Candidate: The Live Interview
Pam Richardson is one of two Republican candidates for Flagler County Commission, District 5, in the Aug. 20 primary. It’s an open seat as Commissioner Donald O’Brien has elected not to run for a third term. Richardson faces Ed Danko, currently serving as a Palm Coast City Council member. Only registered Republicans may cast a ballot in the election.
Ed Danko, Flagler County Commission Candidate District 5: The Live Interview
Ed Danko is one of two Republican candidates for Flagler County Commission, District 5, in the Aug. 20 primary. It’s an open seat as Commissioner Donald O’Brien has elected not to run for a third term. Danko, a one-term Palm Coast City Council member, faces Pam Richardson.
Ben Sasse Resigns University of Florida Presidency to Care for Wife’s Health
Former Nebraska U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse announced Thursday he was stepping down as president of the University of Florida to help his family cope with his wife’s worsening health.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Friday, July 19, 2024
“The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals,” at City Repertory Theatre, Flagler and Florida unemployment numbers released at 10 a.m., the Blue 24 Forum, the many meanings of July 19, rocking the kasbah in Beirut.
Flagler Cares and One Voice for Volusia Merge Safety Net and Substance Use Prevention Services
Flagler Cares and One Voice for Volusia announce that the two organizations have merged into one corporate structure under Flagler Cares. Flagler Cares will remain committed to providing social safety net, behavioral health and outpatient counseling, and prevention services for Flagler County. One Voice for Volusia is doing business as the Substance Use Prevention Coalition and neutral community facilitator in Volusia County, focusing on addressing risk factors and building protective factors to prevent initiation of youth substance use.
Trump’s Strategic Nostalgia for America’s More Racist and Sexist Past
Trump’s nostalgia is more than simple retrospection. Trump’s appeal isn’t just about a better economic past or a more stable society. It serves as an evocation of a time in America when women and minorities had less power.
Florida Is Sitting on $198 Million in Federal EV Money That Could Provide More Chargers
Florida is one of 15 states that won’t allow any companies to apply for $198 million in federal money the state is receiving over the next five years the Biden Administration’s National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program. The state is doing so on purpose, citing a laundry list of culture-war complaints, such as “Covid tyranny,” as well as criticism of electric vehicles.
Sheriff Staly Rejects as ‘Misleading’ Ed Danko Campaign Claim of Endorsement in Latest Ollie North Video
As he did in 2022 regarding a different campaign using almost identical techniques and using Oliver North, Sheriff Rick Staly today said he was never endorsed by Ed Danko, as a Danko campaign video claims, and called the Danko video–which uses two images of Staly with Danko–“misleading” at best. Danko said he’s frequently spoken of his support of the sheriff and equates support with endorsement.
Dominic F. Addesso, 1930-2024
Dominic F. Addesso passed away peacefully at the Stuart F. Meyer Hospice House in Palm Coast, Fla., on Wednesday, June 26, 2024. He had shared 93 years of unconditional love, infectious laughter, and unforgettable memories with family and friends.
Bill Clark, Flagler County Commission Candidate District 3: The Live Interview
Bill Clark is a Republican candidate for Flagler County Commission, District 3, in an open-seat election, as Dave Sullivan has opted not to run again. Clark faces Republicans Kim Carney and Nick Klufas in the Aug. 20 primary.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, July 18, 2024
Story Time at the Flagler Beach Public Library, getting ticketed in France, Jean-Paul Belmondo plays Dale Earnhardt, a few lines from Jeanne Stafford’s “Reluctant Gambler.”
Abortion Bans Are Changing What It Means To Be Young in America
Following the Dobbs v. Jackson Supreme Court decision, more than half of U.S. adolescents, ages 13-19, now live in a state with severely restricted or no legal abortion access. As a result, today’s young people are coming of age in what one expert in health law and bioethics has termed an “era of rights retractions.”
Escambia School Board Wants 7 Year Old Deposed in Book Fight
As it tries to fend off a constitutional challenge to removing and restricting school library books, the Escambia County School Board on Tuesday argued that it should be able to take a deposition of a 7-year-old student who is part of the lawsuit. Attorneys for the board, in a 20-page court document, urged U.S. District Judge T. Kent Wetherell to reject a request for a protective order that would shield the child, identified by the initials J.N., from having to testify in a deposition.
Flagler County Jail Wins Health Care Accreditation as Sheriff’s Office Becomes 5-Diamond Agency
The Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility has earned accreditation from the National Commission on Correctional Health Care by demonstrating compliance with NCCHC’s nationally recognized standards of care for correctional health services in jails. Accreditation recognizes the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office’s commitment to providing quality health services for inmates.
Kim Carney, Flagler County Commission Candidate District 3: The Live Interview
Kim Carney is a Republican candidate for Flagler County Commission, District 3, in an open-seat election, as Dave Sullivan has opted not to run again. Carney faces Republicans Bill Clark and Nick Klufas in the Aug. 20 primary.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Wednesday, July 17, 2024
Flagler County’s Technical Review Committee meets, Separation Chat, Open Discussion, Bridge and Games at Flagler Woman’s Club, doping and the Tour de France, on the rapidity of change.
Ignore Most Articles About Vice Presidential Picks
Veepstakes media coverage deserves its poor reputation as little more than an electoral parlor game. Too bad: Given the vice presidency’s importance and the media’s opportunity to educate Americans about who could be next to serve in the office, it should be so much more than that.
More than 1 Million Floridians Couldn’t Afford to See a Doctor in 2022
Approximately 28% of Florida adults can’t afford to see a doctor when they need to, according to newly published data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The data for 2022, the latest available, put Florida among the states with the highest rates of people who skipped medical visits because of high costs. Texas, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi — other states that haven’t expanded Medicaid — were also listed, according CDC Disability and Health Data System data published Tuesday.
‘I Don’t Want to Wrestle With Pigs’: Palm Coast Rejects Danko Push to Lock City Into $2.3 Million Budget Cut
Overcoming what Council member Nick Klufas called fellow Councilman Ed Danko’s “pontification,” the Palm Coast City Council today rebuffed an attempt by Danko to remove $2.3 million from the city’s proposed budget and adopted instead a slightly reduced tax rate for next year while preserving funding for the addition of nine new sheriff’s deputies and three new firefighter-paramedics.
Tendentious ‘Statement’ on Florida Abortion Ballot Measure Sparks Controversy
A state panel late Monday finished revising a “financial impact statement” that will appear on the November ballot with a proposed constitutional amendment on abortion rights — with amendment supporters accusing the panel of a “dirty trick to mislead voters.” The statement makes several unsubstantiated claims about costs the abortion measures could impose on the state budget.
Nick Klufas, Flagler County Commission District 3 Candidate: The Live Interview
Nick Klufas is a Republican candidate for Flagler County Commission, District 3. The two-term Palm Coast City Council member, who is term-limited, faces Kim Carney and Bill Clark, both Republicans, in the Aug. 20 primary. Because a write-in candidate has filed expressly to close the election to non-Republicans, only registered Republicans may cast a ballot in this race.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Tuesday, July 16, 2024
Identity Theft/Scams/Fraud Workshop at Flagler Woman’s Club, Food Truck Tuesdays in Palm Coast’s Town Center, Hammock Harbour public hearing before a special magistrate, tales of Scheherazade.
‘One Inch from a Potential Civil War’: the Trump Near Miss Was a Close Call for U.S. Democracy
If Donald Trump would have suffered fatal injuries, the level of violence witnessed so far will be nothing in comparison to what would have happened in the next couple of months. It would have unleashed a new level of anger, frustration, resentment, hostility that we haven’t seen for many, many years in the U.S.
Flagler Photographers Wanted to Showcase County’s ‘Stormy Skies’ in State Association’s Calendar Contest
Flagler County is seeking photographers who would like to submit their images for the Florida Association of Counties (FAC) 2024-2025 calendar contest “Stormy Skies.”
Reviled Daytona North Special Tax Will End as County Adopts Proposed 2025 Budget with Modest Tax Increase
The Flagler County Commission this afternoon adopted a proposed tax rate for next year that, absent further decreases before two September hearings, will be a hair lower than the existing rate. County Administrator Heidi Petito, in a shift from last year, is proposing suspending the increasingly reviled special tax in Daytona North (or the Mondex), eliminating $260,000 in revenue to the general fund that will be more than made up by tax collections.
4 Arrested in Sheriff’s Sting Operation Involving Seekers of Under-Age Girls, Including 2 on Trafficking Charges
The Flagler County Sheriff in cooperation with other agencies in the region arrested four men Saturday and Sunday following a sting operation targeting individuals who sought out what the men allegedly thought were underage girls for sex.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, July 15, 2024
Tyrese Patterson goes on trial on a first-degree murder charge, the Mosquito Control Board meets, the county Canvassing Board meets, Frank Stella in Jacksonville, Mark Twain in Egypt.
We’re Losing Wetlands at an Accelerating Pace. Can Private Sector Help?
The U.S. is losing wetlands, mainly to development and agriculture, at an accelerating rate. With Congress polarized and gridlocked, new federal wetland protection laws are unlikely to be enacted in the next several years.Some states have stepped up to fill the gap, but others have instead chosen to roll back their existing protections despite the fact that people across the U.S. strongly favored more protection for wetlands.
Assassination Merch
Medieval pilgrims traded gold for relics such as the alleged thumb of John the Baptist or vials of the alleged blood of Christ from his crucifixion. This will be the first presidential race in history when blood will feature front and center in the Trump campaign’s most iconic image, the candidate bloodied but fist-pumping as an Iwo Jima-flag-like clutch of brawn props him up. Trump is the flag. Trump is America. Welcome to assassination merch.
Bunnell Breaks Ground on Wastewater Treatment Plant Expansion
The City of Bunnell, in collaboration with PC Construction and CPH Consulting, is marking a momentous milestone with the groundbreaking ceremony for the Bunnell Wastewater Treatment Plant Expansion. This undertaking has been years in the making and is the first step of many as the City continues to focus our efforts to bring the plant up to advanced wastewater treatment and to meet environmental sustainability requirements.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, July 14, 2024
Palm Coast Farmers’ Market at European Village, nostalgic memories of Paris in August 1982, Emmanuelle, Francis Lai and Pierre Bachelet, and a few words from Voltaire on Bastille Day.
Once Non-Partisan School Boards Are Getting Mired in Culture Wars
In more than 90% of U.S. public school districts, school board elections are nonpartisan and have been for centuries. But that long tradition may well be changing – and putting at risk the quality of the country’s education system by introducing divisive national political issues into the process by which a local community governs itself.
Libraries Are Cornerstones of Our Communities. They Need Our Help.
In the ongoing culture war, conservative politicians have been taking drastic measures to stop the distribution of “age-inappropriate books,” which primarily target children’s books by and about LGBTQ+ individuals and people of color. These measures ignore the crucial role that libraries serve in their communities in combating the effects of economic inequality by providing essential resources to those in need.
Flagler Cares Partners With Re-Nu Mental Wellness Center, Formerly Known as Palm Coast Counseling
Flagler Cares, a one-stop health and social care organization, welcomed Re-Nu Mental Wellness Center to the Flagler County Village in Palm Coast, on July 1 as a community partner. Re-Nu Mental Wellness Center, formerly known as Palm Coast Counseling, was recently sold to Dr. De-Shaunah Dixon, who also owns Wellness Centers in Pompano Beach, Fla. and Myrtle Beach, S.C.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, July 13, 2024
Second Saturday Plant Sale at Washington Oaks Gardens State Park, Coffee With Commissioner Scott Spradley, Gamble Jam, American Association of University Women (AAUW) Monthly Meeting.
Behind One of the Most Active Tornado Seasons on Record
More than 1,100 tornadoes were reported through May − a preliminary number but nearly twice the 30-year average at that point and behind only 2011, when deadly tornado outbreaks tore across the southeastern U.S. The U.S. experienced several multistate outbreaks in 2024.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Friday, July 12, 2024
Comedy Dinner Show With Johnny Mac and local comedian Doug Canney, LGBTQ+ Night at Flagler Beach’s Coquina Coast Brewing Company, when Jimmy Carter got Salman Rushdie wrong.
The Raised Fist from Fascists to Black Athletes to Socialists to Trump
The raised fist is is full of meaning and has a long and varied history: It’s been used by fascists, socialists, communists, Black Power advocates and even golfer Tiger Woods. Will the world see that same gesture as Trump formally clinches the GOP nomination at the party’s Milwaukee convention? And if Trump does indeed raise a clenched fist at the convention, what will it mean?
Fernando Melendez, Flagler County Commission Candidate District 1: The Live Interview
Fernando Melendez is a Republican candidate for Flagler County Commission, District 1. He is challenging incumbent Andy Dance in the Aug. 20 primary. Since no non-Republicans filed to run, it will be an open primary: all registered Flagler County voters from all parties or no-party affiliation may cast a ballot in this race, which will be decided on Aug. 20.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, July 11, 2024
A hearing is scheduled before Circuit Judge Chris France in the Holland Park splash pad case, the Flagler Beach City Commission meets, when bestsellers become the talk of the country.