Monday Briefing: Muhammad Cartoons Draw Bullets, Flagler Talks Construction, FYO in Concert

Today’s weather (Saturday): partly cloudy, high of 77, low of 66, low humidity in afternoon. Details here.
Today’s fire danger is Low. Flagler County’s Drought Index is at 291
The weather in Whitehorse, Yukatan, Canada: Sunny, high of 52, low of 33. Details.
The OED’s Word of the Day: Cullen Skink, n..
The Live Community Calendar
Today’s jail bookings.

 

Today’s Briefing: Quick Links

• In Flagler and Palm Coast
• In Court
• In State Government
• Beyond
• In the Press
• Local Road and Interstate Construction
• PR Releases
• Blood Donations Needed
• In Coming Days in Flagler and Palm Coast

 
 
In Flagler and Palm Coast:

Note: all government meetings noticed below are free and open to the public unless otherwise indicated.

The Flagler County Commission meets twice today. Its business meeting is at 9 a.m. The commission is expected to approve a series of Tourist Development Council grants for the Flagler Film Festival, Corvettes at the Beach and two sports events, among a few routine matters. The full agenda is here. (Government Services Building commission chambers.) The commission meets again in a 1 p.m. at the Emergency Operations Center to discuss what to do with a segment of the old Memorial hospital in Bunnell, currently being reconstructed into a sheriff’s operations center. The question is over the old patient wings, which are slated to be demolished. The agenda is here.

Flagler County government’s Emergency Services Division is launching a new website today.

The Flagler Youth Orchestra performs its third and final concert of the 2014-15 season on Monday, May 4, at 7 p.m. at the Flagler Auditorium in Palm Coast. Conductor Sue Cryan and fellow teachers of the FYO will lead five orchestras with more nearly 300 string musicians — a cross-section of public, private and homeschooled students. The program will feature music by Beethoven, Teleman and a special collaboration with members of the Flagler-Palm Coast High School band. Tickets are available at the Flagler Auditorium box office or by calling (386) 437-7547. Adult tickets are $6.00 with $1 from each ticket going to the Auditorium’s Arts in Education Fund. Children 17 and under are $1.00 tickets. The orchestra’s proceeds help underwrite instrument scholarships and repairs, teaching staff and concert productions. The Flagler Youth Orchestra is made possible by the Flagler County School District, with the support of the Friends of the Youth Orchestra, whose sole mission is to provide free music education after school to all Flagler children with a desire to play an instrument. For more information on the concert, how you can show your support of this performing arts program or enrollment in the strings program, contact Cheryl Tristam, program director, at (386) 503-3808 or by email at [email protected].

• My Muñequita: Flagler Youth Orchestra Caps 10th Year With Smooth FPC Band Gig in Auditorium Concert

This is Teacher and Staff Appreciation Week in Flagler County schools.

Tuesday: The Flagler County School Board holds a workshop and a regular meeting at 5 and 6 p.m

In Court:

Judge Denise Mensh holds various hearings and judicial reviews starting at 9 a.m. in Courtroom 403. Judge Melissa Moore-Stens is in hearings in Courtroom 404 starting at 9 a.m., and in juvenile arraignments and pre-trials at 1:30 p.m.

A foreclosure sale is scheduled for 11 a.m. in the civil department lobby of the courthouse.

In State Government:

Note: Most proceedings below can be followed live on the Florida Channel.

The annual Florida Law Enforcement Memorial Service will be held to honor officers who died in the line of duty. (10 a.m., Capitol courtyard.) The Florida Sheriffs Association will also hold a ceremony at 1:30 p.m., Florida Sheriffs Association headquarters, 2617 Mahan Dr., Tallahassee.

–Compiled by the News Service of Florida

Beyond:

Ex-Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina and and ex-Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, winner of the 2008 Iowa caucuses, have joined the race in the 2016 presidential election.

President Obama is in New York City to introduce the My Brother’s Keeper Alliance. The initiative, Time writes, is “intended to provide more opportunities to young black and Latino men is expanding outside the White House, a key signal of President Obama’s post-2016 plans.”

In the Press, In the News:

One gunman reportedly ID’d in shootings outside Muhammad art show in Garland: “Two men who opened fire outside a contest for cartoons depicting the Muslim prophet Muhammad were killed by police Sunday at a Garland ISD events center. A senior FBI official confirmed that one of the suspects in the attack has been identified as Elton Simpson, an Arizona man who was previously the subject of a terrorism investigation, ABC News reports. […] According to ABC News, officials suspect Simpson was behind several Twitter messages sent out before the attack, the last of which came half an hour before the shooting and used the hashtag “#texasattack.” “May Allah accept us as mujahideen [those engaged in jihad],” the tweet said. Simpson was well known to the FBI, ABC News reported. Five years ago he was convicted for lying to federal agents about his plans to travel to Africa, “but a judge ruled the government did not adequately prove he was going to join a terror group there.” Sunday’s controversial event at the Curtis Culwell Center was wrapping up shortly before 7 p.m. when the two gunmen pulled up in a car and shot an unarmed Garland ISD security officer. Seconds later, Garland police returned fire and killed the two gunmen before anyone else was hurt. The security officer, Bruce Joiner, was treated at a hospital for an ankle wound and released.” From the Dallas Morning News.

US Justices’ Opinions Grow in Size, Accessibility and Testiness: “The Supreme Court seems to be in a foul mood. It heard its last arguments of the term on Wednesday, including an exceptionally bitter one in a death penalty case. That same day, it issued a 5-to-4 decision on judicial ethics that generated six overlapping opinions, some of them laced with venom and scorn. The discord may only deepen over the next two months, as the justices exchange draft opinions in what seem certain to be intensely divided decisions on health care and same-sex marriage. The court used to be a more decorous institution. A new computer analysis of about 25,000 Supreme Court opinions from 1791 to 2008 identified three trends that have transformed the court’s tone. The justices’ opinions, the study found, have become longer, easier to understand — and grumpier. The judicial-ethics decision was a good example of all three trends. It was simultaneously sprawling, accessible and testy. […] Five current members of the court claimed spots on the top 10 list for grumpiness: Justices Samuel A. Alito Jr., Stephen G. Breyer, Anthony M. Kennedy, Scalia and Clarence Thomas. (Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Ruth Bader Ginsburg were in the middle of the pack. Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan joined the court too recently to be ranked.) The new study, like earlier ones, found evidence that law clerks do much of the writing at the Supreme Court. A 2011 study from two professors at the University of Toronto published in the Cornell Law Review used linguistic software to try and identify ghostwriting on the court. They measured how much justices’ writing styles varied from opinion to opinion and from term to term. […] The opinions of Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Scalia and Breyer were less variable in this sense, and those of Justices Thomas, Ginsburg and Kennedy more so. The highest level of variability among justices who served since 1941 was in the opinions of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who retired in 2006.” From the Times.

Liberal Policies Didn’t Fail Baltimore. Here’s What Did: “Baltimore’s problems stretch further back, to institutionalized racial discrimination in the early 20th century. Federal and local policymakers of the time redlined areas with “undesirable racial concentrations” to omit them from mortgage insurance programs. And over the century, the same neighborhoods faced one destructive policy after another, from mass incarceration to the rise of predatory banks. […] As the Washington Post notes, research from the Virginia Commonwealth University’s Center on Society and Health shows that the segregated black neighborhoods of the 1930s “still have lower rates of homeownership and college attainment and higher rates of poverty and segregation today—as well as worse health outcomes.” Another fact from the Post: “From 1951 to 1971, 80 to 90 percent of the 25,000 families displaced in Baltimore to build new highways, schools and housing projects were black.” Only a decade ago, banks marketed subprime mortgages to poor black homebuyers, leading to a wave of foreclosures. The tough-on-crime approach WSJ suggests only made things worse. During Martin O’Malley’s mayorship, arrests spiked as police swept up people for offenses as minor as loitering by targeting low-income neighborhoods with O’Malley’s database, CitiState. Today, neighborhoods like Sandtown-Winchester in West Baltimore, which is 97 percent black and where half the households earn less than $25,000 a year, are still reeling from these policies.” From the New Republic.

Road and Interstate Construction:

Palm Coast: Palm Coast Parkway between Cypress Point Parkway and Florida Park Drive. IMPACTS: Lane shifts and closures will occur and this may cause traffic congestion on this already busy roadway. Most construction work will occur between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m. though weather and unforeseen issues may adjust the schedules. This project will be complete by December 2015.”

Matanzas Parkway Bridge at I-95 Matanazas Parkway at the I-95 bridge will close on June 5 at 7 p.m. for the I-95 interchange project and will remain closed until Aug. 9. Detour will be via Old Kings Road. Details here.

Flagler County: County Road 305 is now detour-free. 

Volusia: I-4 Widening from SR 44 to east of I-95, Monday and Friday, 7:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Eastbound/Westbound shoulder closing. Sunday through Thursday, Eastbound and Westbound lane closures as needed from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. Motorists should be aware of traffic shifts near Canal St./SR 44.

• Palm Coast Parkway Project Website
• Florida Department of Transportation Road Project List
• County Road 304 Project Map and Description

PR Releases:

Mala Compra trail, boardwalk ready for use: There are few places that offer a good view of what Florida looked like when it was discovered by the Spanish 450 years ago, but Flagler County has one of them. With the completion of a new trail at Mala Compra Park – as well as two boardwalks over the interdune salt marshes and dune walkovers to the beach – visitors will get a glimpse of the coastal hammock that in other areas of the state has largely been carved up for residential development. “We are thrilled to officially open this oceanfront trail,” Flagler County Commissioner Frank Meeker said Friday morning during a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the park. “This will allow people to walk through one of the few remaining intact coastal hammocks on the east coast of Florida.” A new mile long trail off of Flagler County’s 19-mile A1A trails system connects Bings Landing Park on the west side of State Road A1A to Mala Compra Park, providing a nice excursion to the beach. It intersects with the Old Coast Guard Road that was used during World War II to keep an eye on the coastline. Donna Richard-Drevniok spoke on behalf of Friends of A1A Scenic and Historic Coastal Byway at the ribbon-cutting. “This is wonderful. We’ve been waiting for this since like 2002,” she said of the connection to the Old Coast Guard Road. Overall, the project came in about 18 percent under budget. A portion of the work was completed in house, like the construction of the 21-car shell parking lot that cost $216,000, saving Flagler County $49,000 from the engineer estimates. The boardwalks were constructed by Underwater Engineering Services and cost $518,000 and another $3,660 under budget. “This is another great addition to our trail system that benefits residents and visitors alike,” said Anne Wilson, chairwoman of the Scenic A1A Committee. “Trails like this add to the overall charm of what makes Flagler County a great place to live, work and play.” Mala Compra Park is a rare publicly owned greenway that encompasses land from the ocean west to the Intracoastal Waterway. This was accomplished by negotiations with developers, county funds and state preservation funds. Money was set aside for the project construction by the original developer of the Hammock Dunes, Admiral Corporation nearly 30 years ago.

Flagler County Sheriff’s Office Victim Advocate Teresa Shaw was honored by the Boy Scouts of America Central Florida Council as the 2015 Explorer Advisor of the Year. The award was presented on Thursday at the Three Rivers District Banquet in Daytona Beach. Shaw has served the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office for the past eight years and has spent countless hours assisting with the Explorer Post by mentoring future leaders in the community. The Flagler Sheriff’s Explorer Program was established in 1986 and has been going strong since. The year-round program follows the school calendar and is designed for young men and women between the ages of 14 – 20 who are attending school. The program is designed to build strong relationships with law enforcement, while teaching participants about the law enforcement profession. Explorers work first hand with law enforcement, creating an opportunity to bridge the gap between youth and law enforcement. Explorers receive training in many aspects of law enforcement, such as the history of law enforcement, traffic control, defensive tactics, crime scene investigation, firearms safety and training, search and arrest procedures and physical fitness training. “We are very proud of Teresa’s accomplishments and for her commitment to the program, she is a great role model for these young people,” said Sr. Commander Steve Cole. “It is an honor to have Teresa selected as the Explorer Advisor of the Year. We are fortunate to have her as a part of our team and our community,” said Sheriff Jim Manfre. For more information about the Explorer program, please email [email protected] or call 386-586-4837.

High Tech Fundraising Service Launches in Palm Coast: Hans Boehm has opened Fundrzrs and re-launched Express Vault, a cloud storage business and parent company of Fundrzrs. “Fundrzrs is an innovative way for organizations to raise funds in a high tech world,” Boehm said. “People are realizing that car washes and candy sales are not the only way, we are bringing fundraising into the 21st century.” He is unaware of any other cloud storage companies that offer this type of service. In a recent survey, parents said their top two complaints about school and organizational fundraisers were being responsible to deliver the products, and getting stuck financially with unsold inventory. Fundrzrs eliminates both these issues. Fundrzrs offers affordable online cloud backup services to schools, churches, sports teams and other organizations to raise funds for causes and projects that are important to their overall mission. Boehm came up with the idea after talking to a friend about a local church’s fundraising efforts and wanting to help in some way. Offering this fundraising option is designed to compliment students who are already using the latest technology, mobile apps and devices. The service allows users to access or share files, photos, documents, music, and more. The company created an animated video that easily explains the service. Express Vault is a cloud service business that allows users to back up an unlimited amount of data, images and downloads, as well as sync to all of their devices. This allows users to access important documents no matter where they are in the world. Express Vault originally opened in 2012, but was put on hold after a family tragedy. Express Vault Enterprises, Inc. is a new concept in the industry of file organization, document maintenance, and cloud storage. The experts at Express Vault are the “SERVICE” behind digital document and multi-media storage for families and businesses. They help clients understand the benefits, ease and convenience of using “Cloud” storage. For questions, or to sign your organization up to do a Fundrzr, visit http://www.fundrzrs.com. Fundrzrs can be reached at 386-446-2000 and https://www.facebook.com/Fundrzrs.

In Coming Days:

Friday, Saturday and Sunday: “Committed,” At City Repertory Theatre: Don’t miss the Florida debut of “Committed,” a musical Featuring 13 original songs penned by Flagler Palm Coast High School graduate Andrew David Sotomayor. Written by Tricia Brouk, “Committed” brings audiences inside the psych ward to find out what happens when life begins to fray at the edges, and how people hold themselves together. “Committed” is a dark and beautiful book musical about eight people working through the pain of their mental illnesses. Pain is pain. We all know it, we all feel it, we all relate to it. Sometimes it’s difficult to talk about. “Committed” is a theatrical experience that brings awareness to mental illness and with compassion and humor, try to get past the suffering. The hope is to use art and entertainment to de-stigmatize mental illness and get people talking about it.An unforgettable show that you won’t want to miss. Tickets are $25. Call the box office at 386/585-9415 or click here for immediate ticketing. Show times: April 30, May 1, 2, 8, 9 at 7:30 p.m., matinees May 3, 10 at 2 p.m.

• Xanax In Song: In “Committed,” Depression Turns Musical on City Rep’s Stage, Starring FPC

Stewart-Marchman-Act Behavioral Healthcare will run a free Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) certification course for Flagler County residents on Friday, May 15, from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the Flagler County Government Services Building. The course will be instructed by Sini Summerlin, MHFA instructor, who will teach a five-step action plan to offer initial help to people with signs and symptoms of a mental illness, or who are in crisis, and learn to connect them with the appropriate professional, peer, social or self help care. “You are more likely to come in contact with a person who is experiencing a mental illness than a person suffering from a heart attack,” stated Summerlin. “This is an essential course to take for anyone that works with young adults,” added Summerlin. Anyone that resides or works in Flagler County can take the 8-hour Youth Mental Health First Aid course, but it is ideally designed for adults who work with young people, ages 12-18 — teachers, coaches, leaders of faith communities, social workers, and other caring citizens Seating is limited and registration is required. The Flagler County Government Services Building is located at 1769 E. Moody Blvd. in Bunnell and the class will be held in Building 2, 3rd Floor, Room 3. To register, follow this link.
For more information or to participate in a Mental Health First Aid training in Flagler County, visit www.mentalhealthfirstaid-florida.com or email Sini Summerlin, MHFA contact at [email protected].

The Florida Agricultural Museum will be co-hosting an orienteering event on Saturday, May 16, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the museum facility, 7900 Old Kings Road North in Palm Coast. The event is being produced by the Florida Orienteering Club. There is a $2 per person registration fee. In addition there is a map fee of $4 for club members and $6 for non-members. Orienteering is the sport of navigating a series of designated locations on an outdoor course with a map and compass. The event is suitable for all ages. No experience is necessary and instructors will be on site for assistance. Closed toe shoes, sunscreen, insect repellent and water are recommended for all participants. The museum recently opened a permanent orienteering course at its facility. It is available when the museum is open to the public. There is $5 charge per user. The event will take place rain or shine. For more information, please visit floridaagmuseum.org or floridaorienteering.org or by contacting (386) 446-7630 or [email protected].

Blood Donations Needed

Blood donations are urgently needed. Patients in our local hospitals are in need of blood transfusions, and the need for blood does not take a holiday. That’s why OneBlood is asking people to donate immediately.

Big Red Bus schedule in Flagler-Palm Coast:

Saturday May 2nd 12:00PM – 5:00PM The Vitamin Shoppe, 5234 Highway 100, Palm Coast
Sunday May 3rd 1:00PM -5:00PM Publix, 4950 Belle Terre Parkway, Palm Coast
Monday May 4th 10:00AM – 2:00PM Atlas Associates, 2323 North State Street, Bunnell
Tuesday May 5th 8:30AM – 1:30PM Atlantic Fitness/Chick fil-A 3 Boulder rock drive, Palm Coast
Friday May 8th 8:00AM – 2:15PM Matanzas High School, 3535 Old Kings Road, Palm Coast
Wednesday May 13th 11:30AM -4:30PM Department of Health Flagler, 301 Dr. Carter BLvd, Bunnell
Thursday May 14th 9:00AM – 2:00PM Florida Hospital Flagler, 60 Memorial Med Parkway, Palm Coast
Friday May 15th 1:00PM – 6:00PM Epic Theatre, 1185 Central Ave, Palm Coast
Saturday May 16th 9:00AM – 2:00PM Bunnell Festival, 200 East Moody Blvd, Bunnell
Monday May 18th 11:00AM – 4:00PM City of Palm Coast, 160 Cypress Point Parkway, Palm Coast
Wednesday May 20th 12:00PM – 5:00PM US Post Office, 2 Pine Cone Drive, Palm Coast
Friday May 22nd 1:00PM – 6:00PM Epic Theatre, 1185 Central Ave, Palm Coast
Sunday May 24th McDonalds Restaurant, 5190 East Highway 100, Palm Coast
Monday May 25th Bealls Outlet, 9 Old Kings road, Palm Coast
Friday May 29th Zaxby’s, 180 Cypress Edge Drive, Palm Coast
Saturday May 30th Walmart Supercenter, 174 Cypress Point Parkway, Palm Coast
Sunday May 31st Lowe’s, 315 Cypress Edge Drive, Palm Coast