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Weather: Patchy fog in the morning. Sunny. Highs around 90. Northeast winds 5 to 10 mph. Monday Night: Clear. Lows in the lower 70s. Southeast winds 5 to 10 mph.
- 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 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.
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 Flagler County Beekeepers Association holds its monthly meeting from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Flagler Agricultural Center, 150 Sawgrass Rd., Bunnell (the county fairgrounds). This is a meeting for beekeepers in Flagler and surrounding counties (and those interested in the trade). The meetings have a speaker, Q & A, and refreshments are served. It is a great way to gain support as a beekeeper or learn how to become one. All are welcome. Meetings take place the fourth Monday of every month. Contact Kris Daniels at 704-200-8075.
Notably: The funny, caustic, appropriately angry Appalachian attorney and activist Frank in 2022 wrote and self-published a book called J. D. Vance Is a Fake Hillbilly: Think Twice Before Calling (All) Coalfield Appalachians Racists, Sexists, and Ignoramuses. It’s not a very good book so far as JD Vance is concerned–it doesn’t engage with Vance’s awful Hillbilly Elegy, but rather provides an overview of what the stereotypes usually get wrong about Appalachia, from its labor history to its pioneers in labor, politics, and so on, and for that, the book is worth the read. On page 101, in a passage about the numerous mining disasters and innumerable lives lost underground, Kilgore includes the image of a letter found near a miner who was among those killed in the Fraterville mine explosion of 1902, the worst mine disaster in Tennessee history: 216 killed, 190 of them instantly, 26 more as they slowly asphyxiated. This letter is one of the most moving few lines I have ever read, like the heartwrenching last letter to his wife that Maj. Sullivan Ballou wrote before losing his life in the first battle of Bull Run. He wrote it as he lay dying:
—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.
January 2026
Temple Beth Shalom Blessing of the Pets
Nar-Anon Family Group
Palm Coast Charter Review Committee Meeting
Bunnell City Commission Meeting
Palm Coast City Council Workshop
Flagler Beach United Methodist Church Food Pantry
Community Preparedness Workshop
Flagler County School Board Information Workshop
Flagler County Affordable Housing Committee Meeting
Weekly Chess Club for Teens, Ages 10-18, at the Flagler County Public Library
Book Dragons, the Kids’ Book Club, at Flagler Beach Public Library
Budgeting by Values: A Virtual Class to Learn Budgeting Skills
NAACP Flagler Branch General Membership Meeting
Flagler County School Board Meeting
Random Acts of Insanity Standup Comedy
For the full calendar, go here.
At its peak of coal production, McDowell hosted a population of nearly 100,000, many of whom were multi-racial, multi-national, multi-cultural residents, and the county ranked in the top sector of the richest jurisdictions in the nation. Fast-forward, and the reverse is painfully true: A population decimated by the decline of coal-related jobs is racked with the problems every locale in the world experiences when good incomes are no more and poverty takes hold. As a result of forces beyond the control of its working class, West Virginia, which hosts the most Appalachians per capita of any state (nearly 100%), can find no escape from elitist wrath. Had J.D. Vance been the self-appointed sage of West Virginia, instead of his non-Appalachian section of Western Ohio, the boy’s head would have exploded. So much to mock, so little time. However J.D. spins it, affirming stories abound when it comes to the inclusive attitude of West Virginia, especially its southern section which is closely tied culturally and politically to far Southwest Virginia.
—From Frank Kilgore’s J. D. Vance Is a Fake Hillbilly (2022).
Laurel says
Need childcare? Call Vance. Trump and Vance have it all figured out. After all. “childcare is childcare.” Problem solved.
Sherry says
LOL! Thanks for my morning laugh Laurel and greetings from jet lagged me in Paris. Here child care is provided my those lazy criminal immigrant “darkies” that are eating the cats and dogs. Hey, it keeps the strays off the streets. . . much less dog shit to step in also!.