To include your event in the Briefing and Live Calendar, please fill out this form.
Weather: A chance of showers before 8am, then rain likely between 8am and 11am, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after 11am. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 73. Windy, with a northeast wind 15 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. Thursday Night: A chance of rain and thunderstorms before 8pm, then a slight chance of rain between 8pm and 2am. Partly cloudy, with a low around 63. Breezy. Chance of precipitation is 30%.
- 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.
The Flagler Beach City Commission meets at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall, 105 South 2nd Street in Flagler Beach. Watch the meeting at the city’s YouTube channel here. Access meeting agenda and materials here. See a list of commission members and their email addresses here.
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.
“Godspell,” Limelight Theatre, 11 Old Mission Avenue, St. Augustine. 7:30 p.m., except Sunday, 2 p.m. Godspell is a vibrant, contemporary musical inspired by the Gospel of Matthew. Framed as a group of strangers who come together to form a joyful community, the show blends storytelling, comedy, and song to explore themes of love, compassion, forgiveness, and faith. Through energetic ensemble numbers and heartfelt moments, the characters share parables that illuminate timeless moral lessons, culminating in a moving portrayal of sacrifice, hope, and the enduring power of unity.
Evenings at Whitney Lecture Series hosted by the University of Florida Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience at 6 p.m. This free lecture will be presented in person at the UF Whitney Laboratory Lohman Auditorium, 9505 Ocean Shore Boulevard, in St. Augustine. Those interested also have the option of registering to watch via Zoom live the night of the lecture. Go here to register for this month’s lecture. See previous lectures here.
The Palm Coast Democratic Club holds its monthly business meeting at noon at the Flagler Democratic Party Headquarters in City Marketplace, 160 Cypress Point Parkway, Suite C214, Palm Coast. This gathering is open to the public at no charge. No advance arrangements are necessary. Call (386) 283-4883 for best directions or (561)-235-2065 for more information. For further information, please contact Palm Coast Democratic Club’s President Donna Harkins at (561) 235-2065, visit our website at http://palmcoastdemocraticclub.org/ or Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/palmcoastdemclub/permalink
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:In his pessimistic History of the World in 1979, the British historian Hugh Thomas described how Fidel Castro “consciously used propaganda, public relations, intimidation by television, thuggery, and intervention in the normal process of law to ensure the overthrow of a social order which was rotten, corrupt and neglectful.” Who’d have thought he’d been writing an early draft of Donald Trump’s “American Carnage,” as Trump back then was a 33-year-old predator about to demolish the Bonwit-Teller building so he could build his Trump Tower.
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.
And finally, if this young P.T. Barnum of real estate is so concerned about our pinched city budgets, why is he then suing the city for a $20 million tax abatement for the Trump Tower, a building on which he has already turned a profit of over $100 million – with more to come? Yes, one can see there are hitches. But shouldn’t we look at the larger picture? While other landlords – just the bad apples, of course – bring in goons and dogs and arsonists to drive out tenants, Donald Trump is only bringing in derelicts. ”I am sincere,” he says. ”I just want to help get some of these people off the streets.” We should be grateful. We should consider him for mayor.
–From Sydney Schanberg’s “Trump for Mayor,” New York Times, June 4, 1983.
Pogo says
Opportunities for all adults: automatic, no purchase necessary…
https://www.google.com/search?q=us+military+draft+to+be+activated+2026
Duty calls
https://www.google.com/search?q=combat+diapers
Dennis C Rathsam says
The Iranians, have never lived up to a peace agreement in 47 yrs! What makes you think they will honer this one? Mark my word… TRUMP & BIBI will be back again, I sure as hell hope not, but fools will always be fools.But what’s more important now is to indict all the Jackasses, from the Russia Colloosion liars. And lets not forget about all the Democratic FRAUDE, the cover ups, & crooked Hillary! To all you fools, standing on the corners protesting NO KINGS…. What did it get you? A sore throat, maybe a cold….Guess what TRUMPS still you president, & still ready to fight for America!
Skibum says
The current occupier of the WH offered varying justifications for bombing Iran. It was to prevent them from developing a nuclear arsenal, even though he previously declared that our military had completely “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear enrichment program last year. Alternately, it was to degrade Iran’s military capabilities. Then it was about regime change.
He didn’t put his case before Congress to get their approval because he knew that other equal branch of government would never have gone along with his war of choice. He didn’t present his case before the American people because his polling numbers were already underwater with the American public who were extremely dissatisfied with and opposed to his policies that have hurt every segment of American society and caused an affordability crisis in our economy since his inauguration last year. He didn’t consult with our allies or ask them to join the U.S. military attack because he knew full well their response would be not just no but HELL NO!
This president was goaded into being a complicit puppy dog and doing Israel’s Netanyahu’s bidding for him because Netanyahu needs the U.S. and specifically our money and military weapons much more than we need anything from Israel. Well, how has this war of choice worked out?
Iran’s nuclear capabilities have NOT been destroyed, significantly downgraded, or “obliterated”, because their stockpile of enriched uranium has not been touched. Due to our repeated attacks, their radicalized government is more likely than ever to want to build a nuclear weapons program. So, justification (or goal) #1 has not been achieved. While their military has certainly been degraded by the bombings, Iran still has a huge stockpile of ballistic missiles and many thousands of military drones to use at will against their enemies and to prevent any shipping from transiting through the Strait of Hormuz, if they wish to keep that body of water closed to disrupt worldwide oil distribution. Their military is still in charge of their country and Iran’s civilian population is still extremely limited in it;s every day ability to do basic things and has not been able to take control of Iran from it’s military, so justification (or goal) #2 has not been achieved. Although the bombing killed Iran’s ayatollah, his son who is widely reported to be even more radical than his father has been named the new ayatollah and the same policies and radicalized government is still in charge of the country, so justification (or goal) #3 has not been achieved.
In addition to the WH’s failure to achieve ANY of their stated objectives despite the pentagon’s farcical and exaggerated claims to the contrary, now the entire Strait of Hormuz was closed off by Iran under threat of blowing any ship transiting the Strait without their permission out of the water, because of the narrow shipping channel that oil tankers have to stay within and the close proximity to Iran’s deadly missiles and attack drones. There are no good options for the U.S. military to help protect shipping within the Strait of Hormuz, and that, despite assertions from the WH that “nobody could have predicted that Iran would close the Strait of Hormuz”, that eventuality has been widely predicted by military strategists and intelligence officials for decades, and is why America has never orchestrated such a nonsensical, poorly planned attack on Iran during any previous presidency.
Now the occupier of the WH is upset at our European allies and NATO! Despite NATO’s entire purpose being for DEFENSIVE protection, the president was desiring that military alliance to shift to an offensive strategy and preemptively join in the war of choice, which they would certainly have refused to do. So the occupier has even succeeded in alienating our closest allies and the NATO military chiefs! Bravo… well done! This military operation achieved nothing for the U.S. and left not only us but the entire world worse off than before because Iran is talking about having all shipping pay huge, multi-million dollar tolls if or when they decide to reopen the Strait to shipping.
We all know Iran is a bad actor in the world. Nobody can legitimately deny that. But since the arbitrary and unnecessary attack on Iran by America, sympathies for Iran have increased, while condemnation against the U.S. has skyrocketed. Iran is in a much better negotiating position, while our options are severely limited by the geographical reality that SHOULD have informed the president to listen closely to his military and intelligence advisors who’s jobs are critical for a president to make proper, informed and well thought out decisions that have serious consequences for Americans and our allies around the world.
Ed P says
Hello Skibum,
Isn’t the primary issue with NATO that some member nations denied the U.S. simple airspace or use of our military bases within their countries? We built the bases and man the bases for their security too. We spent trillions and then were denied. That was a low bar for helping.
To believe Trump trusted Netanyahu and allowed Israel to “pull” Trump into the war might be wrong. Since Trump monetizes everything, maybe Trump allowed the Israelis to foot part of the costs.
Finally, we both know that the public information being released is such an infinitesimal piece of the intel and strategy that it’s way too early to declare failure or futility.
Trump understands the mullahs’ belief that no one ever loses the fight until they stop fighting. Once the Iranian leadership coalesces and has the IRG stand down and the entire gulf region places economic pressures on the Iranian regime, reality should set in. They have lost but can’t admit defeat. It will happen organically given time for reality to reveal the truth.
I believe we just witnessed the very first rudiment AI war.
Railing against American success is almost like being at a packed craps table with a hot shooter ( has made several passes and everyone is winning) and you place the don’t pass bet. Even if you win that single roll, you are going to be booed off the table.
Ray W. says
USA TODAY reports that in late 2025, an international traveler was diagnosed in the U.S. with viral infection BA.3.2., a “highly mutated” highly mutated” variant of COVID-19. Months later, an American caught the variant. The variant is named Cicada, after the insect that emerges after years spent underground.
On March 14th, wastewater testing showed Cicada comprising 3.7% of samples containing COVID virus strains. By April 8th, the ratio had grown to 21.2%.
As of February 11th, wastewater testing showed presence of the BA.3.2. strain in 25 states, including Florida.
According to an expert, “I have not seen any data which indicates that Cicada is any more severe than any other circulating variants. … Severe sore throat is reported as a common symptom along with other typical COVID symptoms.”
Make of this what you will.
Me?
Here we are. The first SARS-COVID outbreak was limited to and eventually throttled in China. The second strain, genetically different from but distantly related to the first strain, showed up years later in 2019. Many of the world’s governments tried to throttle it, eventually without success. At first called an outbreak and next a pandemic, the goal became to prevent it via vaccine immunity from becoming endemic. That effort, too, proved unsuccessful. Now, the virus is endemic, mutating faster than efforts to contain it.
The flu, a virus genetically unrelated to SARS-COVID, too, is endemic, mutating in ways incapable of eradication by vaccines.
Make of this what you will.
Ray W. says
Interesting Engineering reports that just a month after BYD introduced its next generation Blade battery, a battery that can safely charge from 10% to 70% in just five minutes, and from 10% to 97% in just nine minutes, both record low charging times for EV batteries, Lynk & Co. introduced its own record-breaking battery, the Energee Golden Brick battery, which can safely charge from 10% to 70% in just four minutes and 22 seconds, and from 10% to 97% in just eight minutes and 42 seconds.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
Competition within the Chinese EV industry is intense. Breakthrough after breakthrough mark improvements seemingly every day. Batteries keep getting lighter and smaller, cheaper and more energy dense. Charging times rival refueling times. Ranges rival gas tank ranges. Battery longevity meets or exceeds engine reliability. And the future promises significantly greater EV advantages.
Ray says
This from an Africanews story:
Egypt recently announced the successful drilling of an exploratory well into a natural gas field located some 70 kilometers off its northern coastline.
Italy’s ENI and Great Britain’s BP entered into the joint venture, Petrobel, to drill the exploratory well into the Temsah Concession. Initial estimates of two trillion cubic feet of natural gas, plus another 130 million barrels of petroleum distillates, could go far in supplementing Egypt’s short-term energy needs.
From other reporting, Egypt, home to the Suez Canal, long ago developed a significant synthetic fertilizer manufacturing capacity to meet both export and domestic agricultural demand, meaning its fertilizer industry needs large quantities of natural gas to synthesize the refined fertilizer it exports from raw phosphates it obtains from Moroccan deposits, believed to be the largest phosphate deposits in the world.
Make of this what you will.
Ray says
Once again, pre-war estimates put commercial shipping transiting the Strait of Hormuz at greater than 130 ships per day.
An estimate of between seven and 15 commercial ships transited the Strait today, the second day that the Strait is supposed to be open. And the successful transits, per Bloomberg reporting, involve ships associated with Iran.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
Each day involving the wartime loss of more than 100 cargoes of many types adds to the supply snarls that are developing all over the world. These supply snarls will not magically untangle, should the Strait actually reopen.