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Weather: Partly sunny with a chance of showers. A slight chance of thunderstorms this morning, then a chance of thunderstorms this afternoon. Highs in the mid 90s. Southwest winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50 percent. Heat index values up to 109. Tonight: Partly cloudy. A chance of showers and thunderstorms in the evening. Lows in the mid 70s. Southwest winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40 percent.Potential tropical depression Five will approach the Lesser Antilles tonight and is expected to develop into a Tropical Depression by Tuesday. Tropical Storm formation is forecast by Tuesday near the Virgin Islands, and further strengthening is forecast as this system turns northward to the east of the Bahamas.
- 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 Flagler Beach here.
- tropical cyclone activity here, and even more details here.
Today at a Glance:
Election Primary Early Voting is available today from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at four locations. Any registered and qualified voter who is eligible to vote in a county-wide election may vote in person at the early voting site. According to Florida law, every voter must present a Florida driver’s license, a Florida identification card or another form of acceptable picture and signature identification in order to vote. If you do not present the required identification or if your eligibility cannot be determined, you will only be permitted to vote a provisional ballot. Don’t forget your ID. A couple of secure drop boxes that Ron DeSantis and the GOP legislature haven’t yet banned (also known as Secure Ballot Intake Stations) are available at the entrance of the Elections Office and at any early voting site during voting hours. The locations are as follows:
- Flagler County Elections Supervisor’s 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.
- Flagler Beach United Methodist Church, 1520 South Daytona Avenue, Flagler Beach.
See a sample ballot here. See the Live Interviews with all local candidates below.
Flagler County School Board Derek Barrs, Dist. 3 Janie Ruddy, Dist. 3 Lauren Ramirez, Dist. 5 Vincent Sullivan, Dist. 5 Flagler County Commission Andy Dance, Dist. 1 Fernando Melendez, Dist. 1 Kim Carney, Dist. 3 Bill Clark, Dist. 3 Nick Klufas, Dist. 3 Ed Danko, Dist. 5 Pam Richardson, Dist. 5 Palm Coast Mayor David Alfin Peter Johnson Alan Lowe Cornelia Manfre Mike Norris Palm Coast City Council Kathy Austrino, Dist. 1 Shara Brodsky, Dist. 1 Ty Miller, Dist. 1 Jeffrey Seib, Dist. 1 Dana Stancel, Dist. 3 Ray Stevens, Dist. 3 Andrew Werner, Dist. 3 |
The Flagler County Library Board of Trustees meets at 4:30 p.m. at the Flagler County Public Library, 2500 Palm Coast Pkwy NW, Palm Coast. The meeting of the seven-member board is open to the public.
Nar-Anon Family Groups offers hope and help for families and friends of addicts through a 12-step program, 6 p.m. at St. Mark by the Sea Lutheran Church, 303 Palm Coast Pkwy NE, Palm Coast, Fellowship Hall Entrance. See the website, www.nar-anon.org, or call (800) 477-6291. Find virtual meetings here.
The Bunnell City Commission meets at 7 p.m. at the Government Services Building, 1769 East Moody Boulevard, Bunnell, where the City Commission is holding its meetings until it is able to occupy its own City Hall on Commerce Parkway in 2025. To access meeting agendas, materials and minutes, go here.
 Keep Their Lights On Over the Holidays: Flagler Cares, the social service non-profit celebrating its 10th anniversary, is marking the occasion with a fund-raiser to "Keep the Holiday Lights On" by encouraging people to sponsor one or more struggling household's electric bill for a month over the Christmas season. Each sponsorship amounts to $100 donation, with every cent going toward payment of a local power bill. See the donation page here. Every time another household is sponsored, a light goes on on top of a house at Flagler Cares' fundraising page. The goal of the fun-raiser, which Flagler Cares would happily exceed, is to support at least 100 families (10 households for each of the 10 years that Flagler Cares has been in existence). Flagler Cares will start taking applications for the utility fund later this month. Because of its existing programs, the organization already has procedures in place to vet people for this type of assistance, ensuring that only the needy quality. |
Notably: On August 27, 1970, Orlando City Hall received a typewritten letter–stuck to the mayor’s windshield–that stated the city would be blown up with a nuclear bomb unless was delivered “1 m dollars cash in small bills and safe passage out of the country.” Obviously the person making the demand had no idea what sort of container would be required to carry “1 million dollars in small bills.” That may have been the first clue. But the person writing was aware that a shipment of uranium had disappeared recently, and mentioned it to threaten that “we could be out of Orlando, Florida, before it goes off, but all the people of Orlando can’t.” A second, handwritten letter, directed authorities to drop the money at a particular address. It was an empty house. But neighbors knew of a young teen who mowed the lawn there. The lawnmowing teen was located. He was asked to handwrite something. His handwriting was compared to the handwritten ransom note. It was a match. The boy had made the threat. The boy had no atomic materials. He was 14. He was an honors student in science. Writing about the incident in 2021, the Orlando Sentinel reported: “Eight days later, a juvenile court judge gave the boy a suspended sentence with the condition that he be given psychiatric care and counseling by a Martin Marietta engineer who might be able to steer his academic interests on a more productive path. (The Sentinel is not publishing the defendant’s name after 25 years to protect the family’s privacy. Information about what happened to the youth or his present whereabouts could not be obtained.)” What is notable here is the contrast with the recent arrest of the 11 year old in Virginia for making what was demonstrably a far less grave threat against a few local schools, but who got called a “terrorist:” in as irresponsible a Palm Coast Observer headline as I’ve seen recently, and who faces close to 50 felonies and the wrath of R.J. Larizza, the state attorney, if and when he is extradited from Virginia to Flagler County. I did not run the Virginia boy’s name in FlaglerLive’s report, either, hoping against hope that the privacy might help, now or in the future. Pointless. We’re too cruel a society now to apply 1970 standards–even though back then terrorist bombs were exploding every three days somewhere in the country.Â
—P.T.
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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.
A1A Super Scenic 150 Mile Garage Sale
Coffee With Flagler Beach Commission Chair Scott Spradley
Flagler Beach Farmers Market
Democratic Women’s Club
Grace Community Food Pantry on Education Way
Flagler County Public Library Book Club
Jake’s Women, By Neil Simon, at City Rep Theatre
Random Acts of Insanity’s Roundup of Standups from Around Central Florida
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
Jake’s Women, By Neil Simon, at City Rep Theatre
East Flagler Mosquito Control District Board Meeting
Flagler County Commission Evening Meeting
For the full calendar, go here.
I do not think you really like anybody, you Americans. You are indifferent to everybody and so it is easy for you to be gay, to be careless, to seem friendly. You are really a coldhearted indifferent people. You have no troubles. You have no troubles because you do not know how to have them. Even if you get troubles, you think it is just a package meant for the people next door, delivered to you by mis-take.
–From Katherine Anne Porter’s “The Leaning Tower” (1936).
Ray W. says
Reuters reports that Ukrainian ports handled the export of 4.2 million metric tons of wheat, corn, barley and other grains this past July. Prior to the Russian invasion, 6.0 million metric tons per month, on average, exited Ukrainian ports (roughly 72 million tons per year). In July 2023, the month’s export total was half this year’s total.
I argue that grain is an international commodity. When supply is interrupted, prices rise.
The author writes that, despite the Russian Navy being forced to relocate further from the Ukrainian export sea lanes, overall exports for the year “could touch almost a decade low of 35 million tons.”
According to Ukrainian port authorities, Russia is targeting land-based shipping infrastructure in its effort to disrupt or destroy export activity vital to the Ukrainian economy. but Russia is “avoiding strikes at the international sea lanes outside of Ukrainian port limits, keeping escalation contained.”
Insurance rates on ships, raised due to wartime conditions “works out to hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional estimated costs for a seven-day voyage and those costs could increase if security conditions deteriorated.”
Make of this what you will. Me? We pay more for bread and pasta and other grain-based products at the grocery store when international supplies are disrupted, and when insurance rates increase. Blame some of our inflation on Putin. It is irrational to claim otherwise.
I have commented on other articles in which are claimed that the Ukraine supplies 13% of the world’s wheat. If this year, exports of all types of grains total half what was normal prior to the war, that is a significant interruption in supply. Demand likely hasn’t dropped. Consider the ramifications for yourself.
John Orlando says
Why doesn’t FlaglerLive report on the noise problem from Flagler Airport? There are constant complaints from Palm Coast residents at City Hall and County Commission hearings about the issue but our elected officials and the media have ignored them.
Ray W. says
The WSJ reports that OPEC lowered its forecast of future growth in international demand for crude oil from last year’s prediction of 2.25 million more barrels per day to 2.11 mbpd. citing “softening expectations for China. …”
Overall, per day consumption of crude oil products is now expected to rise to 104.3 mbpd.
The Journal recited news from June that OPEC voted to extend all previous production “curbs” into next year. For those nations that have voluntarily cut their production levels, totaling another 2.2 mbpd, OPEC announced that the voluntary cuts would be phased out over a period from October 2024 to September 2025.
Curbs of production levels? Voluntary additional other cuts? Does any FlaglerLive reader believe that OPEC+, a 23-nation production bloc, is not manipulating the international crude oil marketplace? The first 6 million barrel per day production cut phased in from February 2021. Saudi Arabia voluntarily cut an additional one million barrels per day at that time. Now, that one million in 2021 is 2.2 million today.
Make of this what you will.
Laurel says
Nice to have a little joy, instead of the same old foolish stuff like “No, it’s genius what I’m doing up here, but nobody understands” when someone points out that Trump rambles on and on when he talks.
No, we understand.
Ray W. says
USA Today fact-checked a Facebook post, in which a commenter claimed that “51.4 million illegals entered America under Biden and Harris.”
Long story short, the post was deemed “False.”
“U.S. Customs and Border Protection has reported about 10 million nationwide encounters with removable non-citizens since 2021. The 51 million figure is also not plausible because estimates by immigration and research groups of the number of people living in the country illegally — regardless of when the arrived — ranges from between 11 million and 17 million.”
A House Committee report dated January 16, 2024, reflects a finding of 2.3 million encounters in 2022, with “encounter” being defined not as individuals, but as incidents. Therefore, if an individual is turned back three times and keeps coming back, each of the four incidents count as an encounter, though it involves only one person repeatedly trying to enter the country.
As for “gotaways”, the Department of Homeland Security estimates a total of 389,000 gotaways in 2021, more than 600,000 in 2022, more than 600,000 in 2023, and more than 120,000 as of May 16 of this year, for a total of 1.500,000 gotaways since Biden was inaugurated.
According to Steven Camarota, director of research for the Center for Immigration Studies, the inflow of new “illegal immigrants” during the Biden years may be 6 million people, but if one were to consider deaths and outmigration, the growth of the illegal population may actually be 4 million.