The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, September 14, 2024

Trump won't do second debate by Dave Whamond, Canada, PoliticalCartoons.com
Trump won’t do second debate by Dave Whamond, Canada, PoliticalCartoons.com

To include your event in the Briefing and Live Calendar, please fill out this form.

Weather: Mostly sunny. A chance of showers and thunderstorms in the morning, then showers and thunderstorms likely in the afternoon. Highs in the upper 80s. North winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70 percent. Saturday Night: Mostly cloudy with a chance of showers and thunderstorms in the evening, then partly cloudy with a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms after midnight. Lows in the lower 70s. Northeast winds around 5 mph. Chance of rain 50 percent.

  • Daily weather briefing from the National Weather Service in Jacksonville here.
  • Drought conditions here. (What is the Keetch-Byram drought index?).
  • Check today’s tides in Daytona Beach (a few minutes off from Flagler Beach) here.
  • tropical cyclone activity here, and even more details here.

Today at a Glance:

The Saturday Flagler Beach Farmers Market is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. today at Wickline Park, 315 South 7th Street, featuring prepared food, fruit, vegetables , handmade products and local arts from more than 30 local merchants. The market is hosted by Flagler Strong, a non-profit.

Coffee With Commissioner Scott Spradley: Flagler Beach Commission Chairman Scott Spradley hosts his weekly informal town hall with coffee and doughnuts at 9 a.m. at his law office at 301 South Central Avenue, Flagler Beach. All subjects, all interested residents or non-residents welcome.

Second Saturday Plant Sale at Washington Oaks Gardens State Park, 6400 North Oceanshore Blvd., Palm Coast, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Flowers, bushes and hard to find plants. The event is sponsored by the Friends of Washington Oaks. Regular entrance fee applies: $4 per vehicle with one person aboard, $5 for vehicles with more than one person.

American Association of University Women (AAUW) Monthly Meeting, 11 a.m.  at Cypress Knoll Golf Club, 53 Easthampton Blvd, Palm Coast. A monthly speaker is featured. Lunch is available for $20 in cash, $21 by credit card, but must be ordered in advance.  The lunch menu is available on our website.  Lunch may be ordered by sending an email to:  [email protected].

Jesus Christ Superstar at City Rep Theatre, 160 Cypress Point Parkway (City Marketplace, Suite B207), Palm Coast, $7:30 p.m. except on Sundays, when at 3 p.m. Tickets are $30 for adults, $15 for students. Book here. One of the great rock musicals of all time takes us on a spiritual, emotional and provocative journey that enthralls, edifies and invigorates us. With an all female cast, the CRT production explores these compelling themes from a different perspective. The ride of a lifetime.

‘The Great American Trailer Park Musical’ at Daytona Playhouse, 100 Jessamine Blvd., Daytona Beach, 7:30 p.m. except Sundays at 2 p.m. There’s a new tenant at Armadillo Acres and she’s wreaking havoc all over Florida’s most exclusive trailer park. When a stripper on the run comes between the Dr. Phil–loving, agoraphobic and her husband, a storm brews. Directed by: Ashley King and Melissa Cargile.

Grace Community Food Pantry, 245 Education Way, Bunnell, drive-thru open today from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The food pantry is organized by Pastor Charles Silano and Grace Community Food Pantry, a Disaster Relief Agency in Flagler County. Feeding Northeast Florida helps local children and families, seniors and active and retired military members who struggle to put food on the table. Working with local grocery stores, manufacturers, and farms we rescue high-quality food that would normally be wasted and transform it into meals for those in need. The Flagler County School District provides space for much of the food pantry storage and operations. Call 386-586-2653 to help, volunteer or donate.

In Coming Days:

Sept. 16: NAACP Candidate Forum: The NAACP Flagler Branch hosts a candidate forum featuring local candidates in the Nov. 5 election for Palm Coast City Council, at 6 p.m. at the Palm Coast Community Center, 305 Palm Coast Parkway NE.

September 17: Celebrate Constitution Day With County Judge Andrea Totten, 1 p.m. at the Flagler County Public Library, 2500 Palm Coast Pkwy NW, Palm Coast. The special Constitution Day program features the Honorable Andrea K. Totten in the Doug Cisney Room. The event offers a unique opportunity to explore the significance of the United States Constitution and its impact on our lives today. Judge Totten will share her insights into the importance of upholding constitutional principles in our democracy. Engage in enlightening discussions, ask questions, and deepen your understanding of the Constitution’s role in shaping our nation’s history and future. Don’t miss this enlightening and educational event at the heart of our community’s civic engagement.

Sept. 19: Sheriff’s Summit to Protect and Serve Seniors, 3 to 5 p.m. at the Sheriff’s Operations Center, 2101 Commerce Pkwy, Bunnell. Participants will benefit from a presentation about frequent scams and frauds, have access to free document shredding and paramedicine, and will get a tour of the Sheriff’s Office Museum. The event is free to the public.

Sept. 19: 988 Suicide Prevention Walk: 5:30 at Wadsworth Park, 2200 Moody Blvd., Flagler Beach. The Rotary Club of Flagler Beach will host an Awareness Walk to promote the 988 National Suicide Crisis Hotline at 6:00 p.m. on September 19, 2024. Participants will walk from Wadsworth Park in Flagler Beach, over the Rt. 100 bridge to Veterans Park where we will gather for a brief ceremony. Anyone wishing to participate should arrive at Wadsworth Park at 5:30 pm. After a brief welcome, the walk will begin at 6 p.m. Participants are encouraged, if possible, to wear purple and/or teal, the colors of suicide prevention awareness. Advanced registration is not required. All are welcome at this cost-free event that aims to bring the community together to raise awareness about the importance of mental health and the critical resources available through the 988 hotline.

Sept. 25: The Palm Coast Tiger Bay Club presents a candidate forum ahead of the Nov. 5 general election, Sept. 25, 5 to 8 p.m. at the Palm Coast Community Center, 305 Palm Coast Parkway NE. The forum will feature the candidates in three runoff elections for mayor and Palm Coast City Council seats. The forum is free and open to the public, and will be simulcast on WNZF and live-streamed on FlaglerLive, among other media sources.

For the full calendar, go here.

killer cars

Notably: That was The Economist’s cover last week. In 2013, there were 32,893 fatalities on America’s roads. Last year: 40,990, a 25 percent increase. That’s not just because we have more cars on the same number of roads. The rate has increased, too, from 1.1 fatality per million vehicle mile traveled to 1.26. In Florida, we had 2,402 fatalities in 2013. In 2023, we had 3,436, a 43 percent increase. The American rate is the highest of any industrialized country, Florida’s way worse than that. An Economist editorial: “The next time you are stuck in traffic, look around you. Not at the cars, but the passengers. If you are in America, the chances are that one in 75 of them will be killed by a car—most of those by someone else’s car. Wherever you may be, the folk cocooned in a giant SUV or pickup truck are likelier to survive a collision with another vehicle. But the weight of their machines has a cost, because it makes the roads more dangerous for everyone else. The Economist has found that, for every life the heaviest 1% of SUVs or trucks saves in America, more than a dozen lives are lost in smaller vehicles. This makes traffic jams an ethics class on wheels. Each year cars kill roughly 40,000 people in America—and not just because it is a big place where people love to drive. The country’s roads are nearly twice as dangerous per mile driven as those in the rest of the rich world. Deaths there involving cars have increased over the past decade, despite the introduction of technology meant to make driving safer. Weight is to blame. Using data for 7.5m crashes in 14 American states in 2013-23, we found that for every 10,000 crashes the heaviest vehicles kill 37 people in the other car, compared with 5.7 for cars of a median weight and just 2.6 for the lightest. The situation is getting worse. In 2023, 31% of new cars in America weighed over 5,000lb (2.27 tonnes), compared with 22% in 2018. The number of pedestrians killed by cars has almost doubled since 2010. Although a typical car is 25% lighter in Europe and 40% lighter in Japan, electrification will add weight there too, exacerbating the gap between the heaviest vehicles and the lightest. The Ford F-150 Lightning weighs around 40% more than its petrol-engine cousin, because of the battery that moves all those lithium ions from cathode to anode.”

 

Now this:

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.

September 2024

flagler beach farmers market

Saturday, Sep 14

Flagler Beach Farmers Market

315 South 7th Street, Flagler Beach

scott spradley

Saturday, Sep 14

Coffee With Flagler Beach Commission Chair Scott Spradley

Law Office of Scott Spradley

grace community food pantry

Saturday, Sep 14

Grace Community Food Pantry on Education Way

Flagler School District Bus Depot

washington oaks state park plant sale

Saturday, Sep 14

Second Saturday Plant Sale at Washington Oaks Gardens State Park

Washington Oaks Gardens State Park

aauw flagler branch

Saturday, Sep 14

American Association of University Women (AAUW) Meeting

Cypress Knoll Golf and Country Club

jesus christ superstar

Saturday, Sep 14

Jesus Christ Superstar at City Rep Theatre

City Repertory Theatre at City Marketplace

Saturday, Sep 14

‘The Great American Trailer Park Musical’ at Daytona Playhouse

Sunday, Sep 15

ESL Bible Studies for Intermediate and Advanced Students

Grace Presbyterian Church

grace community food pantry

Sunday, Sep 15

Grace Community Food Pantry on Education Way

Flagler School District Bus Depot

Sunday, Sep 15

Palm Coast Farmers’ Market at European Village

Sunday, Sep 15

‘The Great American Trailer Park Musical’ at Daytona Playhouse

al-anon family groups logo

Sunday, Sep 15

Al-Anon Family Groups

jesus christ superstar

Sunday, Sep 15

Jesus Christ Superstar at City Rep Theatre

City Repertory Theatre at City Marketplace

No event found!

For the full calendar, go here.

FlaglerLive

The height and width of the typical SUV make it hard for car drivers behind it to see the road ahead, increasing the chance that they will be unable to avoid a crash, especially a multi-vehicle pileup. The stiff, truck-like underbody of an SUV does little to absorb the force of collisions with trees and other roadside objects. Its size increases traffic congestion, because car drivers tend to give sport utility vehicles a lot of room, so fewer vehicles can get through each green light at an intersection. Most of the nation’s roadside guardrails were built for low-riding cars, and may flip an SUV on impact instead of deflecting it safely back into its lane of traffic. The trucklike brakes and suspensions of SUVs mean that their stopping distances are longer than for a family car, making it less likely that an SUV driver will be able to stop before hitting a car. And when SUVs do hit pedestrians, they strike them high on the body, inflicting worse injuries than cars, which have low bumpers that flip pedestrians onto the relatively soft hood. For all their deadliness to other motorists, SUVs are no safer than cars for their own occupants. Indeed, they are less safe. The occupant death rate per million SUVs is actually 6 percent higher than the occupant death rate per million cars. The biggest SUVs, which pose the greatest hazards to other motorists, have an 8 percent higher death rate for their occupants than minivans and the larger midsize cars like the Ford Taurus and Pontiac Grand Prix.’ How is this possible? SUV occupants simply die differently, being much more likely than car occupants to die in rollovers, as well as being much more likely to send other drivers to the grave.

–From Keith Bradsher’s High and Mighty: SUVs: The World’s Most Dangerous Vehicles and How They Got That Way (2002).

 

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