Brevard Schools Expands Weapons Detection to Middle Schools.
Brevard Public Schools is expanding OpenGate weapons detection systems to its middle schools. The middle school rollout begins at Central Middle School and will continue in phases across the district over the next several months. Installation of weapons detection systems at Brevard high schools was completed last March.
EFSC pays $250k to employee.
A former Eastern Florida State College employee got a $250,000 settlement after being fired over Facebook posts. Erika Santos alleged her First Amendment rights were violated when she was fired for comments about conservative influencer Charlie Kirk. This settlement is one of several in Florida involving public employees disciplined for social media comments about Kirk's death.
Midterm Elections Update.
Election day is one week from today. As of this morning just over 25% of Brevard’s registered voters have cast a ballot. 64,000 early voted and 47,000 voted by mail.
Early voting ends in Brevard this Saturday. WFIT’s Terri Wright has details:
Florida's general election is on Tuesday, Nov. 3, with early voting in Brevard ending on October 31st. Early Voting sites will be open:
Monday - Friday - 8:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Saturday - 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Voters will decide on races for governor, U.S. Senate, other state and federal offices. Along with three proposed constitutional amendments. The deadlines to register to vote and request a vote-by-mail ballot for this election have already passed.
Find answers to all your election questions at Votebrevard.gov
NASA is on track to launch Artemis III astronauts in summer 2027.
NASA held a news conference last Friday at Kennedy Space Center to provide an update on the Artemis III mission. The agency is targeting the summer of 2027 to launch three of the most powerful rockets in the world, NASA’s SLS, Blue Origin’s New Glenn and SpaceX’s Starship. Then the astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft will dock with the Blue Origin and SpaceX lunar landers. Jeremy Parsons, NASA’s Artemis program manager, called it the most complicated launch campaign ever undertaken.
Also at the Friday conference, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman explained why contractors at Kennedy Space Center are laying off employees:
“We will not outsource our expertise anymore, and we will deceive ourselves into believing that taking more time spending more money, and flying less will somehow make our work safer, or more achievable. We are here for the mission.”
Two major contractors at Kennedy Space Center, Amentum and Aetos Systems, have recently announced layoffs.
In other space news, SpaceX hosted a benefit screening of its Starship documentary last week at Cocoa Village playhouse. And during a Q&A session, confirmed they are still aiming to launch the massive Starship rocket from the Space Coast before the end of this year. And they are targeting a Starship booster landing back on the Cape using the recently built chopstick tower at pad 39A.
Beaches battered by winds and tides.
King tides and strong winds are leading to coastal flooding and erosion along Florida's Space Coast. Drop offs from dune crossovers got so high at Satellite Beach that the city closed all of its crossovers. Due to the current high tide and wind conditions at Port Canaveral, Jetty Park Fishing Pier is closed until further notice.
The National Weather Service in Melbourne issued a coastal flood warning until 2 a.m. Thursday, a high surf advisory until 8 a.m. Wednesday.
