Replacing McGuire, Matanzas Students' Laptops, Congressional Forum, Agustin Barrios

kristy gavin school board flagler — Not to worry, she’s sticking to her day job: School Board Attorney Kristy Gavin’s contract is up for renewal at the school board meeting tonight. See below. (© FlaglerLive)

Today: Partly cloudy in the morning, mostly cloudy with a 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. Highs in the lower 90s inland, upper 80s coast. South winds 5 mph shifting to the southeast in the afternoon. Tonight: Partly cloudy. A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms in the evening. Lows in the mid 70s. South winds 5 to 10 mph. Details here.
Today’s fire danger is moderate. Flagler County’s Drought Index is at 521.
Today’s tides: at the beaches, at the Intracoastal Waterway.
Today’s document from the National Archives.
The OED’s Word of the Day: Monday-morning, adj..
The Live Community Calendar
Today’s jail bookings.

Today’s Briefing: Quick Links

First Light
In Flagler and Palm Coast
Local News Recap
Flagler Jail Bookings and Sheriff’s Crime Reports
In State Government
In Coming Days in Flagler, Palm Coast and Beyond
The Day’s Best Reads
Fact-Checking the Knaves
Palm Coast Construction and Development Progress Reports
Local Road and Interstate Construction
Cultural Coda

To those of you who received honors, awards, and distinctions, I say, well done. And to the C students I say, you, too, can be President of the United States.

–George W. Bush, in a Commencement Address at Yale, May 21, 2001.

In Flagler and Palm Coast:

Note: all government meetings noticed below are free and open to the public unless otherwise indicated. Many can be heard or seen live through each agency’s website.

The Flagler County School Board meets in workshop at 5 p.m. and in a regular meeting at 6 p.m. in board chambers at the Government Services Building. At the workshop, Superintendent Jacob Oliva will present the district’s 2016-17 legislative priorities, which you can read here and here. At the regular meeting, the board is expected to approve School Board Attorney Kristy Gavin’s new contract. She will be paid $107,000 a year, with annual pay increases in line with whatever percentage increases are awarded faculty. The contract, which you can read here, runs through June 30, 2019. The board is also expected to approve a memorandum of understanding for the FPC Leadership Fire Academy, which the board discussed in February.

The Flagler County School Board distributes Macbook computers to 11th and 12th graders at 3 p.m. at Matanzas High School.

The Flagler County Centennial Committee meets at 1:30 p.m. in the 3rd Floor Financial Services Conference Room at the Government Services Building.

The Palm Coast City Council meets at 6:30 p.m. at Palm Coast City Hall in Town Center. The council will discuss the method of replacing Bill McGuire, whose last meeting will be in mid-August.

The Flagler Beach Planning and Architecture Review Board meets at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall.

Candidate Forum for four Democratic candidates running for US House of Representatives District 6, hosted by the Flagler County Democrats, at the Palm Coast Community Center, 305 Palm Coast Parkway NE, 6:30 p.m. Free and open to the public.

Local News Recap:

2016 Election Interviews

Supervisor of Elections

Kaiti Lenhart
Kimble Medley
Abra Seay

Sheriff

Jim Manfre (D)
Don Fleming (R)
Larry Jones (D)
John Lamb (R)
Jerry O'Gara(R)
Rick Staly (R)
Mark Whisenant (R)
Chris Yates (R)
Thomas Dougherty (I)

Palm Coast City Council

Robert Cuff (Dist. 1)
Troy DuBose (Dist. 1)
Sims Jones (Dist. 1)
Art McGovern Jr. (Dist. 1)
Nick Klufas (Dist. 3)
Anita Moeder (Dist. 3)
Pam Richardson (Dist. 3)
John Brady (Mayor)
Milissa Holland (Mayor)
Dennis McDonald (Mayor)
Ron Radford (Mayor)

Flagler School Board

Colleen Conklin (Dist. 3)
Jason Sands (Dist. 3)
Paul Anderson (Dist. 5)
Maria Barbosa (Dist. 5)
Sharon Demers (Dist. 5)
Myra Middleton-Valentine (Dist. 5)

Flagler County Commission

Charlie Ericksen (Dist. 1)
Ken Mazzie (Dist. 1)
Daniel Potter (Dist. 1)
Jason France (Dist. 3)
Dave Sullivan (Dist. 3)
Denise Calderwood (Dis. 5)
Donald O'Brien (Dist. 5)

Updated jail bookings and day and night shift incident summary reports are available here.

For Commissioner Frank Meeker, a Tribute From the Hearts of a Decade’s Colleagues: For an hour Monday morning, Meeker’s closest colleagues remembered the man death surprised at 61 on July 22, themselves not yet over the shock of having lost him after seen him in that seat just 16 days before his death.

Palm Coast’s Eric Floyd, 35, Jailed On 4 Rape Counts Involving Minor Step-Daughter: The alleged victim was 14 to 15 years old at the time of what she described, according to Floyd’s arrest report, as “like a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship” that had started when she was 14 and ended only when Floyd moved out and was separated from her mother. The marriage ended in 2014.

Homegrown Zika Cases in Florida Climb to 14 As State Asks for Additional Federal Help: Scott and health officials disclosed Friday that the first four locally transmitted Zika cases had been diagnosed in residents of Miami-Dade and Broward counties. About 400 Zika cases have been diagnosed in the state, but until Friday all of the cases were described as travel-related.

Palm Coast Council Candidate Troy DuBose May Abandon Run and Opt For County Post: Troy DuBose, a candidate for the District 1 seat on the Palm Coast City Council, may be dropping out of the four-way race–depending on Monday’s outcome of a county commission appointment. The legality of the maneuver is unclear.

In Florida and in State Government:

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

Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Cabinet will take up a series of issues, including the appointment of a new executive director of the Florida Department of Veterans’ Affairs. Interim Executive Director Glenn Sutphin will be interviewed for the job. (9 a.m., Cabinet meeting room, the Capitol.)

Former presidential candidate Ben Carson is expected to take part in a campaign event for Republican Francis Rooney, who is running in Southwest Florida’s Congressional District 19. (5:30 p.m., La Venezia Ballroom, 4646 S.E. 10th Place, Cape Coral.)

–Compiled by the News Service of Florida and FlaglerLive

In Coming Days in Palm Coast, Flagler and the Occasional Beyond:

♦ Aug. 4: What role does “Responsible Development” play in economic growth and development? A panel of experts representing the Flagler County Chapter of the Volusia County Association for Responsible Development (FCARD/VCARD) will share their insights during this breakfast meeting, 7:45 a.m. at the Hilton Garden Inn, 55 Town Center Blvd, Palm Coast, $20 in advance, $30 at the door. Contact Gretchen Smith to reserve a seat: gretchen@flaglerchamber.org.
♦ Aug. 5: Sen. Travis Hutson and Rep. Paul Renner present a ceremonial $535,892 check to the Flagler County School Board at 9 a.m., representing the restoration of state funding for the Flagler County Adults with Disabilities Program. At 1 Corporate Dr, Palm Coast. At 10:30 a.m., the legislative duo will present a ceremonial $300,000 check to the Flagler County Commission, funding for Malacompa drainage improvements, at Bing’s Landing, 5862 N. Oceanshore Blvd. The public is invited to attend both events.
♦ Aug. 8: The News-Journal hosts an election forum featuring the candidates for Flagler County sheriff, at the Buddy Taylor Middle School cafeteria, 6 p.m.
♦ Aug. 10: School resumes for all students in the Flagler County School District, two weeks earlier than last year, but with a new calendar that enables students to complete their coursework ahead of high-stakes exams, that ends quarters more logically with holidays, and that restores a full week’s holiday around Thanksgiving, Nov. 21-25. See details here.
♦ Aug. 11: Flagler Votes Hob Nob, the Flagler County Chamber of Commerce’s pre-election event for voters to meet candidates, from 6 to 8 p.m., at the Flagler County Association of Realtors’ building, 4101 E Moody Blvd in Bunnell. Participating candidates must pay $150 a table for their space, but it’s otherwise free to attend. As part of their free admission, attendees will enjoy light snacks, great conversation and a ticket to vote in an electronic “straw poll,” the results of which will be revealed at the end of the evening. Beer, wine and water will be available for nominal cash donations.
♦ Aug. 19: The latest pre-trial hearing in the case of Florida v. Kimberle Weeks, continued from July 22, is scheduled for 3 p.m. before Circuit Judge Margaret Hudson in Courtroom 402 at the Flagler County Courthouse. Weeks now faces nine third-degree felony counts, down from 12, stemming from allegations that she illegally recorded various individuals in her capacity as supervisor of elections and in her private life. Weeks resigned that post in January 2015.
♦ Sept. 7: The Flagler Youth Orchestra holds its open house for all new or prospective students who’d like to join the county’s largest (and free) music program. The open house is at the Indian Trails Middle School cafeteria at 5:30 p.m. Any Flagler student, including homes chooled students, in grades 3-12, are eligible to enroll (must be 8 years old by Sept. 1, 2016.) Students may elect to play violin, viola, cello or doublebass. One-hour classes are held at Indian Trails Middle School Mondays and Wednesdays, from 3 to 6 p.m., with students enrolled in the hour block appropriate to their skill level and schedule. The first class for first-time students is Sept. 19. (Auditions for returning students start on Aug. 22, the first class for returning students is Aug. 31.)
♦ Sept. 10: African Art: Ancient Egypt to the Contemporary World, a pair of presentations by Bertrand Green, former chairman of African American studies at Lehman College, City University of New York. The first session is from 10 a.m. to noon, the second session from 2 to 4 p.m., at the Hilton Garden Inn, Palm Coast. $20 for PCAF members, $25 for general admission. Call 386/225-4394 or email pcaf@cfl.rr.com to reserve your seat.

The Day’s Best Reads:

Responsible Republicans, especially the former presidents, need to put nation before party. https://t.co/Kop2CPmJ4z pic.twitter.com/J6ykc7refD

— The New Republic (@newrepublic) August 1, 2016

"Once unmentionable, questions about Trump’s mental health have started to bubble into respectable American forums" https://t.co/m82DNfix4d

— Ryan Lizza (@RyanLizza) August 1, 2016

You can support the two-state solution or the 2016 @GOP platform, but you can't really do both. pic.twitter.com/6WNRROqoZK

— J Street (@jstreetdotorg) August 1, 2016

A new EPA report on reducing greenhouse gas emissions will have major implications for the US auto industry https://t.co/Air5ix1xzO

— The Brookings Institution (@BrookingsInst) August 1, 2016

A record 27.3 million Latinos will be eligible to vote in 2016: see how they vary by state https://t.co/0GI8lF0VVF pic.twitter.com/tiNWf9SLO0

— Pew Research Race and Ethnicity (@pewidentity) August 1, 2016

Fact-Checking the Knaves:

Palm Coast Construction and Development Progress Reports

The following is an update of ongoing permitting, construction and development projects in Palm Coast, through July 15 (the city administration’s full week in review is here):

Click to access week-in-review-july1.pdf

Road and Interstate Construction: