The daily cartoon and live briefing: Thursday, October 24, 2024

To add your event to the briefing and live calendar, please fill out this form.

Weather: Sunny, with a high near 81. Calm wind blowing north at about 6 mph in the afternoon. Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 64 degrees. Light and changing wind.

• Daily weather information from the National Weather Service in Jacksonville here.
• Drought conditions prevail here. (What is the Keetch-Byram Drought Index?).
• Check today’s tides in Daytona Beach (a few minutes from Flagler Beach) here.
• Tropical cyclone activity can be found here and even more details here.

Today at a glance:

Early voting in general elections is available at five locations today in Bunnell, Palm Coast and Flagler Beach from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Any registered and qualified voter eligible to vote in a statewide election may vote in person at any early voting location, regardless of assigned precinct. Florida law requires each voter to present a Florida driver’s license, Florida ID card, or other form of acceptable photo and signature identification in order to vote. If you do not provide the required identification or your eligibility to vote cannot be determined, you will only be permitted to vote provisionally. Don’t forget your ID. A pair of secure drop boxes that Ron DeSantis and the Republican Legislature have not yet banned (also known as Secure Ballot Intake Stations) are available at the election office entrance and at each early voting location during election hours. The locations are as follows:

• Flagler County Supervisor of Elections Office, Government Services Building, 1769 East Moody Boulevard, Bunnell.
• Flagler County Public Library, 2500 Palm Coast Pkwy NW, Palm Coast.
• Palm Coast Community Center, 305 Palm Coast Parkway NE.
• Palm Coast’s Southern Recreation Center, 1290 Belle Terre Parkway.
• Flagler Beach United Methodist Church, 1520 South Daytona Avenue, Flagler Beach.

You can find a sample ballot paper here. Watch live interviews with all local candidates below.

Drug court will appear before District Judge Dawn Nichols at 10 a.m. in Courtroom 401 at the Flagler County Courthouse, Kim C. Hammond Justice Center, 1769 E Moody Blvd, Bldg 1, Bunnell. The drug court is public. The drug court manual can be found here and the participation agreement can be found here.

The Flagler Beach City Commission Meeting at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall, 105 South 2nd Street in Flagler Beach. Watch the meeting on the city’s YouTube channel here. Here you will find the agenda and materials for the meeting. A list of commission members and their email addresses can be found here.

Model Yacht Club racing at the pond in Palm Coast’s Central Parkfrom 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. at Central Park downtown, 975 Central Ave. Join Bill Wells, Bob Rupp and other members of the Palm Coast Model Yacht Club, watch them race, or race your own model yacht. There is no membership fee required to join the club, which meets every Thursday at the pond in Central Park.

Beautifying the Palm Coast and the Environmental Advisory Committee will meet at City Hall, 160 Lake Avenue, Palm Coast, at 5 p.m.

In the coming days: 30-31 October: The Halloween Hall of Terror is back at Palm Coast Fire Station 219 Corporate Drive in Palm Coast. Monday, October 30th and Tuesday, October 31st from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. This year’s event promises to be better than ever before with the theme “Greatest Slashers” featuring some of the horror genre’s biggest icons of the last 50 years. And new for 2024, visitors can enjoy a variety of delicious offerings from food trucks while they wait their turn to tour the spooky haunted house. Parking is available on the property next to the fire station at the company entrance, and overflow parking is available in the Kohl’s parking lot. This year, the City of Palm Coast is once again offering a limited number of “RIP” Fast Pass tickets, giving winners direct access. To enter, follow City of Palm Coast directions Facebook page the week of October 21-25 and answer daily horror movie trivia questions. The winners will be announced every day. So don’t miss your chance to skip the queue and dive straight into the horror. Last year, the Hall of Terror set a new attendance record with nearly 5,000 visitors in two days, and this year an even bigger crowd is expected. As always, the event is free and open to all ages. However, adult supervision is recommended for participants under 13 years of age. Please note that the event includes strobe lights, fog and other special effects. Those with epilepsy or sensory sensitivities are invited to a special sensory tour of the Hall of Terror from 6 to 7 p.m. on both nights of the event. You can find the full calendar here.

Now this:

The live calendar is a compendium of local and regional political, civic and cultural events. You can enter your own calendar events directly on the website the way you want them to appear (subject to approval, of course). To add your event to the live calendar, please fill out this form.

You can find the full calendar here.

In the late 19th century, Coney Island was America’s largest and most visited seaside resort and amusement park, boasting some of the country’s largest and most luxurious hotels, fancy fish houses and race tracks. It was so famous internationally that it was compared to the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the pyramids of Egypt. The destination drew millions of visitors each year to its several competing amusement parks, including Steeplechase Park, which featured mechanical horses that transported guests around the grounds, Luna Park, which was considered a real-life fantasy land with tall towers and camel and elephant rides, and Dreamland. In addition to many independent amusements. Some of the attractions were so large that immigrants arriving by ship from Europe could see them from the water in the years before the Statue of Liberty was built. Coney Island was also a place to showcase innovation. For example, it was the place where many people experienced light bulbs for the first time. In fact, Luna Park featured 1,300,000 electric lights, allowing visitors hours of fun even after dark. The public’s amazement at the park’s lights continues to this day. Salim said of her first visit there: “In the evening it became so bright with all the lights of the amusement park. It felt so festive.” Coney Island is also the place where modern American amusement was invented and was the first place , which featured rides including the first-ever roller coaster in the United States called the Switchback Railway. Additionally, Coney Island featured the Wonder Wheel, a 150-foot-tall steel Ferris wheel, the Cyclone, a roller coaster with an 85-foot, 58-degree drop, and the 262-foot-tall Parachute Jump. All of these attractions still exist today and are historical landmarks. At that time, Coney Island Beach was owned by adjacent landowners, but in 1923 it officially became a public beach and was expanded. The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation enlarged the beach by pumping sand onto the shore to increase the existing swimming area. In addition, a promenade was built and named in honor of then-Brooklyn Borough President Edward Riegelmann. This was done by erecting concrete piles and pile caps in the water and by laying wooden beams and decking. This new promenade, as well as new subway service in the 1920s, helped attract more visitors. At this time, there were many sideshows in the park and entrepreneurs like Nathan Handwerker began selling hot dogs for pennies, which eventually became the hot dog chain known today, Nathan’s Famous.

—Out of “Preserving an iconic beach for future generations,” from Joanne CaStagna of the New York District of the Army Corps, June 2, 2023.

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