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WFIT's Local News Update November 18, 2024 AM

West Melbourne city council race complete

The West Melbourne city council race is complete, with one vote separating the 5th and 6th candidates.

Just one vote separated Adam Gaffney and Stephen Phrampus.

The vote for this race was different from other races, like a president, with whom people are more familiar. Instead, the full list of candidates running for the council are presented on the ballot, and the top five candidates hold the seats.

“This will be on the list of stories I tell the high school kids when they really don’t think that their one vote really doesn’t make a difference,” Supervisor of Elections Tim Bobanic said.

Climate change conference

The Florida Climate Conference hosted by the Climate Adaptation Center was held this week at the University of South Florida covered the topics Heat, diseases, air quality, mental health and migration.

The year 2024 is expected to be 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than in the preindustrial era, surpassing the previous record in 2023 at 2.45 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the 1850-1900 baseline.

According to Bob Bunting, CEO and chairman of the CAC “Believe it or not, heat is the deadliest weather phenomena in the United States. It's not floods, it's not hurricanes.”

Physician Ankush Bansal said urban planning can help to alleviate the heat, prevent more greenhouse gases from being emitted into the atmosphere, and benefit communities in other ways — things like green spaces: parks accessible to everyone, green roofs, and community gardens.

Warmer climate also means the spread of vector-borne diseases. Cases of dengue fever in the U.S. are three times higher than this time last year. And there were seven cases of malaria in Florida last year which triggered a statewide alert.

Author with the most books removed from Florida schools

National free speech group PEN America reports that more than 4,500 book books were banned in Florida in the 2023-24 school year, up from 1,406 the prior year and more than any other state in the country.

According to the state, the author with the most books pulled from school shelves was Stephen King.

Escambia County listed more than 1,600 books pending review as of December 2023, including 23 Steven King works, hundreds of popular fiction books and classics of literature, eight encyclopedias, and five dictionaries.

After a federal lawsuit was filed, the  county has returned the books, although many are now restricted, and some are still pending review.  

1 injured as Brightline train crashes into front-end loader

On Friday afternoon, a front-end loader driver was injured when struck by a Brightine train just south of NASA Boulevard near Hickory Street.

The driver of the front-end loader was taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Last year, the Florida Department of Transportation reported 49 people across Florida were killed in rail-related trespassing or crossing collisions. And nearly 80 more suffered injuries.  

Brevard team of Northrop Grumman engineers win 1st place in Red Bull competition

Engineers for Northrop Grumman at Kennedy Space Center. Recently won the Red Bull flying machine contest. 

Teams competed to build and launch human-powered aircraft over a 27-foot platform and into a pool of water. The aircraft that travels the furthest wins.

The team's aircraft itself was 43 inches wide and seven feet tall with a wing span of nine feet.

The aircraft flew for about two seconds, traveling 51 feet. Second place was team Jet ICU from Tampa, which traveled 48 feet.

More: www.floridatoday.com 

Terri Wright held the position of General Manager at WFIT from 1998-2023.