Still have Milton debris at your curb?
The county is making progress in picking up debris from Hurricane Milton. You can check the status of your area by visiting BrevardFL.gov. Yellow areas on the map indicate debris removal is underway. If your area shows green on the map, but nothing has been picked up, notify Brevard County Solid Waste. And black areas mean contact your local town government. The county’s contractors are only removing vegetative debris from unincorporated Brevard and certain municipalities.
DeSantis school board endorsements pay off.
Governor Ron DeSantis improved his school board endorsement success rate this week. Ten candidates he endorsed for county school boards won their seats on Tuesday. Including in Brevard County - Eight-year member Matt Susin won reelection, fending off Ava Taylor with a margin of nearly 20%. Susin previously served as chair of the board, which remains fully conservative. Nonpartisan school board elections will remain, as voters rejected Amendment 1 Tuesday, which would have printed candidates’ political party affiliations next to their names on the ballot. The races will remain nonpartisan on paper, although partisan endorsements likely will not stop any time soon.
Melbourne reacts to new lead and copper water line rules.
Recently, the EPA released revised lead and copper rules for drinking water systems. The revisions are intended to reduce the risk of lead exposure by identifying lead water lines and speeding up their removal. The City of Melbourne has been working on a comprehensive inventory of its entire water distribution network - more than 60,000 residential and commercial service lines. You can see the status of the pipes running to your home or business at MelbourneFlorida.org.
Medical pot still available.
Florida voters had the chance to make recreational marijuana legal for adults, but the amendment failed to meet the state's 60% threshold. However, medical marijuana remains legal thanks to a different constitutional amendment that was approved in 2016. There are 20 different cannabis companies set up with dispensaries across Florida. But you have to get diagnosed by a qualified physician, and get a medical marijuana card before you can purchase.
More skeeter spraying.
Brevard County Mosquito Control has extended its spraying effort through tomorrow to reduce mosquito levels. The spraying is being done overnight by planes. Since the bug swarms were caused by Hurricane Milton, FEMA is picking up the tab for the spraying operations.
Viera High School to light up track for public use.
Now that’s it’s getting dark earlier in the evening, running at night can be a problem. Viera High School will be lighting the track at its stadium for public use. The track lights will be on two days a week in December, January, and February.
How do astronauts vote from space?
Here in Brevard many voted by mail, others voted early, and some cast their ballots in person on election day. But how did astronauts aboard the International Space Station on Tuesday vote? According to NASA, the astronauts identify their county of residence, and the space agency gets them a digital version of the appropriate absentee ballot. Their address on the ballot is listed as “low earth orbit.” The completed ballot is encrypted and transmitted back to earth.