Economic Opportunity Council Demi-Shade, Local Tax Referendums, Red-Light Cameras

A promotion of the first Winter Olympics, which started on this day in 1924 in Chamonix, France. There have been 21 Winter Games since, the last in Sochi, Russia, in 2014, the next in Pyeongchang, South Korea, snow willing.

Today: Sunny. Highs in the mid 70s. Southwest winds 5 to 10 mph. Tonight: Warmer. Mostly clear in the evening then becoming partly cloudy. Lows in the upper 50s. Southwest winds 5 to 10 mph. Details here.
Drought Index is at 398.
Today’s tides: at the beaches, at the Intracoastal Waterway.
Today’s document from the National Archives.
The OED’s Word of the Day: nothing-but-ism, 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

“What put an end to the Middle Ages? Many causes, operating through three centuries: the failure of the Crusades; the spreading acquaintance of renascent Europe with Islam; the disillusioning capture of Constantinople; the resurrection of classic pagan culture; the expansion of commerce through the voyages of Henry the Navigator’s fleet, and Columbus, and Vasco da Gama; the rise of the business class, which financed the centralization of monarchical government; the development of national states challenging the supernational authority of the popes; the successful revolt of Luther against the papacy; printing.”

–Will Durant, from The Reformation (The Story of Civilization).

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 Economic Opportunity Advisory Council meets at 9 a.m. in board chambers for its regular meeting in board chambers, then at 10:30 a.m. for a workshop in the finance conference room on the third floor of the Government Services Building, Bunnell. The 9 a.m. meeting will be broadcast and available on audio through the county’s various feeds. The workshop, where it will discuss “2017 initiatives” (a more substantial discussion than anything on the regular meeting’s agenda, aside from a presentation by Tom Hellman of SCORE) will not. Other local advisory panels hold workshops on occasion, as do government panels routinely, but those are generally available by audio.

USTA Pro Circuit Men’s Futures Wild Card Tournament through Thursday at the Palm Coast Tennis Center, 1290 Belle Terre Parkway. Men’s singles champion of this Wild Card Tournament wins a main draw entry into the Pro Circuit Men’s Futures Tournament.

Palm West Home Realty’s Hammock Office at 5048 North Ocean Shore Boulevard is celebrating its five-year anniversary with an open house from 4 to 7 p.m., with door prizes.

Annual festival honoring writer Zora Neale Hurston, ongoing through Jan. 31 in Eatonville: “In celebration of the 125th anniversary of the birth of one of the most beloved African-American writers and folklorists of the 20th century, the annual Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts and Humanities (aka Zora! Festival, zorafestival.org) presents cultural programming that honors the historic heritage of Eatonville, the Central Florida town the pre-eminent writer once called home.” Details here.

Mostly useless information about this date: The first-ever Winter Olympics are held on this day in 1924 in Chamonix, France, Charles Manson in 1971 is found guilty of Sharon Tate’s and other murders, in 1993 Pakistani national Mir Qazi kills two people and wounds three in a mass shooting outside CIA headquarters in Langley, Va. (he was in turn killed by lethal injection in 2002), the great short story writer Somerset Maugham, who attended the King’s School, in Canterbury, as a boy, was born in 1874, so was jazz singer and dancer Florence Mills (in 1896), who was the soundtrack to the Harlem Renaissance, and so was basketball player Vince Carter, who turns 40, and whose name is on the Vince Carter Sanctuary in Bunnell.

In Florida and in State Government:

Note: Some proceedings below can be followed live on the Florida Channel. Most legislative proceedings can be followed through the Senate or House websites.

Medical marijuana: The House Health Quality Subcommittee will host a panel discussion on medical marijuana. (9 a.m.)

Cutting agriculture and natural resources budgets: The House Agriculture & Natural Resources Appropriations Subcommittee will discuss possible areas of budget reductions at the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, the Department of Citrus, the Department of Environmental Protection and the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. (9 a.m., Morris Hall, House Office Building, the Capitol.)

Local tax referendums: The House Local, Federal & Veterans Affairs Subcommittee will take up a bill (HB 139), filed by Rep. Blaise Ingoglia, R-Spring Hill, and Rep. Bryan Avila, R-Hialeah, that would require local sales-tax referendums to be held at the times of general elections. (9 a.m.)

Sex assault kits: The Senate Criminal and Civil Justice Appropriations Subcommittee will receive an update about efforts to address a backlog of processing sexual-assault kits. (10 a.m.)

Teacher pay: The Senate Pre-K-12 Education Appropriations Subcommittee will hold a workshop about teacher pay and compensation. (10 a.m.)

Allegedly “excessive regulation”: The House Careers & Competition Subcommittee will receive testimony about “excessive” local regulations faced by businesses. (1 p.m.)

Red-light cameras repeal: The House Transportation & Infrastructure Subcommittee will take up a proposal (HB 6007), filed by Rep. Bryan Avila, R-Hialeah, and Rep. Blaise Ingoglia, R-Spring Hill, that would repeal laws allowing red-light cameras. (1 p.m.)

Gambling overhaul: The Senate Regulated Industries Committee will consider a bill (SB 8), filed by Sen. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, that would lead to wide-ranging changes in the gambling industry. Among other things, the bill would allow slot machines in eight counties where voters have approved referendums, let South Florida pari-mutuels run blackjack games and give tracks permission to do away with greyhound racing while keeping more-lucrative cardrooms and slots.Â (2 p.m.)

–Compiled by the News Service of Florida and FlaglerLive

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

♦ Jan. 26-27: Volunteers conduct the annual in-person census of the homeless population in Flagler County.
♦ Jan. 27: The Florida Ethics Commission considers a final action in the ethics case against former County Commissioner Barbara Revels, who has agreed to a settlement and a fine of $4,500 over several issues brought forth by complainant John Ruffalo. The ethics commission board, however, must approve the settlement. 8:30 a.m. Third Floor Courtroom, First District Court of Appeal, 2000 Drayton Drive, Tallahassee.
♦ Jan. 27-29: City Repertory Theatre’s award winning, ground breaking musical, “Next to Normal,” at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, 2 p.m. Sunday, at CRT’s intimate 50 seat theater at City Market Place, 160 Cypress Point Parkway, Suite B207 in Palm Coast. Julia Davidson Truilo headlines a star studded cast featuring Chelsea Jo Conard, Everett Clark, Max Wolf, Sara Humbert and Beau Wade. John Sbordone directs with Musical Direction by Ben Beck. “Next to Normal” is a rock musical that won the Tony for Best Score in 2009 and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama the following year. It creates something phenomenal out of an unconventional subject. Tickets are available by calling CRT’s Box Office at 386/585-9415 or, even easier, by clicking here for immediate ticketing.
♦ Jan. 27: Man Up, with former NBA Player and current pastor Keith Tower, at Palm Coast Community Church, 1 Pine Lakes Pkwy North, Palm Coast, in partnership with Parkview Baptist Church, Epic Church, Lifecoast Church, First Baptist Church of Palm Coast, and Palm Coast Bible Church. 4:30 to 10 p.m.
♦ Jan. 27: National Fun at Work Day.

♦ Jan. 28: Flagler County officials are dedicating the Wadsworth Park soccer fields to the late Commissioner Frank Meeker, and will unveil the monument that memorializes his many contributions the county at 10 a.m. in a garden created near the flagpole. Debbie, Joshua and Jason Meeker will speak, as well as Becky Mitchell, Flagler County Youth Soccer League Administrator.
♦ Jan. 30: Suicide Prevention Training: Take part in a free community outreach training program to learn three steps to help save a life, in a three-hour workshop at the Emergency Operatiosn Center, behind the Government Services Building in Bunnell, from 9 a.m. to noon. Contact Ashleigh Husbands, Regional Suicide Prevention Specialist, 301/928.7448 or by email, [email protected].
♦ Jan. 31: Vienna Boys’ Choir at Peabody Auditorium in Daytona Beach, 7 p.m., one performance only. The Palm Coast Arts Foundation is organizing a bus trip, leaving from the Staples Parking Lot the evening of the concert, with some light food and drinks included on the bus ride, $80 for Arts Foundation members, $90 for others, call 386-225-4379.
♦ Feb. 1: The Flagler County School Board holds its first workshop in its search for a new superintendent, at 6 p.m., in Room 3B, third floor of the Government Services Building–where the meeting is neither broadcast on television nor available by audio, though the board claims it is seeking public participation.
♦ Feb. 6: Ground Breaking for the relocation and extension of Runway 11-29 at the Flagler County Airport, 1:30 p.m. at the airport.
♦ 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.
♦ March 22: The boy Scouts Council holds its Golden Eagle Dinner at 6 p.m. at Hammock Beach Resort, honoring Bob Cuff, now a Palm coast City council member.

The Day’s Best Reads:

Sean Spicer says Trump "believes" false claim on voter fraud https://t.co/dRDqW0t6yt pic.twitter.com/ryImzxrIOQ

— TIME (@TIME) January 24, 2017

"Marching is a seductive substitute for action in an antipolitical era." (via The New York Times Opinion Section) https://t.co/KPziPJylQx

— The New York Times (@nytimes) January 24, 2017

Sales of George Orwell's '1984' surge after Kellyanne Conway's talk of 'alternative facts'. Now No. 6 on Amazon list https://t.co/PkeTUc3db7 pic.twitter.com/s7aVCGXQIr

— Michiko Kakutani (@michikokakutani) January 24, 2017

Skip the White House press briefings, and focus on the leaks https://t.co/DLEN3oDwb2 pic.twitter.com/t2kd2BOB5x

— New York Times Opinion (@nytopinion) January 24, 2017

These are the top jobs in America for 2017 https://t.co/WpE7LIwdzw pic.twitter.com/i9sV5ysrQq

— Fast Company (@FastCompany) January 24, 2017

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 Jan. 13 (the city administration’s full week in review is here):

Click to access developments-jan-2017.pdf

Road and Interstate Construction: