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Weather: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 2pm. Mostly sunny, with a high near 90. Sunday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 8pm. Partly cloudy, with a low around 75.
- 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:
Palm Coast Farmers’ Market at European Village: The city’s only farmers’ market is open every Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. at European Village, 101 Palm Harbor Pkwy, Palm Coast. With fruit, veggies, other goodies and live music. For Vendor Information email [email protected]
Story Time on the Farm at the Florida Agriculture Museum, 7900 Old Kings Road North, Palm Coast (386/446-7630), from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m., $7 per person, free for children under 3. Farm-themed children’s stories, visit with the animals, enjoy a tractor-pulled wagon ride.
The Battle of Shallowford, a play at Limelight Theatre, 11 Old Mission Avenue, St. Augustine. 7:30 p.m. except on Sunday, 2 p.m. Buy tickets here (generally $37.60 for adults). The play centers around the dramatic events that unfold when the residents tune into Orson Welles’ famous “War of the Worlds” radio broadcast. The locals, who rely on the radio for news and entertainment, are thrown into a frenzy when they believe an actual Martian invasion is taking place in their own town.
ESL Bible Studies for Intermediate and Advanced Students: 9:30 to 10:25 a.m. at Grace Presbyterian Church, 1225 Royal Palms Parkway, Palm Coast. Improve your English skills while studying the Bible. This study is geared toward intermediate and advanced level English Language Learners.
Grace Community Food Pantry, 245 Education Way, Bunnell, drive-thru open today from noon to 3 p.m. The food pantry is organized by Pastor Charles Silano and Grace Community Food Pantry, a Disaster Relief Agency in Flagler County. Feeding Northeast Florida helps local children and families, seniors and active and retired military members who struggle to put food on the table. Working with local grocery stores, manufacturers, and farms we rescue high-quality food that would normally be wasted and transform it into meals for those in need. The Flagler County School District provides space for much of the food pantry storage and operations. Call 386-586-2653 to help, volunteer or donate.
World Cup:
- Spain v Saudi Arabia noon FOX Telemundo Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta.
- Belgium v Iran 3 p.m., FS1 Telemundo SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, California.
- Uruguay v Cape Verde 6 p.m. FS1 Telemundo Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens.
- New Zealand v Egypt 9 p.m. FS1 Telemundo BC Place, Vancouver.
| The Latest Jail Bookings |
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| j-260710 |
| Source: Flagler County Sheriff's Office. Note: the Sheriff's Office redacts or censors the names of migrants arrested under authority of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. The federal agency requires the redactions, according to the Sheriff's Office. |
Notably: In a December 2, 1987 column published all over the country, Pat Buchanan, who even then was maga before maga, bitched and moaned about what had become very clear by then: that Reagan’s prejudicial dithering over the AIDS pandemic needlessly delayed medical interventions, research and development that eventually stopped the disease from being a death sentence. Reagan would not even mention AIDS until his second term. Buchanan blamed “60 Minutes” and the rest of the media for a “cover-up” about what he considered to be the cause of the pandemic. We tend to forget how vile the maga mentality was even then, because it has been normalized so effectively. Buchanan wrote: “There is one, only one, cause of the AIDS crisis – the willful refusal of homosexuals to cease indulging in the immoral, unnatural, unsanitary, unhealthy and suicidal practice of anal intercourse, which is the primary means by which the AIDS virus is being spread through the “gay” community, and, thence, into the needles of IV drug abusers, the transfusions of hemophiliacs and the bloodstreams of unsuspecting health workers, prostitutes, lovers, wives, children.” Howard Ashman is not as well know, at least not by name, but thankfully the joy he brought to billions overwhelms whatever misery Buchanan spoke, even if Ashman was one of the victims of Reagan’s dithering and Buchanan’s vileness:
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.
July 2026
Flagler Beach Farmers Market
Coffee With Flagler Beach Commission Chair Scott Spradley
Grace Community Food Pantry on Education Way
Second Saturday Plant Sale at Washington Oaks Gardens State Park
American Association of University Women (AAUW) Meeting
Gamble Jam at Gamble Rogers Memorial State Recreation Area
ESL Bible Studies for Intermediate and Advanced Students
Grace Community Food Pantry on Education Way
Palm Coast Farmers’ Market at European Village
Al-Anon Family Groups
For the full calendar, go here.
Mr. Buchanan says: “There is one, only one, cause of the AIDS crisis – the willful refusal of homosexuals to cease indulging in the immoral, unnatural, unsanitary, unhealthy and suicidal practice of anal intercourse. . . . ” Isn’t that interesting? Gays are somehow responsible for the increase in the number of AIDS cases in the heterosexual population, the population of IV drug users and hemophiliacs. In a first-year college logic course this sort of argument is called post hoc ergo propter hoc or, in other words, defining something as the responsible cause of something else merely because it precedes it. Mr. Buchanan says nothing about the drop in new infections of AIDS or sexually transmitted diseases in the gay community. To the contrary, he makes much of the fact that President Reagan has spent more money on AIDS than Jimmy Carter did. Of course, he never mentions that the bulk of the money Mr. Reagan is spending is not on research or on education but on developing tests to determine who is HIV-positive, despite the fact that most researchers have said that testing could create a false sense of security for those who test negative, since there is at least a six-month period of incubation where the disease will not even show up on a test. So, what is Mr. Buchanan’s article really about? It is really about taking a swipe at the Democratic Party. Mr. Buchanan writes that “the national Democratic Party has pandered to the homosexual lobby by seeking to amend state and federal laws to make sodomy a protected civil right.” Obviously, to be against discrimination in the workplace, in places of public accommodation like restaurants or in housing is, in Mr. Buchanan’s words, tantamount to being a spreader of AIDS. Mr. Buchanan writes: “In 1988, the Democratic Party should be dragged into the court of public opinion an unindicted co-conspirator in America’s AIDS epidemic.” In logic, one would simply call this a non sequitur, a conclusion that does not follow from what precedes it. I prefer simply to call it a lie.
–From a Letter to the Editor responding to Pat Buchanan’s column on AIDS, Chicago Sun-Times, December 16, 1987.
Laurel says
Thirteen million dollars because he just couldn’t leave what wasn’t broken alone. Now we’ll have to spend a lot more to *fix* it.
Now, the paint from the no bid contract is peeling, and the water is no longer clear.
It is very much a reflection is what Trump is doing to our country.
Our 250th birthday. I hope we have learned something.
The dude says
The usual suspect will be here soon yelling about vandalism because that’s what the dear leader says.
Ray W. says
This is a thought exercise.
If Florida can be considered a traditional monopoly utility model, meaning electricity consumers cannot choose which utility supplies electricity needs and prices are set by a quasi-governmental regulatory agency, the Florida Public Service Commission, how does that model compare to Texas’ ERCOT deregulatory model adopted more than 20 years ago?
According to a story by The Cool Down, Texas homeowners are allowed to join what are called “virtual power plants”, i.e., electricity co-ops. Homeowners need to have solar panels and home battery energy storage systems (BESS). When electricity in excess of home needs are available, a wholesale energy buyer purchases the excess home-generated power and then sells it at fluctuating market rates.
Per the reporter, in 2025, a virtual power plant company named SUNRUN returned $17 million to its 107,000 participating homeowners, meaning not only were participants not paying electricity bills, but they were receiving, on average, some $170 extra per year.
One interviewed couple told the reporter that they receive an annual $240 “incentive” from SUNRUN, plus a monthly payment that has reached as high as $30.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
This being a thought exercise, can it be argued that during an extreme heat dome event or during an extreme winter storm, participating Texas VPP homeowners do not generate as much excess electricity as they do during mild April or October days? But, when batteries are fully charged and home consumption is low, this can be a real passive moneymaker.
Some 35 states, from another story, either currently allow VPP’s or have introduced legislation to do so. Florida is not one of them, though several “pilot” programs exist.
Innovation abounds. Ingenuity amazes.
Solar panels are only going to become cheaper and more efficient. BESS prices are continuing to continue to fall. Some 20 years ago, an average solar panel converted around 10% or less of the sunlight it received into usable electricity. Now, up to a 23% conversion rate is available to homeowners. GM, among other American companies, is pouring money into the manufacture of BESS installations.
Skibum says
Florida Power & Light fought for years trying to stop the influx of solar panels that provide electricity to consumer’s homes because it cut into FPL’s profits. They finally changed course and have now been squeezing into the solar market themselves, apparently thinking that will be a more profitable strategy in the long term.
Solar panels that provide electricity for homes and all of the associated equipment requires a very expensive initial investment. With the money refunded in your example from Texas above, I’m not convinced that enough money would be recouped by consumers to offset the initial expense for many, many years afterward. But one thing is certain… and that is whatever power company is marketing such an effort will certainly ensure their own profit margin reaps the most money before ever giving a cent back to consumers.
Bob Anonanon says
I want to thank you for the piece on Howard Ashman. (For some reason MS Edge blocked it but it was accessible through other browsers.) I met my beset friend in grammar school. We bonded over a shared love of classical music science. He grew up to be gay and one of the finest people I ever knew. We lost him to AIDS. I think I will watch “Cloud Atlas” again to flush some tears.
Pierre Tristam says
Moving stories all around. Howard Ashman should have his own monument at Disney.
Ray W. says
A common complaint about EV batteries is what to do with them when they degrade to a non-usable condition, usually to 70 or 80% of original storage capacity.
Battery degradation can occur from “lithium plating”, otherwise known as “solid electrolyte interphase.” As I understand the process, electrons are sized differently depending on the type of atom they are stripped away from to make electricity. Lithium electrons are large and can get caught in the spaces in battery electrodes, either the anode or the cathode. Hence, lithium plating, which degrades storage capacity.
Cornell University researchers developed an electrode bath that strips away the lithium plating. As I understand the process, electrodes are removed from degraded EV batteries and washed in a bath of 1,3 dimethyl-2-imidazolidinone, which wash strips away plated lithium electrons and restores the electrodes to 95% of original electron storage capacity.
Make of this what you will.
Innovation abounds. Ingenuity amazes.
It may come to pass that EV battery swap stations may be deemed the wisest strategy for EV ownership for two reasons. First, standardization within any industry can reduce costs. Swap stations would lead to battery standardization. Second, anything that extends EV battery life would reduce the need for recycling. If a swap station can identify the presence of a fully-degraded battery during a swap, the battery can automatically be sent out for a restorative bath, bringing it back to near-full usefulness and extending its lifecycle.
Ray W. says
In March 2023, writes a Carscoops reporter, BYD entered the British new car marketplace. It took 25 months for the EV company to hit the 20,000 mark in cumulative sales. Over the next 11 months, BYD sold 80,000 vehicles, reaching a 5% share of all British new car sales.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
When Ford’s CEO began telling those who would listen that allowing Chinese EV companies to enter the American new car marketplace sans tariffs would trigger an “extinction level event” for the American Big 3 legacy carmakers, does anyone think he didn’t know what he was talking about?
Ray W. says
The Independent is reporting that Canada has signed a $1.75 billion deal with an Australian radar manufacturer to buy an “Arctic Over-the-Horizon Radar”, which is an early-warning detection system that bounces radar pulses off the ionosphere to locate objects beyond the range of other radars, and by doing so, it spurned comparable American-made early-detection radar systems.
A senior Canadian official said:
“As the world adjusts to its new strategic and economic realities, I can’t think of a stronger partner to work with more than Australia.”
The reporter acknowledged that, for “generations”, American, Canadian, British, Australian and New Zealand intelligence agencies have collaborated in a “Five Eyes” intelligence sharing network. But Politico has reported that U.S. intelligence officials recently “locked out” the others from access to certain categories of intelligence.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
I agree with Ed P’s several arguments that President Biden had just as much political power to implement the policies he championed as President Trump now has.
No one can dispute that President Biden thumped Trump in the 2020 Electoral College count, just as no one can dispute that President Trump thumped Harris in the 2024 Electoral College count. The courts long ago decided any disputes over those issues.
Neither of the two candidates won the two respective elections by a landslide. President Trump gained a plurality of votes in 2024; he didn’t win a majority of votes. But if President Trump adopts a policy to restrict from allies access to certain categories of intelligence data, it can certainly be argued and supported that a plurality of American voters gave him that political power. Like many policy decisions, there are positives and negatives.
My position has long been that when an entire populace is treated like shit by a neighboring political leader, they tend to remember the shitty treatment. Am I wrong in thinking that?