Blue Origin to launch New Glenn Sunday morning.
Blue Origin has confirmed it - they plan on launching their New Glenn rocket from the Cape this Sunday morning. The two hour launch window opens at 6:45AM Sunday. This will be only the third flight of the massive rocket. The mission is to launch a direct-to-cell phone satellite for AST SpaceMobile.
In other space news, the Artemis II astronauts held a news conference yesterday, sharing their thoughts on their 10-day mission around the moon. Commander Reid Wiseman reflected on the astronauts’ creed - always to launch as friends, as land as friends. “
“when you live together in a small group for 10 days, it's a challenge. But I am here to tell the world we launched as friends and we came back as best friends.”
Confusion in Tallahassee.
Gov DeSantis is now planning multiple special sessions for Florida lawmakers, confusing some legislators. DeSantis has previously indicated that he’s holding back on offering his own proposal to reduce taxes on homestead properties until the moment is “ripe.” Meanwhile a special legislative session to deal with congressional redistricting, artificial intelligence, and vaccine mandates has been pushed back a week. It’s now scheduled to take place in the last week of April. But yet to be addressed is another special session to approve a balanced budget. That’s the only thing the Florida Legislature is legally required to do. They have to send the budget to the governor by June 30. One Democratic legislator said “it’s a sad commentary for the legislators not to know what’s about to happen.”
King crabs to the rescue.
Hatchery-grown Caribbean king crabs may help to restore Florida's Coral Reef. WFIT’s Terri Wright has more.
The first wave of king crabs was released into the Lower Keys reef last weekend as part of a restoration effort led by Mote Marine Laboratory, which aims to produce up to 250,000 juvenile crabs each year.
The crustaceans help control algae that can block sunlight, essential for coral growth and settlement. Florida’s waters are home to the world’s third-largest barrier reef system, but more than 90% of its live coral has been lost over the past 75 years due to overfishing, disease, algae and climate stress.
Outro: Laboratory studies have been promising, dropping the algae cover on reefs by 50% to 80%.
New first year teachers in Brevard get a pay bump.
Brevard Public Schools and the teachers union have finalized the outstanding compensation issue affecting first-year teachers. Under the terms of the agreement, first-year teachers hired by last October will receive $750 next month. The agreement addresses first-year teachers who were not included in the district’s recent 2% salary increase.
Cubans in Florida still favor Trump.
President Trump’s approval rating among Latinos has plummeted, except in Florida. A new poll shows Latino voters across the country are now extremely dissatisfied with the president. But Cubans in Florida are the exception. The survey by Florida International University found 71% of Cuban American voters broadly backed Trump’s deportation policies, helping make Florida one of the only states where a majority of Latino respondents supported it.
