Things To Do In SW Florida

By JOSH BOAK, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Facing a global market meltdown, President Donald Trump on Wednesday abruptly backed down on his tariffs on most nations for 90 days, but raised the tax rate on Chinese imports to 125%.

It was seemingly an attempt to narrow what had been an unprecedented trade war between the U.S. and most of the world to a showdown between the U.S. and China. The S&P 500 stock index jumped nearly 7% after the announcement, but the precise details of Trump’s plans to ease tariffs on non-China trade partners were not immediately clear.

Trump posted on Truth Social that because “more than 75 Countries” had reached out to the U.S. government for trade talks and have not retaliated in meaningful way “I have authorized a 90 day PAUSE, and a substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period, of 10%, also effective immediately.”

The 10% tariff was the baseline rate for most nations that went into effect on Saturday. It’s meaningfully lower than the 20% tariff that Trump had set for goods from the European Union, 24% on imports from Japan and 25% on products from South Korea. Still, 10% would represent an increase in the tariffs previously charged by the U.S. government. read more

Orlando Science Center has a tripleheader offering coinciding with its $15 Day on Sunday. The museum will hold Great Outdoors Weekend, mark the first anniversary of its “Life” exhibit and play host to author Jessica Jane Robinson.

Robinson will be featured — along with her eco-superhero named Resilience — in special StoryTime segments at 10:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. in KidsTown. The focus will be on sustainability, waste management, ocean conservation and climate literacy.

Robinson also will host a 16-minute documentary titled “Story of the Cup,” which tracks the life cycle of disposable cups, at 2 p.m. Afterward, she will have a book signing in the science center’s main lobby.

Great Outdoors Weekend activities will include a terrarium workshop, an outdoor scavenger hunt, a session on sustainable gardening and the Tiny Green Home Tour.

The “Life” exhibit, which opened last year, features three distinct environments with sloths, Tamarin monkeys, songbirds, squirrels, fish and other members of the natural world. read more

Two-time space traveler and billionaire Jared Isaacman, president Trump’s nominee to be the next NASA administrator, will appear at his nomination hearing Wednesday in the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation.

The hearing is set to open at 10 a.m.

Isaacman flew twice on privately funded missions with SpaceX, most recently last fall on the Polaris Dawn mission on which he performed the first commercial space walk. His first trip to space was the Inspiration4 mission in 2021 when he led a crew of four on the first all-private human spaceflight.

Trump formally nominated him Jan. 20 to succeed Bill Nelson who led NASA during the Biden administration. Janet Petro, the director of Kennedy Space Center, stepped into the role of acting administrator after Nelson stepped down.

Below is the text of Isaacman’s prepared remarks before he will take questions from the committee members.

Thank you Chairman Cruz, Ranking Member Cantwell, and distinguished members of the committee. I am honored and very grateful to be here before you today as President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. read more

By MICHELLE CHAPMAN, Associated Press Business Writer

Delta Air Lines, which believed as recently as January that it was on track for its best financial year in company history, said Wednesday that disruptions in global trade have created such enormous uncertainty that it scratched its performance expectations for 2025.

It is a remarkable walk-back for the nation’s most profitable airline, and other companies are following suit. Hours after Delta remove its guidance for the year, Walmart dropped the first quarter operating profit guidance it had provided to investors, citing tariff risks.

Delta is cutting its flight schedule in anticipation of a slowdown in spending as businesses and households brace for higher prices.

“With broad economic uncertainty around global trade, growth has largely stalled,” CEO Ed Bastian said in a statement on Wednesday. “In this slower-growth environment, we are protecting margins and cash flow by focusing on what we can control. This includes reducing planned capacity growth in the second half of the year.” read more

United Launch Alliance has not had a rocket lift off since last fall, but its first one of 2025 is set to open the gates for dozens planned to proliferate Amazon’s internet satellite constellation Project Kuiper.

An Atlas V rocket is targeting liftoff at 7 p.m. from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41 on the Kuiper 1 mission carrying 27 of the satellites. The launch window runs through 9 p.m.

Amazon has contracted with ULA to fly up seven more batches on the few remaining Atlas V rockets in ULA’s stable as well as an additional 38 on ULA’s new Vulcan rocket. It also has dozens more contracted to fly on Blue Origin, Arianespace and even some SpaceX launches.

It’s part of Amazon’s effort to get 3,232 satellites into low-Earth orbit by 2029, and compete with the likes of SpaceX’s Starlink service.

Amazon’s license from the Federal Communications Commission requires half of the satellites be placed in orbit by July 31, 2026.

So far, Amazon has flown two test satellites — in late 2023. That paved the way, though, for operational hardware production at company facilities in Washington. Also in the works is a new satellite processing facility at an 80-acre site at the Kennedy Space Center’s former Shuttle Landing Facility. read more