Weather: Mostly sunny. A slight chance of showers in the morning, then a chance of showers with a slight chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon. Highs in the upper 80s. Northeast winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40 percent. Thursday Night: Partly cloudy. A chance of showers with a slight chance of thunderstorms in the evening, then a slight chance of showers after midnight. Lows in the mid 70s. East winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30 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:
In Court: Drug court is off this week, as is felony court as the courthouse attempts to recover from the retirement of Circuit Judge Terence Perkins.
Palm Coast’s Residential Drainage Citizens Advisory Committee meets at 6 p.m. at City Hall.
The Flagler County Canvassing Board meets today at the Flagler County Supervisor of Elections office, Government Services Building, 1769 East Moody Boulevard, Bunnell. The meeting is open to the public. Check the time in the sidebar or in this chart, which includes the full year’s meeting schedule (the pdf schedule does not include the dates and times of required Canvassing Board meetings which may be necessary due to a recount called locally or statewide.) The board is chaired by County Judge Andrea Totten. This Election Year’s board members are Supervisor of Elections Kaiti Lenhart and County Commissioner Dave Sullivan. The alternates are County Judge Melissa Distler and County Commissioner Donald O’Brien. March-April meetings are for the presidential preference primary, such as it is. See all legal notices from the Supervisor of Elections, including updated lists of those ineligible to vote, here.
Story Time for Preschoolers at Flagler Beach Public Library, 11 to 11:30 a.m. at the library, 315 South Seventh Street, Flagler Beach. It’s where the wild things are: Hop on for stories and songs with Miss Doris.
 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 qualify. |
Notably: A friend of Flagler County’s–and a friend of ours–with an eye for soaring beauties is visiting Paris with family, and sent us the picture above “celebrating the opening if the Annual Breast Cancer Campaign.” More words would get in the way.
—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.
Flagler County Drug Court Convenes
Flagler County Canvassing Board Meeting
Story Time for Preschoolers at Flagler Beach Public Library
Flagler Tiger Bay Club Guest Speaker: Carlos M. Cruz
Model Yacht Club Races at the Pond in Palm Coast’s Town Center
Free For All Fridays With Host David Ayres on WNZF
Scenic A1A Pride Meeting
Blue 24 Forum
Acoustic Jam Circle At The Community Center In The Hammock
For the full calendar, go here.
Writers, painters, sculptors, architects, passionate lovers of the hitherto intact beauty of Paris, we come to protest with all our strength, with all our indignation, in the name of betrayed French taste, in the name of threatened French art and history, against the erection in the heart of our capital of the useless and monstrous Eiffel Tower, which the public has scornfully and rightly dubbed the Tower of Babel. Without being blind chauvinists, we have the right to proclaim publicly that Paris is without rival in the world. Along its streets and wide boulevards, beside its admirable riverbanks, amid its magnificent promenades, stand the most noble monuments to which human genius has ever given birth. The soul of France, the creator of masterpieces, shines from this august proliferation of stone. Italy, Germany, Flanders, so rightly proud of their artistic heritage, possess nothing comparable to ours, and Paris attracts curiosity and admiration from all corners of the Universe. Are we to let it be profaned?
–From an 1887 letter of protest to France’s minister of public works as the Eiffel Tower was rising over Paris, cited in Frederick Brown, Zola: A Life (1995) .
Ray W, says
This from an LA Times editorial:
Recently released data from ICE listed 13,099 resident immigrants who were convicted murderers.
This past Sunday, at an Erie, Pennsylvania rally, former President Trump said Vice President Harris had “let in 13,099 convicted murderers.”
Mr. Trump had already posted on social media: “SHE HAS GOT BLOOD ON HER HANDS!” and “‘Thugs and slimeballs’ were ‘totally unvetted and unchecked.'”
The ICE report “covered immigrants who entered over more than four decades — including during Trump’s term — and most are in local, state or federal custody or had served sentences. All are tracked by ICE, incarcerated or not.”
Make of this what you will. Me? Nietzsche was onto something real about human nature when he explained: “I am not upset that you lied to me. I am upset that from now on I can’t believe you.”
Sherry says
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BrCvZmSnKA
Just a reminder of the world wide “laughing stock” that is on the ballot.
Laurel says
Vance did not do well in the debate. Just standing up straight and constantly deferring to a memorized script (immigrants) when a legitimate question came up is not a debate. He has no history of actual substance in office, whereas Walz has plenty. Walz has actually done legislation that has helped the citizens of Minnesota.
There are only two reasons Vance is running: 1) He is corruptible whereas Pence is not, and 2) The Heritage Foundation wants a younger man in our highest office they can control.
Vance clearly doesn’t know how the economy works or how the world works for that matter. I wouldn’t send him out for doughnuts.
Ray W, says
The weekly-published JOLTS report just came out. Bloomberg interprets the weekly numbers, 225,000 new claims, as reflecting a slight rise in applications for unemployment insurance.
“The four-week moving average of new applications, a metric that helps smooth out volatility, fell to 224,250, the lowest since June 1.”
And “[w]eekly filings for benefits have remained subdued even as hiring has slowed this year and joblessness has risen. This is largely because employers have mostly held on to their existing workers.”
Make of this what you will. Me? Tomorrow is the bigger day for short-term economic news, because the monthly jobs report drops. Today’s JOLTS report does not yet reflect the damage inflicted on the lower Appalachian regions by Hurricane Helene. There will likely be a sharp rise in applications for unemployment insurance throughout much of the South, due to businesses being washed away in flooding, homes destroyed, bridges down, etc. The gullible among us will see a sharp rise and crow that the Harris economic policies aren’t working, not knowing just how wrong they are. First of all, President Biden still sets policy, not Vice-President Harris. Secondly, acts of God are not acts of mankind.
Ray W, says
Motor Trend reports that Mazda will soon release into the Japanese marketplace a hybrid version of its subcompact MX-30 SUV with a 74 HP single rotor 830cc Wankel ICE range extender option, complete with a 13-gallon fuel tank.
Mazda’s MX-30 BEV (battery electric vehicle) weighs 3674 lbs., with a 167 HP electric motor powered by a 32.0 kWh lithium-ion battery pack.
The MX-30 e-Skyactive R-EV’s smaller 17.8 kWh lithium-ion battery pack powers its 191 HP electric motor for 53 miles of range, at which point the rotary engine takes over to generate electricity for longer trips. This means that most short-range trips never trip the ICE into operation. The overall package weighs 246 pounds more than the BEV model.
Make of this what you will. Me? The Chinese automobile marketplace is fully embracing the ER-EV concept, as that design constitutes the fastest growing facet of a fast-growing segment of vehicle design. Word is that Ford is drawing back from the BEV facet to enter the ER-EV marketplace.
Time after time, I hear of the need to “transition” from a carbon-intensive energy past to a carbon neutral energy future. Cambridge Dictionary defines transition as “a change from one form or type to another, or the process by which this happens.” I see no reason why an ER-EV present can’t provide a pragmatic bridge as we transition from an all-ICE past to an all-electric future.
Again, an ER-EV’s smaller lithium-ion battery saves weight and cuts demand for critical metals and minerals yet provides enough range to handle most daily needs for most drivers. Solid-state lithium-ion batteries are coming fast. They offer greater energy density, which means that an ER-EV vehicle with a solid-state battery would permit an even smaller and lighter battery pack. Smaller gas engines save weight and are more fuel efficient when range extending is needed.
Yes, an all-electric fleet of personal transportation vehicles is the best option, but that doesn’t mean that all other options are bad. The ER-EV choice appears to me to be one of the best of the less-good options out there.