DeSantis starts Florida’s version of DOGE.
Taking a page from billionaire Elon Musk’s push to cut federal spending, Governor Ron DeSantis on Monday announced a new DOGE panel that will review about 900 state positions, university spending, local government spending and the need for about 70 state boards and commissions. DeSantis says the “state DOGE task force” will be an effort to streamline government and continue to eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy.
“In Florida, we were DOGE when no one was even talking about it, before it was even cool to do. We have worked hard to make this government as efficient and as effective as possible.”
DeSantis didn’t mention that Florida already has a Government Efficiency Task Force approved by voters in 2006 as part of a state constitutional amendment.
Lunar lander mission set for Wednesday.
NASA is scheduled to launch a lunar lander this week. The spacecraft from Intuitive Machines will launch on a Falcon 9 from Kennedy Space Center no earlier than Wednesday. The objective is to place the lander near a crater at the south pole of the moon where a drill and mass spectrometer will look for the presence of lunar water ice. During the mission, a second vehicle, a standalone hopper lander, will explore difficult-to-reach areas in search of lunar ice. The one hour launch window opens at 7PM Wednesday.
But first, the Starlink mission scrubbed last night is scheduled for this evening. The four hour launch window opens at 10:47 tonight. The 45th Weather Squadron predicts only a 5% chance of unfavorable conditions.
Sea Turtle nest season begins soon.
The beginning of the month of March means the start of sea turtle nesting season. This is the time female sea turtles come ashore to lay their eggs. Wildlife officials estimate the vast majority of sea turtle nesting — about 90% — takes place in Florida. Andy Dehart is the CEO of the Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach.
“Through plastic pollution, plastic ingestion, entanglement in fishing gear, interference with boat strikes and unfortunately water quality issues, turtles are telling us that oceans need help.”
Dehart stresses that beachgoers need to exercise special caution to protect the endangered species.
“Keep your distance. Oftentimes we see people out on the beach at night with flashlights. Flashlights can be really dangerous for Juvenile and baby sea turtles, they orient to the light and they need the light off the moon in the water to orient to the ocean. “
He also recommends knocking down sandcastles and filling in holes before leaving the beach. That’s so baby turtles can have a clear path to and from the water. Sea turtle nesting season runs through October.
Proposed law to prohibit “chem-trails.”
It’s that time of year when Florida legislators propose new bills, some of which are pretty wacky. Consider Senate Bill 56, submitted by Illeana Garcia. She is responding to a conspiracy theory that contrails produced by jets are actually chem-trails, dangerous chemicals spread by secret government agencies. The proposed legislation would outlaw “weather modification activities.” The bill has passed its first legislative hurdle, after testimony from Marla Maple, President Trump’s second wife.
