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Weather: A 30 percent chance of showers after 1pm. Mostly sunny, with a high near 78. Calm wind becoming east 5 to 9 mph in the morning. Thursday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 62.
- 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:
Drug Court convenes before Circuit Judge Dawn Nichols at 10 a.m. in Courtroom 401 at the Flagler County courthouse, Kim C. Hammond Justice Center 1769 E Moody Blvd, Bldg 1, Bunnell. Drug Court is open to the public. See the Drug Court handbook here and the participation agreement here.
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.
Story Time for Preschoolers at Flagler Beach Public Library, 11 to 11:30 a.m. at the library, 315 South Seventh Street, Flagler Beach. It’s where the wild things are: Hop on for stories and songs with Miss Doris.
Model Yacht Club Races at the Pond in Palm Coast’s Central Park, from noon to 2 p.m. in Central Park in Town Center, 975 Central Ave. Join Bill Wells, Bob Rupp and other members of the Palm Coast Model Yacht Club, watch them race or join the races with your own model yacht. No dues to join the club, which meets at the pond in Central Park every Thursday.
Yasmina Reza’s “God of Carnage” at Limelight Theatre, 11 Old Mission Avenue, St. Augustine. 7:30 p.m. except on Sundays at 2 p.m. Book here. What begins as polite conversation quickly unravels into escalating insults, exposed hypocrisies, and childish behavior. The dark comedy, God of Carnage, satirizes modern civility, exposing how thin the veneer of social decorum truly is when pride and principle collide.
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.
Notably: One day these pictures may be more historic than they seem: they are the last remnants of the old Flagler Beach pier, soon to be complete history as the reconstruction of the pier as an 800-foot concrete structure continues. The pictures were taken by Rick Belhumeur. According to one of those obscure websites that sound enticingly accurate but are probably the product of AI, and therefore likelier to be hallucinating, “Piers first emerged in England as a form of transport infrastructure, carrying travellers from the shore to steamers out at sea. The very first was constructed in Ryde, on the Isle of Wight, in 1812, to carry passengers to and from ferries moored beyond the shallow coastline. In this respect, Britain’s first piers were little more than a passing pitstop before the real holiday began. But over time, they grew into one of the most popular aspects of a British summer holiday.” But AI itself also tells us that “Piers originated as essential maritime infrastructure in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia around 3000 BCE for loading goods, with Roman engineers advancing design using concrete.” Alexander the great turned the entire city of Tyr in south Lebanon, once an island, into a giant pier when, to invade it, he simply built a massive causeway that endures to this day. The video below is more interesting than all this claptrap.
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 Beach United Methodist Church Food Pantry
Flagler County Drug Court Convenes
Story Time with Miss Kim at Flagler Beach Public Library
Model Yacht Club Races at the Pond in Palm Coast’s Town Center
Palm Coast Democratic Club Recap Meeting
Town of Marineland Commission Meeting
“Godspell,” at the Limelight Theatre
“The Sound of Music,” at Athens Theatre
Free For All Fridays With Host David Ayres on WNZF
Flagler County Cultural Council (FC3) Meeting
Friday Blue Forum
“Godspell,” at the Limelight Theatre
“The Sound of Music,” at Athens Theatre
For the full calendar, go here.
The damage from that high water was caused by man, because man wanted to control the rivers, and you cannot control water. The old people, the Indians, used to worship the rivers till the white people came here and conquered them and tried to conquer the rivers, too. Now, when I say they used to worship the river I don’t mean they used to call the river God There’s just one God and He’s above us. But they thought the river had extra strength, and I find no fault in that. Because I find that in some things, too. There’s an old oak tree up the quarters where Aunt Lou Bolin and them used to stay. That tree has been here, I’m sure, since this place been here, and it has seen much much, and it knows much much. And I’m not ashamed to say I have talked to it, and I’m not crazy either. It’s not necessary craziness when you talk to trees and rivers. But a different thing when you talk to ditches and bayous. A ditch ain’t nothing, and a bayou ain’t too much either. But rivers and trees-less, of course, it’s a chinaball tree. Anybody caught talking to a chinaball tree or a thorn tree got to be crazy. But when you talk to an oak tree that’s been here all these years, and knows more than you’ll ever know, it’s not craziness; it’s just the nobility you respect.
—Jane Pittman, 134
–From Ernest Gaines;s Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1971).
Brynn Newton says
Great.
Now you’ve planted a Beatles ear worm.
“She’s got a ticket to Ryde…”
Ray W. says
The Wall Street Journal just published an energy article under the headline:
“Why American frackers aren’t rushing to pump more oil?”
Long story short! American frackers, unless convinced that over the long term crude oil market prices will be at least $75 to $80 per barrel for many months running, simply will not drill for more oil, even though the Hormuz Straight is closed to tanker traffic.
Said the CEO of PEEX, a Permian Basin drilling company, to the Journal’s reporter:
“What we are doing today is no different than I did yesterday. … We are not running any new economics.”
The reporter went to describe that simply entering into a contract with the owner of a drilling rig takes about six weeks.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
Is it fair to argue that American drillers cannot and will not risk committing large sums of money to drilling efforts if the war in Iran comes to a rapid conclusion? There is already a worldwide glut of crude oil. Since last April, OPEC has been ramping up output faster than the increase in worldwide demand for oil. This is the primary reason for the drop in gasoline prices at the pump during the last few months. The Trump administration had very little to do with the drop in prices.
The crude oil industry follows a free market philosophy. Yes, if successive American administrations choose to subsidize the industry to the tune of some $20 billion per year, the industry will accept the taxpayer largesse. But the industry is focusing on extraction efficiencies over drilling new wells.
As an aside, the Trump administration recently announced that it would roll back the bond amount companies must post before drilling new wells to the figure in existence six decades ago. That figure was as low as $1,700 dollars. If a company does not cap the well after it loses economic utility, it forfeits the bond amount.
When an oil company abandons an oil or gas well without either capping it with concrete or mitigating the soil, the well is designated an orphan well. Officially, some 125,000 orphan wells exist. Experts conclude that there may be millions of such orphaned wells. That means that oil companies have long been more than willing to walk away from no longer producing wells and forfeiting the bond rather than capping the well and mitigating the soil. Guess who pays to cap the orphaned wells? Is this a state or federal subsidy?
There exists a significant number of people who correctly argue against EVs because the recycling of EV batteries damages the environment. But all over the world hundreds of millions of lead-acid batteries from ICE vehicles are replaced each year, with many dumped in landfills, and where untold numbers of uncapped oil and gas wells are orphaned each year to leak into the environment. Yes, EV batteries need to be recycled, but don’t ignore the elephant in the room. Compared to EVs, ICE vehicles are simply more pollutive.
Ray W. says
To follow up on the comment about federal rules on bonds to cover costs of cleaning up federal lands after an oil or natural gas well is orphaned by its owner, the Public News Service reports of a common practice in the oil and gas industry.
A company leases federal land and posts a bond that will be forfeited if the company orphans a well at the end of its productive life without either capping it as required by law or mitigating the polluted land at the site.
A separate corporation with few assets is formed for the sole purpose of buying from the drilling company the lease and then the new company declares bankruptcy, thereby insulating the original company from any liability arising from the public money spent on cleaning up the orphaned well’s site.
According to the story, at an average cost of $70,000 per cleanup of an orphaned well, the American taxpayer will be on the hook for $750 billion, should every known orphaned well be capped and the surrounding soil be mitigated.
I looked up the bond amount North Dakota currently requires before drilling can start on privately owned land: $50,000. There are other facets to the bond schedule that anyone can look up.
In 2024, the Biden administration updated for the first time in 60 years the bond requirements for drilling on federal lands, raising the single well bond from $10,000 to $150,000. Again, there are other facets to the executive order that anyone can look up. This is the executive order that President Trump is repealing.
As an aside, the Texas Railroad Commission is suing a company to recover the more than $5 million in state funds that had to be spent on cleaning up a super-polluting site. From the story I came across, a fracking water disposal company had injected waste fracking water deep into the ground. An orphan well nearby began spewing polluted water, as it had not been capped as required by law.
Make of this what you will.
A republic if you can keep it. says
They say all politics is local, so this is going to drive the cost of electricity further up. Florida Power & Light has the highest rate of shareholder profit in the lower 48 states. Bill 126 was going to consider affordability in their continued race upwards . The supermajority in Florida Legislature killed it ( I think it’s a republican majority ) it was a republican that wanted to pass this bill, but when you have 6 FPL lobbyists and another 15 for Tampa electric we had little chance . FPL has just written a check for $500,000 to the next governor of the State of Florida , the honorable Byron Donald’s who will surely have your best interests at heart ( after the private schools lobby which is also dear to him). So the question is how do you punish local elected officials who work for special interests and huge corporations? Maybe you don’t continue to elect them to public service. Just a thought. In the meantime you keep paying those bills , maybe spread them like FPL so kindly recommends ..
Pogo says
Good to see you back.
Free: Civics 101 — An Introduction, etc.
President Trump buys Netflix debt worth up to $1.25 million amid WBD sale
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/president-trump-buys-netflix-debt-worth-up-to-1-25-million-amid-wbd-sale/ar-AA1XxkJY?ocid=nl_article_link
I think, too, that we’ve got to recognize that where the preservation of a natural resource like the redwoods is concerned, that there is a common sense limit. I mean, if you’ve looked at a hundred thousand acres or so of trees-you know, a tree is a tree, how many more do you need to look at?
— Ronald Reagan, opposing expansion of Redwood National Park.
Ray W. says
During a recent Car and Driver interview, Ford’s CEO, Jim Farley, admitted that he had misread the post-COVID demand signals as Ford was designing the electric F-150 Lightning. Ford wasted years of development time and billions of dollars as a result.
Farley said:
“I totally would have done it differently. I mean, look, we didn’t know what we didn’t know. COVID totally was a false signal. Post-COVID and during the chips crisis that was a result of it, there was such high demand for all vehicles. If you could build a vehicle, you were going to sell it at 30 or 40 percent higher prices than before COVID. … I guess it didn’t take us long to learn that our internal-combustion-engine prejudice was so high that we hadn’t the [electric] cars right.”
When Ford engineers took apart a Tesla, Mr. Farley says he was “absolutely flabbergasted.” Ford had been designing EVs as if they were ICE vehicles. Now, Ford is designing a new line of EVs around a “lowest, smallest battery. Totally different approach.”
Make of this what you will.
Me?
It is the rare executive who can pivot his company away from century-old legacy car making mindset. Will it be enough?
At around the turn of the 20th century, EVs actually competed with ICE vehicles. ICE vehicles won. Internal combustion engines were developed to the limit of their theoretical efficiencies. But battery development did not just stop. Now, EVs are a match once again with ICE vehicles, but battery and electric motor development is nowhere near the maximum theoretical efficiencies.
Jim Farley was right when he said that EVs are having their Model T moment. The future is electric. The past is ICE.
But there is a second issue raised in the story.
At the time when President Trump was injecting into the demand side of our economy the trillions of dollars in unfunded stimulus money that Congress had ordered him to spend, in order to heat up a rapidly cooling economy, Taiwan’s massive computer chip factories were shut down, strangling the supply side of the economy. Ford couldn’t get enough chips to build cars and trucks. Neither could other carmakers. Mr. Farley told the reporter that any vehicle Ford could make was commanding a 30% or 40% premium price.
Does every FlaglerLive reader remember the claims by certain dishonest commenters that Biden alone was responsible for the inflation that peaked, year-over-year, at 7.1%? The pandemic caused some of the rise in inflation. Congress caused some of the rise in inflation. President Trump caused some of the rise in inflation. President Biden caused some of the rise in inflation. The Fed caused some of the rise in inflation.
The American economy still bears some of the structural scars deriving from the pandemic. Intervening policies of two administrations repair or tear at the wounds. There is no shortage of myopic and ignorant blame-throwing.
Skibum says
The bloated, bulbous ass, cankles ridden, purplish bruised, wrinkled emperor/dictator wanna-be who has attacked and/or invaded more countries than any other president in the history of our great nation will be long remembered for the extensive harm he has done to America and it’s citizens, for the damage he caused to our democracy, for his epic lies (most notably about his false claims of election fraud after losing the 2020 presidential election), and for orchestrating and leading an insurrection in an effort to overthrow our federal government. The only peace, or more precisely, piece that many Americans will utter in conjunction with his name is that he was nothing more than a “piece of shit”!
Sherry says
Not everyone can be “bullied” by trump:
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Spain’s Pedro Sánchez has once again emerged as Europe’s most consistently vocal critic of U.S. President Donald Trump, drawing his ire for refusing to allow the American military to stage operations for its attacks on Iran from Spanish military bases.
Trump lashed out at the Spanish prime minister on Tuesday, saying he would “ cut off all trade with Spain ” in retaliation for the affront. The spat intensified the next day when Spain’s foreign minister contradicted a claim by the White House press secretary that Spain had heard Trump’s message “loud and clear” and was cooperating with the U.S. military.
While denouncing the repressive government in Tehran, Sánchez said he would not back a war that he said was an unjustified assault.
“We are not going to be complicit in something that is bad for the world and is also contrary to our values and interests, just out of fear of reprisals from someone,” Sánchez said, using the slogan “No to the war” in a speech this week.
Ray W. says
An Interesting Engineering reporter built an innovative battery cathode manufacturing story around the 270-year-old Leidenfrost effect.
Johan Gottlieb Leidenfrost published his observation that water droplets glide without friction above a superheated metal surface.
Researchers at two of India’s universities collaborated with Australian and British university researchers to solve a physical restriction on the speed at which sodium ions could travel through battery cathode materials during charging and discharging cycles.
Lithium ions, being smaller on the atomic scale than sodium ions, travel faster through existing battery cathode materials. The hypothesis was how to create a new cathode material that would offer less hindrance to sodium ions travel.
The team set out to determine whether an iron-based cathode chemistry with a one percent infused indium presence could be combined with a phosphate-pyrophosphate mixture of the team’s own creation through application of the Leidenfrost effect. The result of the experiment was a “fused porous particle” that absorbed liquid electrolytes for “smoother transfer of sodium ions.”
Said one of the researchers to the reporter:
“We decided to build the right cathode infrastructure, an atomic highway, so that sodium ions could zip through.”
In a press release, the team announced:
“The optimized cathode material demonstrated a high energy density of [plus or minus 359 watt-hours per kilogram] and remarkable durability with stable performance over 10,000 charge-discharge cycles.”
Make of this what you will.
Me?
Innovation abounds. Ingenuity astounds. Research teams from every corner of the globe scramble for the next breakthrough that will make EV batteries safer, smaller, lighter, less expensive, more energy dense, longer lasting, and faster charging and discharging.
In this story, researchers greatly increased the charging speed and cycle longevity of cathodes in liquid-state sodium-ion batteries. The sodium-ion electrolyte chemistry was not thought close to maximum theoretical efficiency, but researchers seemed to have run short of ideas for cathodes, or so they thought. Now, the liquid-state sodium-ion battery chemistry is back in the mix.
Let’s face facts. Any EV battery with a 400 mile range that can be charged 10,000 times without significant chemical degradation means a potential 4 million mile lifespan. Graphene-aluminum oxide solid-state batteries are thought the Holy Grail of chemistries, but sodium oxide just took a leap forward.
Ray W. says
Qatar-based Albasmelter, owner of one of the world’s largest aluminum smelter complexes, announced the plant’s closure due to shipping strictures in the Strait of Hormuz; it then declared “force majeure”, a concept that preempts contractual obligations in times of extraordinary events.
Aluminum prices immediately rose some 5%.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
I have no idea where this will end, if it ends anytime soon. Ripples of battle spread in all directions. Unintended consequences unveil. Magical thinking pops up here and there.
Ray W. says
BYD, the EV carmaker that commercially introduced the lithium-ferrous-phosphate (LFP) battery to the world, earlier today introduced a second generation LFP battery.
The new battery can charge from 20% to 97% in 12 minutes, even at temperatures as low as -20 degrees C. Driving range is now up to 483 miles in one model.
Make of this what you will.
Sherry says
OMG! trump pardoned Jan. 6th “THUG” is now a convicted Pedo!!! Florida Magas, you must be soooo proud! And, NO. . . he’s not a migrant:
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Florida handyman who was sentenced on Thursday to life in prison for molesting two children had been convicted of storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, but was pardoned by President Donald Trump.
Andrew Paul Johnson, 45, is among several Jan. 6 defendants who have been charged with new crimes since Trump’s sweeping act of clemency for Capitol rioters. On his first day back in the White House last year, Trump pardoned, commuted prison sentences or ordered the dismissal of cases for all 1,500-plus people charged in the attack.
Johnson was convicted last month of two counts of lewd or lascivious molestation of a child and one count of electronically transmitting material harmful to a minor, according to prosecutors in Hernando County, Florida. County Circuit Judge Judge Stephen Toner handed down Johnson’s life sentence.
Sherry says
Kristi Noem FIRED! Yippee! One despicable idiot “Barbie” down, and one to go!
Ray W. says
In 2023, in order, in part, to replenish soil productivity by not growing crops, the U.S. government leased almost 23 million acres of farmland on 10- or 15-year terms.
I only comment on this because some oppose solar farms because they take farmland out of production, despite the growing use of agrovoltaics, in which farmers can earn a dual income by leasing their land to solar companies, yet still grow certain crops or still graze certain animals among the panels.
But what of floatavoltaics?
About two years ago, Duke Energy constructed a two-acre, 1,800 dual-sided panel floating solar farm capable of powering 100 homes on a cooling pond at its Hines Energy Complex in Bartow, Florida. The complex houses eight gas turbines paired with four steam turbines, hence the cooling pond.
From Duke Energy, the solar panels are more efficient when cooled by the pond’s water, and the shade by the panels reduces algae growth.
According to a Bloomberg study, some 6,600 ponds are suitably sized to contain a floating solar farm, as too large a body of water can produce sizable waves on windy days.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
It is axiomatic in the philosophy of science that the human mind can think of more hypotheses than can ever be tested. But if the complainers among us don’t even try to think, they might adopt arguments deficient on their face. American taxpayers for valid reasons keep tens of millions of acres of farmland fallow for ten or fifteen years at a time, yet people complain about solar farms taking up farmland. If American taxpayers are going to pay to keep farmland fallow, why not encourage the federal government to lease some of that fallow farmland to solar companies to offset what taxpayers are spending?
Sherry says
An overview of the billions of your taxes required for trump’s war in Iran! Is this what you voted for Maga?
The ongoing conflict in Iran, which began on February 28, 2026, with joint U.S.-Israeli strikes, has already cost the U.S. an estimated $5 billion in its first six days. Daily operational costs are estimated at approximately $59.39 million. If the war becomes a protracted conflict, total U.S. taxpayer costs are projected to reach between $40 billion and $210 billion.
Center for American Progress
U.S. Military Expenditure Breakdown
Initial Offensive (First 24 Hours): The first day of “Operation Epic Fury” cost roughly $779 million, accounting for 0.1% of the annual U.S. defense budget.
Daily Operational Costs: Maintaining two aircraft carrier strike groups in the region costs $13 million to $15 million per day.
Munitions Costs:
Tomahawk Missiles: Approximately 200 have been fired at $2.5 million each, totaling over $340 million.
Interceptor Missiles: Patriot and THAAD interceptors used to counter Iranian barrages cost between $4 million and $13 million per shot.
Drones: The U.S. has deployed over 1,200 “kamikaze” drones
In addition the cost of 3 fighter jets shot down in friendly fire:
Unit Replacement Cost: Modern advanced versions of the F-15 (such as the F-15EX) cost between $90 million and $100 million per aircraft.
Total Package Cost: When factoring in advanced systems and specialized equipment, the cost per plane can reach approximately $117 million.
Total Incident Value: Analysts and news reports estimate the cumulative loss for the three jets at $300 million to $351 million.
AP News