Weather: Partly cloudy. A slight chance of showers in the afternoon. Highs in the lower 80s. North winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 20 percent. Thursday Night: Mostly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of showers. Lows in the mid 60s. Northeast winds 5 to 10 mph.
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Today at the Editor’s Glance:
Early Voting and voting by mail: Voting is ongoing for the general election, culminating with Election day on Nov. 8. See a sample ballot here. Early voting is on, through November 5, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at four sites in the county, listed here. You may vote early at any of the four sites regardless of your precinct location. To vote by mail, request your mail-in ballot here. Because of the Legislature’s new law, restricting voting convenience, drop boxes are available, but only to a limited degree. The ballot drop box at the Elections Office will be monitored by a staff member beginning 60 days prior to the election, through Election Day. This drop box will no longer be available after office hours or on weekends, except during the early voting period. Other drop boxes will be available at early voting locations, but only during the days of early voting, and only during voting hours. Mail ballots must be received in the Elections Office by 7 p.m. on Election Day in order to be counted. If returning your ballot by mail, please allow at least ten days for delivery. A postmark does not extend this deadline. You may track your ballot here. All other election-procedure related inquiries can be answered at the Elections Office’s website.
In Court: Drug Court convenes before Circuit Judge Terence Perkins at 10 a.m. in Courtroom 401 at the Flagler County courthouse, Kim C. Hammond Justice Center 1769 E Moody Blvd, Bldg 1, Bunnell. Drug Court is open to the public. See the Drug Court handbook here and the participation agreement here.
Coordinated Opioid Recovery: The Flagler Health Department’s Bob Snyder, Flagler Cares’ Jeanette Simmons and Flagler Fire Chief Mike Tucker hold a news conference at 1 p.m. at the Emergency Operations Center, alongside Mark Lander, the state health department’s interim secretary for county health systems, and a deputy secretary from the Department of Children and Families, discussing Flagler’s award of a grant through Flagler Cares to address overdoses. See: “Flagler Cares and Paramedics Launch Innovative Overdose Response Force as Part of $1.3 Million Grant.”
The Flagler Beach City Commission meets at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall, 105 South 2nd Street in Flagler Beach. The commission is expected to make decisions on the future of the pier, and on utility rate increases. Watch the meeting at the city’s YouTube channel here. Access meeting agenda and materials here. See a list of commission members and their email addresses here.
Half-Cent Sales Tax Lunch and learn: The Flagler Education Foundation hosts a tour of Flagler Palm Coast High School’s Classrooms to Career programs as an illustration of the fruit of the district’s half-cent sales tax, renewal of which is on the Nov. 8 ballot. Thursday, Oct. 27, From 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the high school.
Uncouth, an open mic night: Join a unique community of creative artists and performers on Thursday nights from 9:30 to 10:30 p.m. in Lee’s Garage, Carlton Union Building, Room 261A, 131 E Minnesota Avenue, DeLand, for an event featuring the student community of Stetson University. Uncouth is an “open-mic night” where students can perform their poetry, prose, music, and any other ‘artistic’ talents. This is a safe space for students to gather with their peers and enjoy the company of other creative minds.
In Coming Days:
The Halloween Hall of Terror is back at Palm Coast Fire Station 21, Sunday from 7 to 9 p.m. and Monday Oct. 31 from 7 to 10 p.m. This year’s theme, Halloween: The Night He Came Home, will have attendees coming face-to-face with Michael Myers as they make their way through scenes from the popular horror film franchise. All ages welcome, but supervision is recommended for children 13 and younger. Admission is free.
Halloween Scavenger Hunt in Flagler Beach, to benefit Christmas Come True and hosted by Flagler Strong, Saturday, October 29, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., $25 per adult, $5 per child under 12, tickets available here. On the day of the event pick up your ticket at the Flagler Beach Farmers Market’s Flagler Strong booth, Wickline Park, 315 South 7th Street, Flagler Beach. You will receive a packet of clues as you find the answers to your clues all around Flagler Beach you will take a picture of your group with the clue and text it to a specific number to collect your points. This is a fun event for families and adult groups you will spend the day exploring Flagler Beach and collecting goodies along with drink and food samples. All participants must be in costume. Each team must have a cell phone with picture taking and texting capabilities. You can walk or use bicycles, golf carts or cars during the scavenger hunt or a combination of.
FEMA Assistance Reminder: If you were impacted by Hurricane Ian and live in one of the 26 counties designated for disaster assistance, Flagler County among them, FEMA may be able to help. To apply you can visit a Disaster Recovery Center, go online to disasterassistance.gov use the FEMA app on your smartphone, or call 800-621-3362. The line is open every day from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Notably: It is Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday (1858), and unlike Woodrow Wilson, TR’s name has not yet begun falling off the facades of august buildings. Not that it should, regardless. But let’s at least be informed. I don’t go so far as to think that the only good Indians are the dead Indians, but I believe nine out of every ten are, and I shouldn’t like to inquire too closely into the case of the tenth. The most vicious cowboy has more moral principle than the average Indian,” TR had said. Or: “In every instance the expansion has taken place because the race was a great race. It was a sign and proof of greatness in the expanding nation, and moreover bear in mind that in each instance it was of incalculable benefit to mankind.… When great nations fear to expand, shrink from expansion, it is because their greatness is coming to an end. Are we still in the prime of our lusty youth, still at the beginning of our glorious manhood, to sit down among the outworn people, to take our place with the weak and craven? A thousand times no!” Maga is nothing new.
Now this:
Flagler Beach Webcam:
The Live Calendar is a compendium of local and regional political, civic and cultural events. You can input your own calendar events directly onto the site as you wish them to appear (pending approval of course). To include your event in the Live Calendar, please fill out this form.
Flagler Beach Farmers Market
Grace Community Food Pantry on Education Way
Gamble Jam at Gamble Rogers Memorial State Recreation Area
Rotary’s Fantasy Lights Festival in Palm Coast’s Town Center
ESL Bible Studies for Intermediate and Advanced Students
Grace Community Food Pantry on Education Way
Palm Coast Farmers’ Market at European Village
Al-Anon Family Groups
Rotary’s Fantasy Lights Festival in Palm Coast’s Town Center
For the full calendar, go here.
If you are a Florida progressive frightened by DeSantis’s political warfare, though, consider the position of a social or religious conservative in California in recent years. A recent summary from David French, himself no partisan of the populist right, is a good place to start: He writes that “over the last decade, California Democrats have launched their own frontal attack on the First Amendment, one that matches or exceeds Gov. DeSantis’s in both intensity and scale.” French’s examples include attempts to force pro-life pregnancy centers to advertise abortions, Covid-era restrictions on religious free exercise that the Supreme Court repeatedly struck down, requirements that churches provide abortion coverage in their health plans and prohibitions on state-sponsored travel to other states deemed too hostile to gay rights (currently 23 are on the list). To this list one might add the Diversity-Equity-Inclusion loyalty oaths expected of many academic job-seekers in California’s public universities. Or the state’s prosecution of David Daleiden, the pro-life muckraker who released videos showing Planned Parenthood officials casually discussing fetal dismemberment. Or the new Californian measure, signed by Newsom last month, threatening doctors with disciplinary action if they offer what the state considers Covid “misinformation” to their patients.
–From Ross Douthat’s “Newsom vs. DeSantis Is Our Inevitable Culture War,” The New York Times, Oct. 26, 2022.
