Next to Normal, Meeker Dedication, Youth Orchestra Concert, Art Blakey

The county dedicates soccer fields at Wadsworth Park to the late Commissioner Frank Meeker, a soccer fan and coach, on Saturday. See below. (© FlaglerLive)

Weekend: Cool and partly cloudy, highs in the 60s, nights in the upper 30s or lower 40s. Details here.
Drought Index is at 390.
Today’s tides: at the beaches, at the Intracoastal Waterway.
Today’s document from the National Archives.
The OED’s Word of the Day: nimble-chops, 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

“[W]e look up and we hope the stars look down, we pray that there may be stars for us to follow, stars moving across the heavens and leading us to our destiny, but it’s only our vanity. We look at the galaxy and fall in love, but the universe cares less about us than we do about it, and the stars stay in their courses however much we may wish upon them to do otherwise. It’s true that if you watch the sky-wheel turn for a while you’ll see a meteor fall, flame and die. That’s not a star worth following; it’s just an unlucky rock. Our fates are here on earth. There are no guiding stars.”

–Will Durant, from The Moor’s Last Sigh.

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.

Friday: Farmer’s Market near Veterans Park in Flagler Beach, dawn to early afternoon.

Free For All Fridays on WNZF: Host David Ayres welcomes Will Sullivan, interim president of the Flagler County Democratic Club, Flagler County Airport Director Roy Sieger, and Joel Fallon, the Granny Nannies owner, who survived a plane crash last November. He tells his story.

Friday: Gov. Rick Scott makes an appearance at Washington Oaks Gardens State Park to make what his office describes as a major announcement for the recovery of the dunes destroyed during Hurricane Matthew. Details here.

Friday: 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.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday: 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.

Friday: 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.

Saturday: 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.

Saturday: The Flagler Youth Orchestra’s top ensemble performs a history of music in 16 pieces in a free concert at 4 p.m. at the Palm Coast United Methodist Church’s Concert Series, at 5200 Belle Terre Parkway. The concert includes works by Palestrina, Henry Purcell, Telemann, Mozart, Grieg, the Beatles and many more. Details here.

Saturday: All-County Band performance at Matanzas High School, noon.

Sunday: Farmer’s Market at European Village, Palm Coast, noon.

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: Friday is National Fun at Work Day. The U.S. withdrawal agreement from Vietnam was signed on Jan. 27 , 1973. The 28th is the 29th anniversary of the explosion of Space Shuttle Challenger, which blew up 74 seconds after liftoff from Cape Canaveral. Alan Alda is 81 this weekend, Nicholas Sarkozy, the former and no longer future French president, is 62.

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.

Abortion: U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle is scheduled to hear arguments on a request by the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida to block part of a controversial abortion law approved last year by the Legislature and Gov. Rick Scott. The ACLU filed a lawsuit targeting part of the law dealing with people or organizations that provide advice to women considering abortions. The challenge, filed on behalf of clergy members and abortion-rights proponents, contends that requirements in the law violate First Amendment and privacy rights. (Friday, 10 a.m., United States Courthouse, 111 North Adams St., Tallahassee.)

Conservative political commentator Ann Coulter will speak during an annual meeting of The Palm Beach Republican Club. (Friday, 5:30 p.m., The Colony Hotel Pavilion, 155 Hammon Ave., Palm Beach.)

–Compiled by the News Service of Florida and FlaglerLive

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

♦ 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. 2: The All Flagler County Democratic Club meets at 7 p.m. at the African American Cultural Society at 4422 N US Highway 1 in Palm Coast, with Flagler Supervisor of Elections Kaiti Lenhart presenting.
♦ Feb. 3: In the state’s felony case against former Elections Supervisor Kimberle Weeks, a motion to dismiss the case is scheduled for hearing before Circuit Judge Margaret Hudson at 9 a.m. in Courtroom 301 at the Flagler County Courthouse.
♦ 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:

Donald J. Trump is a pathological liar. Say it. Write it. Never become inured to it, writes @CharlesMBlow. https://t.co/JOEVV3jRfj

— New York Times Opinion (@nytopinion) January 26, 2017

Words matter. https://t.co/rrN8YArglx

— The New York Times (@nytimes) January 26, 2017

My essay on why Orwell's "1984" became a No. 1 bestseller, after Team Trump describes lies as "alternative facts": https://t.co/7shF0a0pZp

— Michiko Kakutani (@michikokakutani) January 26, 2017

Should you resign from the Trump administration? Here are the 9 questions you need to ask yourself first: https://t.co/tbm2m8uRi4 pic.twitter.com/2hj2qF7MWn

— POLITICO (@politico) January 26, 2017

Read the 2017 Doomsday Clock Statement: https://t.co/0tAZlY96Xw #DoomsdayClock pic.twitter.com/exqw429cdM

— Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (@BulletinAtomic) January 26, 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: