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Weather: Mostly sunny with a 20 percent chance of showers. Highs in the upper 70s. Northeast winds 5 to 10 mph. Thursday Night: Mostly clear. Lows in the upper 50s. East winds 5 to 10 mph, becoming southwest after midnight.
- 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:
Drug Court convenes before Circuit 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. Drug Court is open to the public. See the Drug Court handbook here and the participation agreement here.
The Flagler Beach City Commission meets at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall, 105 South 2nd Street in Flagler Beach. Watch the meeting at the city’s YouTube channel here. Access meeting agenda and materials here. See a list of commission members and their email addresses here.
Model Yacht Club Races at the Pond in Palm Coast’s Central Park, from noon to 2 p.m. in Central Park in Town Center, 975 Central Ave. Join Bill Wells, Bob Rupp and other members of the Palm Coast Model Yacht Club, watch them race or join the races with your own model yacht. No dues to join the club, which meets at the pond in Central Park every Thursday.
4-H and FFA Youth Livestock Show and Sale: The Flagler County Fair and Youth Show presents the 4-H and FFA Youth Livestock Showmanship competitions and auction. Monday April 7 @ 6 pm Pullet and Rabbit Competition Wednesday April 9 at 6 p.m., Steer, Heifer and Goat Competition. Thursday April 10 at 6 p.m., Swine Competition. Friday April 11 at 6 p.m., Livestock Auction.
Evenings at Whitney Lecture Series scheduled for tonight was cancelled.
The Palm Coast Democratic Club holds its monthly meeting at noon at the Flagler Democratic Party Headquarters in City Marketplace, 160 Cypress Point Parkway, Suite C214, Palm Coast. This gathering is open to the public at no charge. No advance arrangements are necessary. Call (386) 283-4883 for best directions or (561)-235-2065 for more information. The club holds a recap meeting at 6:15 p.m.
‘Sense and Sensibility’ at St. Augustine’s Limelight Theatre, 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays, with a Tuesday, April 15 performance at 7:30 p.m. Oh the story of the impoverished Dashwood family! Based on Jane Austen’s novel, this play follows Elinor and Marianne who become destitute upon the death of their father, who leaves his estate to their half-brother, John. Due to his wife’s interference, they must survive on a meager allowance.
Notably: The following editorial ran in The New York Times–one of about 20 that day, and one of the less prominent–on page 4, on December 1, 1894: “‘The only tariff that I have ever advocated in the past,’ said Gov. McKinley in Ohio just before the recent election, ‘is a tariff that will compensate for the differences between wages in the United States and abroad.’ He knows that the tariff recently enacted by the Democratic Party compensates for this difference, and that almost every duty imposed by it largely exceeds the difference in wages cost of the product. The tariff which he advocated four years ago provided duties that in many instances were four or five times this difference and exceeded the entire labor cost of the product. We recall that the leading organ of his party pointed out in 1890 that the duties in one of the most important schedules were twenty times the difference in wages cost. Gov. McKinley is not more sincere and truthful in this assertion than Senator Sherman was when he said that ‘no duty should be levied for protection that is not needed for revenue,’ and then pointed to the McKinley tariff, with its long list of prohibitory rates, as the ideal and perfect example of tariff legislation.” And you thought time machines did not exist.
—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.
April 2025
Flagler Beach Farmers Market
Coffee With Flagler Beach Commission Chair Scott Spradley
Grace Community Food Pantry on Education Way
Second Saturday Plant Sale at Washington Oaks Gardens State Park
American Association of University Women (AAUW) Meeting
Gamble Jam at Gamble Rogers Memorial State Recreation Area
‘Something Rotten,’ at the Daytona Playhouse
‘Sense and Sensibility’ at St. Augustine’s Limelight Theatre
‘Something Rotten,’ at the Daytona Playhouse
ESL Bible Studies for Intermediate and Advanced Students
Grace Community Food Pantry on Education Way
Palm Coast Farmers’ Market at European Village
‘Sense and Sensibility’ at St. Augustine’s Limelight Theatre
‘Something Rotten,’ at the Daytona Playhouse
Al-Anon Family Groups
For the full calendar, go here.
Will your next iPhone cost $2,000? More? The answer to that question — and the future of America’s wealthiest company and our imperiled financial markets — rests on one man with a very tricky task. Steve Jobs might have been the visionary who made touch-screen phones a reality, but it was the operational genius and savvy statesmanship of Tim Cook, his low-key successor, that sent Apple’s revenues and its stock price into the stratosphere. His triumph in fending off Donald Trump’s first-term threats was not without cost, however: By flattering Mr. Trump with attention while making little to no changes to Apple’s China ties, Mr. Cook played the president for the fool. Now Mr. Trump is back in the White House, and he has slapped China with tariffs so high that they present a major threat to Apple’s hammerlock on the smartphone market. It’s clearly going to be harder for Mr. Cook to pull off the same trick. If he fails — and most bet he will — it could be a huge blow to his company, to the stock market and to our broader economy.
–From “You Should Think About Replacing Your iPhone — Now,” by Patrick McGee, The New York Times, April 9, 2025.
Laurel says
I cannot believe the President of the United States of America stands before the public, and the world, and states “I’m telling you, these countries are calling us up, kissing my ass…” What, are we a country of bad behaving 10 year olds?
Between this sort of behavior, talk, the gilded White House kitsch, and the treatment of Canada and our, once, allies, the embarrassment is too much. That man child shames us daily.
What’s up with dumber than a rock, Marjorie Taylor Green, all of a sudden, becoming a market wizard? I think Trump has purposely manipulated the market for his loyalists. A little pain for some; a little gain for others. Something stinks here.
Jim says
So Trump implements his tariffs and the s— hits the fan! The stock market tanks and every country in the world immediately initiates retaliatory tariffs. But Trump is a Tough Guy and he’s in it for the long haul! No lack of spine here! He’s not backtracking! Bring it on! It’s Great for America!!!
But, then…. Literally less than a week after announcing his great plan to Make America Great Again (Again), he suddenly reverses course and “pauses” his tariffs. Why? Why would he do that? After all, his sycophants all say he’s playing four dimensional chess and he has a great plan. And Trump himself said that 50 countries are all “kissing his ass” trying to make deals to reduce/eliminate these tariffs! Everything is going great (except that the stock market tanked) so MAGA, tell us all what happened? Is this still four dimensional chess? If so, all I can say is WOW, never have I seen genius like this before! The president runs one way (and says that’s the direction we’ll ALL going) and, suddenly, just after saying there’s no turning back, suddenly folds and “pauses” everything! Well, for all those out there that think “50 countries” are begging his to stop, you are living in a fantasy. I’d love to see Trump and his team list out those 50 countries!
No, what we’re seeing here is more of Trump’s incompetence on display. He has no idea what he’s doing and he’s taking us all down the drain with him.
And, by the way, what happened to his claim he’d “stop the war in Ukraine in one day”? Russia is playing him for the fool he is and this tariff disaster is just another way for Trump to try to change the subject. I’m waiting on the press to ask him what’s going on with Russia. He said he’d “be hard on them” if they didn’t play ball. Well, so far, “hard” didn’t even include putting any tariffs on them (says Russia is in a war and doesn’t need tariffs now) but did include putting tariffs on Ukraine (apparently not at war right now).
Trump and his administration is a world class clown show and if you can’t see it, you really need to wean yourself off Fox News, Joe Rogan and the like. Trump isn’t doing anything for average Americans. He and his Republican buddies are hard at work making sure the rich continue to get their tax cuts though. So he does have his priorities right.
I just can’t believe how many Americans can watch this lunacy play out day after day and not even begin to see just how incompetent and anti-American this administration is.
Sherry says
YIPPEE FOR THE CANADIAN PM! OMG! What a chess game! Whatever you do, take a good read:
While Trump was gearing up his trade war machine, Carney, Canada’s Prime Minister, wasn’t just sitting in Ottawa twiddling his thumbs. He’d been quietly increasing Canada’s holdings of U.S. Treasury bonds—over $350 billion worth by early 2025, part of the $8.53 trillion foreign countries hold in U.S. debt. On the surface, it looked like a safe play, a hedge against economic chaos. But it wasn’t just defense. It was a loaded gun.
Carney didn’t stop there. He took his case to Europe. Not for photo ops, but for closed-door meetings with the EU’s heavy hitters—Germany, France, the Netherlands. Japan was in the room too, listening closely. The pitch was simple: if Trump went too far with tariffs, Canada wouldn’t just retaliate with duties on American cars or steel. It would start offloading those Treasury bonds. Not a fire sale—nothing so crude. A slow, steady bleed. A signal to the markets that the U.S. dollar’s perch wasn’t so secure.
Canada wasn’t alone. Japan, holding over $1 trillion in U.S. debt, signed on and started to sell those US Treasury bonds which scared Trump shitless. Key EU countries—collectively sitting on another $1.5 trillion—nodded in agreement. This wasn’t a bluff. It was a silent pact. A coordinated move to remind Trump that the free world doesn’t just roll over when he swings his tariff bat. Hurt us, Carney said, and we’ll hurt you—right where it counts.
The U.S. Treasury market is the backbone of the global economy. Foreign holders like Canada, Japan, and the EU keep it humming, financing everything from America’s military to its tax cuts. Start selling those bonds in unison, even gradually, and the yields spike. The dollar wobbles. Borrowing costs climb. Suddenly, Trump’s “beautiful” bond market—he bragged about it just yesterday—looks like a house of cards in a stiff breeze.
Ed P says
[Caution: The commenter is inaccurate. While US trade with Russia has fallen sharply (the US imported $3 billion in Russian goods in 2024, down from $12 billion in 2020), it is incorrect to state that there is no trade. The trade deficit with Russia is also proportionately among the highest. Commenters, please verify facts before posting inaccurate information.–FL]
Jim,
The US does not trade with Russia, so why would we need a tariff?
Take a nano second and google Russian sanctions to see just how “soft” Trump is on Putin.
Finally, who cares if it’s inexperience, insanity or genius that delivers us to the point of prosperity by breaking down tariffs and eliminating the cheating and abuse that foreign countries have heaped on the United States. A more balanced trade platform favors the United States.
The stop and start or give and take is the basis for negotiation. Be thankful Trump is flexible enough to keep adjusting his positions to achieve a positive outcome.
Most of the tariff bluster probably won’t affect us immediately and would only cost us a percentage of the actual tariff. It’s a small price to pay for our generation to win this economic war so future generations may also enjoy the American Dream.
Ed P says
FlaglerLive,
Thanks for the correction.
I relied on 2 sources for the comment.
Scott Bessent stated that there wasn’t any need for tariffs on Russia because of the sanction on both Russia and Belarus.
On Thursday Russian media ( multiple times) argued that tariffs were not imposed, not because of special treatment but that sanctions were already in place.
Never the less, you are correct, some nuclear material, fertilizer, and metal was and will be imported from Russia.
Ray W, says
Sherry voices a concern held by many economists. Just what would happen to our economy should foreign governments begin dumping vast sums of U.S. debt holdings into the marketplace. On the other hand, I simply can’t recall for how many decades I have been hearing the argument that China holds too much of our debt and that foreign holdings of U.S. debt are dangling over our necks like the Sword of Damocles?
And the debt issue isn’t limited to who currently holds U.S. Treasury notes?
A number of sites posit the current U.S. deficit at $1.8 trillion, which must be financed in large part by sales in U.S. treasury bonds who T-bills mature and that part of the overall federal debt must be refinanced.
According to some sites, we already pay just over $1 trillion per year just to service the interest on the overall federal debt.
Most FlaglerLive readers should know by now that when President Trump took office in 2017, the total federal debt was around $20 trillion. When President Biden took office four years later, the total federal debt was around $28 trillion. Now, the total federal debt is $36.2 trillion. That’s around $16 trillion in new debt over eight years and a few months.
One financial site I found, Finbold, asserts that $9.2 trillion of the $36.2 trillion in federal debt will mature during 2025. The treasury notes were sold to investors over the years at an average T-bill interest rate of 3.2%. If these numbers are accurate, a $36.2 trillion federal debt financed at an average interest rate of 3.2% yields an annual debt service of over $1 trillion per year.
Both 10-year and 30-year T-bill interest rates have increased over the past three weeks to as high as 4.8%.
So, here are the questions?
What happens if today’s medium and long-term T-bill interest rates remain at their unusually high levels for the remainder of the year?
What happens if foreign investors simply choose to no longer invest their future in T-bills because of perceived risk?
It’s bad enough that the average interest rate of overall Treasury debt sits at 3.2%.
What happens if the overall average interest rate on federal debt rises above the 4% level because the risk of investing in the U.S. debt becomes unpalatable to those who have a choice in where to park their money? What happens should a sparsity of interest in buying T-bills drive the interest rate over 5%? It’s been 17 years since 30-year T-bills were commanding interest rates at or just below 5%.
More than one young FlaglerLive commenter has excoriated the Boomer generation for what some of our children claim is a form of parental selfishness that will deny them their financial future. What if we bequeath to our children a federal debt financed at an average of 5% interest in medium and long-term Treasury notes instead of the current average of 3.2%?
As an aside, our federal House of Representatives recently voted to increase the debt ceiling by roughly $5 trillion. At the current rate of debt increase of $1.8 trillion per year, the new debt ceiling should be just high enough to keep the issue out of the news through the next federal election cycle.
Ray W, says
The Bureau of Labor Statistics just released its February CPI data.
According to an article published by Rolling Stone,
“… The food at home index rose 0.5 percent over the month as four of the six major grocery store food group indexes increased. Driven primarily by a 5.9-percent increase in the index for eggs, the index for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs rose 1.3 percent in March. The beef index also increased over the month, rising 1.2 percent. The index for other food at home increased 0.5 percent in March and the index for dairy and related products rose 1.0 percent. The nonalcoholic beverages index increased 0.6 percent over the month.
“The average price of eggs hit a historic peak of $6.27, up from $5.90 in February. Notably, the retail price of eggs continued to increase despite a marked decrease in wholesale prices for distributors. U.S. poultry producers have been pummeled by a series of bird flu outbreaks that led to unprecedented flock culling and a national shortage of the staple grocery item.”
Make of this what you will.
Me?
Since early 2022, when a virulent form of avian flu began its spread around the world by wild birds infected with the virus, egg prices have been on a roller coaster of price adjustments.
During that time, every FlaglerLive reader has been bombarded by disinformation and misinformation spread by the professional lying class at the top of one of our two political parties and laundered by the more gullibly stupid commenters among us.
The rise in the prices of eggs has been attributed to the spread of the avian flu by wild birds as they migrate and to the price gouging initiated by those capable of price gouging.
One FlaglerLive commenter recently wrote that wholesale egg prices had been dropping over a multi-week span in February. He was right and wrong at the same time. Wholesale prices did drop, per the BLS. The price drops mentioned by the commenter just did not make it into grocery store display cases.
People, there are some issues that are beyond the scope of politics. The Pandemic is one. The Avian Flu is another.
Egg prices rose under Biden just as they are rising under Trump and for the same reasons.
Yes, the professional liars at the top of one of our two political parties are working overtime to spread lies, disinformation and misinformation about egg prices. Many of us may remember Vice-President Vance standing in front of a display cases spreading lies about why egg prices were rising.
Yes, the more gullibly stupid among us are willing to launder the lies, the disinformation, and the misinformation spread by the professional liars.
Here is a non-political truth. Nearly 170 million birds have been culled since 2022. The culling continues to this day, though big outbreaks of the flu have not occurred for just over 20 days. Numerous publications hold the view that it takes between six and nine months to replenish culled flocks in order to return to full egg production. According to the CDC, it’s been less than a month since the last two big culling of egg layers took place and the wild bird migrations are in full seasonal swing.
It going to take some time before enough chicks grow to full egg-laying maturity to replace the lost hens.
Ray W, says
Here is the Wall Street Journal’s position on the Bureau of Labor Services’ March CPI data release.
Here are some of the bullet points from the article:
– “President Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ announcement of sweeping new tariffs didn’t happen until April 2, which means their direct effects won’t show up until the next consumer-price report a month from now.
– The consumer-price index fell a seasonally adjusted 0.1% in March, the Labor Department said Thursday, the first time it recorded a month-over-month decline since May 2020. The drop was unexpected: Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had forecast a 0.1% rise.”
– Year-over-year inflation cooled sharply to a 2.4% increase in the CPI, below the 2.6% rise that economists expected. A steep decline in gasoline prices last month helped pull that number lower.”
– Hotel prices, airline fares and gasoline prices all dropped sharply over the month, a sign that people are canceling their travel plans — one of the first things to go when consumers get nervous.”
– “Gasoline prices dropped more than 6% in March, according to the CPI report, which helped drag down overall inflation. But underlying inflation cooled too, as prices fell in categories that had previously been major drivers, such as vehicle insurance and used cars and trucks.”
– “Prices excluding food and energy categories — the so-called core measure economists watch in an effort to better capture inflation’s underlying trend — rose 2.8% on the year, below forecasts for a 3% increase. That was the smallest increase in the core measure since March 2021.”
“‘The details of this CPI report are about as good as the Federal Open Market Committee [FOMC] could have hoped for, freeing its hands a little further to ease policy soon to support the weakening labor market,’ Samuel Tombs, chief U.S. economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics said in a note to clients. ‘Tariffs will snatch defeat from the jaws of victory’ on inflation, he added.”
Make of this what you will.
Me?
For years, Fed Chair Powell has said that the Fed raised lending rates in an effort to cool an overly robust labor market, one of its two statutory mandates.
For years, the many robust monthly jobs added reports, which are based on the number of people who are receiving paychecks, proved that the labor market was unexpectedly strong.
While last month’s jobs added report was still strong, at 228,000 more people receiving paychecks, January and February’s jobs added reports were downgraded. It seems possible that the Feb’s raised lending rates are finally working as intended on the labor market side of the economy.
Does this mean that the FOMC will recommend lowering the Fed’s lending rates at its next meeting? No one knows. And no one could possibly know what the tariff imbroglio will look like tomorrow, much less in early May, and tariff-stimulated inflation, should it occur, just might give the Fed pause?
More bullet points from the article:
– U.S. Bank chief economist, Beth Ann Bovino, interpreted the data as “stale”, saying, “A lot has happened in April, it’s a good base to start at but unfortunately it’s going to climb higher” due to tariffs.
– “On Wednesday, Delta Air Lines held off on giving full-year financial guidance, citing a lack of economic clarity. ‘It looks like at the present time, growth has stalled,’ Chief Executive Ed Bastian said.
Sherry says
Absolutely, our national debt is dangerously out of control. Increasing revenue would most certainly help reduce that debt.
Therefore, of course, the IRS “should” be hiring more tax examiners to make sure tax cheats don’t get away with it. The Congress “should” be making sure the multitude of “tax loopholes” are closed so “Billionaires” are forced to pay their “FULL SHARE” of taxes.
But, NOOOO. . . the trump administration is hell bent on enriching “Billionaires” by FIRING IRS employees! The Republicans “and” the Democrats in Congress are not going to do ANYTHING that would force them personally to pay more in taxes. . . the loopholes are not going away! In Addition, look for another trump tax break for “Billionaires”!
The trump Magas are using the “Excuse’ of our national debt to take a chainsaw to those “social programs” that they have always hated! It’s Project 2025 on Fuc %^&* steroids!
Ray W, says
Here are some bullet points from an article about Fed plans, re: possible Fed lending rate cuts, published by Cryptopolitan:
– Earlier today, Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters:
“We’re going to need to wait and see how this plays out before we can start making those adjustments,” referring to Trump’s tariff policies.
– Wednesday, Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack said during an interview:
“It’s a really active choice on our part that we really need to see where things are going to go. … I would much rather wait and move in the right direction than move quickly in the wrong direction.”
– Wednesday, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said:
“The hurdle to change the federal funds rate one way or the other has increased due to tariffs. … The bar for cutting rates even in the face of a weakening economy and potentially increased unemployment is higher.”
– “Officials, including St. Louis Fed President Alberto Musalem and Fed Governor Adriana Kugler, said the Fed has to keep it focus on inflation. They both said the labor market still looks fine for now, which gives them space to wait. They’re watching for a jump in job losses, but they don’t see one yet.”
– “LH Meyer/Monetary Policy Analytics economist Derek Tan said:
“Longer-term inflation expectations have been quite stable. The issue is how long can they remain stable when you have a price shock.”
– Nomura economist Jeremy Schwartz said:
“It will likely take widespread layoffs, a sharp move higher in filings for unemployment benefits and s significant rise in joblessness for the Fed to move more aggressively.”
Make of this what you will.
Me?
The Fed, created over a century ago as a politically independent entity by a Congress that mandated only two focuses, job creation and economic growth, chose after the pandemic to focus on job growth, which makes sense because the pandemic destroyed roughly 20 million jobs in a few months. Inflation, an economy killer, was never far from the Fed’s focus, but job growth has been first among two equals.
We have had unexpectedly strong job growth for about four years now, yet month after month, Fed officials tell anyone who will listen that they are closely watching each month’s jobs added report for any sign of a weakening of the job market.
Four years ago, nearly every economist predicted a hard landing into recession, meaning an overheated economy suddenly crashing into recession. It never happened. Few predicted a soft landing.
In more time, more and more economists began wondering if there would be a soft landing, meaning an overheated economy suddenly slowing down but never crashing into recession. A few economists began wondering whether there would be a no-landing.
In even more time, more and more economists began predicting a “no-landing”, meaning an overheated economy that never slows down enough to land, but only slows enough to transition into a fully healthy economy.
This economic oddity of our national economy defying recession when so many predicted one is why so many reputable economics-based publications have repeatedly said that Trump inherited an economy that was the “envy of the world.”
I accept that the more gullibly stupid among us have bought into the lies uttered by the professional lying class at the top of one of our two political parties that the Biden administration destroyed our economy. They are wrong, as they so often are.
The pandemic partially destroyed our economy, and the economies of so many other nations around the world. Trump, Biden and Powell participated in implementing a statutory response to the crash, and the economy slowly but surely regained its footing.
No one knows where and how the economy will react to tariff policies that seem to change one day to the next.
But we should never forget that there is a hypothetical small business owner in Salt Lake City who relies on Chinese imports to service her customers, and that she has to order the products she needs three or four months in advance.
With tariffs on one day and paused the next, should she order a product that she has been selling at a profit for years when it may cost her business twice as much or more a month after she orders it? I cannot answer that for her.
Should she seek out a supplier in a different nation with lower tariffs today only to see those tariffs change on a whim?
Should she cancel orders already placed in order to struggle through without enough product until the situation regains normalcy?