U.S. Rep Randy Fine, on a whirlwind tour of Flagler County that included an ATV trip along its battered beaches and an afternoon meet-and-greet at the Chamber of Commerce, this morning visited what has become a necessary stop in Palm Coast’s infrastructure calvary: the sloshing tanks and purifying basins of Waste Water Treatment 1. Costly as the expansion and modernization of the plant is to Palm Coast, he said utility infrastructure is primarily the city’s responsibility, not the federal government’s.
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Daily Cartoon and Briefing
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Wednesday, August 13, 2025
Flagler, Palm Coast & Other Local
Jeani Duarte, a Council Candidate, Says Palm Coast’s Utility Plants Will Make Cannibals of Residents
Jeani Duarte, a candidate for the Palm Coast City Council in the 2026 election, on Tuesday evening accused the city of planning a sewer infrastructure that will turn residents into cannibals. Duarte often addresses the council at its workshops and meetings, often several times a meeting, often to make statements that are either inaccurate or “nonsensical,” as Circuit Judge Chris France twice termed a civil action she attempted against the city, before France tossed it.
A Disaster Expo at the Palm Coast Community Center Highlights Community’s Prepared Resilience
Flagler Cares, the social services non-profit and coordinating agency, secured a $143,000 Long-Term Recovery Grant from the American Red Cross for Flagler Volunteer Services as part of the recovery efforts following Hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024, enabling a “disaster preparedness breakfast and expo” at the Palm Coast Community Center Tuesday that drew a full house.
Hurricane-Bound Erin, 1st Major Storm of Season, Not Expected to Affect Florida
Tropical Storm Erin, still churning closer to the African coast than the American or Caribbean, is expected to become a major hurricane by the weekend as it moves west. It is not expected to pose a danger to the Florida Peninsula, Flagler County included, Flagler County Emergency Management Director Jonathan Lord said today. But he added a word of caution: Erin is too far to rule out a more onerous turn.
More Flagler, Palm Coast & Other Local
Flagler County School Board’s Will Furry Says God Is Calling Him to Run for Congress Against Randy Fine
Will Furry, a Realtor in his first term on the Flagler County School Board, said he is running for the congressional seat held by Randy Fine. Furry will continue serving on the School Board until the end of his term in November. He cannot run for both seats. His fate will be decided in the Aug. 18, 2026 primary, when he would be one of a slew of Republicans challenging Fine.
Flagler Beach City Attorney Recommends New Ordinance Limiting Trespassing Authority in Public Spaces
Flagler Beach’s city attorney is recommending that the city adopt an ordinance clarifying when, where and why police may trespass an individual from public property, on the very rare occasions when they may, how much restraint police must exercise when interfering with a person’s speech (a lot), and what due process must be afforded the individual targeted.
Trespassing Persons on Public Property and Best Practices Dealing with Protestors: Flagler Beach City Attorney’s Memo
The full text of the memo written by Flagler Beach City Attorney Drew Smith and attorney Abby Osborne-Liborioon on Aug.6, in response to Flagler Beach Police Chief Matt Doughney’s request for clarity on the city’s authority to trespass individuals from public spaces.
With Cuts at Palm Coast Branch, County Pledges to Revisit Library Budget 3 Months After Bunnell Branch Opens
With Palm Coast officials worried that a planned 23 percent cut in library hours and a significant cut in staffing at the Palm Coast branch will hurt patrons and programming once the Bunnell branch opens in December, Flagler County officials are pledging that staffing will be adjusted next spring should usage figures show a need.
Veteran Who Robbed and Killed a Man at Graham Swamp in 2006 Seeks Full Release from Supervision
Brian Wothers, the 43-year-old military veteran who robbed and killed 26-year-old Jeffrey David Maxwell at Graham Swamp after partying with him earlier that night in 2006, is seeking release from all state supervision 17 years after he was found not guilty by reason of insanity, and committed to a state hospital. A circuit judge is not ready to grant that step just yet.
At Flagler Cares, A Play Therapy Room That Allows Children to Express the Unspeakable
Imagine a 5 or 6-year-old child, maybe an abused child or one who’s just endured unspeakable trauma. The child has been incapable of expressing feelings as other children might. The child’s parents have been unable to connect. Play therapy enables the child to express those feelings as nothing else might. That’s the purpose of the play therapy room at Flagler Cares, “a place to play, a place to heal,” as the plaque outside the room put it.
Opposition Grows to Florida’s SB 180, a Gift to Developers Posing as a Storm-Recovery Law
A nonprofit smart growth advocacy organization, 1000 Friends of Florida, is the latest entity calling for the Florida Legislature to repeal portions of a new law designed to expedite post-disaster rebuilding. The measure has become the most controversial new measure signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis this year. The problem? Language barring new local land-use or development regulations considered “restrictive or burdensome,” even if they are completely unrelated to storm recovery.
Flagler Beach Officer Who Wrongfully Arrested Man Outside Funky Pelican Will Serve 3 Days’ Suspension
An independent investigation of Flagler Beach Police Sgt. Austin Yelvington found him to have violated the city’s arrest procedures last March when he arrested a man who stood outside the Funky Pelican restaurant at the pier, holding a sign supporting homeless veterans. Yelvington is to serve a three-day suspension without pay. The other Flagler Beach police officer involved in the arrest, Emmett Luttrell, was found to have followed procedures and was not penalized.
20-Year-Old Man Is Killed After Stepping Into Traffic on I-95 South of Palm Coast Parkway
A 20-year-old man on foot who may have had a medical episode was struck and killed by two cars as he stepped into northbound traffic on I-95 in Palm Coast early this morning, just south of the intersection with Palm Coast Parkway.
County and Palm Coast ‘Task Force’ Will Explore Cost of Animal Shelter Separate from Flagler Humane Society
Even as they compulsively speak of “DOGE”-dictated government efficiency and stress over limited budgets, Flagler County and Palm Coast’s governments are setting up a joint task force to study the possibility of building or operating a multi-million animal shelter separate from the Flagler Humane Society, which since 1982 been the only full-service animal shelter in the county.
Palm Coast Man and Ex-Volusia County Schools Employee Charged With Raping Neighbors’ Child in Z Section
Kermit Carl Booth, 72, a former resident of Palm Coast and a former employee of the Volusia County school district, faces two capital felony charges of raping a girl when she was between 6 and 9, in a case dating back to 2006 to 2009 in Palm Coast’s Z Section. Booth was arrested in North Carolina last Friday and released on a startlingly low bond, prompting outrage from Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly. A Flagler County judge had set bond at $500,000 when signing the arrest warrant.
The Conversation
The Dark History of Forced Starvation as a Weapon of War
More than 500,000 Palestinians, one-fourth of Gaza’s population, are experiencing famine, the U.N. stated. And all 320,000 children under age 5 are “at risk of acute malnutrition, with serious lifelong physical and mental health consequences.” U.N. experts have accused Israel of using starvation “as a savage weapon of war and constitutes crime under international law.” Countries – including the United States and Canada – have used starvation to conquer Indigenous peoples and acquire their land.
Florida and Beyond
Federal Judge Rules Unconstitutional Part of Florida Law That Led to Book Purges from School Libraries
Siding with publishers and authors, a federal judge Wednesday ruled that a key part of a 2023 Florida law that has led to books being removed from school library shelves is “overbroad and unconstitutional.” U.S. District Judge Carlos Mendoza issued a 50-page decision in a First Amendment lawsuit filed last year against members of the State Board of Education and the school boards in Orange and Volusia counties.
What Is Uranium Enrichment?
When most people hear the word uranium, they think of mushroom clouds, Cold War standoffs or the glowing green rods from science fiction. But uranium isn’t just fuel for apocalyptic fears. It’s also a surprisingly common element that plays a crucial role in modern energy, medicine and geopolitics. Many headlines have mentioned Iran’s 60% enrichment of uranium, but what does that really mean?
The Eugenics of the Big Beautiful Bill
Withdrawing or making Medicaid and Affordable Care Act coverage more restrictive will cost 51,000 lives a year by 2034. It’s one way to reduce the government’s liability for lives on the dole. It is eugenics by other means.
More Florida and Beyond
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Tuesday, August 12, 2025
The Community Traffic Safety Team meets, the Palm Coast City Council meets, so do the School Board and the county’s planning board, the American passport is no longer most favored, Simone de Beauvoir on America’s idea of its own freedoms.
Zohran Mamdani and the Upton Sinclair Effect
Mamdani’s win surprised nearly everyone. Not just because he beat the heavily favored former governor Andrew Cuomo, but because he did so by a large margin. Because he did so with a unique coalition, and because his Muslim identity and membership in the Democratic Socialists of America should have, in conventional political thinking, made victory impossible. Upton Sinclair, the famous author and a socialist for most of his life, ran for governor in California in 1934 and won the Democratic primary election with a radical plan that he called End Poverty in California, or EPIC. He lost.
State Regulators Put On Hold Case Over FPL’s $2.5 Billion Rate Increase in Light of ‘Settlement’
State regulators Monday paused a closely watched case about increasing Florida Power & Light’s base electric rates after the utility and numerous parties announced Friday they had reached a “settlement in principle.” Details of the potential settlement have not been released, and some parties in the case — including the state Office of Public Counsel, which is designated by law to represent consumers — have not signed on.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, August 11, 2025
What if Immanuel Kant and Madonna had a baby, the Flagler County Library Board of Trustees meets, the Bunnell City Commission meets, Isaiah Berlin explains the inexplicable.
How GOP’s Gerrymandering Power Grab May Backfire
There are a few factors that make redistricting more complicated than just grabbing a few House seats. They may even make Republicans regret their hardball gerrymandering tactics, if the party ends up with districts that political scientists call “dummymandered.”
A Nuclear Reactors on the Moon?
A lunar nuclear reactor may sound dramatic, but its neither illegal nor unprecedented. If deployed responsibly, it could allow countries to peacefully explore the Moon, fuel their economic growth and test out technologies for deeper space missions. But with China and the United States now racing to build nuclear reactors on the Moon, it also raises critical questions about access and power.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, August 10, 2025
Clay Jones on gerrymandering Texas, Gamble Jam, Palm Coast Farmers’ Market at European Village, on the criminal notion of killing time, Cyndi Lauper, Theodore Dreiser and Sister Carrie.
Israel’s Genocide in Gaza: Beyond Rhetoric
The key question is not to determine whether the conditions have been met to judge specific perpetrators of specific acts of violence as genocidal, but rather to understand the logic behind the practices. A conviction for genocide or crimes against humanity does not save lives, but the very consideration that genocide is being committed or has been committed carries profound political implications.
FPL Has Delayed Core Enclosure Tests at Nuclear Plant for Nearly 20 Years
As nuclear reactors’ lifespans are extended, the industry is increasingly flying blind regarding the structural integrity of the reactor pressure vessels (RPVs) that enclose their cores. The loosening of routine RPV testing is just one example of how large firms like FPL have secured concessions to ensure they can keep aging nuclear plants churning for twice as long as their original license terms – in spite of safety concerns. In effect, watchdog groups claim, nuclear regulations are being improvised to accommodate power companies, compromising RPV safety and risking nuclear disaster.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, August 9, 2025
Sheriff’s Annual Safety Expo at European Village, Flagler Sportfishing Club’s Annual Local Brands Fishing Expo, Peps Art Walk at Beachfront Grille, the Maison Picassiette in Chartres, Second Saturday Plant Sale at Washington Oaks Gardens State Park, American Association of University Women (AAUW) Monthly Meeting.
Due Process Owed Migrants
The meaning and application of due process has become a crucial issue in the U.S., most often with respect to the Trump administration’s migrant deportation efforts. Seemingly contradictory rulings on migrant issues recently not only make it unclear when due process applies but probably leave many asking what the term “due process of law” even means and how it works.
The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Friday, August 8, 2025
In Court, Docket sounding before Circuit Court Judge Dawn Nichols, Free For All Fridays with Host David Ayres is all about the barrier island, the Friday Blue Forum, the Arrival of the Queen of Sheba, and a few words on the meaning of philosophy.
Trump’s Orwellian Firing of America’s Chief Statistician
President Donald Trump’s firing of Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer on Aug. 1, 2025, after an unfavorable unemployment report has been drawing criticism for its potential to undercut the agency’s credibility. But it’s not the first time that his administration has taken steps that could weaken the integrity of some government data.
Commentary
The Muslim World’s Pathetic Inaction on Gaza
When it comes to dealing with two of the biggest current crises in the Muslim world – the devastation of Gaza and the Taliban’s draconian rule in Afghanistan – Arab and Muslim states have been staggeringly ineffective. Their chief body, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), in particular, has been strong on rhetoric but very short on serious, tangible action.
Hiroshima Survivors, 80 Years On
The 16-kiloton bomb dropped on Hiroshima at 8.15am by a US B-29 bomber was codenamed “Little Boy” by the Americans. The scars of the bomb remained untreated, for generations. The US occupation – which lasted until the San Francisco treaty was signed on April 28 1952 – established an extensive Civil Censorship Department (the CCD) which monitored not only all newspapers, magazines, pamphlets, books, films and plays but also radio broadcasts, personal mail, as well as telephone and telegraph communications.
How Tariffs Are Hurting America’s 35 Million Small Businesses
More than 70% of small-business owners say constant shifts in trade policy create a “whiplash effect” that makes it difficult to plan, a recent national survey showed. Unlike larger organizations with teams of analysts to inform their decision-making, small-business owners are often on their own. In an all-hands-on-deck operation, every hour spent focusing on trade policy news or filling out additional paperwork means precious time away from day-to-day, core operations. That means rapid trade policy shifts leave small businesses especially at a disadvantage.