Space X Launch
Despite strong winds yesterday, SpaceX successfully launched its first Starlink mission of 2025 and its second Falcon 9 launch of the year.
The company sent 24 Starlink satellites toward low-Earth orbit from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 3:43 p.m.
The launch was pushed out to the end of the launch window.
Florida leaning towards a ‘buyer’s market’ for real estate in 2025, Zillow expert says
The new year may see a market benefitting homebuyers.
Experts predict growth for the state.
Chief economist at Zillow Skylar Olsen says Florida is leaning toward a buyers' market.
That’s when home prices drop due to an abundance of supply.
“Of the top four largest Florida markets, we do expect Miami to continue to be the most competitive and appreciate 4% over the next year. But, you know, followed closely behind Tampa, then Orlando, and Jacksonville.”
High insurance rates are still a cause for concern.
And Olsen says it may be a top concern for buyers in 2025.
“Really appealing to them was affordable payments, right? And maybe they locked in to low mortgage rates, they’re feeling good, they’ve got this low monthly payment, but the insurance payments start spiking up.”
Olsen says homebuyers now are looking at smaller dwellings.
The word “cozy” was listed 35 percent more in Zillow listings last year.
Home insurance costs in Florida spiked in third quarter.
Home property insurance costs appear to be on the rise again. WFIT’s Rick Glasby has the story:
A South Florida Sun Sentinel analysis of the Florida insurance market in the third quarter of 2024 shows the average premium paid for a single-family home policy increased by 3.1%. That follows two quarters that saw increases of only 1.3%. The average premium to cover a single-family house in Florida was over $3,600 in the third quarter. That’s up 31% since 2022.
Civilian police oversight in Florida crumbles after new law kicks in
At least 15 civilian review boards across Florida, which review investigations of potential law enforcement misconduct after completion, have dissolved or temporarily ceased operations after a new law targeting the panels took effect.
The law, by Florida's GOP-controlled Legislature, assures that only law enforcement agencies will investigate reports of misconduct by law enforcement officers. It blocks outside civilian review boards from performing oversight in such investigations.
Oversight advocates warned it will damage community-police relations and diminish trust in law enforcement. Boards had fulfilled an important function in the community: giving residents an impartial way to review uncomfortable encounters with law enforcement.
A widely cited 2022 study by the LeRoy Collins Institute at Florida State University, found independent oversight boards seem to boost law enforcement transparency, resulting in “a net positive for both officers and civilians.”
Biden signs bill expanding Social Security benefits for retired teachers, public employees
President Joe Biden signed bipartisan legislation expanding Social Security benefits for over 2 million Americans, including retired police officers, firefighters, teachers, and public employees.
The new law eliminates the windfall elimination provision and government pension offset, which had previously reduced benefits for some individuals.
Beneficiaries will receive a lump sum payment to address the shortfall in their 2024 benefits.
However, Sen. Thom Tillis warned that the law could deplete the Social Security trust fund by an additional $200 billion over the next decade, advancing its insolvency by six months.
More: www.floridatoday.com