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Weather: Showers and thunderstorms. High near 90. Heat index values as high as 100. West wind 5 to 7 mph becoming south in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. Tuesday Night: Showers and thunderstorms before 8pm, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm between 8pm and 2am, then a chance of showers after 2am. Low around 74. Southwest wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening. Chance of precipitation is 80%.
- 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 City Council meets in workshop at 6 p.m. at City Hall. For agendas, minutes, and audio access to the meetings, go here. For meeting agendas, audio and video, go here.
A Celebration of the life of Jim Guines, the former Flagler County school board member who died on June 15 in Palm Coast, is scheduled for 11 a.m. at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, 5400 Belle Terre Parkway, Palm Coast. All are welcome. See: “Jim Guines, Mentor, Maverick and Force to Be Reckoned With on Flagler County School Board for 11 Years, Dies at 93.”
The Flagler County School Board meets at 2 p.m. to hear its tentative budget presentation, at the Government Services Building, 1769 East Moody Boulevard, Bunnell. Board meeting documents are available here.
The Flagler County School Board meets at 3 p.m. in an information workshop. The board meets in the training room on the third floor of the Government Services Building, 1769 East Moody Boulevard, Bunnell. Board meeting documents are available here.
The Flagler County School Board meets at 6 p.m. in Board Chambers on the first floor of the Government Services Building, 1769 East Moody Boulevard, Bunnell. Board meeting documents are available here. The meeting is open to the public and includes public speaking segments.
The Flagler County Affordable Housing Committee meets at 3 p.m. at the Emergency Operations Center (EOC), 1769 E Moody Blvd, Bldg 3, Bunnell. Eduardo Diaz Cordero is the Housing Program Coordinator.
Budgeting by Values: A Free, Virtual Class to Learn Budgeting Skills, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. every fourth Tuesday of the month organized by Flagler Cares and Truist Bank, and presented by Financial Inclusion Leader Vladimir Rodriguez. To sign up or get information, call 386/319-9483, text 386/986-0107, or email [email protected].
The NAACP Flagler Branch’s General Membership Meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the African American Cultural Society, 4422 North U.S. Highway 1, Palm Coast (just north of Whiteview Parkway). The meeting is open to the public, including non-members. To become a member, go here.
Book Dragons, the Kids’ Book Club at the Flagler Beach Public Library meets at 5 p.m. at the library, 315 South Seventh Street, Flagler Beach.
Random Acts of Insanity Standup Comedy, 8 p.m. at Cinematique Theater, 242 South Beach Street, Daytona Beach. General admission is $8.50. Every Tuesday and on the first Saturday of every month the Random Acts of Insanity Comedy Improv Troupe specializes in performing fast-paced improvised comedy.
Exchanges: Here’s a recent text exchange with a friend prompted by the 1980 series Bill Moyers did with Mortimer Adler on Adler’s Six Great Ideas, which aired on PBS, specifically the episode on Justice, which has appeared here in the past and appears again today, as should every one of the six episodes. It’s that good. Even better, now that PBS is more of a United Nations Heritage Site anymore. The two @@ signs in the first text, he wrote, were autocorrected from “Adler.” I asked him about the quote, but that line had to be eliminated since I mention him by name.
—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.
July 2025
Palm Coast City Council Workshop
Jim Guines Celebration of Life
Flagler County School Board Information Workshop
Flagler County Affordable Housing Committee Meeting
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
Separation Chat: Open Discussion
The Circle of Light A Course in Miracles Study Group
Flagler County Industrial Development Authority Meeting
Weekly Chess Club for Teens, Ages 9-18, at the Flagler County Public Library
For the full calendar, go here.
For one who is not a loving student of the unamiable bickerings that clutter the records of early New England, and who does not read them by the gentle light of filial loyalty, it would seem presumptuous to venture into the thorny fields tilled by the Mathers. He is certain to get well scratched, and not at all certain to retum with any fruit gathered. The rancors of dead partisanships beset him on every side, and the gossip of old wives’ tales fills his ears. He will encounter many a slanderous hearsay, and the authentic documents to which he would naturally turn are often inaccessible, and always inhospitable. The countless tracts, for the most part inconsequential, that issued in an unbroken stream from the tireless Mather pens, consuming all the italics in the printer’s case, constitute a veritable cheval-de-frise to protect their authors’ literary reputations from any Philistine attack; and behind that bristling barricade they have long bidden defiance to casual invasion. Only a siege can reduce their stronghold and bring them forth into the clear light of day.
–From Vernon Louis Parrington, Main Currents in American Thought (1927).
Pogo says
@P.T.
Exquisite.
What is your estimation of the appreciation, or even comprehension, of it — by your brethren readers?
Still, beautifully stated.
Laurel says
America was never like this before. In order to Make America Great Again, you have to escort the jerk out of office, and leave the exit door open for his spineless suck ups.
Ray W, says
Yesterday, Newsweek published one of several possible takes on the short-term and long-term rise in beef prices and with particularity ground beef prices.
Here are some bullet points from the article:
– “Ground beef prices across the U.S. continue to reach new highs, driven by shrinking cattle herds, with looming import restrictions threatening to push costs even higher.”
– Bureau of Labor Statistics June 2025 CPI data for beef products have steak prices up 12.4% over June 2024, followed by ground beef prices rising at 10.3% year-over-year, followed by a 3.9% price increase for chicken, and 0.5% growth in prices for pork. As an aside, I have commented on the drop in demand from China for American pork products, after that nation imposed a tariff on American pork products in retaliation for the initial imposition of American tariffs on a wide variety of Chinese goods. It makes sense that the CPI rise in pork products would be less than that for other meats, as international demand for pork has lessened and domestic demand for pork has remained stable. Less demand, same supply, less pressure in price increases.
– BLS CPI data also reveals that the price for ground beef hit $6.12 per pound in June, up from $5.98 per pound in May, and up from $5.47 per pound from June 2024. According to the reporter, experts say there may be” upward pressure on ground beef prices through 2026 and beyond.” As an aside, as I am unaware of any pricing category for “100% ground beef”, I suspect this is a clerical error, and the number should be 73% ground beef.
– According to agricultural economist Derrell Peel, “[i]t might be at least two or three years before we see any significant change on the supply side that would ultimately lead to some moderation in beef prices.”
– On January 1, 2025, the U.S. herd count was 86.7 million cattle and calves, the lowest since 1951.
– Drought conditions since 2020, elevated grain prices, inflation and rising interest rates mean ranching costs have risen in recent years, prompting ranchers to trim herd sizes.
– “Leaner supply” has cattle selling for $200 per 100 pounds and calves selling for $400 per hundred pounds, which price levels, per a Texas A&M livestock economist, David Anderson, means it is more profitable for ranchers to sell their cattle and calves early instead of keeping them for breeding.
Anderson went on to tell the reporter:
“Once you get to a situation like this, where we don’t have enough inventory to maintain production, the only way to fix it is to actually make that tight supply even tighter. … Because in the cattle industry, they only have one offspring at a time. They only have one calf at a time. And if that calf is a heifer, and you want to use her for breeding to rebuild the herd, then you have to not use her for beef production in the short run.”
– Impending tariffs on imported beef from countries as far away as Australia and New Zealand may raise beef prices even further. Canada and Mexico, nations that send cattle into the U.S. beef marketplace, already have tariffs in place. Brazil, another major beef exporter to the U.S., has been threatened with a 50% tariff on all products.
– A spreading screwworm infestation in cattle from Central America has reached Mexico, which infestation prompted a recent suspension of all imports of cattle from Mexico.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
I have been commenting about tightening beef supply for years. Most of the news is negative, re: rising prices for consumers at the grocery display case. None of the rise in beef prices comes from any one administration’s policies, Biden or Trump.
Some FlaglerLive commenters will blame former President Biden for today’s beef prices, saying inflation is at fault. They would be barely right and significantly wrong, but that won’t stop them.
Some FlaglerLive commenters will blame President Trump for today’s beef prices, saying tariffs are at fault. They would be barely right and significantly wrong, but that won’t stop them either.
It is a multitude of factors that provides the most accurate assessment of today’s rising beef prices. Drought spread over the past five years limited grazing as a source of food. Drought spread over the past five years limited the availability of feed, as grain yield dropped significantly during those years. Facing rising feed costs, ranchers took the only reasonable choice which was to sell off herds before they reached maturity. Year after year, they sold off herds early and now the total head county is the lowest since 1951.
Ray W, says
In another comment on this thread, I relied on a Newsweek take for bullet points about rising beef prices. Here is a take gleaned from Men’s Journal, whose reporter focused on steak prices instead of ground beef prices. Many of the points raised in the article are similar to those raised by the Newsweek reporter.
– According to USDA information, not BLS CPI data, beef prices are up 9% since January 2025.
– Unlike the egg market, which is tightly controlled, the beef market is “unpredictable, costly, and increasingly unsustainable”, wrote the reporter after talking to a Wells Fargo economist.
– “Shrinking herds, relentless drought, and skyrocketing feed costs have all but gutted ranchers’ profit margins.” Even with beef selling at record price levels, ranchers are barely holding on.
– With drought devastating grazing pastures, ranchers have to place greater reliance on feed, which costs are also rising due to drought.
– Beef imports are now at 8% of total beef supply and foreign producers are happy to sell more and more beef into the American beef marketplace at today’s higher prices.
– Despite the higher prices, demand for beef is not slowing down.
The reporter closes with this assessment:
“For now, ranchers are hanging on. And if you’re wondering when beef prices will cool off, the honest answer is this: ‘It’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better.'”
Make of this what you will.
William h says
You mean this isn’t a b rate movie with bad actors we really have an orange pedo as president with room temperature IQ . even the Mexican president has a masters in energy! Which orange terror policy has helped you ? Lots of pain and suffering who’s winning? Which is preferable closing a rural hospital or canceling kids cancer research? Both haha even better if you give all that money to one person! This game has never ended well
Ray W, says
From an article about dams, published by the Guardian, I found an interesting perspective on aging infrastructure, that of what may best be called dry dams and levees. These types of dams are not for long term water storage for release during drought or for generating hydropower or for regulating the flow of river water on a daily basis, they are simply for flood control in areas that rarely flood but when they do flood, the flooding can be catastrophic on the region.
Here are some bullet points from the article:
– In 1913, a massive flood coming down the three rives that converge in Dayton killed in that region of southern Ohio 360 people. The waters destroyed Dayton’s downtown. After the flood, a series of five dams and 55 miles of levees were built to prevent future flooding events. Today, the series of dams and levees protect many more properties, but flood projections based on weather models place 21% of all downstream properties, including 18,596 properties in Dayton alone, at risk of flooding in the next three decades.
– Most of the time, these types of dams and levees do not block water. But in heavy flooding events, the structures hold back flood waters and save lives and property.
– There are many relatively flat regions around the country that have what may be called dry dams and levees that are necessary because of “geological or topographical” features. Many of these structures are at risk of failure during extreme flooding due to lack of maintenance and repair and the simple passage of time.
– A five-year-ago failure of the Edenville dam in central Michigan, which came after five days of heavy rain, then caused the failure of another downstream dam. The ensuing flood triggered the evacuation of 10,000 people and an expense of $250 million. The owner of the dam had in 2018 lost the license to operate the dam because the structure couldn’t pass enough water during high flood events.
– These Dayton area five dams and 550 miles of levees are aging, and some have been certified as in need of repair. Since their construction, according to MaryLynn Lodor, general manager of the Miami Conservancy District, there have been 2,170 “storage events” during the more than a century of the existence of the dams and levees, including a five-to-seven-inch inundation of rain in April 2025, which she said ranked seventh overall among the 2,170 events.
– After the Edenville dam failure, Michigan created a since-disbanded state task force to review all of its dams. Using data from Michigan’s department of environment, Great Lakes and energy, the assessment report of its 2,552 dams revealed that almost 18% were rated as either “fair”, “poor”, or “unsatisfactory.” One of the task force members told the reporter that few of the team’s recommendations have been adopted. He also told the reporter that “[t]he weather has changed. … What used to be a one-in-a-hundred-year flood event might have happened three times in the past 40 years.”
– Ohio’s Miami Conservancy District is outspoken in its advocacy for repairs to dams in its district, including two that sit above Dayton. The district asserts that it needs $140 million to bring its dams and levees up to safe levels. Levees under its management “are subject to the costly, federally mandated FEMA accreditation process, but there is not adequate funding source.”
– Through the Inflation Reduction Act, $10 billion was dedicated to “flooding mitigation and drought relief.” An additional $3 billion for “dam safety, removal and related upgrades” was set aside in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act for upgrades and repairs to America’s dams and levees.
– Since the inauguration on January 20, 2025, the Trump administration has been promising to roll back much of that available federal money for dam and levee repairs and maintenance; it has also been laying off “dam safety and other staffers” who have been working at dams in 17 western states.
Make of this what you will.
Ray W, says
MarketWatch considered reasons why the Fed may or may not lower lending rates to lending institutions when Fed Chair Powell’s four-year term ends next year.
The reporter wrote:
“Assuming the new Trump-appointed chair would want to cut aggressively, they would have to get six more Fed officials to go along. It takes seven votes to get a majority on the Fed’s 12-member Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), which sets the interest rate. These officials won’t back rate cuts just because Trump or a new Fed Chair want it; they will demand data to back up the move.”
Says Ellen Meade, a former Fed staffer and now a Duke University economics professor:
“The economic case for a rate cut has to be apparent in the data and the forecast. … If the push for cuts isn’t coming from inside the Fed by some of those voting members, I don’t see how the new chair would have a majority on the FOMC to move.”
According to Aditya Bhave, senior economist at BofA Securities, the majority of Fed members are becoming “less interested in cutting rates in September than they were in June.” He added that even excluding the potential impacts of tariff policies, the economy has become stuck at a level above the Fed’s 2% target rate.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
After each FOMC meeting, at which 12 members vote, but five more Fed economists attend FOMC meetings on a rotating basis, the votes tallies are released; only two of the 12 voted for lowering the lending rate. Firing Fed Chair Powell and replacing him with a more compliant member would give no more than three of the seven votes necessary to lower the rate, as things are right now.
But economies change sometimes rapidly. We might be entering Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride soon. Maybe not. The economic data still supports a “wait and see” attitude. August 1st is coming fast, and tariffs may change significantly on that date, up or down.
Ray W, says
Per a CNBC story about Stellantis, the parent company of Chrysler and a company that had suspended guidance earlier this year, the company took an “extraordinary” step yesterday by publishing “preliminary and unaudited financial information for the first half of the year due to the difference between analyst consensus forecasts and the firm’s performance over the period.” Final and audited financial information will be released July 29th.
As an aside, many other executives of companies also decided to suspend guidance to investors earlier this year amid the turmoil of recent tariff policies; they just couldn’t reliably predict what was going to happen to their companies.
Based on the preliminary and unaudited figures, Stellantis expects to lose $2.68 billion in the first half of 2025, wrote the reporter.
In Stellantis’ preliminary and unaudited data were four named factors that impacted the company’s financial results for the first six months of the year.
First, the company took “early-stage” actions to improve profitability, including pre-tax net charges of 3.3 billion euros.
Second, the company cited adverse impacts to adjusted operating income from higher industrial costs.
Third, the company referenced changes in foreign exchange rates.
Finally, the company commented on the early effects of U.S. tariffs.
As for tariffs, the company expects a 300 million euro hit to first-half results from net tariffs incurred.
After releasing the preliminary results, Stellantis’ CFO said during a call that the full-year impact of U.S. tariffs on the company could be as high as 1-1.5 billion euros.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
Stellantis makes vehicles in America, Europe and China. Changes in exchange rates can impact profits. The American dollar is down some 9% this year, compared to a basket of similar national economies. Stellantis sales have been tanking for some time, including American vehicle sales being down 25% year-over-year from the second quarter of 2024.
Stellantis is telling its investors that it is in financial trouble. Nissan told its investors not too long ago that it, too, is in financial trouble. So, too, for Volvo, Volkswagen, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz. Ford and GM remain profitable.
A shake-up is coming to legacy automakers. Those that cannot adapt may wither. Those that can adapt may survive and possibly thrive.
Pierre Tristam says
Thank you. We do have a bounty of wonderful readers.