Florida benefits economically from Artemis missions.
NASA’s Artemis missions have greatly benefited the state of Florida. According to NASA estimates, Florida has reaped more than 13,000 jobs and $3 billion in annual spending from the Artemis effort. Taxpayers have spent more than $100 billion on the program overall. NASA touts that every state has had a hand in the moon rocket. 25% of all NASA government workers on the Artemis program are based in Florida. Add in contractors and other in-direct hires, and over 13,000 Floridians were employed by Artemis activities. But that’s not the highest number in the nation: Alabama has nearly 23,000 full- and part-time Artemis workers.
The Artemis II launch in early April may draw up to 400,000 visitors to Brevard, generating $160 million in economic impact.
ICE arrests in Florida top the nation.
The pace of ICE arrests nationwide has topped 1,100 per day in 2026 at almost double the rate of last spring. Despite the ICE surge in Minneapolis, the Miami field office leads the nation with 120 arrests per day. The Florida field office has made over 41,000 arrests since Trump took office.
Ms. Dot to be honored in Washington.
'Ms. Dot', Dorothy “Dot” Linson, who has fed Brevard for 26 years, will be honored in Washington this Wednesday. WFIT’s Terri Wright tells us more.
Dorothy “Dot” Linson, the daughter of sharecroppers from Lafayette, Alabama, arrived in Florida with her four children on a Greyhound bus in 1960. While working at the Lipscomb Center in Melbourne, she recognized a growing need for food and community — an effort that eventually led to an annual Thanksgiving dinner that has expanded since its start in 1999.
Now 87, the Melbourne resident will be honored in Washington, D.C., by the Congressional Medal of Honor Society for her decades of service providing freshly cooked meals to children, seniors, and others in south Brevard.
Outro: The Congressional Medal of Honor is the nation's highest award for military valor and honors ordinary citizens and nonprofits exemplifying self-sacrifice and service.
Space news.
Rocket company Blue Origin has joined the orbital data center race. The company has filed plans for a constellation of over 51,000 satellites. Blue Origin argues that a satellite constellation is the best approach to meet the growing computing requirements and thus power demand of artificial intelligence applications.
In other space news, NASA's planetary science program, while spared steep cuts proposed last year, is still facing a funding shortfall that requires "strategic choices" about which missions to continue. That’s the word from Louise Prockter, director of NASA's planetary science division.
And NASA officials have discussed a new effort that would call for sending robotic landers to the moon as frequently as monthly. The landers would support development of a future lunar base.
Staff reductions at Brevard Public Schools.
Brevard Public Schools superintendent Mark Rendell earlier this year announced a reduction of 7% in staff. Now we know who is being impacted. The reductions will take place at the district level, rather than at schools. And not until the 2026-27 school year. In total, 75 positions are expected to be eliminated. The district-level reorganization will eliminate the chief financial officer position and create several new roles. Separately, some literacy coach positions are also being reduced, with affected staff moved to other instructional roles.
