To include your event in the Briefing and Live Calendar, please fill out this form.
Weather: Partly sunny, with a high near 59. Windy, with a north wind 14 to 22 mph, with gusts as high as 31 mph. Monday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 49.
- 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: A status hearing is scheduled at 1:30 p.m. before Circuit Judge Dawn Nichols in the case of Jermaine Williams, 52, who faces the death penalty for the stabbing death of his wife, Yolonda Williams, in the driveway of the couple’s Bunnell house in August 2024.
In Court: A pre-trial hearing in the case of Kristopher Henriqson is scheduled for 1:45 p.m. before Circuit Judge Dawn Nichols for both Henriqson, who is representing himself, and Assistant State Attorney Melissa Clark to argue motions ahead of a Jan. 14 trial. Henriqson is a 48-year-old state and federal felon and Palm Coast resident facing accusations of having routinely raped and abused his stepdaughter since she was 9. See: “Facing Life in Prison, Man Wants to Represent Himself and Depose Step-Daughter Accusing Him of Rape.”
The three-member East Flagler Mosquito Control District Board meets at 10 a.m. at District Headquarters, 210 Airport Executive Drive, Palm Coast. Agendas are available here. It is the first meeting since the death of Jules Kwiatkowski earlier this month. He had served on the board since 2008. District staff, commissioners and email addresses are here. The meetings are open to the public.
The Flagler County Commission meets at 5 p.m. at the Government Services Building, 1769 E. Moody Boulevard, Building 2, Bunnell. Access meeting agendas and materials here. The five county commissioners and their email addresses are listed here.
Palm Coast Charter Review Committee Meeting: The city’s committee, appointed by the City Council to propose revisions to the city charter, meets at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 160 Lake Ave. The committee is made up of Patrick Miller, Ramon Marrero, Perry Mitrano, Michael Martin and Donald O’Brien. The meeting is moderated by Georgette Dumont, an independent moderator and the Director of the Master of Public Administration program at the University of North Florida. The meeting is open to the public and includes a public-comment segment.
Rotary’s Fantasy Lights Festival in Palm Coast’s Town Center: Nightly from 6 to 9 p.m. at Palm Coast’s Central Park, with 57 lighted displays you can enjoy with a leisurely stroll around the pond in the park. Admission to Fantasy Lights is free, but donations to support Rotary’s service work are gladly accepted. Holiday music will pipe through the speaker system throughout the park, Santa’s Village, which has several elf houses for the kids to explore, will be open, with Santa’s Merry Train Ride nightly (weather permitting), and Santa will be there every Sunday night until Christmas, plus snow on weekends! On certain nights, live musical performances will be held on the stage.
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.
Notably: Oddly, travel is up from Mexico and most of Latin America. Not so oddly, it’s up from the old Communist bloc too (Trump’s Warsaw Pact). Not so oddly, it’s down from just about everywhere else. And now the State epartment is issuing a Sedition Act for future visitors, even from the countries friendliest, or once friendliest, to the United States. From Statista (the bold is mine): “Six months before millions of football fans are expected to travel to the United States to follow the FIFA World Cup, which kicks off in June 2026, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency published a proposal which would make it a lot harder for a lot of people to enter the country. In a notice published on Tuesday, the agency laid out plans to require tourists coming to the U.S. from one of 42 visa-exempt countries, including most of Europe, Japan and South Korea, to reveal a large amount of personal data prior to their arrival. The new mandatory disclosures would include any telephone numbers used in the last five years, email addresses used in the last ten years, family member names, addresses and telephone numbers as well as the last five years of social media activities. The mandatory disclosure of social media activities in particular drew heavy criticism, not least from human rights groups, who argue that such requirements violate fundamental freedom rights, including the right of free expression. “Requiring temporary visitors here for a vacation or business to surrender five years of their social media to the U.S. will send the message that the American commitment to free speech is pretense, not practice. This is not the behavior of a country confident in its freedoms,” the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a free speech advocacy group, said in a statement. The Trump administration’s efforts to keep out anyone who “bears hostile attitudes toward its citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles” as the White House described it in an executive order on Inauguration Day, are already deterring travelers from all over the world, whether it’s through outright travel bans, visa denials or the fear of being arbitrarily turned back at immigration. The new social media requirements could put off even more people, especially those critical of the current U.S. leadership. According to arrival data published by the International Trade Administration, the number of international overnight visitors to the United States dropped by more than 5 percent from January to September 2025 compared to the same period a year ago. More than 90 countries saw a double-digit decline in the number of visitors to the U.S., as Canada, Germany, France and India saw the biggest absolute drop in visitors. The number of visitors from Canada alone dropped by almost 3.5 million, with dramatic consequences for U.S. businesses, especially in states bordering Canada. In terms of relative decline, the countries affected by Trump’s new travel ban are unsurprisingly near the top of the list. Countries like Laos, Myanmar, Iran and Sudan saw the number of visitors to the U.S. drop by more 50 to 70 percent compared to 2024. However, many travelers from Western Europe have also turned their backs on the U.S., albeit for different reasons.”
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
Flagler Beach United Methodist Church Food Pantry
Weekly Chess Club for Teens, Ages 10-18, at the Flagler County Public Library
Flagler Beach Library Writers’ Club
Flagler Beach Planning and Architectural Review Board
Palm Coast City Council Meeting
Bunnell Planning, Zoning and Appeals Board
Flagler Beach United Methodist Church Food Pantry Evening Hours
Random Acts of Insanity Standup Comedy
Palm Coast Code Enforcement Board Meeting
Separation Chat: Open Discussion
Flagler Beach Library Book Club
The Circle of Light A Course in Miracles Study Group
Flagler County Republican Club Meeting
Flagler Beach Parks Ad Hoc Committee
For the full calendar, go here.
A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself — anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide. In any case, to wear an improper expression on your face (to look incredulous when a victory was announced, for example) was itself a punishable offence. There was even a word for it in Newspeak: FACECRIME, it was called.
–From George Orwell’s 1984 (1949).
Pogo says
@In addition to EA Blair
… another prophet all would do well to recall:
Departed on the same day that the entire planet stared at JFK’s murder
https://www.google.com/search?q=aldous+huxley
… and even though his relevance has only ever increased — the same is not true of his following.
Our loss.
https://www.google.com/search?q=aldous+huxley+quotes
There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self.
— Aldous Huxley
Jim says
For all you MAGA folks out there, here is what your orange god said about the reported murder of Rob Reiner: “Rob Reiner, a tortured and struggling, but once very talented movie director and comedy star, has passed away, together with his wife, Michele, reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME, sometimes referred to as TDS,” Trump said.”
People lost their jobs for what they said about Charlie Kirk after his murder. The far right went totally ballistic about any comments made that were in any way considered negative. Yet here is your president making a completely asinine comment about a person who has been murdered. How Trump determined Reiner was murdered because of Trump Derangement Syndrome is a mystery to me but Trump, nor his followers, have seldom, if ever, let facts or lack of, get in the way of spewing hate and garbage.
Trump is one of the lowest, most despicable people I’ve ever witnessed in my lifetime. And those of you who can witness this kind of deranged hate and not be both embarrassed and disappointed wallow in the same filthy scum-filled sewer as him. This is despicable for any person but beyond comprehension from a so-called president.
Laurel says
Trump thinks everything is all about him. Nobody’s home.
Rob Reiner has been a part of our world ever since “All in the Family” began. What a tragedy! So sorry to hear about his life, and that of his wife, ending this way.
Sherry says
Thanks so much Jim! I was just about to post the same thing regarding trump’s disgusting reaction to amazing, talented, brilliant Rob Reiner’s passing. Only the most deplorable of people would write such words and somehow make this tragedy about him! It is beyond belief that we are forced to allow such a person to occupy the “white house”!
Maga, you must be so proud! If you don’t want to be thought of as “deplorable”, STOP worshipping someone who is!
There is indeed a terrible sickness in our society, and it begins with trump and Maga!
Skibum says
Never before has America selected a president who continues to demonstrate to us and the rest of the world that he lacks even basic human decency. He is so inhumane in his thoughts, his words and his actions that the dictionary needs a new word to properly define his monstrous despicability.
Laurel says
Wouldn’t “psychopath” do?
Sherry says
@ Laurel, while “psychopath” most certainly describes the person. I always need a whole list of words to describe his beyond horrific, appalling, despicable words and actions!
Ray W. says
For purposes of this comment, “landed price” means the price a liquefied natural gas (LNG) buyer pays on receipt of the purchased product.
Landed price includes the price at the wellhead that the extractor receives, plus the price paid to transport the natural gas via compressed natural gas pipeline from the wellhead to a liquefaction train at an LNG plant, plus the price paid to liquefy the natural gas, plus the price paid to transport the LNG via specialized supertanker, plus the price paid to regasify the LNG back into usable compressed natural gas at the importing seaport.
For example, wellhead price in the U.S. for a standard unit of natural gas is slightly above $5 per million BTUs, though in recent years the price has been as low as around $1.60 per million BTUs. In Japan, the landed price for LNG is just over $11 per million BTUs, more than double the wellhead price in Texas.
I write this because President Trump has repeatedly been lying to anyone who will listen that gasoline has been selling “in certain states” for less than $2 per gallon of regular gas at the pump. There exists zero data to support his lies, unless you look to the selling price of RBOB (reformulated blendstock for oxygenated blending) gasoline, which is base refined gasoline sold by a refinery before the RBOB gasoline enters the pipeline transport network. The landed price for regular gasoline at the pump is much more than the refinery price for RBOB gasoline.
On to the news.
According to the Associated Press – Business News, Cypriot President Christodoulides told attendees at an energy conference that an energy exploration consortium comprised of Italian firm Eni and French firm TotalEnergies is expected to decide in 2026 whether to drill for natural gas in the Cronos natural gas field located off the coast of Cyprus, with deliveries of natural gas set to begin at the earliest by late 2027.
President Christodoulides said:
“Cyprus is part of the energy solutions for energy security in the eastern Mediterranean and like I said, it’s an important objective to align your interests with those of powerful states and to act as an alternative energy corridor for Europe.”
In one block of the Cronos field, two natural gas discoveries already exist, with the Glaucus find holding an estimated 4.5 trillion cubic feet of gas. The Pegasus find holds an amount of natural gas as yet undetermined.
President Christodoulides also told attendees that there is “interest from energy giants” to obtain licenses to explore more blocks in the field. The reporter wrote that ExxonMobil and its partner QatarEnergy hold “hydrocarbon exploration licenses” for two other blocks in the field off Cyprus’ southern coast.
At the same conference, Cypriot Energy Minister George Pananastasiou talked of Cronos natural gas reaching markets so quickly because the field can be easily connected to existing pipeline infrastructure that would convey the gas to Egypt’s Zor deposit only 50 miles from the field.
Minister Pananastasiou also talked of an extraction company using a “floating” processing plant at the Aphrodite gas field, on which platform natural gas can be processed into “dry” gas that can be routed through Port Said either directly to Egyptian consumers or to a plant that can liquefy the natural gas for sale in Europe.
More Cypriot natural gas fields could be opened for exploitation, but Cyprus awaits a ratification by the Lebanese government defining exactly where the boundaries of each nation’s “exclusive economic zones” lay.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
America is thousands of miles from Europe. Cyprus is considered a part of Europe. Does anyone think that transporting LNG from America is cheaper than transporting it from Cyprus? Does everyone think that market efficiencies drive the energy marketplace?
All over the world, energy extractors are becoming more competent at using technological innovations to find the richest deposits of natural gas and crude oil.
All over the world, energy extractors are searching for the most lucrative deposits of crude oil and natural gas.
All over the world, drillers can explore depths previously out of reach, because new 20K equipment has been certified for use at depths where is as great as 20,000 psi. The previous standard was 15K equipment.
Continuing improvements in 3D seismic imaging allow drillers to direct drill bits toward those most lucrative of deposits.
Improvements in horizontal drilling techniques permit drillers to more precisely guide the bits.
Continuing improvements in fracking compounds permit extractors to release more and more oil from shale rock fields.
I am not typing this because I applaud natural gas and crude oil exploration. I don’t. I favor the most rapid transformation of the world’s energy sector, including personal transport vehicles, away from fossil fuels and toward clean renewable energy. But I cannot ignore the fact that energy demand is rising all over the world and it will continue to rise as many of the world’s emerging economies demand more and more energy of all types.
This cannot be stressed too often. Of the eight billion people on the planet, only about one billion live in nations that have what is called developed economies. These one billion people are demanding more and more energy.
Does anyone believe that the other seven billion people do not want what the most developed one billion people want? Do they want climate controlled homes? Personal transport vehicles? Electronic devices of all kinds?
To me, this is why more and more political leaders are shifting priorities to finding the most promising and least costly energy technologies to supply the rapidly increasing demand for electricity. I don’t like some of the decisions now being made for political reasons as opposed to economic reasons, but here we all are.
Ray W. says
An Interesting Engineering reporter wrote about an announcement by South Korea’s largest munitions manufacturer, Hanwha, and its intent to build a U.S.-based munitions factory.
Construction should begin in 2026, with full production scheduled for 2030.
The “fully-automated, vertically integrated” assembly line will eventually employ approximately 200 people, produce $500 million in annual revenue, and manufacture “nitrocellulose and nitroglycerin, process wetted nitroguanidine, and combine them into triple-base propellants for 155mm artillery charges.” The propellants will be loaded into “combustible cartridge case modules” for use in the Army’s “Modular Artillery Charge System.”
In time, the factory could be expanded to produce “extended-range artillery shells”, which would increase total employment to 300 people.
According to the reporter, Hanwha already operates a modular artillery factory in South Korea, which it plans to expand. The company is constructing a second modular artillery factory in South Korea.
Make of this what you will.
Pogo says
@Make What You Will
… of this:
Florida leaders want more guns on campus to protect students. What do you think?
https://www.jcbruce.com/p/florida-leaders-want-more-guns-on?utm_campaign=email-half-post&r=2xozwn&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Skibum says
Guns! Guns! And even more GUNS, hell yeah!… cry the idiotic maga mush brains who are deluded into thinking guns can solve everything when factually, guns have NEVER solved anything! We have more guns here in the U.S. than we do human beings. We should be the safest place on earth if the rubbish they believe was true, but alas, those of rational minds and common sense know the sad reality of putting more and more guns into people’s hands. And that reality is more shootings, whether accidental or intentional.
More dead bodies, possibly toddlers who get a hold of a loaded gun at home which was left unsecure by a stupid, negligent parent. Possibly an immature teenager who was bullied or dislikes another kid at school. Possibly a victim of road rage or someone who innocently honked their horn in traffic when a jerk cut in front of them.
Who knows what motivates people in today’s society to automatically go for a loaded gun to handle even minor disagreements, but they DO, alarmingly in ever increasing numbers.
The answer that far too many elected officials choose to ignore because they fear backlash from extremist rightwing conservatives and the gun lobby, is, of course, to enact more common sense gun legislation and outlaw the most sought after type of firearm that is commonly used by mass shooters – the AR-15 type of long gun. Those weapons of mass destruction were already made illegal years ago, but that law was never extended by congress due to extreme lobbying by gun manufacturers, who are NO friend of law enforcement! Their only purpose is to put out disinformation and outright lies in order to continue selling people more and more guns so those corporate gun manufacturers make as much money from dead bodies as inhumanly possible!
But, sure, our idiot govie mini-maga wants people in FL to be packing heat anywhere and everywhere… EXCEPT around HIM! Just try being a “good guy with a gun” and bringing a loaded weapon into the state capital to visit him or one of the gerrymandered republican legislators, or walking up to the governor’s mansion with a loaded weapon and see real fast what they think of the public having guns! But around you and me? No problem.
After all, if one of us is killed by an idiot with a gun that was allowed by the idiots in Tallahassee, that is nothing more than another statistic which they can choose to ignore… after the compulsory 3 second “thoughts and prayers”.
Pogo says
@Make What You Will
… of this
New reporting shows DeSantis diverted more than $35 million in tax dollars to pay for ads to fight ballot initiatives
https://www.jcbruce.com/p/new-reporting-shows-desantis-diverted?utm_campaign=email-half-post&r=2xozwn&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Me?
Practice what you preach — at all times, and in all matters. You can’t escape yourself — but you can disgrace and defeat yourself.
Laurel says
Using tax payers’ money against the citizens wishes. Seems to be the theme these days.
Sherry says
Hi Pogo,
Unfortunately, concepts like “disgraceful/unethical/unlawful” simply do not exist in the “alternate reality” of Magaland. . .
Ray W. says
According to Reuters, the world’s largest zinc producer announced a $7.4 billion project (MSN reports the value of the project at $6.8 billion).
The Young Poong conglomerate owns nearly 50% of Korea Zinc, a South Korean company that will acquire from Nyrstar both two operational American mining complexes and the only existing U.S.-based zinc smelting plant. The deal expected to close by mid-2026.
The Clarksville, Tennessee-based smelter operation will be enlarged, with a goal of integrating the smelting of many different metals. Annual production is expected to be 300,000 tons of zinc, 35,000 tons of copper, 200,000 tons of lead, and 5,100 tons of rare earths.
Commercial smelting operations should begin by 2029.
According to Korea Zinc, the newly enlarged smelting plant will “respond to the expansion of global supply chain risks and the increasing demand for non-ferrous metals and strategic minerals in the United States.
The U.S. Department of War will hold a 40% stake in the joint venture, something that the reporter writes is a rare position to take by the American government. Korea Zinc’s share will be less than 10%. Unnamed investors will hold shares in the company.
Korea Zinc intends to sell $1.9 billion worth of new shares in the joint venture. Of the remaining $5.5 billion needed to complete the project, some $4.7 billion will come from the U.S. government and from financial institutions, as well as $210 billion in subsidies from the U.S. Commerce Department under the Chips and Science Act.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
In light of China’s manipulation of the worldwide supply of rare earth metals in retaliation for President Trump’ decision to increase tariff rates, I think it positive that American smelting of certain critical metals will be expanded.
That Korea Zinc is putting $1.9 billion into the American manufacturing sector is a good thing, too.
Ray W. says
This Raw Story article came out about three months ago. I saved it, thinking that with time some additional relevance may derive from it.
According to the reporter, in April, Stephen Moore, an economist and a fixture both from Trump’s first run for office and for Trump’s first tax cut bill, told Sean Hannity that:
“Noboby in the media will give Trump, you know, a fair hearing here. It looks like he’s getting these deals coming in, and that is good for America. In fact, frankly, it’s good for some of these other countries – to American farmers and American manufacturing products and our technology products. So it looks to me, Sean, like this is kind of going to plan.”
Five months later, Mr. Moore wrote an editorial column for The Wall Street Journal, in which he proclaimed that President Trump’s new 50% tariff on imported aluminum would cripple job creation. He also alleged that the new tariff makes no “economic sense.”
“If left to stand, President Trump’s June order to raise the tax on imported aluminum to 50% will almost certainly cost far more manufacturing jobs than it will save.”
Regarding a new $4.1 billion aluminum plant being built by Novelis in Alabama, Mr. Moore wrote:
“Novelis alone is one of the world’s largest producers of aluminum for cans of beer and soft drinks.”
He added:
“The U.S. manufacturers hit by Mr. Trump’s tariffs are frustrated. They provide good jobs to Americans yet are getting hammered. Many directly compete with China – which will be the big winner of the aluminum tariffs. Mr. Trump promised that ‘there are no tariffs if you manufacture or build your product in the United States.’ That has proved utterly untrue. … If the administration really wants a return of good blue-collar jobs, the president should immediately cancel, or at least suspend, the aluminum tariffs. It could be prudent to offer firms a rebate for aluminum producers reshoring jobs to America, which many of these companies are. … Punishing U.S. manufacturers and their hardworking employees is hardly putting America first.”
As an aside, that $4.1 billion Novelis plant in Alabama Mr. Moore refers to started construction in the fall of 2022; it is expected to be completed in 2026. Up to 1,000 new jobs will be created.
Make of this what you will.
Sherry says
Here is what wonderful Michelle Obama had to say about trump’s completely “despicable/deplorable/disgusting” words regarding the murder of the Reiners, apparently by their son:
In an appearance on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Obama shared that she and her husband, former President Barack Obama, were supposed to see the Reiners on Sunday — the same day their bodies were discovered stabbed to death in their California home.
While her husband early Monday shared that the two were “heartbroken” to learn of the Reiners’ deaths, Michelle Obama appeared to single out Trump’s statement, which attributed the couple’s deaths to “Trump derangement syndrome” and the director’s lack of support for the president.
“Let me just say this, unlike some people: Rob and Michele Reiner are some of the most decent, courageous people you ever want to know,” she told Kimmel. “They’re not deranged or crazed. What they have always been are passionate people. In a time when there’s not a lot of courage going on, they were the kind of people who were ready to put their actions behind what they cared about. And they cared about their family. And they cared about this country.”
Laurel says
Sherry: Yes, I saw that segment. I love her! She’s the real deal.
Of course Trump doubled down on his horrible comment. Nobody’s home. A terrible example of “leadership” for America’s children to see. The worst of the worst.
I think the tide is finally turning. It took over ten years, but there is only so much of evil that the public can stomach. It’s shocking that many took this much! Now, Trump will have to start bribing us, with our own tariff, consumption tax before the midterm.
Sherry says
@ Laurel, “EVIL” is a great word for what is perpetuated by trump each and every day!
The “real” problem is that so many US voters are so very easily “duped”. Yeah, cut each one a check for a grand or two and that will fix everything, right Maga! Even though your health insurance is about to “double”, even if the cost of almost everything has gone up due to trump’s tariffs and deportation of hard working immigrants, even if we have gone from one of the most beloved countries to one who is no longer “trusted”.
I could go on and on about how and why trump will go down is history as one of the very worst US Presidents, and one of the most despicable people on planet Earth! But, those who still live in “fact based” reality know exactly what is contained in my very long list of horrific decisions and actions taken by the “Twice Impeached, Convicted Felon, Sexual Assaulter” in the “white house”!! Absolutely NOT “My” President!
Laurel says
Yeah, and now Trump’s pretending the new lame heath insurance *help* will go straight to the public, and not to the private insurance companies as if the public will somehow be more powerful than the private insurance lobbies! Sure………! Talk about rigged!