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Weather: Widespread frost in the morning. Sunny. Highs in the mid 60s. West winds 5 to 10 mph. Thursday Night: Mostly clear in the evening, then becoming partly cloudy. Lows around 40. West winds around 5 mph.
- 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:
Everyone is off. Happy New Year. May it be calmer than the last 2,025.
The Cold-Weather Shelter known as the Sheltering Tree will open tonight: The shelter opens at Church on the Rock at 2200 North State Street in Bunnell as the overnight temperature is expected to fall to 40 or below. It will open from 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. The shelter is open to the homeless and to the nearly-homeless: anyone who is struggling to pay a utility bill or lacks heat or shelter and needs a safe, secure place for the night. The shelter will serve dinner and breakfast. Call 386-437-3258, extension 105 for more information. Flagler County Transportation offers free bus rides from pick up points in the county, starting at 3 p.m., at the following locations and times:
- Dollar General at Publix Town Center, 3:30 p.m.
- Near the McDonald’s at Old Kings Road South and State Road 100, 4 p.m.
- Dollar Tree by Carrabba’s and Walmart, 4:30 p.m.
- Palm Coast Main Branch Library, 4:45 p.m.
Also: - Dollar General at County Road 305 and Canal Avenue in Daytona North, 4 p.m.
- Bunnell Free Clinic, 4:30 p.m.
- First United Methodist Church in Bunnell, 4:30 p.m.
The shelter is run by volunteers of the Sheltering Tree, a non-profit under the umbrella of the Flagler County Family Assistance Center, is a non-denominational civic organization. The Sheltering Tree is in need of donations. See the most needed items here, and to contribute cash, donate here or go to the Donate button at this page.
Notably: As with birthdays, which we stop celebrating, as with funerals, which we start scheduling, we reach an age when new year resolutions, like new years, are not worth the delusion. With age there’s a lot less new in new year and a lot more old, the oldness of it all, not just one’s own. We’ve been here so often before, seen so much of it, that playing the game isn’t as appealing as, say, a good beer as if it were any old Sunday in April, or a good Mozart sonata any time. It is good enough that we have made it this far. Resolutions seem presumptuous. We are on borrowed time. Vanity-driven self-improvement–losing weight, exercising more, drinking less–can seem like self-indulgent narcissism while friends are on chemo, on restricted diets, on beer faker than maga patriotism. Nothing wrong with good health as a personal, if not a civic, responsibility: let’s each do our part for the survival of Medicare (the fewer hospital stays for you, the more available for the next guy). “To go on living is a mistake,” Thomas Mann wrote in 1953, despondent over his lessened powers, “especially since I live mistakenly. Eating is a burden and a plague. My only comfort is smoking and drinking coffee.” Not such a long way at all from Magic Mountain‘s reflection at the end of the book that “time, then, had continued to bring forth changes in its furtive, unobservable, secret, and yet bustling way.” Which is to say: Thomas Mann in 1924, when he was 49, had intuited what he was feeling in 1953, a year from his death–that, as Gibbon put it, “It is the common calamity of old age to lose whatever might have rendered it desirable,” a sentiment Gabriel Garcia-Marquez put more poetically as “the trail of yellow leaves of his autumn of pain.” But there is also self-indulgence in the kind of grimness that would produce a soggy moan like I’ve just written, particularly for New Year’s day, even if it no longer has that same ring, now that tinnitus is louder. Watching those happy feasts from around the world even for 30 seconds quickly demolishes my ridiculous down beats. But they’re not out of nowhere: If we have made it this far, maybe the seeming banality of New Year’s is in how others see it as such an occasion for celebration when, in our grizzled reality, what the others have yet to discover–and let’s not rush them: theirs are the lives they should live to the hilt–is that they will be lucky to reach the age when every day is a triumph, and every day is a new year. Janus is the god of age. So go ahead, set off those fireworks. But on mute, please. Cats present.
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 2026
Flagler Woman’s Club Charity Golf Tournament
Flagler Beach Farmers Market
Coffee With Flagler Beach Commission Chair Scott Spradley
Grace Community Food Pantry on Education Way
Gamble Jam at Gamble Rogers Memorial State Recreation Area
Dead Men Tell No Tales…. Or Do They? Murder Mystery Dinner Show
“The Sound of Music,” at Athens Theatre
‘Line’ and ‘All In the Timing’ At City Rep Theatre
ESL Bible Studies for Intermediate and Advanced Students
Grace Community Food Pantry on Education Way
Palm Coast Farmers’ Market at European Village
Dead Men Tell No Tales…. Or Do They? Murder Mystery Dinner Show
“The Sound of Music,” at Athens Theatre
Al-Anon Family Groups
‘Line’ and ‘All In the Timing’ At City Rep Theatre
For the full calendar, go here.
Roy’s no Mormon and not much of a Christian, and does not honestly believe in an afterlife. Yet the manner of death he fears does not sound bad to me; to me it seems like a decent, clean way of taking off, surely better than the slow rot in a hospital oxygen tent with rubber tubes stuck up your nose, prick, asshole, with blood transfusions and intravenous feeding, bedsores and bedpans and bad-tempered nurses’ aides—the whole nasty routine to which most dying men, in our time, are condemned.
–From Edward Abbey’s Desert Solitaire (1968).
Pogo says
@First things first
… period.
Repeat after me: this progressive pipe dream only helps the GOP
Thom Hartmann
December 31, 2025 7:46AM ET
https://www.rawstory.com/raw-investigates/zohran-mamdani-2674837488/?utm_source=front-sidebar-rsplus
Life or death — choose.
Dennis C Rathsam says
How great could Ameica be if we all worked togeather, the way it used to be.? Remember when the news was the news & not made up 1/2 truths, & political theater? When I was a kid, when a president was elected, regardless what party, we all rallyed around him.With the birth of AI, maybe smarter minds can fix our country. We must stop the fraude,help Americas poor, & DEPORT all the illegals. Stand with our police, instead of throwing shit at them. Where did all these crazy people come from? What happened to, in God we trust? My own personal opinion, we screwed up by taking prayer of of the classroom, & reciting the pledge of allegiance! Every morning we started our day, thanking our creator & our country for keeping us free! HAPPY NEW YEAR PALM COAST!!!!! Lets work togeather to make America, the greatest country the world has ever seen. May the NEW YEAR, bring you prosperity, & HAPPYNESS….And take this cold weather back up north! May GOD bless you all
Jim says
Well, I tried to just let this go – new year and all….
@Dennis C Rathsam says the country rallied around the president when he was a kid. Well, I’m from the same era as he but we seem to remember things quite differently…
When I was growing up:
> we never had a president who declared that “I am your vengeance”.
> never had a president accept a $400M plane from a foreign country for his personal use.
> never had a president unleash federal agents and troops in this country, claiming to be going after the “worst of the worst” yet deporting around 74% with no criminal record at all.
> never had federal agents assaulting citizens yet wearing no name tags no identification.
> never had the family of the president (including his Einstein import bride) grifting mightily off the power of the presidency in full view of all.
> never had a president in bed with Putin and failing to support a fledgling democracy (like Ukraine).
>never had a president demolish part of the White House without even telling the American people before doing so.
>never had a president put his name on any buildings, ships, aircraft, etc. while in office. All the other presidents that I’m familiar with were shown that honor AFTER leaving office.
> never had a president blatantly threaten news agencies with license removal, business interruption and lawsuits because his feelings got hurt because they printed and/or spoke the truth.
>never had a president lie about an election he lost.
>never had a president who instigated an insurrection against the US government.
>never had a president who has deliberately driven our closest and longest allies away while cozying up to dictators.
>never had a president who lies so much and so often that I’ve reached the point where if he were to say it’s daytime, I’ve got to look out the window and confirm it myself.
And when I was growing up:
>it was accepted practice for Republicans and Democrats to work together to keep our government functioning properly.
> Neither Republicans or Democrats accused the other of not being patriotic and worse.
> Both parties fully supported the Constitution over and above party. (Republicans told Nixon either he resigned or he’d be impeached.)
There was a time where I honestly believed our elected officials would put the interests of this country above their own. Few, if any, can claim that distinction now. Look at the gerrymandering that is going on now. There’s no attempt to hide it, to claim it’s for the good of the state’s citizens. It’s being done in an attempt to assure one party maintains power. (By the way, as a side note, why is this necessary if you’re doing such a great job of running the government that the majority will vote you back in???? Just curious…).
And I disagree about pulling Lord’s prayer and pledging allegiance in our schools. Things went south (no offence to southerners; I am one!) when God became a tool for politicians to use to claim superiority. I see these people claiming to be supporting God and [Christian] religion, all the while failing to follow His most basic teachings (like help those in need, welcome the stranger) are hardly being followed by so many so-called “Christians” in elected office.
I will agree with you that we should all work together to fix our country. But first, shouldn’t we all agree on what is broken?
I think we should stand with our police when they are in “protect and serve” mode. I can’t do that when they’re running around unidentified and assaulting random people for questionable reasons.
So I too hope everyone has a Happy New Year. I just hope that by 2027 we’re on a path back to democracy and true freedom.
Laurel says
Jim: Totally agree. Thank you for stating it so well.
Happy New Year!
Sherry says
Thank you for this truly excellent comment Jim! It’s just so tragic that core Maga members won’t even bother to read what you’ve written.
Happy “Better” Year!
Sherry says
Hi Jim,
I sent your comment to the many friends we have in other countries and immediately received this response from friends in Australia:
Can I add
… who used presidential meetings to bully and humiliate world leaders
… who openly murdered foreign citizens
… who is happy to have the death of millions attributed to the US by stopping aide
… who is not able to iterate without the word ‘great’ forming most of the dribble
… whose infantile command of language is such a great source of amusement to the rest of the world.
And as for the new year what could get worse? In my opinion the Bondi shooting was a symptom of what has been allowed to happen in Gaza because of Trump and screwed-up US Christians. Ukraine is a travesty we all have to bear witness to and say how did this get to happen. The answer is not blowin’in the wind but highlights the lack of true statesmanship in our world leaders.
All the best and be glad you moved to a more level headed place.
Pogo says
@First things first — there is no more next best
… period.
Repeat after me: this progressive pipe dream only helps the GOP
Thom Hartmann
December 31, 2025 7:46AM ET
https://www.rawstory.com/raw-investigates/zohran-mamdani-2674837488/?utm_source=front-sidebar-rsplus
Life, or death — choose.
Preaching against banning books, while banning people, is wrong. Period.
EC: File
Pogo says
@The Monster’s Ball in its private ballroom, with a concrete paved garden
… no need to burn books, just abandon them.
https://www.google.com/search?q=shutdown+of+the+library+at+NASA's+Goddard+Space+Flight+Center
“At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice, he is the worst.”
– Aristotle
Sherry says
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/capitol-riot-does-not-happen-214347532.html
As Must Watch For Every American!
Sherry says
https://apnews.com/projects/january-6-cases/
A Must Watch for Every American! We must never forget!
Laurel says
Oh, c’mon, Sherry, they were just tourists who couldn’t find the bathroom once they got inside!
Laurel says
Oh, c’mon, Sherry, they were just tourists who couldn’t find the bathroom once they got inside!
Getting glitchy.
Sherry says
Regarding Jack Smith’s testimony:
The Independent
Trump was ‘most culpable’ for Jan 6 riot and would have been convicted in court, Jack Smith told Congress in newly released testimony
John Bowden
Wed, December 31, 2025 at 3:00 PM PST
Trump was ‘most culpable’ for Jan 6 riot and would have been convicted in court, Jack Smith told Congress in newly released testimony
Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what’s in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience.
Generate Key Takeaways
Donald Trump was “most culpable” for the January 6 riot and would have been convicted in court had the case gone to trial, according to explosive testimony from former special counsel Jack Smith, released Wednesday afternoon by the House Judiciary Committee.
Smith led both Justice Department prosecutions of Trump: the first over the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters after he lost the 2020 election, and the second over his alleged concealment of classified materials at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. He testified before the Judiciary panel in a closed-door session earlier in December as the committee investigates whether Trump was politically targeted by the Justice Department under Attorney General Merrick Garland and President Joe Biden.
Trump’s 2024 election victory ended the DOJ effort to hold him criminally liable. Many experts and Democrats in Congress grew frustrated with the Biden administration as a result of the DOJ’s year of delays before it directly confirmed it was investigating Trump for the attack on the Capitol; he was not indicted until August of 2023 on the election charges.
The release of the testimony by House Republicans on the afternoon of New Year’s Eve, with Congress out of session and Washington still largely emptied out for the holidays, comes as they largely failed to prove any links between Smith’s prosecutions and the Biden White House. The president’s accusations of political weaponization have largely been overshadowed by his own very public efforts in that same vein against the likes of James Comey and Letitia James.
Among the revelations in the 225 pages of Smith’s testimony were:
Trump’s actions “without question” added to the danger faced by his Vice President Mike Pence, who was in the Capitol during the riot and was targeted by Trump’s supporters, some of them chanting “Hang Mike Pence”;
Jack Smith testified before the House Judiciary Committee about the two criminal investigations into Donald Trump led by the Justice Department (AP)
Jack Smith testified before the House Judiciary Committee about the two criminal investigations into Donald Trump led by the Justice Department (AP)
The Supreme Court’s ruling on executive immunity was not an affirmation in Smith’s opinion that the president’s conduct leading up to January 6 was legal;
Smith’s case relied heavily on the testimony of Republicans who “put their allegiance to the country before the party”;
The president’s demand that Georgia officials “find” more than 11,000 votes was seen by Smith as evidence of criminal intention;
Smith had “no doubt” that the president sought political retribution against him for filing the cases.
Throughout his 2024 campaign, Trump argued that he’d done nothing illegal and that the prosecutions were political efforts to punish him and prevent his return to the White House.
Smith told the committee that he believed he could have obtained a conviction in what was seen by many as the most serious of the charges: Conspiring to deny Americans a free and fair election by pushing to overturn the 2020 election.
“Our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 election and to prevent the lawful transfer of power,” said Smith.
The former special counsel said he relied heavily on the testimony of Republican state officials for his case, similar to the investigation headed up by the bipartisan House January 6 committee in 2021.
“President Trump was by a large measure the most culpable and most responsible person in this conspiracy. These crimes were committed for his benefit. The attack that happened at the Capitol, part of this case, does not happen without him,” Smith told the lawmakers.