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Weather: Showers. A slight chance of thunderstorms in the morning, then thunderstorms in the afternoon. Highs in the mid 80s. East winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain near 100 percent. Wednesday Night: Showers with a chance of thunderstorms in the evening, then showers likely with a slight chance of thunderstorms after midnight. Lows in the upper 60s. Southeast winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain near 100 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:
The Palm Coast Code Enforcement Board meets at 10 a.m. every first Wednesday of the month at City Hall. For agendas, minutes, and audio access to the meetings, go here. For details about the city’s code enforcement regulations, go here.
The Flagler Beach Parks Ad Hoc Committee meets at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 105 S 2nd St, Flagler Beach. The Committee’s six members, appointed by the City Commission, provide recommendations related to the maintenance of existing parks and equipment and recommendations for new or replacement equipment and other duties as assigned by the City Commission.
Separation Chat, Open Discussion: The Atlantic Chapter of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State hosts an open, freewheeling discussion on the topic here in our community, around Florida and throughout the United States, noon to 1 p.m. at Pine Lakes Golf Club Clubhouse Pub & Grillroom (no purchase is necessary), 400 Pine Lakes Pkwy, Palm Coast (0.7 miles from Belle Terre Parkway). Call (386) 445-0852 for best directions. All are welcome! Everyone’s voice is important. For further information email [email protected] or call Merrill at 804-914-4460.
The Flagler Beach Library Book Club meets at 1 p.m. at the library, 315 South Seventh Street, Flagler Beach.
Weekly Chess Club for Teens, Ages 9-18, at the Flagler County Public Library: Do you enjoy Chess, trying out new moves, or even like some friendly competition? Come visit the Flagler County Public Library at the Teen Spot every Wednesday from 4 to 5 p.m. for Chess Club. Everyone is welcome, for beginners who want to learn how to play all the way to advanced players. For more information contact the Youth Service department 386-446-6763 ext. 3714 or email us at [email protected]
Juxtapositions: On May 22, Universal opened its new park in Orlando, Universal Epic Universe, a few weeks after Disney announced it would build a new theme park in Abu Dhabi, one of the United Arab Emirates. In 2023 the company announced it would spend $60 billion over 10 years to build cruise ships and expand or build parks. A CBS news report cites an estimate of $8.6 billion as the cost of Epic Universe (which will be reviewed here in coming days, thanks to our own special correspondent on the scene). Meanwhile, this, in the April 24 Wall Street Journal, datelined Shanghai: “Two of the world’s leading battery developers are locked in a technological race that has brought the charging time for an electric vehicle to just five minutes–about the amount of time it takes to refuel a traditional gasoline-powered car. And, in a twist with geopolitical ramifications, both of the technological leaders are Chinese. It is a show of prowess that underscores just how far China has extended its global dominance over next-generation technologies, in some cases leaving the U.S. years behind. The claimed leap forward on EV batteries is the latest technological feat for a country that has stunned Western governments with a string of breakthroughs on artificial intelligence, semiconductors and EVs–a vindication of leader Xi Jinping’s ambitions of turning China into a global techno…” and so on. But our front-page news is theme park-building and sports, or failing traffic-control towers.
—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.
June 2025
Flagler County Drug Court Convenes
Model Yacht Club Races at the Pond in Palm Coast’s Town Center
Palm Coast Beautification and Environmental Advisory Committee
Flagler Beach City Commission Meeting
Palm Coast Concert Series
Free For All Fridays With Host David Ayres on WNZF
Scenic A1A Pride Meeting
Friday Blue Forum
Acoustic Jam Circle At The Community Center In The Hammock
For the full calendar, go here.
… but the Roman people still considered the Circus as their home, their temple, and the seat of the republic. The impatient crowd rushed at the dawn of day to secure their places, and there were many who passed a sleepless and anxious night in the adjacent porticos. From the morning to the evening, careless of the sun or of the rain, the spectators, who sometimes amounted to the number of four hundred thousand, remained in eager attention; their eyes fixed on the horses and charioteers, their minds agitated with hope and fear for the success of the colours which they espoused; and the happiness of Rome appeared to hang on the event of a race. The same immoderate ardour inspired their clamours and their applause as often as they were entertained with the hunting of wild beasts and the various modes of theatrical representation. These representations in modern capitals may deserve to be considered as a pure and elegant school of taste, and perhaps of virtue. But the Tragic and Comic Muse of the Romans, who seldom aspired beyond the imitation of Attic genius, had been almost totally silent since the fall of the republic; and their place was unworthily occupied by licentious farce, effeminate music, and splendid pageantry.
–From Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.
Pogo says
@In the immortal words of Winston Cup’s History of MAGA and Its Circus:
“… never in the field of human larceny and debauchery was so much stolen or destroyed by so few.”
Amen.
Jim says
Speaking of tariffs, have any of you had a good TACO lately?
Ray W, says
In his recent Newsweek editorial column on, in part, tariffs, Tom Rogers, a former CEO of TiVo, current executive chairman of a cloud AI grid company, Claigrid, editor-at-large for Newsweek, founder of CNBC and MSNBC, and member of that American Bar Association’s Task Force on Democracy, writes from the outset that his opinion of tariffs is based on a non-scientific synthesis of other’s beliefs gained from conversations over the months with many leading industry and legal figures, and not on “methodologically precise polling data.”
He describes his synthesis of his many conversations as follows:
“Trump’s tariff policies have changed so many times, with so many different rationales, that I heard many different views as to where they might wind up. The one consistent thought was that, in the longer term, Trump would impose some remnant of the tariffs on major trading partners, affecting consumer prices for a not-insignificant number of goods. While it is unclear how much inflation tariffs will ultimately cause, this haphazard, seat-of-the-pants approach will surely fuel at least some. The one consistent view was that the economy would have been much stronger if the Trump administration had never imposed tariffs at all, and that we will see no meaningful manufacturing job creation in the U.S. from any of this.”
Make of this what you will.
Me?
I have been commenting for months that no economist can reliably draw viable estimates on the economic impact of Trump’s tariff policies because no government has ever previously imposed such widespread tariffs on so many countries in such a short period of time, i.e., no one has yet created an economic model that works in today’s tariff atmosphere.
Recently, steel and aluminum import tariffs were set to double to 50%. Many previously announced tariffs were immediately put on hold, some for 90 days, others for 30 days.
Tariffs and counter-tariffs between the U.S. and China were announced, then jacked up, then receded from, and that was before accusations of cheating by both sides on the one limited agreement that was reached.
Supply chains have been severed, not just disrupted. Factory owners don’t know if goods long ago contracted for will reach them in time, absent which they will have to shut down.
Rare earth metal exports from China to the U.S. have been cut off, potentially impacting multiple sectors of our national economy, not least that of our automotive manufacturing sector.
I will continue admonishing all FlaglerLive readers to refrain from drawing conclusions from such conflicting information. Anyone who claims to know what is about to happen amid such tariff-induced and scattered economic news should be considered suspect.
Ray W, says
According to a CNBC story, per a report compiled by Fidelity Investments, the average 401(k) account balance fell by 3% to $127,100 in the first quarter of 2025. The average IRA account balance fell by 4% to 121,983 over the same time frame.
A Fidelity Investments executive told the CNBC reporter that focusing on long-term investment goals, as opposed to reacting to short-terms swings in the markets, is the wisest choice, regardless of investor age, among the two choices.
All three major stock indicators, despite market turmoil that started in earnest in January, are basically flat for the year.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
The monthly BLS paychecks added or lost report comes out Friday. The Fed has been holding off reducing lending rates in its effort to both further bring down inflation and further cool a long-hot labor market. A lowering paychecks-added report, or even a small paychecks-lost report, may be a tipping point for the Fed at its next meeting to lower lending rates.
More to come.
Ray W, says
Harkening to one possible future of ineffective statistical analysis, the Wall Street Journal today reports that the Bureau of Labor Statistics recently admitted that its lack of government statisticians due to a hiring freeze implemented this past January 20th has forced it to begin using less reliable statistical comparison tools, thereby possibly undermining the accuracy of its “massive monthly survey” of pricing, known as the CPI report.
Each month, BLS statisticians known as “enumerators” spread out in multiple cities across the nation to check prices on thousands of consumer goods for use in the agency’s consumer price index report. Due to a lack of enumerators, the BLS recently stopped checking prices in both Lincoln, Nebraska and Provo, Utah. Enumerator use is scheduled to stop in Buffalo, New York this month.
Whenever an enumerator cannot find in his or her assigned city the exact product to learn of its current price, he or she normally makes an “educated guess” as to the price of the product, based on the known price for a closely related product. In the story, the reporter uses as an example of this type of educated guessing the substitution of a price for cargo pants where no price for slacks can be found in an individual city.
By April, with fewer enumerators available to go into individual cities, the BLS
a near doubling by enumerators of the use of a less accurate way of guessing a particular product’s prices where exact pricing for a specific product cannot be found in the particular city known as “different-cell imputation”, which permits enumerator use of prices found in neighboring regions or prices obtained on less comparable products. In essence, the dwindling numbers of enumerators are forcing the remaining enumerators to turn to “less effective methods to fill in the gaps.”
In the April CPI report, BLS notes show that 29% of the time, “different-cell imputation” was used by enumerators to estimate prices for particular products in a particular city that should not have to be estimated, nearly double that of the previous high percentage of “different-cell imputation” during any one month over the past five years.
A UBS economist told the Journal’s reporter:
“When you take a sample and reduce the numbers, it’s going to increase the sampling error. … We don’t know if this is a big issue or a small issue, but we just know that directionally, it’s making things worse.”
Earlier this year, Fed Chair Powell said:
“Being able to track what’s going on in the economy is very, very important. … It’s something that the United States has led in for a long, long time, and something we need to continue to lead in.”
The reporter wrote:
“The quality of U.S. economic statistics has been the envy of global policymakers for decades. The system is the product of concerted efforts that began in the depths of the Great Depression to better understand how the economy works.”
Yesterday, according to the reporter, the BLS admitted that it had applied incorrect sample weights to determine its April unemployment rate but said that the error had “a negligible impact” on the accuracy of the report.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
A few months ago, I commented on the fact that all of the government statisticians whose job it was to ensure that other economists utilized correct statistical methodology in promulgating statistics-based reports had been fired.
Now, we are witnessing, albeit in only a few reports thus far, the forced use of lesser quality data collection methods due to a lack of employees whose job it is to collect the best economic data available.
Can we continue to claim excellence in generating important economic reports on which the whole world relies when we no longer ensure the use of quality statistical methodology or when we guess too often on what the current prices for products actually are in certain cities? The concept of garbage in/garbage out mandates that we obtain the best data possible in order to properly interpret what is happening in our economy.
In an effort by our government to save small sums of money via a hiring freeze at the potential loss of the opportunity to obtain more accurate economic data, we are risking a future of inaccurately understanding the actual state of our ever-changing $30 trillion GDP per year economy. Governments and businesses all over the world rely on the quality of American statistical data, a reputation earned over 90 years of reliable data collection. What happens if that perception changes?
Ed P says
Just a few notes. China began imposing export restrictions on critical minerals in 2023.
December 2024 China banned export of gallium, germanium, and antimony to the United States, directly targeting the semiconductor industry. These minerals are found everywhere in the earths crusts at different densities. Problem is China accounts for about 90% of rare earth refining capacity. They developed advanced processing technologies and account for 69% of the world’s production.
MP Materials is the only operating rare earth mine and processing facility in the United States. It was restarted in 2023. Located in California’s Mojave desert.
Tariffs are not responsible for starting the import ban.
Ray W, says
In yet another example of American innovation, Ampcera, an American company “specializing in solid-state battery materials”, is now shipping to customers its “newly commercialized nano sulfide solid electrolyte powders” as small in diameter as in the range of the low hundreds of nanometers.
Ampcera says, as reported by Interesting Engineering, that its “solid electrolytes come in three standard particle size ranges each with high ionic conductivity and battery grade purity” … that allow for “higher density cathodes and anodes, and the processing of ultra-thin solid electrolyte separator layers, potentially 10 microns or less.”
Per Ampcera’s CEO, “[t]his is a pivotal commercial milestone. … Global customers are already validating this new product and placing orders. We’re turning innovation into revenue.”
Ampcera’s “nano sulfide solid electrolyte powders” enable “the commercialization of solid-state batteries” with greater thermal safety and a 50% gain in energy density compared to current liquid-state lithium-ion batteries.
According to Ampcera, these proprietary powders featuring high ionic conductivity address a key “bottleneck” in solid-state battery development. Rapidity of ionic flow is critical for quick-charging rates and “improved battery performance.”
Current liquid-state lithium-ion battery have energy densities in the range of 200 to 300 Wh/kg of energy density, while Ampcera’s high-ion-flow powders permit solid-state batteries with an energy density of up to 400 Kw/kg and capacities of up to 100 Ah.
These newly designed solid-state batteries can charge to 80% of capacity in 15 minutes, with a lifetime energy capacity retention at the industry standard rate of 80% of original energy density after 5000 charging cycles.
Ampcera-supplied battery companies can manufacture solid-state batteries with “unparalleled safety against thermal runaway.”
Make of this what you will.
Me?
Solid-state batteries are not just for use in EVs. Hearing aids, cell phones, Apple watches, laptops, airplanes, and more, each can benefit from the development of longer lasting and more energy dense battery technologies.
Make no mistake. The language from the portion of my youth that was spent in auto parts stores and garages was that a lead-acid battery needed to be replaced when it could “no longer hold a charge.” Ampcera supplied battery manufacturers can be expected to promise 5000 charging cycles in batteries that provide some 500 miles of range on a single charge when brand-new. We are talking, then, of the potential of up to 2.5 million miles of battery life, at which point in use the battery will still be capable of holding 80% of its original storage capacity, or still enough for 400 miles of range.
Who knows what the future brings, but battery construction technology continues to evolve at a rapid pace.
While still very expensive and still in the prototype stage, though working prototypes exist, graphene aluminum-ion batteries promise 100,000 charging cycles before reaching the 80% of original capacity, with triple the energy density of current liquid-state lithium-ion batteries, with low risk of thermal runaway and the potential of extremely rapid charging and discharging rates. Right now, this is the theoretical maximum target for EV batteries.
For home energy storage, “rust” batteries made of iron pellets soaking in a salt-water-based electrolyte are the theoretical maximum. During discharge, outgoing electrons stripped from the iron pellets cause the pellets to rust. During charge, incoming electrons mean that the rust suspended in the electrolyte rejoins the iron pellets, and the cycle continues over and over again. Slow to charge and slow to discharge and heavy, such batteries are not yet suitable for EVs, but they last forever and are cheap to recycle when they “no longer hold a charge.” Material costs are low, and complexity of manufacture is simple. Current design parameters have batteries that are about the size of a washing machine. The batteries can be stacked depending on need.
Ray W, says
As a foundational reminder to FlaglerLive readers, ADP, the nation’s largest payroll processor, draws labor market conclusions from the hiring activities of its customers. ADP’s methodology, however, differs from that used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
ADP counts the number of employees on its customer’s payrolls, regardless of whether an employee draws a paycheck during an assessment week. For example, an hourly employee who is on vacation during its assessment period is still on his company’s payroll even though no paycheck was issued that week.
The BLS, on the other hand, counts the number of paychecks each assessment week, normally the week that encompasses the 12th of the month. Therefore, an employee who draws no paycheck during the assessment week because she is on vacation is not counted in the BLS payroll data.
It is this difference in methodology that explains why BLS data for October 2024 had only 12,000 jobs added for the month, and ADP had 233,000 jobs added for the same month. Two hurricanes had swept through the south, wiping out communities. Businesses closed by the storms issued few or no paychecks during the BLS payroll assessment. ADP still counted the employees. The BLS did not.
With this important statistical assessment difference in mind, ADP reported today that private sector employment rose by 37,000 jobs in May, down from 60,000 private sector jobs added in April. The Briefing.com expectation for May was 115,000 private sector jobs added.
Per ADP, employment declined in the mining and manufacturing sectors among other sectors.
Pay growth for employees who remained in their jobs rose by 4.5%, according to ADP, while those who switched employers saw a 7.0% increase in pay.
ADP’s chief economist, Nela Richardson, asserted that after a strong early year hiring start, “hiring is losing momentum.”
President Trump reacted to the ADP report:
“‘Too Late’ Powell must now LOWER THE RATE.”
Diane Swonk, KPMG’s chief economist, in a note to investors, said:
“Manufacturing employment is suffering from higher input costs and disruptions to supply chains. At least one vehicle manufacturer was forced to idle production during the first half of May; that is reminiscent of the pandemic.”
Make of this what you will.
Me?
We may finally be seeing the earliest true impact of Trump’s tariff policies.
Supply chains have been almost completely severed between the United States and China. Freighter berthing counts in the Port of Los Angeles over the past two weeks have averaged five ships per day, down from the normal 10-12 vessels per day. That is just one port.
East Coast ports follow West Coast ports by one to two weeks.
Payroll losses may follow losses in port berthing counts. A shortfall in one simple part can shut down an entire assembly line.
It seems possible to me that Trump’s tariffs might accomplish what the Fed’s higher lending rates could not, e.g., cool the hot labor market. It may soon become time for the Fed to lower lending rates in order to strengthen a cooling labor market.
More to come.
Ray W, says
China’s Geeley Auto saw April sales reaching 96,632 units, a whopping 281% higher than that for April 2024.
Geely Auto just released its Galaxy A7 mid-sized sedan with an extended range EV powertrain. The electric motor’s horsepower rating has yet to be released, but the entire car is designed for range efficiency. With a tiny 1.5-liter gasoline-powered engine rated at 110 HP connected to a transmission that also contains the electric motor, once the lithium-ferrous-phosphate (LFP) battery’s initial charge is depleted to a pre-set level, the engine starts up to continue to power the vehicle. The total range of the vehicle using both battery and gasoline power is 1,305 miles.
The price in China for this larger-than-a-Hyundai Sonata Geely Auto sedan? $13,880.
Make of this what you will.
Ray W, says
This is the good Ed P. that everyone wants to read. Good stuff.
One small correction. President Trump campaigned on the promise of big, beautiful tariffs. China imposed today’s restrictions on certain rare earth metals in December 2024, after President Trump was elected, just as Ed P. says. So, the Chinese government anticipated what was coming. Go figure!
Ray W, says
An Associated Press article, titled “Trump formally asks Congress to claw back approved spending targeted by DOGE”, posits that the White House intends to ask Congress to withdraw $9.4 billion in spending previously approved by Congress. The process is known as “rescission.”
Without a congressional rescission applied to any part of a spending plan previously approved by Congress, presidents are bound to spend the money under terms of the 1974 Impoundment Control Act, which Act determines the process through which a president can tell Congress which funds the executive intends not to spend. Under the Act, Congress has 45 days to review and approve the executive’s request.
Yes, president’s may decide where and how congressionally approved spending is to occur, and yes unspent agency money at the end of a budget year can be returned to the Treasury, but President’s just can’t ignore a congressional spending order, as Congress controls the purse strings of the government. If Congress says NASA gets so much money each budget year, NASA gets the money, unless Congress rescinds the appropriation.
If this first White House effort at rescission succeeds with Congress, White House budget director Russ Voight asserts that other White House rescission efforts may follow.
As an aside, according to the article, between 1974 and 2000, “presidents requested $76 billion worth of rescissions and Congress approved $25 billion.”
Make of this what you will.
Ray W, says
Carscoops reports that in 2018, GM sold 641,320 units, which total constituted a 2.8% market share in the Chinese marketplace.
In the first quarter of 2025, GM sold 5,314 units.
A Chinese car publication just published a story that GM has “indefinitely” delayed three major pre-production projects. One is an all-electric SUV. The second is a “flagship” SUV. The third is a remake of Chevrolet’s Trailblazer.
The Chinese publication also reports that all Chinese production of Chevrolets will soon stop. GM has not confirmed the reporting.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
An intense shake up is taking place in the huge Chinese personal vehicle marketplace. Many of the more than one hundred carmakers currently selling in that marketplace will soon cease to exist. Some industry analysts see only a few carmakers surviving into the 2030’s, perhaps as few as 10.
BYD’s May 2025 sales figures were just released; it sold worldwide 382,476 units, a year-on-year increase of 15.27%.
BYD sold its first EV in 2008. It stopped selling solely gasoline-powered models in 2022. Today, BYD sells BEV models, hybrid models, plug-in hybrid models, and extended range EV models.
BYD is China’s biggest carmaker, and it is the most profitable, yet some industry analysts argue that BYD might not survive the industry shake-out, due to its decision to rapidly expand its manufacturing base to the extent that it has today the capacity to produce twice the number of units it currently makes.