New York’s prosecution of Donald Trump can be, and has been, characterized long before today by some as a “political prosecution” because of the strong belief that a case on an allegedly false record would never have been brought if Trump were not running for president. Justice Jackson warned that such a case, without an apparent victim, could undermine the public’s perception of the prosecution’s legitimacy.
All Else
Flagler Seeks New Countywide Tax of Homes and Businesses for Beach Protection, But Cities’ Support Is Key
In a “dramatic change for the county,” the County Commission on Monday agreed unanimously to seek a new levy on residents and businesses to pay for $7 million in annual beach reconstruction and protection–for ever. It is the county’s surrender to an unavoidable reality: to preserve the beaches, considered to be Flagler County’s greatest asset, residents across the county will have to shoulder a share of the cost in the same way that they pay for garbage services and stormwater protection.
For Flagler County, New Tax to Raise $7 Million a Year to Preserve Beaches Concedes Realities of Climate Change
Monday’s milestone by the Flagler County Commission–seeking a new funding mechanism to rebuild and maintain the county’s 18 miles of beaches–was the culmination of a four-year process. It would put in place a method to pay for expected beach maintenance for decades as the county faces a new reality of rising seas and relentless erosion. Here’s how consultants arrived at the proposal, and what it would pay for.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Tuesday, June 4, 2024
The Residential Drainage Citizens Advisory Committee holds its inaugural meeting, the Flagler County School Board and the Palm Coast City Council meet, a $2-a-cup lemonade stand appears on Belle Terre Parkway.
When the Racist Immigration Act of 1924 Closed America’s Door
One hundred years ago, the U.S. Congress enacted the most notorious immigration legislation in American history. Signed by President Calvin Coolidge, the Immigration Act of 1924 dramatically reduced immigration from eastern and southern Europe and practically barred it from Asia. The new law was unabashedly racist, seeking to roll back the demographic tide. One of its sponsors, U.S. Rep. Albert Johnson, warned the House Committee on Immigration that “a stream of alien blood” was poisoning the nation.
Down-Ballot Effect in Florida of Trump Conviction Is Unlikely, But It’s a Fund-Raising Boon to Ex-President
Political experts don’t anticipate last week’s conviction of former President Donald Trump in New York will create significant down-ballot momentum — either way — for candidates in Florida. Fundraising has ratcheted up after Trump’s conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records, but experts in Florida pointed to issues such as voters already having their minds made up.
DeSantis Endorses Leek as Hutson’s Replacement, and as John Morgan Sneers
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday endorsed House Appropriations Chairman Tom Leek, R-Ormond Beach, in a Northeast Florida Senate race, days after high-profile attorney John Morgan publicly criticized Leek.
Covenants May Be Hurdle to Palm Coast’s Plan for YMCA on Town Center Land Pledged for the Arts
As Palm Coast government plans for a long-awaited YMCA in Town Center, albeit without a pool for now, a covenant restriction requiring the land to be used only for arts and cultural purposes may stand in the way. It isn’t an immovable restriction. But to get around it, the city may either have to pay back some state grant money that helped build a stage there, or it would have to use creative–to not say Orwellian–maneuvering that would allow it to redefine Y spaces as an arts and culture venue.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, June 3, 2024
John Cascone plea hearing, the Flagler County Commission meets, the miserable history of Baruch Goldstein and Gush Emunim, terrorists among Israeli settlers.
For American Jews Protesting For Palestinians, It’s a Matter of Jewish Values
One of the American rabbis told reporters at Democracy Now! that this was the only way she could imagine marking Passover, a holiday that celebrates the story of liberation from oppression and slavery. Marching to the gates of Gaza with food for starving Palestinians was consistent with Passover’s imperative to invite the hungry to every table.
DeSantis Says New College Is Now Like When ‘Founding Fathers’ Went to School
Speaking Saturday at New College in Sarasota, DeSantis boasted that the school has been wrested away from “the Left,” and is now akin to places that the property-owning white men who established the United States learned.
Sea Level Rise Make Florida’s ‘Beach Renourishments’ More Frequent, Expensive and Vain
The barrier islands keep moving, which foolish humans label “beach erosion” as they keep trying to bend nature to their will by trucking or dredging in lots of sand from somewhere else for millions of dollars. The Corps of Engineers, the government agency in charge of playing in such big sandboxes, always claims they’re “saving” the beach from disappearing. They aren’t. They’re just saving a lot of people’s investments as “fiscal conservatives” spend tax money on beaches sure washed away in the next storm.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, June 2, 2024
Palm Coast Farmers’ Market at European Village, a very special place for developers, those upside down flags protesting the Tump verdict and reminders from Woodie Guthrie and Voltaire.
Mary McLeod Bethune, The Unifier
Mary McLeod Bethune rose to become one of the most influential Black women of the 20th century. In 1904, she founded a small school for girls in Daytona Beach. That school later became Bethune-Cookman University. While living in Washington, D.C., where she moved to work with the Roosevelt administration and National Council of Negro Women, she worked alongside Carter G. Woodson, the founder of what we now know to be Black History Month,
Flagler Sheriff Offers Vacation Watch Program for Your Home
Through this community safety program, each household can receive up to 20 vacation house watch checks per year. During these checks, the uniformed FCSO Citizen Observer Patrol members survey the outside of the home to make sure it is secure. If anything looks suspicious the C.O.P then notifies the homeowner.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, June 1, 2024
Her Turn Women’s Surf Festival at the pier, Flagler Humane Society Hosts Special Adoption Event, Sunshine and Sandals Social at Cornerstone, Coffee With Commissioner Scott Spradley.
The ‘Model Minority’ Myth Harms Asian Americans
May is Asian and Pacific American Heritage Month, a time when Americans celebrate the profound contributions of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders – a group that is commonly abbreviated as AAPI – to U.S. society. The focus on AAPI communities this month provides an excellent occasion to push back against a stereotype that has long misrepresented and marginalized a diverse range of people: the myth of the “model minority.”
Lured by State’s $3,000 ‘Civics’ Bonus, Thousands of Florida Teachers Train in Christian Nationalist Tenets
Training materials produced by the Florida Department of Education direct middle and high school teachers to indoctrinate students in the tenets of Christian nationalism, a right-wing effort to merge Christian and American identities. Thousands of Florida teachers, lured by cash stipends, have attended trainings featuring these materials.
James Michael McGill, 33, Arrested for Possession of Child Sexual Abuse Materials After Kik CyberTip
James Michael McGill, a 33-year-old resident of 16 Kaywood Place in Palm Coast, was arrested Thursday on 10 counts of possession of child sexual abuse material and booked at the Flagler County jail on $150,000 bond.
Think Your Land Can’t Be Sold Without Your Knowledge? Palm Coast Lot Owner Found Out Differently.
A Palm Coast property owner was shocked to fine that a lot he owns in the L Section had been put up for sale without his knowledge. It is now a common fraud that’s catching many property owners by surprise, that title companies are battling, and that the Florida Legislature attempted to address, but a bill doing so died in the last session.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Friday, May 31, 2024
Reflexins on Trump’s guilty verdict, Her Turn Women’s Surf Festival in Flagler Beach kicks off, the Blue 24 Forum, U-2’s anthem for the day, what George Wallace has in common with his felon descendant.
Prosecuting Former Leaders Is Not So Rare Elsewhere
While charging a former president with criminal offenses was a first in the United States with Trump, in other countries ex-leaders are routinely investigated, prosecuted and even jailed.
Palm Coast Mayor David Alfin Elected 1st Vice-Chair of River to Sea Transportation Planning Organization
The City of Palm Coast announce today that Mayor David Alfin has been unanimously elected as the 1st Vice-Chair/Treasurer of the River to Sea Transportation Planning Organization (TPO) for the upcoming fiscal year, beginning on July 1, 2024. The position marks a significant step in regional transportation leadership and planning.
Among Florida Politicians, Trump Verdict Draws Predictable Outrage from GOP, Praise from Democrats
Florida Republicans on Thursday quickly attacked the conviction of former President Donald Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records, while Democrats said the verdict showed nobody is above the law. A 12-member jury returned the verdict more than a month after the criminal hush-money trial began in New York and after just one day of deliberations. Trump is the first former president to be convicted of a crime after leaving office.
Nearly $1 Billion in New Construction Raises Flagler County Taxable Values 12% Over Last Year, a Salve to Budgets
“Humming along” is how Flagler County Property Appraiser Jay Gardner describes the year’s property values: powered by nearly $1 billion in new construction alone, $631 million of it in Palm Coast, taxable property values in Flagler County rose around 12 percent this year, and 13 percent in Palm Coast, about the same as last year. The estimates being finalized this week play a central role in local governments’ budgeting and taxing decisions.
Developer of Proposed 204-Boat Storage Facility in Hammock on Collision Course with County and Residents
Flagler County government, the Hammock Community Association and Hammock Barbour, the proposed development of a 204-boat storage facility and restaurant on A1A in the Hammock, are heading for another likely collision in court. A nearly four-hour mediation session that started this morning and stretched into afternoon, involving the three parties, failed.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, May 30, 2024
Drug court convenes, when Esquire Magazine memorialized 1991 from Darryl Strawberry to Imelda Marcos to… Donald Trump, and how “the truest of all men was the Man of Sorrows.”
Obscure Provision Could Keep Biden Off the Ohio Ballot in November
President Joe Biden might not appear on the November 2024 presidential ballot in Ohio because the Democratic National Convention that will formally nominate Biden won’t open until nearly two weeks after Ohio’s Aug. 7 certification deadline.
No Tuition Increases at DSC for 14th Year, But Some Fees Will Increase
As part of its regularly scheduled June 20 meeting, the Daytona State College District Board of Trustees will discuss three proposed direct cost pass through fee adjustments that would take place in Fall 2024.
Judge Rules Luke Ingram, 21, Legally Insane at Time of Brutal Killing of His Grandfather; Family’s Pain Unravels
Circuit Judge Terence Perkins in a short bench trial this morning found Luke Ingram not guilty by reason of insanity in the brutal killing, mutilation and raping of his grandfather Darwin Graham, 85, on Clermont Court in Palm Coast in November 2022. The short trial was also an occasion for family members to fill in, publicly for the first time, the distinguished life that Darwin Ingram had lived, and include for the court record some of the atrocities Luke Ingram committed that morning.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Wednesday, May 29, 2024
Luke Ingram’s lawyers will argue before Circuit Judge Terence Perkins their intent to rely on the insanity defense in the killing of his grandfather, Flagler County government argues a motion for partial summary judgment in the Old Dixie Motel case.
Term Limits Aren’t the Answer
There’s no denying that the current Congress has been one of the most chaotic in recent memory. But would term limits make a difference? The evidence suggests that term limits create more problems than they solve and could even accelerate the polarization that’s been hobbling Congress for over a decade.
Spectrum Launches Long-Awaited High-Speed Fiber Option for Western Flagler County
Charter Communications’ Spectrum, the internet, phone, cable television and wireless service company, last week launched high-speed internet and other services to more than 900 homes and small businesses in rural, western Flagler County. The fiber-optic network is now available in Andalusia, Bimini and Daytona North, also known as the Mondex, reaching into areas of the county that had been chronically underserved but for satellite connections.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Tuesday, May 28, 2024
The Palm Coast City Council holds a special budget workshop, Book Dragons, the kids’ book club at the Flagler Beach Public Library, meets, the NAACP’s general membership meeting, press freedom.
New Space Mission May Crack Some Black Hole Mysteries
Physicists consider black holes one of the most mysterious objects that exist. Ironically, they’re also considered one of the simplest. For years, physicists have been looking to prove that black holes are more complex than they seem. And a newly approved European space mission called LISA will help with this hunt.
Bluelining: How Home Insurers Are Spurning Entire Communities
Bluelining is an insidious practice with similarities to redlining — the notorious government-sanctioned practice of financial institutions denying mortgages and credit to Black and brown communities, which were often marked by red lines on map. These days, financial institutions are now drawing “blue lines” around many of these same communities, restricting services like insurance based on environmental risks.
What Should Bing’s Landing Look Like When Captain’s BBQ Expands? Public Invited to Weigh In Tuesday.
Flagler County government hosts a 6 p.m. meeting Tuesday at the Hammock Community Center, 79 Mala Compra Rd, Palm Coast, to get input on how Bings Landing should look with the upcoming relocation and expansion of Captain’s BBQ, following the county’s settlement of a breach-of-contract lawsuit Captains filed.
Is the Armadillo Spreading Leprosy in Central Florida?
Leprosy remains rare in the United States. But Florida, which often reports the most cases of any state, has seen an uptick in patients. The epicenter is east of Orlando. Brevard County reported a staggering 13% of the nation’s 159 leprosy cases in 2020. Leprosy experts believe armadillos play a role in spreading the illness to people.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, May 27, 2024
It’s Memorial Day ceremonies, 8 a.m. in Palm Coast, 10 a.m. in Bunnell (Flagler County), 3 p.m. in Flagler Beach, a few memories from Vietnam, a few thoughts on war remembrance.
Relics of Omaha Beach
Eighty years ago, on a day now known as D-Day, thousands of Allied soldiers crossed the choppy waters of the English Channel by air and sea to land on beaches and coastal areas of Normandy, France, to destroy the Nazi invaders and defeat Hitler’s regime. Within the military collections of the National Museum of American History, several artifacts collected over the decades help tell the story of Omaha Beach and the invasion landings on D-Day.
Voices From the Grave:
Admiral Rickover’s Nukes Warning: ‘We’ll Probably Destroy Ourselves’
Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, who died in 1986, was among the more outspoken, abrasive, often controversial and at times innovative military leaders in the nation’s history. In his last congressional hearing in 1982 he warned of the danger posed by nuclear weapons and nuclear power, predicted that the human race was on its way to extinction by nuclear conflagration, and deemed “silly” any talk of multiplying the Navy’s fleet, or even its aircraft carriers, which he said would last two days in a nuclear confrontation.
Florida’s Attorney General Calls Starbucks’ Diverse Hiring ‘Illegal’
Florida’s Attorney General took to a national radio show hosted by Gov. Ron DeSantis–he was sitting in for Sean Hannity–to charge that Starbucks’s pledge to hire people of color in 30 to 40 percent of its positions violates the law.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, May 26, 2024
‘Sense and Sensibility,’ at Daytona Playhouse, the creative ravages of artificial intelligence, disappearing jobs from living alarm clocks to customer service representatives, with a few words from Joseph Heller.
Meet Paris’s Black Dandies: Les Sapeurs
You can spot them in the streets of Paris or at fashion events in London, Milan, Brussels or Dubai. Most are black African men with sharp outfits designed and chosen to get them noticed. Known as “Sapeurs” – the name comes from the Society for Ambience and Elegance (Sape) and from French slang “se saper”, “to dress up” – these figures stand out with their offbeat and baroque sartorial style.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, May 25, 2024
Coffee With Commissioner Scott Spradley, Gamble Jam, Peps Art Walk, noon to 5 p.m. next to JT’s Seafood Shack, ‘Sense and Sensibility,’ at Daytona Playhouse, Raymond Carver at 86.
Wars’ Other Collateral Damage: Pollution
Colombia’s is seen as the most comprehensive peace accord that has been signed to date. It considers issues ranging from security to social justice and political participation, in great detail. The accord acknowledges that a peaceful postwar society requires not only respect for human rights but also “protection of the environment, respect for nature and its renewable and nonrenewable resources and biodiversity.”
Governor Ron Wants to Pay High School Athletes. But Not At Your School.
Former Flagler Palm Coast High School Head Football Coach Caesar Campana takes on a proposal by the Florida High School Athletic Association to allow student-athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness under what is commonly known as an NIL policy. But while the policy has a place in college sports, it will further divide high school sports between the haves and the have-nots, particularly favoring private schools and leaving public schools behind.
Previously Disgraced Scott DuPont, Running Again for Judge, Offers Orwellian Explanation of His Bar Suspension
Former Circuit Judge Scott DuPont, who served in Flagler County and who is running against Judge Rose Marie Preddy, argues that while he was suspended from the Florida Bar as a result of inappropriate and scandalous conduct on and off the bench, he was still a member of the Bar during that suspension, therefore should still be eligible to run. Preddy’s lawyer argues the Florida Constitution says otherwise.
Florida Preparing for a Hurricane Season with Up to 25 Named Storms
Echoing earlier predictions about the season that will start June 1, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Thursday pointed to warm ocean waters and forecast up to 25 named storms, with up to 13 reaching hurricane strength and four to seven packing Category 3 or stronger winds.
Sheriff Launches New Marine Unit Boat in Time for Memorial Day Weekend Patrols
The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office received a grant from Florida Inland Navigation District (FIND) to fund a new patrol boat which will allow for enhanced patrol along the intracoastal waterway, marine search and rescue efforts, law enforcement operations, crime prevention and boater safety and education along the intercoastal waterway and saltwater canals.