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Weather: Sunny. Highs around 60. Tuesday Night: Mostly clear. Lows in the mid 30s.
- 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 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 Flagler Woman’s Club hosts Candidates’ Night on Tuesday, February 2 at 7 p.m. at 1524 S Central Ave, Flagler Beach. Meet the three candidates for the Flagler Beach City Commission–incumbents Rick Belhumeur and Scott Spradley and challenger R.J. Santore. Two seats are up. Each candidate will have 5 minutes to introduce themselves, followed by a question-and-answer period for each race, followed by closing statements. Afterwards will be the opportunity to talk one on one with the candidates. For more information call Joann Soman at 305-778-2885. You will be able to submit your questions upon arrival. Please be aware of and respect the club’s “no campaign paraphernalia inside the clubhouse” rule. Candidate brochures can be placed in the foyer.
The Palm Coast City Council meets 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.
Flagler Beach’s Planning and Architectural Review Board meets at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall, 105 S 2nd Street. The board takes up Veranda Bay’s latest proposal. For agendas and minutes, go 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.
The Bunnell Planning, Zoning and Appeals Board meets at 6 p.m. at the Government Services Building, 1769 East Moody Boulevard, Bunnell.
The Flagler Beach Library Writers’ Club 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.
Flagler Beach United Methodist Church Food Pantry: Flagler Beach United Methodist Church‘s food pantry is open today from 9:30 a.m. to noon at 1500 S. Daytona Ave, Flagler Beach. The church’s mission is to provide nourishment and support in a welcoming, respectful environment. To find us, please turn at the corner of 15 Street and S. Daytona Ave, pull into the grass parking area and enter the green door.
Notably: A couple of covers catch the attention, starting of course with Charlie Hebdo’s Felix take on Ubu Roi’s icy invasion of American cities:
As Charlie Hebdo’s Lorraine Redau writes, “These tragedies illustrate not only the country’s police brutality but also, and above all, the incompetence of Trump who, in his nationalist haste, opened the doors of ICE wide to a host of extremists. In fact, by desperately trying to recruit 10,000 agents last year, the obese one in the White House significantly lowered the hiring standards. Thus, according to various American media outlets, many agents are illiterate and some even have extensive criminal records. Worse still, several candidates, solely attracted by the signing bonus of up to $50,000 and the offer of student loan repayment, tested positive for drugs, while others proudly display tattoos associated with white supremacist gangs.” And then there was this:
Now this: From Bob’s collection:
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.
If you want to think about why humans are so dangerous to other species, you can picture a poacher in Africa carrying an AK-47 or a logger in the Amazon gripping an ax, or, better still, you can picture yourself, holding a book on your lap.
–From Elizabeth Kolbert’s The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History (2014).
Dennis C Rathsam says
Great things to happen as TRUMP plan for newborns.A little seed money to help them in the future.Many employers are jumping on TRUMPS band wagon too. What a great idea….. The best part about it is the Democrates cant touch this money, or raid it like they did SS.
Laurel says
Just keep ignoring reality Dennis, it works for you.
Skibum says
Be very, very careful when you step outside… you just might fall off the edge of the earth!
James says
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/02/us/politics/trump-nationalize-elections.html
Laurel says
James: Yes, can you imagine trusting Trump and his sycophants *counting* the votes? Gee, I wonder how that would turn out!
So my questions are: Why aren’t Republicans concerned about Trump shredding our Constitution, that he vowed to uphold? When Nixon was caught cheating, it was the Republicans who told him to resign or get impeached and removed. What happened to the GOP? Why are U.S. citizens still backing this devil of a man? An Anti-Christ praised by “Christians.’
Trump, and his incompetent loyalists are more swampy than we have ever experienced, and you all know it. They wallow in mud, blatantly enriching themselves, and people in ultra cult mode, continue to make excuses for them. There are some serious psychology issues there.
Ray W. says
Bill King, a Baker Institute for Public Policy fellow based at Rice University, submitted an editorial to the Houston Chronicle about demographic trends in Texas.
In 2022, some 219,000 more people moved from other states to Texas than Texans moving out of Texas. In 2025, the incoming over outgoing figure dropped by 70% to 67,000.
Including all incoming and outgoing persons, foreigners and from other states, in 2022, Texas’ population grew by 1,200 persons per day. In 2025, the figure dropped to 645 per day.
Mr. King attributed the changes as responsible for an evolving state economy, based in part on a changing energy economy. But another causative factor included emerging political ugliness over a number of issues.
Concluded Mr. King:
“Texas policymakers need to confront the fact that we may not be able to rely on population growth as the main engine of our state economy much longer.”
Make of this what you will.
Me?
Why is population growth the main driver of the Texas economy?
It is no secret that GDP output growth is measured by two factors. More total workers means more total productivity output and improvements in productivity per worker means more total output per worker.
Economists assert that consumer spending accounts for 70% of GDP. More consumers earning paychecks means more consumer spending. This is why Mr. King is writing what he is when he asserts that slowing population growth equates with a slowing state economy.
As an aside, in the 2024 federal election, President Trump carried what had long been considered a safe Republican Texas state senate district by 17 points. A few days ago, in a special election, a Trump-endorsed Republican candidate fell by 14 points, a 31 point swing in just over a year.
Ray W. says
Of the 70 federal prosecutor positions authorized for Minnesota’s one district, it is being reported that after Ms. Goode was shot multiple times and the DOJ ordered the criminal investigation of her widow six prosecutors left the office. Another eight have either already left or are in the process of leaving after the Pretti shooting, leaving as few as nine filled positions for the entire state. Of course, this doesn’t mean that there are always 70 filled positions. Many Florida circuits struggle to keep filled every authorized prosecutorial position.
Reportedly, federal prosecutors have been brought in from other states. Military prosecutors have been brought into the district. Cases are languishing for want of warm bodies.
Make of this what you will.
As an aside, one of our now-retired circuit court judges used to refer to prosecutors as being “fungible”, which is in part why I still refer to prosecutors as being warm bodies. When I was a prosecutor, I thought of myself as plug and play. If a prosecutor fell sick after picking a jury, I volunteered to try the case. Once, a prosecutor hurt his back on a Sunday before his trial week. I handled his trial docket sight unseen and tried three cases. Another prosecutor lost her father over a weekend. I handled her trial week, too, trying at least two cases.
As a second aside, professional ethics hold that if an attorney is ordered by a supervising attorney to do something he or she considers unethical, the attorney is to push back. If after pushing back, the order stands, the attorney is to refuse to comply or to leave the position.
Bo Peep says
Another stupid cartoon lol such idiotas …
James says
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/03/technology/trump-statue-don-colossus.html
Pogo says
@I’ve seen uglier
… but nothing that smelled worse.
Ray W. says
The Heritage Foundation’s Election Fraud Map lists 43 instances of vote fraud prosecutions in Florida since 2020.
Most of the prosecution records published by the Foundation lack party affiliation data.
Most of the prosecuted were felons whose right to vote had not been restored.
A number of those felons were Alachua County inmates who responded to a voter registration drive conducted by that county’s elections supervisor, but were found ineligible to vote after they had voted.
Some voted both in Florida and another state.
One submitted more than 50 fraudulent registration forms. No word on whether anyone submitted votes under the fraudulent names.
One father used his New Mexico-registered son’s name, without notice to the son, to register to vote in Florida.
Three Republican’s were convicted of fraud in the ghost candidate scheme where people with names similar to Democratic candidates’ names were paid to run as independents in order to dilute Democratic vote totals to help Republicans win.
One was convicted for altering more than 10 independent and democratic voters’ registrations to registered republican prior to the 2020 primary.
One hacked Governor DeSantis’ voter registration records and changed some of the information.
Across all 50 states, 286 persons were convicted of voter related fraud.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
The Heritage Foundation is in no way a liberal think tank. It found on average just over 48 instances of voting fraud-related convictions per year for the six years encompassing 2020 to 2025. Just over seven of those convictions occurred each year on average in Florida.
I agree that vote fraud exists, likely in every state. Whether the figure is minuscule or massive likely depends on the richness of one’s fantasy life.
Laurel says
Yet, not the 11,800 extra votes that Trump called for in Georgia alone.
Ed P says
Ray W,
If voter fraud convictions are the bar…
Then the estimated DUI offenses are quite tolerable. Because it’s reported that 80-95% of drunk driving instances do not result in a stop. Is that a fantasy?
70% of crimes aren’t even reported. The prosecution gap also exists.
Is the 2% rule a real thing?
Do you then believe voter fraud not to be an issue?
Tony Mack says
So you would agree then, voter fraud only happens when a Republican candidate loses the election but if a Democrat loses, then no voter fraud has been committed. Charges of voter fraud are almost always made by Republicans — when their candidate loses.
The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, has been monitoring election fraud cases state by state. Election fraud covers a range of activities — such as registering someone to vote and forging their signature, filling out an absentee ballot for someone who has died or moved away, voting while ineligible, or pretending to be someone else at the polling place and voting. They find that there have been 1,465 proven cases of election fraud — 1,264 of these resulted in criminal prosecutions and the remainder resulted in civil prosecutions, diversion programs, judicial findings, or official findings.
These may sound like big numbers, however, they must be examined in context. The findings encompass more than a decade of data during which, nationally, hundreds of millions of votes have been cast. For instance, in Texas, Heritage found 103 cases of confirmed election fraud. However, those 103 ranged from 2005 to 2022 during which time over 107 million ballots were cast. There were 11 million ballots cast in the 2020 presidential election alone. The fraud in Texas amounted to 0.000096% of all ballots cast — hardly evidence of a fundamentally corrupt system.
In Florida, there were nine cases of election fraud between the 2020 and 2022 elections but many of those involved individuals who were confused over whether or not they had the right to vote.
In 2018, voters in the state passed a constitutional amendment allowing people convicted of felonies to vote once they had served their time. Subsequently the Florida legislature passed a law requiring felons to pay all fines before they could vote. In fact, some of those convicted of voter fraud were even given a Florida voter ID card and specifically told by local election officials that they would be able to vote. This was contested as a violation of the constitutional ban on poll taxes. The administrative back and forth left some would-be voters confused about their right to vote (or rather, lack thereof). Whether or not this is evidence of widespread fraud is questionable to say the least. (Brookings Institute, November 2023)
Ray W. says
Thank you.
The 2020 election was, perhaps, the most closely studied election in history. Untold millions of dollars were spent in several states and cities on multiple efforts to uncover evidence of institutional fraud and the vote totals for former President Biden kept rising without any institutional fraud being uncovered. What little individual fraud that was found was determined to have been committed by both Republicans and Democrats. Of the 43 Florida incidents, very few individuals went to prison, though those who were imprisoned received more than the most minimum of prison sentences. Several others received deferred prosecution outcomes. Some received short terms of probation. Many paid only fines and costs.
As for a claim that there must be many more instances of voter fraud because police do not intercept every drunk driver, because so many post-election safeguards exist for checking for voter fraud, any comparison to DUI evasion is useless.
Supervisors of each of Florida’s 67 elections offices conduct multiple safeguard checks after every election to detect different possible issues. Very few issues are found. Voter roll checks are periodically conducted. Cross-referencing data bases is common.
In fact, about the only recent instances of institutional election fraud occurred when state officials in Florida and Texas sent to elections officials lists of voter names to be purged just before elections.
Officials in both states shifted the burden of proof. The government has the burden to prove that each registered voter added to a purge list belongs on a purge list. And I agree that many voter names should be added to a purge list. People die or move far away or get convicted of felonies.
But the government shifted that burden of justifying removal to voters having to justify retention. Hundreds of validly registered voters were purged from voting rolls. Each had to reregister after receiving notice of having been removed by providing to elections officials the same proof they had already provided before the purge.
This was evidence of government-sponsored voting fraud on a significant scale.
Laurel says
Our own Supervisor of Elections, here in Flagler County, has over the years done a superb job of keeping our elections safe and accurate. I cannot imagine how she, a Republican, feels knowing her own party doesn’t trust her, and other Supervisors of Elections, to do their job without these bogus interventions, and without any serious proof of fraud. This being to the point that Trump wants to take over states’ elections. What do you figure he really wants?
Tell me when you see what’s really going on in our country, maga. Where is the actual fraud?
Ray W. says
Energy Digital reports that Form Energy’s iron-air storage battery backup design is now being installed at four locations across the United States. Right now, cost per installed kilowatt-hour of storage capacity is claimed to be roughly one-fifth the cost of the most efficient current liquid-state lithium-ion batteries. Admittedly, the cost of the latter continues to rapidly drop.
Form Energy builds its batteries in a West Virginia factory.
Form Energy’s most recent funding effort raised $400 million in private lending.
The three main advantages of iron-air battery storage technology is that it is 100% easily recyclable because its three components – iron, air and water – are non-toxic and natural; it is cheap to make just about anywhere in the world, because the three components are widely available all over the world; and, it releases stored energy for as much as 100 hours at a stretch, a term of time some 25 times longer than that for liquid-state lithium-ion storage batteries.
During a long-term ice storm, when natural gas power plants stop operating due to frozen pipelines, long-term energy release is ideal in keeping a grid operating.
The disadvantages are that iron-air batteries are slow to accept a charge and that there is a large energy loss during recharging.
The technology is straightforward. A large quantity of iron pellets is stored in a vat of water. During discharge, electrons are stripped from the iron during a chemical process involving oxygen. We call this rusting. The rust flakes into the water. During recharging, incoming electrons restore the rust in the water to the iron pellets. These types of batteries are expected to last up to 30 years.
As an aside, a Georgia electricity co-op is installing America’s first commercial vanadium redox flow battery that provides backup power to be released over as much as 10 hours. This, too, is an emerging stationary battery storage technology. With an expected battery life of 20 years, it, too, promises inexpensive battery backup storage capacity.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
I recently commented to FlaglerLive readers that the coordinator of the Texas grid, ERCOT, plans for a 15% excess energy generating capacity in order to deal with winter and summer peak demand periods.
Right now, there exists a mix of more than 1,250 electricity generating plants of many types in the ERCOT grid. Nuclear, hydropower, solar, wind, coal, diesel, and natural gas. The most expensive of the many different types of plants, aging coal-fired and aging gas-fired plants, operate only during peak power demand times, which is why they are called in the industry “peaker” plants.
During low demand times, March through May and October through December, only the most efficient of the many power plants will operate, for the most obvious of reasons, i.e., cost. These are the days when solar and wind provide the highest percentage of daily demand, because the electricity these plants produce is the cheapest available to the grid.
Battery backup can capture this most inexpensive solar and wind energy and release it instantly into the grid wherever needed, during both low demand days and peak demand days. Batteries respond instantly to demand. No more long startup times for the most costly aging coal-fired power plants. With enough battery storage capacity, the need for the most costly and polluting power plants can be completely eliminated, with cost savings to consumers.
Yes, long-term contracts exist that require the operation of the least efficient power plants. Poor long-term economic decisions were made decades ago. FP&L faced this problem a few years ago. It solved the problem by purchasing outright the two inefficient coal-fired power plants it had contracted to purchase power from and then immediately shutting them permanently down years before planned retirement from the grid. Why throw good money after bad?
Every FlaglerLive reader ought to appreciate the idea of FP&L buying the least expensive energy wherever possible from the many different sources of power at hand, and closing down the most expensive energy whenever possible.
According to FP&L’s current 10-year plan, zero natural gas power plants are to be built, only renewable energy plants. In 2026, 894 MW of solar power will be added to the grid, plus 1,495 MW of battery storage capacity.
Ray W. says
According to a Cato Institute economic study released earlier today, between 1994 and 2023, immigrants saved the federal government $14.5 trillion. Without immigrants, today’s nearly $2 trillion deficit would be $3 trillion.
The headline? Cato Study: Immigrants Reduced Deficits by $14.5 Trillion Since 1994.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
The Cato Institute has long described itself as a libertarian think tank. It has long had a section devoted to immigration issues.
The Institute was the research group that found that President Trump’s first administration had released from detention centers more than 3,000 immigrants already convicted of murder into the American interior in order for the administration to focus on deporting immigrants seeking asylum.
Now, the Institute asserts that our current $38.5 trillion federal debt would actually be $53 trillion without the net positive fiscal contributions of our millions of immigrants over the 30 years spanning 1994 and 2023.
More about this later.
Ray W. says
This from a site named Teaching American History.
On December 2, 1783, George Washington spoke to an association of Irish immigrants:
“… The bosom of America is open to receive not only the Opulent and respectable Stranger, but the oppressed and persecuted of all Nations And Religions, if by decency and propriety of conduct they appear to merit their enjoyment.”
Make of this what you will.
Me?
For a long time I have argued to the FlaglerLive community that a child brought across the border at the age of two or three cannot form the intent necessary to commit a crime. That child, thirty years later, having graduated from high school, earned a college degree, married, had children, found a church home, worked hard, and volunteered in her community, is a better person in many ways than any of the hateful and vengeful lie launderers who populate this comment site. These virtuous persons should never be deported, regardless of their status.
Certain of the many FlaglerLive commenters assert that The Declaration of Independence is the most important document produced by the Founding Fathers. Maybe that is so. Maybe not.
But its author, Thomas Jefferson, listed among the several reasons to declare independence the reason that the king was restricting immigration into the colonies.
Can an argument be made and supported that immigration was an issue of importance at the time of our nation’s founding and that our leaders at the time wanted plenty of it?
Ray W. says
Here is a second installment about the Cato Institute study of the value of immigrants to the American economy.
In 1994, the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine prepared a “fiscal effects” model. From that year on, the government began collecting the economic data necessary for use in the model.
Cato Institute researchers assert that they were the first to feed all three decades of collected data into the model, data dating from 1994 to 2023.
Their hypothesis was simple. Was Stephen Miller fiscally correct when he claimed that immigrants “had already sucked us dry”?
In answering the hypothesis, the researchers set out to “clearly explain” the mechanisms “driving the fiscal effects of immigration on government budgets.”
This from the study’s conclusion:
“Overall, the main conclusion of our paper is that there is nothing wrong with U.S. immigration policy regarding the fiscal effects of immigrants. There is nothing unsustainable about the U.S. immigration system. We could have scaled immigration as it existed without burdening government budgets. For years, nativists in Congress and the administration have wrongly claimed immigrants are behind the growth in debt and that the U.S. immigration system allows foreigners to take advantage of Americans’ generosity. Our data completely repudiates this view. Immigrants are subsidizing the U.S. government.”
Make of this what you will.
Me?
More on the study of the “mechanisms” later. But when the authors write that immigration could have “scaled” without burdening government budgets, they meant that even higher rates of immigration would have been of fiscal benefit to government budgets.
To many, the political issue of immigration is negatively huge. It very well may be that the fiscal issue of immigration is positively huge.
Ray W. says
Here is a third installment from the Cato Institute paper.
From the 30-year span of the study, there exists sufficient data to establish that the average age of immigrants at time of entry is 25. Yes, the comparatively less common immigrant child does cost more on average to educate, mainly because of bilingual education costs, but since most immigrants arrive ready to work and not in need of a grade school education, compared to the native-born, they cost on average half as much to educate.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
Remember, this is a cost-benefit analysis. Workers are revenue producers. Children are benefit consumers. The native-born enter our economy when born. Immigrants enter our economy, on average, at the age of 25, skipping the benefit consuming years that all the native-born go through.