Wednesday Briefing: Embezzler Wesley Brown’s Sentence, Ayala’s Fight, Hutson’s Shark Fins, Transgender Firings, Huckabee Prays

Today: Mostly sunny. Highs in the mid 80s inland…in the lower 80s coast. Northwest winds 5 mph shifting to the east in the afternoon. Tonight:Mostly clear in the evening then becoming partly cloudy. Lows in the mid 60s. East winds 5 mph. Details here.
Drought Index is at 383.
Today’s tides: at the beaches, at the Intracoastal Waterway.
Today’s document from the National Archives.
The OED’s Word of the Day: Grand Guignol, n. and adj..
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
• Announcements
• 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

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 Sheriff’s daily incident reports and jail bookings are posted here.

Keep in mind: March is Women’s History Month.

In Court: Wesley Brown, 54, the former Flagler Beach pastor, is sentenced today by Circuit Judge Dennis Craig. Brown was convicted by a jury at the end of January of defrauding friends and church members out of close to $400,000 in a securities scheme. The organized scheme to defraud is a first degree felony exposing him to up to 30 years in prison. As the News Journal’s Matt Bruce reported iN January, “Brown targeted six people in his scheme, some of them friends from two churches he attended, and other local residents. Brown was a volunteer pastor at Calvary Chapel Flagler Beach, one of the churches that served as his recruiting grounds, and led Bible studies there. He swindled his victims by telling them he was investing their money in Maverick International Inc., a Delaware-based hedge fund company of which his brother-in-law Edward Rubin was the president. Instead of investing it, Brown used the funds to pay credit card bills, shop at Walmart, and eat at restaurants.” The sentencing is at 9 a.m. in Courtroom 401.

Announcements:

Seminole Woods Park entrance, parking area to be closed March 30; brief lane closures also expected: The entrance and parking area of Seminole Woods Neighborhood Park – at 350 Sesame Blvd. – will be closed Thursday, March 30, as a contractor stabilizes the park entrance area as part of a city utility water main project. The park itself will be open, but will not be accessible by vehicle. Additionally, there will be periodic, brief lane closures at the entrance to the park, and along Sesame Boulevard, Sleepy Hollow Trail and Slate Wood Court, while the work is being performed. The park entrance and parking area are expected to reopen Friday, March 31. For more information, call Palm Coast Customer Service at 386-986-2360.

Palm Coast Arts Foundation’s Annual Picnics and Pops Concert With the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, at Town Center: Tickets for the 10th Anniversary event, on May 7 at 6:30 p.m., are $40 for members of the foundation, $45 for the general public, through March 15. After March 15, tickets are $45 and $50, and a table of 10 goes for $450 for members, $500 for the general public. For tickets go to www.palmcoastartsfoundation.com or call 386-225-4394. See a full flier for the event here.

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.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who lives in Northwest Florida, is slated to be the keynote speaker during the annual Legislative Prayer Breakfast. (7:30 a.m., Donald L. Tucker Civic Center, 505 West Pensacola St., Tallahassee.)

Shark fin trade: The Senate Environment and Natural Resources Appropriations Subcommittee will take up a bill (SB 884), filed by Sen. Travis Hutson, R-Elkton, that would crack down on the possession of shark fins, considered a delicacy in parts of Asia. (9 a.m.)

Affordable housing: The Senate Transportation, Tourism and Economic Development Appropriations Subcommittee will hold a workshop on issues related to affordable housing. (9 a.m.)

Budget: The Senate Criminal and Civil Justice Appropriations Subcommittee, the Senate Pre-K-12 Appropriations Subcommittee, the Senate General Government Appropriations Subcommittee, the Senate Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee and the Senate Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee will discuss budget issues involving agencies that they oversee. (Criminal and Civil Justice, 9 a.m., 37 Senate Office Building, the Capitol. Also, Pre-K-12, 9 a.m., 412 Knott Building, the Capitol. Also, General Government, 11 a.m., 110 Senate Office Building, the Capitol. Also, Health and Human Services, 11 a.m., 401 Senate Office Building, the Capitol. Also, Higher Education, 11 a.m., 412 Knott Building, the Capitol.)

The House is scheduled to hold a floor session and consider numerous issues, including a proposed constitutional amendment (HJR 1) that would impose term limits on Florida Supreme Court justices and appeals-court judges. The House also is expected to consider a bill (HB 81) that would repeal a Depression-era law that prevents liquor from being sold alongside groceries; a bill (HB 221) that would create statewide regulations for ride-sharing businesses such Uber and Lyft; and a bill (HB 161) that would clear the way for what are known as “direct primary care” agreements between doctors and patients. (2:30 p.m.)

The Senate is scheduled to hold a floor session and could vote on a bill (SB 80), filed by Sen. Greg Steube, R-Sarasota, that seeks to resolve a long-running debate about awarding attorney fees in public-records lawsuits. State law requires judges to award attorney fees to people who successfully file lawsuits against government agencies that have improperly withheld public records. Local governments contend the law is being abused by people who inundate government agencies with public-records requests as a strategy to file lawsuits and receive attorney fees or settlements. Steube’s bill would keep in place the requirement that agencies pay attorney fees if they improperly withhold records. But it also includes changes, such as requiring that notice be given at least five days before lawsuits are filed, that could help agencies avoid potential litigation. (4 p.m.)

The Constitution Revision Commission will hold the first in a series of public hearings as it prepares to propose constitutional amendments for the November 2018 ballot. (5 p.m., University of Central Florida, Fairwinds Alumni Center, 12676 Gemini Blvd. North, Orlando.)

–Compiled by the News Service of Florida and FlaglerLive

 

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

♦ March 30: The Flagler County Chamber of Commerce’s Common Ground Breakfast at 8 a.m. at Grand Haven Country Club features a panel including Palm Coast Observer Editor Brian McMillan, Flagler Broadcasting-WNZF General Manager David Ayres, Daytona Beach news-Journal Editor Pat Rice, and FlaglerLive Editor Pierre Tristam.
♦ March 30: Flagler County schools’ summer camps and activities expo, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Buddy Taylor Middle School-Wadsworth Elementary cafeteria.
♦ March 30: 2016 Artist of the Year Judi Wormek presents a demonstration of her work at 6 p.m. at Ocean Art Gallery, 206 Moody Boulevard (State Road 100) in Flagler Beach.
♦ April 1: Stetson University is hosting an open forum discussion with St. Petersburg immigration attorney Arturo R. Rios on recent changes in immigration actions and law including the expansion of enforcement capabilities. This forum is free and open to the public. The forum is scheduled for April 1 at 1 p.m. at the Marshall & Vera Lea Rinker Welcome Center, 529 N. Woodland Blvd., DeLand. Details here.
♦ April 4: The American Association of University Women (AAUW)’s Flagler branch has a wine and cheese social at the Hammock Cheese shop, 5368 N Ocean Shore Blvd, Palm Coast, starting at 4 p.m.
♦ April 6: Palm Coast Democratic Club meeting, 7 p.m. at the African American Cultural Center, US1 in Palm Coast.
♦ April 6: Tom Gargiulo will present a Gallery Walk and a Q&A on the works of 2016 Artist of the Year Judi Wormeck, at 6 p.m. at Ocean Art Gallery, 206 Moody Boulevard (State Road 100) in Flagler Beach.
♦ April 6: Stetson University hosts the 10th anniversary Bernard Weiner Holocaust Memorial Lecture, The Architecture of the Holocaust, at 7 p.m., in Rinker Auditorium inside the Lynn Business Center, 345 N. Woodland Blvd., DeLand, Florida, 32723. This event is free and open to the public. This year’s speaker will be Paul Jaskot, Ph.D., professor in the Department of History of Art and Architecture, at DePaul University in Chicago. His lecture is entitled, “The Architecture of the Holocaust” and draws on his research into how the Nazis built their concentration camps using forced inmate labor, as well as the testimonies of surviving laborers. Jaskot earned a Ph.D. in art history from Northwestern University and has written several books, including “The Architecture of Oppression: The SS, Forced Labor and the Nazi Monumental Building Economy “(London: Routledge, 2000). His research has mostly examined the cultural history of National Socialist Germany and its impact on art and architecture.
♦ April 26: Anyone whose child has died is invited to an informal meeting to consider eventually establishing a local chapter of The Compassionate Friends, a nonprofit self-help bereavement support organization for families that have experienced the death of a child. There are some 650 such chapters across the country. The meeting will be from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Florida Hospital Flagler in classrooms A&B. for more information, call John Brady at 610/428-3139. To learn more about The Compassionate Friends, visit their national website at www.compassionatefriends.org. The meeting is open to all parents, grandparents, and siblings over age 18 who has suffered the loss of a child of any age.
♦ April 29: The People’s Climate Movement March, in conjunction with a march scheduled in Washington, D.C., will march locally, meeting at Wadsworth Park at 10 am and marching over the bridge to Veteran’s Park in Flagler Beach, where there we will a rally and speakers sharing a wide variety of issues and information on how to get involved.
♦ May 16: The Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission holds a hearing the the case of Circuit Judge Scott DuPont, who faces several charges of misconduct during his 2016 re-election election campaign. He has admitted wrongdoing. The 9 a.m. hearing is taking place in courtroom 406-7 at the Duval County Courthouse, 501 W. Adams Street, Jacksonville, before a six-member panel: Eugene Pettis, Steven P. DeLuca, Robert Morris, Michele Cummings, Harry Duncanson (a lay member of the commission) and Jerome S. Osteryoung.

The Day’s Best Reads:

Palm Coast Construction and Development Progress Reports

The following is an update of ongoing permitting, construction and development projects in Palm Coast, through March 24 (the city administration’s full week in review is here):

Click to access development-march-24-2017.pdf

Road and Interstate Construction:

• Florida Department of Transportation Road Project List

Cultural Coda:

Händel: Keyboard Suite HWV 428, Daria van den Bercken, piano

Previous Codas:

• Haydn: Piano Trio No. 39 in G major Hob. XV/25
• Mozart: Ave Verum Corpus, Leonard Bernstein
• What is McCarthyism? And how did it happen?
• The Corrs: Toss the Feathers
• Peter Falk’s Acceptance Speech for 1972 Emmy, for Colombo
• How Did Beethoven Compose His 9th Symphony After He Went Completely Deaf?
• Ray Chen Performs Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64
• The Well Tempered Clavier, Book 1,HJ Lim, Piano
• Alicia de Larrocha plays Two Spanish Dances By Granados
• Comparone Plays a Scarlatti Sonata
• C. A. de Beriot, scene de Ballet, Daniel Shindarov, violin, Sergey Silvanskiy, piano
• Johnny Cash: Sunday Morning Coming Down
• Cinema Paradiso: The Main Theme
• Duke Ellington’s Take the A Train
• The Temptations and the Four Tops in a Motown Medley
• Sheku Kanneh-Mason Performs Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” Arranged By Tom Hodge
• Alessandro Marcello’s Oboe Concerto
• Isaac Albéniz, Suite Iberia, Félix Ardanaz, piano
• Johannes Ockeghem: Ave Maria
• Cimarosa’s Oboe Concerto, François Leleux and the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong
• Eubie Blake in Berlin, 1972, Plays Charleston Rag
• John Eliot Gardiner Conducts Three Bach Cantatas: BWV 113, BWV 179 and BWV 199
• David Letterman: The First Show, Feb. 1, 1982
• Roy Eldridge, 1957
• Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers: A Night In Tunisia (1958)
• T. Paige: Put The God Things First (sic.)
• Dick Cavett Interviews Janis Joplin, Gloria Swanson, Margot Kidder, Dave Meggyesy
• Theodor Adorno and the Critique of Capitalism: An Introduction
• Narciso Yepes in Concert, 1979, 10-string Guitar
• Keith Jarrett: Solo Concert, Tokyo, 1984
• What Is Woman?
• Poem Op.41, No.4 by Zdenek Fibich