Tuesday Briefing: Dorothy Singer In Court, Manager Search, Wireless Palm Coast, Session 2018

Today: Mostly cloudy. Patchy fog in the morning. Chance of showers in the morning, then chance of showers and slight chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon. Highs in the lower 70s. Northeast winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40 percent. Tonight: Partly cloudy in the evening then becoming mostly cloudy. A 40 percent chance of showers. Lows in the upper 50s. Northeast winds 5 to 10 mph. Details here.
Today’s document from the National Archives and the Astronomy Picture of the Day.
Today’s tides: at the beaches, at the Intracoastal Waterway.
Drought Index40
The OED’s Word of the Day: winter hedge, 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
• Announcements
• In State Government
• In Coming Days in Flagler, Palm Coast and Beyond
• The Day’s Best Reads
• Editor’s Tweets
• Fact-Checking the Knaves
• Palm Coast Construction and Development
• Local Road and Interstate Construction
• Cultural Coda

“Wealth is necessary to great art, but wealth is disgraceful and art is unpleasant when they flourish at the expense of widespread poverty and debasing superstition; for the beautiful cannot long be divorced from the good. An aristocracy could be a beneficent repository and vehicle of manners, standards, and tastes if means could be found to keep it open to fresh talent, and to prevent it from being an agent of class privilege and vain luxury. Democracies too can accumulate wealth and dignify it with the nourishment of knowledge, letters, charity, and art; their problems lie in the hostility of immature freedom to order and discipline, the tardy development of taste in young societies, and the tendency of unmoored ability to waste itself in bizarre experiments that mistake originality for genius and novelty for beauty.”

–Will Durant, from “The Age of Louis XIV” (1963). [Click on the image or the link to buy the book.]

Previously:

Pascal’s world | Wheelies | Knausgaard on writing | Bach’s grace | Suffragette fury | Donna Tartt | Regrettable intercourse | Glory’s obscenity | Atheism v. Bach | Describing music | Dostoevsky’s truth | Clemenceau on artists | Henry Cabot Lodge | John Lennon | Homesteaders | Cakes and discrimination | Civil liberties | Nuance in America | Careless supremacy | Orange sentence | Ephemeral present | E.O. Wilson on atheism | Ponce de Leon | Bill Kristol’s liberalism | Life’s evening | Male friendships | Solzhenitsyn’s power | Voltaire on tolerance | McMurtry on Hemingway | Under arrest | LBJ’s white trash | Lewd plant names | Nabokov’s trains | Mass shootings

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.

In Court: A pre-trial is scheduled at 9 a.m. in Courtroom 401 at the Flagler County courthouse in the case of Dorothy Singer, who is accused of murdering her husband at their west-Flagler home last spring. A pre-trial is also scheduled in the case of Bruce Haughton, accused of negligent manslaughter in the suicide of Katherine Goddard in July. The suicide was intended to be a double suicide. And a pre-trial is scheduled in the case of Paul Dykes, who was found guilty on 24 counts of child-sex crimes, including rape, on Dec. 6, but who still faces 13 additional counts. Prosecutors and the defense are to decide how to proceed or whether to resolve those remaining counts without going to trial. The hearings are before Circuit Judge Dennis Craig.

The Palm Coast City Council meets in workshop at 9 a.m. at City Hall in Town Center. It will discuss hiring an executive search firm in its search for a new city manager, based on information prepared by the existing city manager and his staff. It will also discuss a series of wireless-related issues as they apply to the city’s land codes.

The Flagler County Affordable Housing Committee meets at 8:30 a.m. in the Financial Services Conference Room, 1769 E. Moody Blvd., Bldg. 2, Third Floor, Bunnell.

The Flagler County Planning and Development Board meets at 6 p.m. in Board Chambers at the Government Services Building, 1769 E. Moody Blvd., Bldg. 2, first floor, Bunnell. The board will consider an application for a special exception for a restaurant at 5047 North Oceanshore Boulevard in the Hammock, south of Magnolia Road, on a 25,000 square foot parcel. The restaurant would accommodate take-out but no drive-thru.

The Flagler County School Board meets in workshop at 3 p.m. in the training room on the third floor of the Government Services Building in Bunnell, at 3 p.m. Board members will discuss ratification of the latest contract with its teachers union, among other items.

The St. Johns River Water Management District Governing Board will meet after holding committee meetings. Committees start at 10 a.m., followed by board meeting at 11 a.m., district headquarters, 4049 Reid St., Palatka.

Blood Donations: The Big Red Bus will be at the following locations this week:

• Tuesday: Coldwell Bankers, 211 St. Joe Plaza, Palm Coast, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• Wednesday: Matanzas High School, 3535 Old Kings Road, Palm Coast, 8 a.m to 2:30 p.m.
• Friday: Panera Bread, 5880 State Road 100, Palm Coast, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• Saturday: Chick fil A, 1000 Palm Coast Parkway NW, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• Sunday: Walmart, 174 Cypress Point Parkway, Palm Coast, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Announcements:

Flagler Beach attorney Scott Spradley shot the following video Saturday, using his drone, of the recent sand accumulations south of the Flagler Beach Pier:

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.

SENATE GOES INTO SESSION: The Senate will convene to start the 2018 legislative session. (Tuesday, 9:30 a.m., Senate chamber, the Capitol.)

HOUSE CONVENES FOR 2018 SESSION: The House will convene to start the 2018 legislative session. (Tuesday, 10 a.m., House chamber, the Capitol.)

SCOTT GIVES STATE OF THE STATE: Gov. Rick Scott will give his annual State of the State address during a joint session of the House and Senate. The address is the traditional kickoff for the 60-day legislative session. (Tuesday, 11 a.m., House chamber, the Capitol.)

TEXTING WHILE DRIVING TARGETED: The House Transportation & Infrastructure Subcommittee will consider a bill (HB 33), filed by Rep. Jackie Toledo, R-Tampa, and Rep. Emily Slosberg, D-Boca Raton, that would make texting while driving a “primary” traffic offense. Currently, texting while driving is a “secondary” offense, meaning motorists can only be cited if they are pulled over for other reasons. But if it is a primary offense, police would be able to stop motorists for texting behind the wheel. (Tuesday, 1 p.m., Reed Hall, House Office Building, the Capitol.)

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AT ISSUE: The House Agriculture & Property Rights Subcommittee will take up a proposal (HB 553), filed by Rep. Jake Raburn, R-Lithia, that would address a number of issues under the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. (Tuesday, 1 p.m., 12 House Office Building, the Capitol.)

VOICE MAILS IN THE CROSSHAIRS: The House Careers & Competition Subcommittee will consider a bill (HB 315), filed by Rep. Loranne Ausley, D-Tallahassee, that would add voice-mail messages to a law that bars telephone solicitors from calling people who have previously said they do not want to be contacted. (Tuesday, 1 p.m., 212 Knott Building, the Capitol.)

STATE TRAVEL UNDER MICROSCOPE: The House Government Operations & Technology Appropriations Subcommittee will receive a presentation from the Department of Management Services about a statewide travel-management system. (Tuesday, 1 p.m., Morris Hall, House Office Building, the Capitol.)

PRO BONO HEATH CARE ENCOURAGED: The House Health Care Appropriations Subcommittee will take up a bill (HB 313) filed by Rep. Michael Grant, R-Port Charlotte, that would offer incentives for physicians to provide free care to low-income people. (Tuesday, 1 p.m., 404 House Office Building, the Capitol.)

HOME SCHOOLING DISCUSSSED: The House PreK-12 Innovation Subcommittee will consider a proposal (HB 731), filed by Rep. Jennifer Sullivan, R-Mount Dora, that would revamp state laws about home schooling. (Tuesday, 1 p.m., 306 House Office Building, the Capitol.)

INVASIVE SPECIES TARGETED: The Senate Environmental Preservation and Conservation Committee will take up a bill (SB 168), filed by Sen. Greg Steube, R-Sarasota, that would create a pilot program to try to help eradicate pythons and other invasive species, such as tegu lizards and lionfish. (Tuesday, 2 p.m., 37 Senate Office Building, the Capitol.)

MENTAL HEALTH AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE AT ISSUE: The Senate Children, Families and Elder Affairs Committee will receive a presentation on bills passed in 2016 and 2017 that made reforms to the state’s mental-health and substance-abuse treatment systems and addressed what are known as “sober homes.” (Tuesday, 4 p.m., 401 Senate Office Building, the Capitol.)

BABY CHANGING TAX CREDIT CONSIDERED: The Senate Commerce and Tourism Committee will consider a proposal (SB 236), filed by Sen. Lauren Book, D-Plantation, that would allow restaurants to receive tax credits of as much as $300 for installing baby-changing tables. (Tuesday, 4 p.m., 110 Senate Office Building, the Capitol.)

DEATH PENALTY SENTENCING DEBATED: The Senate Criminal Justice Committee will take up a bill that would extend the retroactivity of a Florida Supreme Court ruling that requires jury unanimity before inmates can be sentenced to death. The Supreme Court said the requirements are retroactive to cases since 2002. The bill (SB 870), filed by committee Chairman Randolph Bracy, D-Orlando, would also apply the requirements to earlier cases. (Tuesday, 4 p.m., 37 Senate Office Building, the Capitol.)

HOUSE TACKLES TAXES AND FEES: The House Appropriations Committee will consider a proposed constitutional amendment (HJR 7001) that would require support from two-thirds of the House and the Senate for tax or fee increases and for the imposition of any new tax or fee. The proposed constitutional amendment could go on the November ballot. (Tuesday, 4:30 p.m., 212 Knott Building, the Capitol.)

LOCAL TOURISM AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT TARGETED: The House Ways and Means Committee will take up a bill (HB 3), filed by Rep. Michael Grant, R-Port Charlotte, that would place a series of requirements on local tourism- and economic-development agencies. (Tuesday, 4:30 p.m., Morris Hall, House Office Building, the Capitol.)

PECO PROGRAM AT ISSUE: The Revenue Estimating Conference will consider bond rates in the Public Education Capital Outlay program, which helps pay for school building projects. (Tuesday, 9 a.m., 117 Knott Building, the Capitol.)

SCOTT, PUTNAM, PATRONIS AT CHAMBER EVENT: Gov. Rick Scott, Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam and state Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis are slated to be among the speakers during a Florida Chamber Foundation “Economic Outlook Summit.” (Tuesday, event starts at 10 a.m., Augustus B. Turnbull III Florida State Conference Center, 555 West Pensacola St., Tallahassee.)

UTILITY ISSUES DISCUSSED: The Florida Public Service Commission will take up a series of telecommunications and electric-utility issues. (Tuesday, 1 p.m., Betty Easley Conference Center, 4075 Esplanade Way, Tallahassee.)

NATIONAL ECONOMY ANALYZED: The Economic Estimating Conference will look at national economic issues. (Tuesday, 1:30 p.m., 117 Knott Building, the Capitol.)

—-Compiled by the News Service of Florida and FlaglerLive

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

The Day’s Best Reads:

Editor’s Tweets

Palm Coast Construction and Development Progress Reports

Here’s a summary of the latest city developments as of Jan. 5, 2018, with a link to the full week in review here.

Click to access week-in-review-jan-51.pdf

Road and Interstate Construction:

• Florida Department of Transportation Road Project List

Cultural Coda

Bach: Musical Offering BWV 1079, Concert des Nations Jordi Savall

Previous Codas:

• Bach: Sonata for Gamba and Harpsichord in G minor, BWV 1029
• Claude Debussy, La fille aux cheveux de lin, from Préludes
• Bach’s Complete Christmas Oratorio BWV 248, Gardiner, Monteverdi Choir & Bach Soloists
• Angels in Heaven: Chris Rodrigues and the Spoon Lady
• Hindemith: Der Schwanendreher
• Brendel Performs Schubert’s A Major Sonata No. 22, D. 959
• The New York Philharmonic in a 2016 Performance of Dvorak’s New World Symphony
• Alexander Gavrylyuk Plays Bach İtalian Concerto
• Daniel Lozakovich, at 12 Years Old, Performs a Beethoven Violin and Piano Sonata
• Jacquet de la Guerre: Sonata in D minor for Violin and Continuo performed by House of Time
• Evgeni Koroliov Performs Claude Debussy Préludes
• Turkey’s Fazil Say Plays Mozart’s Alla Turca, Then His Own
• Guitarist John Williams at the BBC: The 2016 Documentary
• Sviatoslav Richter Plays Schubert’s Great Piano Sonata No 13 in A major, D 664
• Philip Glass’s Violin Concerto Performed on Sax by Amy Dixon
• Maria João Pires Performs Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 17 in G Major, K 453
• When Mickey Mouse Jammed Out Carmen and Other Favorites
• Heinrich von Herzogenberg’s Trio for Piano, Oboe and Horn, Op. 61
• The Sublime Valses Poéticos by Enrique Granados, Performed By Albert Flotats
• Complete Performance of Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique: Leonard Bernstein, Orchestre National de France
• Yeol Eum Son Performs Charles Valentin Alkan
• A Crazy Encore by Yuja Wang at Carnegie Hall
• Phillip Sear Performs a Waltz By Neapolitan Composer Franco Alfano
• “Stranger Things” Cello Medley – Nicholas Yee
• Discover the Great Daniil Trifonov
• Afro-Venezuelan Shostakovich
• Bill Murray’s Mark Twain Prize: The Full Monty
• Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 22 in E flat major: Robert Levin and the Transylvania Philharmonic
• Mozart: Piano Quartet No. 1, KV 478
• Eleanor Rigby, performed by Sirius Quartet
• Mozart: Tamiri’s aria from Il re pastore: Elina Shimkus & Sinfonietta Riga
• Mariko M on the Cello, Mariko Terashita, violin, Perform Limerock
• Bohuslav Martinu: First Sonata for Flute and Piano
• Andras Schiff Performs All Six of Bach’s French Suites
• Paul Lewis plays Schubert’s Piano Sonata No. 20 in A Major, Andantino
• 14-Year-Old María Dueñas Fernández Performs Paganini’s Violin Concerto No. 1 at 2017 Competition