B-21 bomber production
The U.S. Air Force and Northrop Grumman are continuing their B-21 Raider bomber production, which has been done here in Melbourne over the past couple years. A new agreement with the U.S. government is set to supply Northrop Grumman with $4.5 million in federal funding to continue production of up to 100 bombers, with each aircraft expected to cost $700 million. With these additional funds, production capacity will be increasing significantly, as developments require a heavy load of workers. Including 8,000 industry and Air Force personnel for designing, building, and testing. The Air Force’s goal for the B-21 is for them to carry out and launch hypersonic attack cruise missiles,which is currently in its prototype development stage.
Florida is 181 years old
Nearly 200 years ago Florida became the 27th state to join the United States of America on March 3rd, in 1845, making it 181 years old this year.
Titusville to test nano bubbles to clean the IRL.
One Brevard city is going high-tech to clean up the Indian River Lagoon. WFIT’s Rick Glasby has the story:
The city of Titusville has launched a pilot program using nano bubble technology in an effort to improve water quality in the Indian River Lagoon. The system adds oxygen to the lagoon floor to break down muck and reduce algae blooms. Researchers from Florida Tech will monitor the six-month pilot program to evaluate its effectiveness. If successful, the program could be expanded across Brevard County.
NASA expanding project space in Merrit Island
Merritt Island's borrow pit is being considered for expansion from its current 11 acre size to 37.5 acres, nearly tripling the size, to support constructions from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Although there are concerns in regard to nearby eagles nests and on-site wetlands, developers say the project is not expected to cause distress to the surrounding environment. Brevard County Commissioners should be reaching a decision later today.
Bill to reduce out-of-state enrollment at state universities advances.
An effort to further limit the number of out-of-state and international students at top Florida universities advanced in the Florida House yesterday. But it hasn’t made any traction in the Senate with less than two weeks remaining in the regular legislative session. The proposal requires some state-funded universities to reserve 95 percent of new fall undergraduate enrollments to students from Florida. That’s an increase to the current 90 percent requirement for all universities.
National Reading Month
It’s National Reading Month and Brevard’s Early Learning Coalition has several ways they are promoting child literacy through a whole month of events hosted at Eau Gallie Public Library. Other programs such as Little Free Libraries, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, and other public libraries offer free access to books not only this month, but year round as well.
DeSantis’ vaccine legislation makes it to the Florida Senate floor.
Legislation to give parents more opportunities to refuse vaccines for their kids is headed to the full Florida Senate for a vote. But the version of the bill has not moved forward in the Florida House. With the legislative session scheduled to end a week from Friday, the bill’s future is cloudy.
In other news from Tallahassee, the Florida House passed a bill Tuesday supporters say would lower housing costs. The bill would limit how much cities and counties can charge for development permits, making it harder to deny certain housing projects, and make it easier to make land-use changes. Republicans touted the bill as a way to increase housing supply in unaffordable areas. Democrats worry it would take important development decisions out of the hands of local governments -- and lead to too much development.