To include your event in the Briefing and Live Calendar, please fill out this form.
Weather: Mostly sunny. Highs in the mid 90s. West winds 5 to 10 mph. Saturday Night: Mostly clear in the evening, then becoming partly cloudy. Lows in the upper 60s.
- 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 third annual Hang 8 Dog Surfing Competition in Flagler Beach is from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., at the South 5th Street walkover off of State Road A1A just south of the Flagler Beach pier. Registration for dog surfing is $20, registration for the costume contest is $10. All proceeds go to charities. The awards ceremony is at 1 p.m. You can register your dog for the Hang 8 Dog Surfing competition at hang8dogsurfing.com. See: “Hang 8 Dog Surfing Contest Returns to Flagler Beach in All Its Ridiculous and Timely Exuberance.”
The Saturday Flagler Beach Farmers Market is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. today at Wickline Park, 315 South 7th Street, featuring prepared food, fruit, vegetables , handmade products and local arts from more than 30 local merchants. The market is hosted by Flagler Strong, a non-profit.
Flagler County Public Library Book and Bake Sale, 9:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Flagler County Public Library, 2500 Palm Coast Pkwy NW, Palm Coast. Join us and browse the hard and soft-cover books, audio and video tapes, puzzles and a wonderful BAKE SALE! All at super-low bargain prices for the holidays. Stock up for the cold hard winter. Bring the kids, friends and neighbors. Pass the word!
Palm Coast Spring Arts Festival in Central Park: Palm Coast government and the Flagler County Cultural Council are hosting the Spring Arts Festival in Central Park in Town center from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. It’s free. The focus is on local artists. The day will be filled with art, music, food, and fun. Regional artists and artisan crafters will showcase a variety of mediums. Entertainment will be provided by local musicians and a variety of tasty treats will be available to purchase from food trucks. Admission and parking are free, so come out, explore, and support the talented artisans who make Flagler County a more colorful and connected place. Enjoy music by Planet e Studios and the Palm Coast Community Band.
Coffee With Commissioner Scott Spradley has been on a hiatus pending the completion of construction on South Central Avenue.
Democratic Women’s Club of Flagler County meeting at 9:30 a.m. at the Palm Coast Community Center, 305 Palm Coast Parkway NE.
Swing Through the Years Dinner Dance Benefit for St. Thomas Episcopal Church, 6 p.m. at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, 5400 Belle Terre Parkway. Join us for an unforgettable evening filled with delicious food and captivating music, all for a great cause. The fundraising event features the Pat d’Aguanno Jazz Quintet with food provided by award-winning RPS Catering of Ormond Beach. Tickets include entertainment, dinner, dessert, and soft drinks. A cash bar will be available for beer and wine. Additionally, a silent auction will be held, offering everyone the opportunity to bid on a variety of exciting items. Tickets are $50 and can be purchased after each Sunday service, from the church office, or by contacting Jodie at 386-517-8725 or Tom at 954-309-7836. The church office can be reached at 386-446-2300 or visit our website at stechurch.org.
Random Acts of Insanity’s Roundup of Standups from Around Central Florida, 8 p.m. at Cinematique Theater, 242 South Beach Street, Daytona Beach. General admission is $8.50. Every third Saturday RAI hosts Live Standup Comedy with comics from all over Central Florida.
Grace Community Food Pantry, 245 Education Way, Bunnell, drive-thru open today from 10 a.m. to 1 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.
Notably: It is quite notable, I think, that until March 30, 1981, some 70 days into Ronald Reagan’s first term, his massive first tax cut–the voodoo tax cut that would reduce the top income tax rate from 70 percent to 28 percent on the assumption that it would end up raising revenue thanks to “trickle-down” windfalls, when it cost the federal government $1.8 trillion over eight years and tripled the federal debt–had no chance of passing with a Democratic Senate and House. Dan Rostenkowski, the Democratic chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, had said so. Then John Hinkley shot Reagan, ostensibly because he wanted to impress Jodie Foster. Reagan had just delivered a speech to thousands of union members at a Washington Hilton. He also shot Jim Brady, who never walked again and died years later from the wound, Thomas Delhanty, a police officer, and Tim McCarthy, a Secret Service agent who threw himself between Hinkley and the president. Reagan almost died. The story told the press at the time was mostly bullshit. The bullet had come within an inch of his heart, he’d lose half his blood, and doctors for hours were genuinely worried they’d lose him. But optimism can work wonders, and if nothing else–and really, as Margaret Thatcher once said after speaking to him, pointing a finger at her head, “there’s nothing there”–Reagan’s cheer was superhuman. He never lost that cheer during the ordeal: the one liners he came off with (“I forgot to duck,” that one cribbed from a movie, or, what he told a nurse as he lay bleeding: “Does Nancy know about us?”) were real. I’ve never liked Reagan, but as one get to know his charms, liking him is easy, at least in silos. The rest of him is another story. And after that assassination attempt and the sort of recovery he showed the country, there was no chance that Congress would not pass his tax bill. It was messy, ugly, irresponsible as hell and ruinous. But on July 29, 1981, it passed it, in a 238-195 vote in the House, with 48 Democrats joining the minority Republicans to do it, and an 89-11 vote in the Senate. It was, in truth, the John Hinkley Tax Bill.
—P.T.
Now this:
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.
May 2025
Saturday, May 17
Hang 8 Dog Surfing Competition in Flagler Beach
South 5th Street Dune Walkover
Saturday, May 17
Flagler Beach Farmers Market
315 South 7th Street, Flagler Beach
Saturday, May 17
Coffee With Flagler Beach Commission Chair Scott Spradley
Law Office of Scott Spradley
Saturday, May 17
Democratic Women’s Club
Palm Coast Community Center
Saturday, May 17
Flagler County Public Library Book and Bake Sale
Flagler County Public Library
Saturday, May 17
Grace Community Food Pantry on Education Way
Flagler School District Bus Depot
Saturday, May 17
Palm Coast Spring Arts Festival
Central Park in Town Center
Saturday, May 17
Swing Through the Years Dinner Dance Benefit for St. Thomas Episcopal Church
St Thomas Episcopal Church
Saturday, May 17
Random Acts of Insanity’s Roundup of Standups from Around Central Florida
Cinematique of Daytona Beach
Sunday, May 18
ESL Bible Studies for Intermediate and Advanced Students
Grace Presbyterian Church
Sunday, May 18
Troop 472 Summer Camp Car Show and Fundraiser
Central Park in Town Center
Sunday, May 18
Grace Community Food Pantry on Education Way
Flagler School District Bus Depot
Sunday, May 18
Palm Coast Farmers’ Market at European Village
Sunday, May 18
Al-Anon Family Groups
No event found!
For the full calendar, go here.
This was Ronald Reagan’s finest hour. He had survived the shooting with his sense of humor intact. If, as Ernest Hemingway said, “Courage is grace under pressure,” Reagan had exhibited impressive courage. Ironically, Al Haig, a four-star general, had buckled under the stress, but the former actor who had been shot had not. A Culver City Commando during World War II, Reagan was doing a credible imitation of the way stoical, wisecracking tough guys behaved in war movies. Only this was no movie; the blood was real and so was the pain. “Getting shot hurts,” he wrote matter-of factly in his diary. His conduct after he was nearly killed at age seventy was his most impressive display of heroism since he had pulled seventy-seven people from the Rock River as a teenage lifeguard. “He was really magnificent,” said his brother-in-law, Dr. Richard Davis, who visited him in the hospital. “His attitude was absolutely marvelous.”
–From Max Boot’s Reagan: His Life and Legend (2024).
The Cartoon and Live Briefing Archive.
