Things To Do In SW Florida

By JOSH BOAK

WASHINGTON (AP) — Top Biden administration officials were meeting Friday with port operators ahead of a possible strike at East and Gulf coast ports, with a union contract expiring after Monday.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su and Lael Brainard, director of the White House National Economic Council, told members of the United States Maritime Alliance that they should be at the table with the union and negotiating ahead of the contract expiring. That’s according to a White House official who insisted on anonymity to discuss an ongoing meeting.

Administration officials have delivered a similar message to the union this week.

The White House is trying to encourage the alliance, which represents port operators and shipping carriers, to reach what both sides would consider to be a fair agreement with the International Longshoremen’s Association. There is the possibility of a strike once the contract lapses, with unionized workers objecting to the addition of new technologies to U.S. ports that they say could ultimately cause job losses. read more

If weather cooperates, humans will be headed to space from a new launch pad on Saturday as SpaceX aims to send up the Crew-9 mission from its Cape Canaveral Space Force Station site for the first time.

NASA astronaut and Space Force Col. Nick Hague will command the two-person crew aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Freedom joined by Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov.

The duo aim to launch from Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 1:17 p.m. Saturday marking the first time SpaceX will have sent humans to space from a pad other than Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39-A.

A planned Thursday launch was called off as Hurricane Helene was brewing, and the Space Coast was both under a tropical storm warning all day as well as nearby tornado warnings. KSC reported a high of a 62 mph gust at its nearby Launch Pad 39-B.

The first-stage booster for this mission is flying for its second time and will aim for a recovery at Canaveral’s Landing Zone 1, meaning one or more sonic booms may be heard along the Space Coast and into Central Florida. read more