Nonstop flights from Melbourne to New York.
Delta Air Lines will launch new seasonal weekend service between Melbourne with New York City. The flights will operate Saturdays and Sundays between New York's LaGuardia Airport and Melbourne Orlando International Airport. But you’ll have to wait a while: The service doesn’t begin until December, but tickets are on sale now.
Delta's announcement came just days after Sun Country Airlines announced it will resume seasonal service linking Melbourne with Minneapolis-St. Paul. Those flights will debut Jan. 22.
Goooal.
Professional soccer is coming to the Space Coast. WFIT’s Terri Wright shares the details.
Space Coast Pro Soccer has secured the rights to a United Soccer League franchise and plans to begin play in March 2028. The team proposes building an 8,000-seat, expandable soccer stadium as the centerpiece of a 53.8-acre mixed-use development across from Orlando Melbourne International Airport, featuring a training facility and 60,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space.
Fireworks are legal, but…
Since Brevard County dropped the burn ban, it’s legal to shoot off fireworks again. But conservationists urge us to spare our shorebirds. Fireworks and other loud noises can cause shorebirds, like the threatened least tern, to abandon their nests. Lighting personal fireworks on the beach can result in fines, starting at $100 in some cities. In addition to fireworks, unleashed dogs, beachgoers, and construction can also disturb nesting shorebirds. Both human feet and the paws of dogs stomping in the wrong spots near the dunes can cause nesting bird pairs to flee, leaving behind their young for predators to kill.
Tropical weather update.
The National Hurricane Center is tracking a potential tropical disturbance off the coast of the Carolinas. But meteorologist Andrew Wulfeck from the Florida Public Radio Emergency Network says the weather map may look more threatening than the situation actually is.
Forecasters began highlighting a region in the southwest Atlantic for the possibility of development over the past weekend, and it will be continued to be monitored through the week. The National Hurricane Center is giving the area a low chance of developing because conditions aren't entirely favorable. Dry air and upper levels winds will keep whatever develops off the coast of the Carolinas in check. The system will likely meander over the next week well off coast of the Southeast before it decides on its next move.
The only impacts at this point appear to be for those getting into the ocean, with greater surf and an increased threat for rip currents along the Atlantic seaboard for the Independence Day weekend.
Floridians accused of healthcare fraud.
More than two dozen Floridians are caught up in a health care fraud crackdown. The U.S. Department of Justice announced its largest-ever health care fraud takedown, involving 455 defendants and over $6.5 billion in false claims. Florida had a significant number of cases, with one Miami man accused of submitting $3.7 billion in fraudulent claims. That’s more than half the total amount of fraudulent claims. Ibrahim Khaldoon Hilmi, of Miami, fled the country after one of his companies, a medical equipment store in Delray Beach, was targeted. Hilmi was arrested in North Cyprus last week and returned to the United States.
