Astronaut lands in Kazakstan.
Wrapping up an eight-month science mission aboard the International Space Station, NASA astronaut Jonny Kim returned to Earth on early this morning alongside cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky. WFIT’s Terri Wright shares the details.
The crew touched down safely early this morning, landing under parachute at 12:03 a.m. southeast of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan. Launched on April 8, they spent 245 days aboard the International Space Station, completing 3,920 orbits and traveling nearly 104 million miles.
While aboard the station, Kim participated in numerous scientific experiments, including studies on how bioprinted tissues containing blood vessels behave in microgravity. For more than 25 years, the ISS has enabled groundbreaking research that can’t be done on Earth. It remains a vital testbed for preparing for long-duration spaceflight.
Plane lands on I-95 in Cocoa.
A small airplane made an emergency landing on I-95 in Cocoa Monday afternoon. The plane wrecked a car on the Interstate, but there were no serious injuries. It was the second time within a month that a small plane touched down on a Brevard County roadway.
Locals strategize ahead of school board elections.
After numerous unanswered calls from the public for a town hall with members of Brevard's school board, a group of residents took matters into their own hands: Yesterday, they gathered to discuss concerns about the local school system, and to craft a plan for getting voters out during the 2026 election cycle. Key issues included the cost of school vouchers, the expansion of charter schools, and a perceived lack of transparency from the school board.
Florida lost track of 30,000 students.
After Florida cleared the way in 2023 for any family in the state to get a taxpayer-funded school voucher regardless of income, students signed up in droves. With roughly 500,000 students and $4 billion in funding last school year, Florida’s school voucher system is the biggest in the country. But by the end of the 2024-25 school year, the program cost $400 million more than expected. On any given day, Florida’s education department did not know where 30,000 students were going to school, and could not account for the $270 million in taxpayer funds it took to support them. It was money that school districts should have received, and never did. State Sen. Don Gaetz calls it a cautionary tale for other states. He has proposed an overhaul of the school voucher program.
Cocoa approves luxury housing project.
The Cocoa City Council approved a seven-story apartment complex. In addition to over 200 apartments, it will include a fitness center, parking garage, and first-floor retail space. The complex will be located on Brevard Avenue in Cocoa at the former site of Bank of America.
Florida Senate President says it’s best to wait on redistricting.
The House and Senate in Tallahassee aren’t coming together on a mid-decade reapportionment. House Speaker Daniel Perez has appointed a select committee to study the matter during the regular session which opens in March. Governor DeSantis wants to wait to give the U.S. Supreme Court time to decide a case from Louisiana. And Florida Senate President Ben Albritton likes the governor’s approach.
Sonny’s BBQ founder dies.
The founder of the Sonny’s BBQ chain has died. Sonny Tillman as 96. He opened the first Sonny’s in Gainesville in 1968. His chain grew to 91 locations across eight southern states.