Today’s Launch
NASA and SpaceX are set to launch the four-member Crew-11 mission to the International Space Station today at 12:09 p.m. from Launch Complex 39A. If delayed, the backup launch window is Friday, Aug. 1, at 11:43 a.m.. The Endeavour capsule is scheduled to autonomously dock with the station's Harmony module around 3 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 2.
Crew-11 will conduct a range of scientific experiments, several of which support NASA’s Artemis program by simulating lunar landing scenarios expected during Artemis III near the moon’s South Pole. Additional research includes studies on plant cell division, stem cell production in microgravity, and the behavior of bacteriophages—viruses that kill bacteria—in space.
Among the experiments is Genes in Space-12, a student-led project by grades 7–12, which will examine how microgravity affects interactions between bacteria and bacteriophages.
Desantis blasts teacher unions at Tampa roundtable
Florida has reduced teacher vacancies by almost 18 percent, according to Governor Ron DeSantis
DeSantis joined state officials in Tampa Wednesday to make the announcement, while also blasting teachers’ unions.
Governor Ron DeSantis celebrated the drop in vacancies and said the state dedicated over 5.9 billion to teacher pay increases.
DeSantis and others accused teacher unions of using teacher salary bumps as leverage to promote an “agenda.”
“You had six, seven, eight months went by, where some of these unions were holding up the pay increases for these teachers”
It’s a claim Rob Krete, president of the Hillsborough County Teachers Association, denies.
“We are 50th in the nation in teacher salary, we want to always find as many dollars as we can and have that flow to the employees that desperately need them.”
The HCTA is currently in negotiations with the school district.
Krete says negotiations are a struggle due to the late passage of the state budget, and because Florida’s Department of Education hasn't paid out districts fully for last year.
Median rent prices in Florida increased by $500 over four-year period
Median housing costs for Florida renters increased by almost 500 dollars from 2019 to 2023. That’s according to a new report from the University of Florida’s Shimberg Center for Housing Studies.
And of Florida’s 3 million renter households, over 900,00 of them are both low-income and cost burdened by their rent, paying nearly 40 percent of their paycheck on rent.
Anne Ray, a researcher at the center, says those rising costs come as more than a million new people have moved to Florida.
“There's been an influx from the northeast, from California, from Illinois. There's also been some people moving from some of the higher cost areas of Florida to places that, up until recently, were relatively affordable.”
The areas seeing the most migration, and spiking rental costs, are central Florida counties connected to larger metro areas like Tampa and Orlando.
Loggerhead sea turtle returns to ocean after treatment in Florida
An adult female loggerhead sea turtle named Pennywise and weighing 302 pounds, was deemed healthy and strong enough to return to the wild Wednesday after being treated by Loggerhead Marinelife Center.
The sea turtle was found injured along the Florida coast in May following a boat strike.
Because nesting season in Florida runs from March 1 to Oct. 31, officials are encouraging boaters to slow down and to be especially mindful sea turtle protection zone, which extends a mile off the coast.
All sea turtles are considered endangered or threatened species.
more: www.floridatoday.com
