Revels Farewell, Holly Norris Plea, Florida Presidential Electors, ITMS Concert

palm coast boat parade — The annual Palm Coast Boat Parade was a ‘phenomenal success,’ in the words of organizer Robert Ulis, who contributed the image above. ‘The turn out by boaters and viewers alike from the shores was amazing,’ Ulis said.

Today: Cooler…cloudy. Slight chance of showers and patchy drizzle in the morning. Patchy fog in the morning. Highs in the upper 60s. North winds 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 20 percent. Tonight: Mostly cloudy. Lows in the mid 50s. North winds 5 to 10 mph. Details here.
Drought Index is at 406.
Today’s tides: at the beaches, at the Intracoastal Waterway.
Today’s document from the National Archives.
The OED’s Word of the Day: longinquity, n..
The Live Community Calendar
Today’s jail bookings.

Today’s Briefing: Quick Links

First Light
In Flagler and Palm Coast
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
Local Road and Interstate Construction
Cultural Coda

“Dickens was a champion of capital punishment, applauded the cannonballing of mutinous sepoys, thought Negro suffrage preposterous, recommended imprisonment for bad language, and flogging for bigamy, and was a convinced and passionate sexist.”

–Martin Amis, from The War Against Cliché

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 Palm Coast City Council meets at 9 a.m. at City Hall in Town Center. The council will hear an update on law enforcement in Palm Coast and is expected to approve on second reading the rezoning of a 29-acre parcel in Matanzas Woods that will be turned into a gated community mirroring some of the neighborhoods in Grand Haven. The developer, Jim Cullis, is the same for both. Council members are also expected to approve a nine-month moratorium on medical marijuana businesses in the city.

Palm Coast Approves New Gated Community for L-Section by Grand Haven Developer

The Flagler County School Board is scheduled to hold a “retreat”–essentially, a workshop–at Cattleman’s Hall at the Flagler County Fairgrounds, 650 County Road R 13 in Bunnell. The web notice of that retreat, however, did not include the location of the meeting, and is therefore in violation of the open meetings law in the state. (A notice of the meeting with its location appeared on a bulletin board at the Government Services Building and in the Dec. 14 News-Journal.) As of 9:40 a.m., the board still intended to hold its noon meeting. The board is also scheduled to hold a 5 p.m. workshop and a 6 p.m. meeting in board chambers at the Government Services Building.

Historic Bus Tour: Learn about historic and interesting Flagler County sites with local author Bill Ryan as your guide. The bus leaves at 10 a.m. from the Holden House, 206 East Moody Boulevard, Bunnell, and returns at 2:30 p.m. The cost is $20 per person which does not include lunch at Bull Creek Fish Camp. To make reservations or for more information call 386-439-5003.

Flagler County’s indefatigable Centennial Committee meets at 1:30 p.m. at the Emergency Operations Center behind the Government Services Building, Bunnell. Discussions about food trucks, t-shirts, the main event and spending.

Rotary Club’s Annual Fantasy Lights Festival: It is open each night in December from 6:30 p.m. to 9. Entry into the park is free but donations are accepted. Proceeds from the event go back into community projects funded by Rotary.

In Florida and in State Government:

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

Senate President Joe Negron, R-Stuart, will host a press holiday breakfast and hold a media availability at 9 a.m., Senate president’s office, the Capitol.

–Compiled by the News Service of Florida and FlaglerLive

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

♦ Dec. 21: Rep. Paul Renner and Sen. Travis Hutson, who form Flagler County’s legislative delegation, will host the annual delegation meeting in board chambers at the Government Services Building in Bunnell to hear concerns and legislative wish-lists from local officials and residents, ahead of the 2017 legislative session. To get on the agenda, call 386/446-7644.
♦ Dec. 22: The All Flagler Democratic Club meets at the Palm Coast Community Center, 7-8:30pm. The first hour is devoted to a presentation featuring three losing Demovcratic candidates for office in the last election, who will speak on the theme of “What I learned Running For Office.” The discussion is moderated by Merrill Shapiro, and features Bill McCullough, who ran for a congressional seat, Doug Courtney, who ran for Clerk of Court, and John Brady, who ran for mayor of Palm Coast. The presentation will be followed by the business portion of the meeting. The public is invited regardless of party registration. Questions: call Sheila Zinkerman, interim president, at 904/451-0301. (See background on the previous meeting here.)
♦ Dec. 24: Musicians gather to play in remembrance of James Gamble Rogers IV, a renowned folk singer, entertainer and storyteller who gave his name to the Gamble Rogers Memorial State Recreation Area at Flagler Beach, where this event takes place, from 2 to 5 p.m. Musicians of all levels are encouraged to bring instruments and a chair to join the circle for a casual acoustic jam session. Instruments of all types are welcome but no power is available near the pavilion. Meet other musicians, practice or just have fun listening.
♦ Jan. 1: Start the new year off with a guided nature walk on the beautiful Joe Kenner Nature Trail at Gamble Rogers Memorial State Recreation Area at Flagler Beach. Gather at 11 a.m. What better way to begin 2017 than hiking the 3/4 mile nature trail as it meanders through the park’s gorgeous maritime hammock and scrub plant communities? The hike will last an hour and a half. All ages welcome. You can register for this program on Eventbrite.com.
♦ Jan. 7: Daytona State College Enrollment Saturday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Wetherell Center (Bldg. 100), 1200 W. International Speedway Blvd., Daytona Beach. Students can take advantage of the one-stop events to complete everything from admission to registration and have a chance to win a $350 scholarship (Dec. 10 only) for a free class from the Daytona State Foundation. Students start by completing a Daytona State application, then meet with an Admissions Advisor and Financial Aid Counselor, take an assessment test (if applicable), meet with an Academic Advisor, and then lock in their schedule.
♦ Jan. 21 and 22: Flagler County Home and Lifestyle Show, the annual event and fund-raiser for Flagler Technical Institute, the adult education division of the school district, takes place at Flagler Palm Coast High School.
♦ Feb. 6: The great violinist Itzhak Perlman opens the 2017 season of the Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival with a 7:30 p.m. performance at First Baptist Church, 1600 South 8th Street in Fernandina Beach. Tickets here.
♦ Feb. 8: Jonathan Canales, the man accused of shooting his girlfriend in the neck and leaving her to bleed in a bathtub for hours in their Mondex trailer in Nov. 2014, is scheduled for a pre-trial at 1:30 p.m. in Courtroom 401 at the Flagler County Courthouse. Canales had been judged incompetent to stand trial previously.
♦ March 7: Bunnell and Flagler Beach hold their municipal elections.

The Day’s Best Reads:

There's an epidemic of trans homicide in America. We refuse to forget the victims. https://t.co/G2LTFlWN3R pic.twitter.com/Tv3x3jkExz

— Mic (@mic) December 18, 2016

North Carolina's GOP will do anything to stop the will of the majority of its citizens. https://t.co/a1mqemVm8r pic.twitter.com/StJx9vyafU

— New York Times Opinion (@nytopinion) December 19, 2016

Europe in the Middle Ages https://t.co/H6TuDlFVWn

— The TLS (@TheTLS) December 19, 2016

EPA confirms fracking is bad for drinking water. @PacificStand looks at whether that info is too little, too late: https://t.co/No2hQO6Abr

— High Country News (@highcountrynews) December 19, 2016

https://twitter.com/michikokakutani/status/810634223929479168

A Twitter List by PierreTristam

Palm Coast Construction and Development Progress Reports

The following is an update of ongoing permitting, construction and development projects in Palm Coast, through Dec. 2 (the city administration’s full week in review is here):

Click to access development-palm-coast-dec-2.pdf

Road and Interstate Construction: