Lawmakers were stopped from entering Alligator Alcatraz.
A group of Florida lawmakers were barred from entering Alligator Alcatraz, the state-run detention facility for migrants in the Florida Everglades, Thursday afternoon. The Florida Division of Emergency Management, the state agency overseeing the detention facility’s operation, was at first hesitant to allow lawmakers into the facility. Ultimately, lawmakers were denied access. Denying access to lawmakers may run afoul of Florida law, which says members of the Legislature are allowed to “visit all state correctional institutions.” Meanwhile, the facility received the first immigration detainees Wednesday night. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said the detainees’ next stop will back to the country they had left.
Good news on NASA funding.
In Washington, Congress approved a budget reconciliation bill that includes nearly $10 billion for NASA human spaceflight programs. Of that funding, over $4 billion would go toward two additional SLS rockets, which had been dropped from Trump’s proposed budget. An additional $2.6 billion would go to complete the lunar Gateway, which had also been slated for cancellation in the budget proposal. The bill includes $1.25 billion to operate the International Space Station. And $1 billion is allocated for infrastructure improvements at NASA centers, including the Kennedy Space Center.
SpaceX is taking time off during this holiday weekend. The next Falcon 9 launch isn’t scheduled until next Tuesday. The launch window opens at 1:48AM early Tuesday morning. It’s another Starlink mission.
Closure of Palm Bay/Babcock intersection July 11.
Here’s a correction to a story we ran yesterday. The intersection of Palm Bay Road and South Babcock Street will be closed to traffic from 8PM Friday, July 11th until 6AM Monday, July 14. We had previously said the closure was this weekend.
Best thermostat temperature for the summer.
Do you have thermostat wars in your home? He wants it set in the upper 60’s in the summer. She wants it near 80 degrees. Florida Today talked with the experts, and they recommend setting your thermostat between 75 and 78 degrees during the summer. And if you’ll be out of the house for an extended period, bump it up to 82 degrees. Also they say ceiling fans cool people, not rooms. They can make you feel 3 or 4 degrees cooler. Set the fan to spin counterclockwise in the summer.
No fireworks on Brevard’s beaches.
With thousands of revelers expected to celebrate Independence Day on Space Coast beaches this weekend, environmentalists warn that sparklers, bottle rockets and the bursts of fireworks can harm or even scare to death nesting shorebirds. Many shorebirds have seen dwindling populations in recent years. It is, in fact, illegal to set off fireworks on Brevard beaches.
Florida hits the brakes on HOV lanes.
H-O-V lanes are no more in Florida. A new law that went into effect this week eliminated high occupancy lanes. There were about 50 miles of H-O-V lanes in the state. Most of those miles were in South Florida. The designation reserved the lanes for cars and trucks carrying more than one person and for electric and hybrid vehicles. But no more. A new law gets rid of the statute that created the lanes.
