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Weather: Areas of frost this morning. Sunny. Highs in the lower 50s. Northwest winds 5 to 10 mph. Wind chill values as low as 13 this morning. Tonight: Mostly clear. Widespread frost after midnight. Cold with lows in the upper 20s. 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:
In Court: Ex-Firefighter James Melady is scheduled for to be sentenced today at 1:30 p.m. before Circuit Judge Dawn Nichols. A jury in December found the former Flagler County paramedic guilty of raping an unconscious patient in his care in an ambulance. He faces up to 15 years in prison. See:
- Jury Finds Ex-Flagler Paramedic Melady Guilty of Rape of Unconscious Woman in Ambulance.
- Analysis: In Melady Trial, an Evidence-Defying Verdict That Ignored Overwhelming Proof of Victim’s Incapacity.
- Defending Pelvic Exam, Ex-Flagler Paramedic Melady Tells Jury What It Saw and Heard Isn’t What It Saw and Heard.
- Ex-Paramedic Accused of Raping Patient in Ambulance Is Denied Bond; County Issues New Rescue Protocols.
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:
- McDonald’s at Old Kings Road South and State Road 100 at the dirt road on the east side, 4 p.m.
- Circle K at Kingswood and Old Kings Road, 4:40 p.m.
- Dollar Tree behind Carrabba’s in the Dollar Tree Parking lot, 4:50 p.m.
- Palm Coast Main Branch Library, northwest corner of Palm Coast Parkway and Belle Terre Parkway, 4:55 p.m.
- Bunnell Free Clinic, 703 Moody Boulevard, 5 p.m.
- Bridges United Methodist Church in Bunnell, 205 N. Pine Street, 5 p.m. (listed as the same pick-up time because of the close proximity)
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.
The Beverly Beach Town Commission meets at 6 p.m. at the meeting hall building behind the Town Hall, 2735 North Oceanshore Boulevard (State Road A1A) in Beverly Beach. See meeting announcements here.
Free Tax Preparation Services in Flagler County: The AARP Foundation’s Tax Aide provides free tax preparation services at six locations in Palm Coast, Flagler Beach and Flagler County through April 15, but you must make an appointment first and fill out paperwork. To do both, go here.
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: It’s the birthday of the lovely and lovable and legendary-in-her-own-time Gail Wadsworth, she of the iron fist velveted in the most velvety gloves. To those of you who moved in after 2016–10 years ago already!–she was the Clerk of Court for many ages until then, in a county where the Wadsworth name had a better claim on the county’s name than Henry Flagler: he ripped through, exploited, and chugged on. They stayed, and have a park and an elementary school named after them. Dare we say how old Gail is today? Let’s just say she was born the year John Hersey published Hiroshima, the year Herman Hesse won the Nobel for literature, and yes, the year Donald Trump was, alas, born as well. Gail as a leader in local Republican circles could not possibly appear not to be one of the felon’s vassals, disemboweled as that may seem for a clerk of court, but I’m pretty sure that in private she visited her share of Roman Empire-style vomitories to cleanse her conscience. I’m sure we’ll see her campaigning for one candidate or another–not the crazies, thankfully–later this year. Happy Birthday Gail.
–Pierre
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
Free Tax Preparation Services in Flagler County
Free For All Fridays With Host David Ayres on WNZF
First Friday Garden Walks at Washington Oaks Gardens State Park
Friday Blue Forum
“My Fair Lady,” at Daytona Playhouse
First Friday in Flagler Beach
Free Family Art Night at Ormond Memorial Art Museum and Gardens
Flagler Beach Farmers Market
Flagler Beach All Stars Beach Clean-Up
Coffee With Flagler Beach Commission Chair Scott Spradley
Grace Community Food Pantry on Education Way
2nd Annual Italian Festival
Book Dragons, the Kids’ Book Club, at Flagler Beach Public Library
“My Fair Lady,” at Daytona Playhouse
Celebrating Celine! with Jenene Caramielo, at the Fitz
For the full calendar, go here.
… on the starboard hand of every woe, there is a sure delight; and higher the top of that delight, than the bottom of the woe is deep.
–From Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick (1851).
Dennis C Rathsam says
AMERICAN PATRIOTS …… Voted for this. Stop crying, and stop fooling yourselves. Mass deportation will continue, one way or another. AMERICAS SOVERENTY is at stake…. Why are you fighting for murderers? rapesest? thieves? mental crazy,s? These people are destroying our values, disregarding our laws. These illegals have no business being here, & they are not wanted! You want a murderer, or a child trafficer as your nieghbor? Would you ever feel safe again????? WAKE UP AMERICA!
Laurel says
Why are you supporting a murderer (by proxy), rapist (adjudicated), thief (money launderer and dodging payments) and mental narcissist? God only knows why you feel safer with American citizens being shot in the streets for simply protesting. But you are who you are.
Ray W. says
Hello Dennis C. Rathsam.
I am right with you, brother. When I found out from a Cato Institute study that during President Trump’s first term in office he released into the American countryside over 3000 convicted immigrant murderers from detention centers so that he could focus on deporting immigrants seeking asylum I was offended by the hypocrisy of it all.
I have always argued that immigrants who have criminal convictions ought to be deported. On the other hand, those millions of immigrants who are better than you are should be permitted to stay. We need them. Not for political reasons, but for economic reasons.
Ed says
Border patrol has existed for over 100 years here is the US. You didn’t say a peep under Obama, who had way more deportations, but now it’s tyranny? OK.
Laurel says
It is interesting, Ed, that you don’t see the difference.
Sherry says
@ Laurel. . . Maga isn’t really interested in the “MASSIVE” difference.
They just want to mindlessly paste FOX BS talking points. . . over and over again. Somehow, perhaps since they’ve been indoctrinated with that technique , they think that repeating the same BS over and over again they will convince “thinking” people that President Obama was as bad as “convicted felon/twice impeached/sexual assaulter” trump. Complete lunacy!
Callmeishmael says
I think he lost his P.
Ed P says
Call me,
Not me.
He’s the reason I added the P.
Ed says
Humor me Laurel. What is the difference?
Laurel says
Ed: Obama did not kill U.S. citizens in the streets. Obama actually went after illegals who were criminals, and went after those who freshly came over the border illegally. Some Democrats were mad at him for being known as “The Deporter in Chief.”
Trump has set a quota. The agents call these people “bodies.”
“ICE has been directed to aim for between 1,200 to 1,500 arrests per day, with some reports indicating a target of up to 3,000 arrests daily. This aggressive quota marks a significant escalation in immigration enforcement efforts.”
– Seach Assit, thomasmlee.com, immpolicytracking.org
So what happens when a quota is set? In order for the poorly trained (47 days) Border and Federal Agents to make their income, with bonuses, they go after anyone who is dark, and find out whether they are citizens, or not, later, with no explanations, or apologies, to the arrested legal citizens.
Obama did not break down doors with “administrative warrants” instead of judicial warrants.
Trump does.
Obama did not go into schools
Trump does.
Obama didn’t have agents standing outside of courthouses to arrest immigrants who went to their legal appointments.
Trump does.
Obama did not lie about Haitians eating pets.
Trump did.
Obama did not call American Samoan citizens “garbage.”
Trump did.
The list goes on, but you can research it yourself. Did you really not know this stuff? Doesn’t Fox Entertainment tell you the whole story? Do you really simply hate people with melanin in their skin that much?
Do you really feel so inferior that you need to expel others? You’re not of Irish or Italian decent, are you? Because at one time, they were considered the “garbage.” Do you not recall the stories?
Ray W. says
Happy Birthday,
For decades, I had the pleasure of practicing law in many different counties. For me, there was a blend of many leading Flagler County personalities that coalesced in a special way. To Irwin to Steve to Prunie to Gail and her several court clerks to Judge Hammond to the Atacks, judges both, to the bailiffs, please accept my thanks for the many displays by each of professionalism and courtesy and respect.
Pogo says
Laurel says
I’ve mentioned here, many times, that I am not a Christian, and do not care for organized religion, and regarding politics, I am a lifelong Independent. Twenty five years ago, I married an Episcopalian, who is a lifelong Republican. For the most part, we still get along!
I dedicate the following to my dear husband, with love:
https://episdionc.org/2026/02/02/bishops-across-the-episcopal-church-join-voices-in-a-letter-and-ask-whose-dignity-matters/
Skibum says
Dear republi-con members of Congress and the remaining small percentage of extremist maga mush brain voters who STILL blindly supporting and egging on your underlord and horned savior in the WH. Thank you!
Thank you for all of the precious videos of that adorable little 5-year old boy from Minneapolis that were continuously blasted across the nation along with the story of his abduction along with his father, carted out of state and incarcerated in an ICE detention facility in Texas. Despite the horrific images and videos that were first splashed across the news, the ones we were absolutely ecstatic about were from this past weekend after a federal judge ordered their release from captivity, when the innocent child and his dad were walking out of the detention facility hand-in-hand, as they boarded their flight, the cute scene of the child sitting in the captain’s seat on the plane and being given his “wings”, and being treated like celebrities and served 1st class meals, in COACH, during their flight home! That was amazing, so THANK YOU for such lack of compassion and total immorality for allowing America to bear witness to YOUR unmitigated and very deserving public repudiation!
Thank you for allowing Americans to see the first hand account of the woman who was driving her car, being CHASED by masked, heavily armed federal ICE thugs in an unmarked, red SUV. The scared woman driver had the wherewithal to hold her cell phone up pointed out the front windshield as the red SUV swerved wildly around her, appearing to nearly lose control as it screeched to a stop in the middle of the road, doors flying open and wouldn’t you republi-cons know… 3 masked, camo wearing federal thugs jump out and surround her car with guns drawn as she dials 911 for help. Yes, fools, she dialed 911 calling the police. Not the hippy warriors, not “antifa” or any other outrageous lie of some fake democratic protest group, she is near crying and pleading for help from the local police to come to her immediate aid… which they DID! The police chief himself quickly arrived like superman, and was able to obtain the woman’s freedom from the federal thugs, and that police chief calmed the woman down and DROVE HER HOME where she was once again safe! Thank you so much for allowing America to witness that near kidnapping of an innocent driver by totally unhinged, poorly trained by armed trumpian BOZOS!
Thank you for the special elections that were held in maga central over the weekend. You know I’m talking about Texas, right? It was a seismic political shockwave in the state, especially for a dark red, conservative part of Ft. Worth, where a democrat has not won an election in that reliably republican district for nearly 30 years! But on Saturday, voters managed to swing the pendulum 37 points and elected a democrat to the TX state senate, snubbing their noses at the maga approved, convict in the WH supporting republi-con candidate who was soundly defeated in bright red TX. Yea! And in another stunner, yet another democrat candidate in TX won her special election for Congress to the shock and horror of those republi-cons who are able to properly read tea leaves. Thank you republi-con maga voters for your participation defeats… America gleefully salutes you with our middle fingers!
Keep up the good work supporting all the damage that your underlord is doing, to our country and to your political party’s future, as we roll on toward the midterms!
Skibum
Sherry says
Thank You Skibum!
Ray W. says
A Raw Story reporter, premising a hypothesis on the idea that the Pew Research Center is the “authoritative source” on immigration studies”, looked at Pew figures for undocumented immigrants in America in 2007 compared to numbers from August 2025.
In 2007, just before onset of the Great Recession, 12.2 million undocumented immigrants lived in the US. Total population was 301 million. That means that the undocumented living among us comprised 4.05% of the total population.
In August 2025, 14 million undocumented immigrants lived among a total population of 349 million, for a 4.01% share.
Make of this what you will.
Sherry says
To Maga. . . get educated,do factual research, “THINK”. . . find your lost moral compass! US Citizens were NOT murdered by DH/ICE during the 8 years of President Obama’s administration!
While both administrations enforced federal immigration law, they differed significantly in their prioritization, methods, and rhetoric. Notably, former President Barack Obama oversaw more formal deportations in total, but former President Donald Trump (now in his second term) shifted toward broader, more indiscriminate enforcement.
1. Prioritization of Targets
Obama (Tiered Approach): Focused enforcement on three specific categories: serious criminals (felons, gang members), national security threats, and recent border crossers. Those with clean records who had lived in the U.S. for years were often considered low priority.
Trump (Broad Approach): Eliminated the tiered hierarchy, effectively making all undocumented individuals—including those without criminal records—equal priorities for removal. This shift led to a significant increase in the deportation of non-criminals.
2. Enforcement Tactics
Obama’s Focus: Relied heavily on “expedited removals” at the border. His administration also utilized the Secure Communities Program, which used local law enforcement data to identify deportable individuals.
Trump’s Focus: Increased “interior” enforcement, including high-profile workplace raids and arrests at “sensitive locations” like homes, automobiles, schools and courthouses, which were largely avoided under Obama. Trump also implemented “zero-tolerance” policies that led to cruel widespread family separations and sending young children to detention camps.
3. Protective Programs
Obama: Created programs to shield specific groups, most notably the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which provided temporary legal status to those brought to the U.S. as children.
Trump: Actively sought to rescind or limit such protections, viewing them as a form of “amnesty” and attempting to end DACA through executive and legal action.
Laurel says
Sherry: You left out that the Trump police will go into churches. YET, Pam Bondi stated that if religious services are disrupted, “… we will come after you.”
Huh.
Sherry says
Absolutely Laurel! Maga’s massive hypocrisy knows no boundaries!
Dennis C Rathsam says
[Do not use this site to spread disinformation. Thanks.–FL]