Things To Do In SW Florida

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER — SpaceX is all for human spaceflight, but also isn’t slowing down with its own plans as it launched its Starlink satellites with a mission Monday afternoon ahead of the planned launch later Monday night of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with a pair of NASA astronauts on board Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft.

A Falcon 9 launched at 2:14 p.m. from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 with what SpaceX said was another 23 Starlink satellites for its growing constellation.

Engines full power and liftoff! Go Falcon 9, go Starlink! pic.twitter.com/F3o8PhcOJP

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 6, 2024

The first-stage booster for the flight made its 15th trip to space with a recovery landing downrange in the Atlantic Ocean on SpaceX’s droneship Just Read the Instructions.

It marked the 34th launch of the year from the Space Coast with all but two coming from SpaceX.

Boeing’s 1st Starliner mission with humans set for historic Space Coast launch tonight read more

Walt Disney World has announced dates and some details for Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, the after-hours holiday event at Magic Kingdom theme park.

Not-So-Scary will be held on 38 select nights between Aug. 9 and Oct. 31 this year, Disney has confirmed.

A few additions and changes have been announced.  Visitors will have meet-and-greet opportunities with Bruno, the not-talked-about (yet sung about) character from “Encanto,” alongside Mirabel in Fairytale Garden. A new dance party will be called DescenDANCE in Tomorrowland, and it’s tied to a new movie titled “Descendants: The Rise of the Red,” which premieres on Disney+ on July 12.

Disney released images of new Halloween costumes for Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, which are green and purple and described on the official Disney Parks Blog as “neon spiderweb attire.”

It was also announced that there would be an increase in the number of villains seen at Not-So-Scary and that Mickey’s Boo-to-You Halloween Parade will have an earlier start time than in the past. (Start times have not been shared.) read more

Embattled South Florida-based Spirit Airlines saw its stock drop about 10% on Monday after it posted a first quarter net loss of $142.6 million, and blamed the declines on external factors such as “adverse weather and air traffic control related delays,” tough competition from other airlines, and continued civil disorder in Haiti.

The company, which posted a first quarter net loss of $103.9 million in 2023, also said the forthcoming second quarter will look worse than last year.

On Wall Street, investors responded by driving down the price of airline’s common shares to $3.35, or just under 10%. Earlier in the day, the shares fell to a 52-week low of $3.18. The year’s high was $18.44.

But top executives declared they’re confident they can execute a financial recovery plan they started after the collapse of JetBlue Airways’ bid to take over Spirit for $3.8 billion.

“While we reported a loss in the first quarter 2024, we are making progress towards our financial goals,” said Ted Christie, Spirit’s President and Chief Executive Officer in a statement. read more

A Florida hospital system has agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle allegations involving discounts offered to certain Medicare beneficiaries.

Baptist Health System reached the settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, according to a Justice Department news release Monday.

The news release said Baptist was accused of violating a federal law known as the False Claims Act by “knowingly causing its subsidiaries to offer discounts to patients to induce them” to purchase services from subsidiaries or for referral of services. The discounts were on patient cost-sharing requirements.

The Justice Department said Baptist reported potential violations in 2022 to the federal government and stopped the discount policies.

The settlement said it is not an “admission of liability” by the hospital system.

“The department will continue to rely on the False Claims Act to address the use of prohibited remuneration to induce federal health care business,” Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, said in a prepared statement Monday. “We encourage providers to mitigate the consequences of prior improper conduct by making timely self-disclosures, cooperating with our investigations and adopting enhanced compliance procedures.” read more