Things To Do In SW Florida

By MICHAEL CASEY

HENNIKER, N.H. (AP) — When Hector Xu was learning to fly a helicopter in college, he recalled having a few “nasty experiences” while trying to navigate at night.

The heart-stopping flights led to his research of unmanned aircraft systems while getting his doctorate degree in aerospace engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Then, he formed Rotor Technologies in 2021 to develop unmanned helicopters.

Rotor has built two autonomous Sprayhawks and aims to have as many as 20 ready for market next year. The company also is developing helicopters that would carry cargo in disaster zones and to offshore oil rigs. The helicopter could also be used to fight wildfires.

For now, Rotor is focused on the agriculture sector, which has embraced automation with drones but sees unmanned helicopters as a better way to spray larger areas with pesticides and fertilizers.

On Wednesday, Rotor plans to conduct a public flight test with its Sprayhawk at an agriculture aviation trade show in Texas. read more

A loophole in state law has allowed Osceola County to label an area “slum and blighted” so it can create a special taxing district to fund road projects even though it’s never had higher property values.

County commissioners unanimously and without discussion Monday voted to set aside 65,000 acres to create the Southeast Infrastructure Improvement Area.

Osceola property appraiser records show the area has seen steady growth in property values over the last five years and will be home to some of the county’s most expensive master-planned communities.`

The district is made up of land that runs south and east of Lake Tohopekaliga, north and south of US 192 and includes the Royal St. Cloud Golf Links — advertised as the region’s premier “resort style” golf course. The move allows the county to use tax increment financing — a method of encouraging development by collecting increased property taxes because of the development projects within the specified area — to fund road improvement projects in that same area. read more

SpaceX has lined up the sixth test flight of its powerful Starship and Super Heavy rocket from its Texas facility Starbase on Tuesday aiming for another catch of the booster back on land and a first-time refiring of one of the upper stage’s engines while in space.

Liftoff is targeted for a 30-minute window that opens at 5 p.m. EST from the company’s test facility in Boca Chica, Texas, and would mark the fourth test flight for Starship this year.

Powered by 33 Raptor engines on the Super Heavy booster, it launches from the pad with more than 16 million pounds of thrust, which makes it the most powerful rocket to have made it into space.

SpaceX makes ‘absolutely insane’ catch of Starship’s massive Super Heavy booster

The last test flight occurred just five weeks ago, and marked the first time the Super Heavy booster attempted a recovery landing back at the launch site, returning to the launch tower nicknamed “Mechazilla,” and making a pinpoint thrust-in-place maneuver so a pair of support arms called “chopsticks” were able to safely capture it. read more

TALLAHASSEE — Florida’s state-run insurer paid homeowners’ claims less often than any other insurer in the state last year, with over half of claimants receiving nothing, according to an analysis by a Palm Beach Gardens-based ratings agency.

Nearly 17,000 claims, or 50.4%, filed with Citizens Property Insurance, were either denied for a variety of reasons or didn’t meet the policyholder’s deductible.

That’s more often than either State Farm or Allstate, whose Florida subsidiaries had the highest rate of closing claims without payment among private insurers last year at about 46%.

“For them to be at the very top of the range is unforgivable,” said Martin D. Weiss, the founder of Weiss Ratings, which pulled the data from Citizens’ annual reports.

Weiss, who has been critical of the insurance industry for decades, highlighted the high rate of claims closed without payment among private insurers earlier this year. Floridians had the worst chance in the nation of receiving a paycheck when filing a homeowners claim in 2022, the most recent statewide data available, with more than a third going unpaid, his company calculated. read more

Wicked: The Experience is up and running at Universal Studios theme park. It’s kind of a grand name for a tricked-out store, but the visual appeal is real and the space is browseable even for folks who don’t like musicals.

The “Wicked” film arrives in theaters Friday, and Wicked: The Experience certainly is a cross-promotional effort between Universal parks and Universal Pictures. There are dozens of references to the film’s Nov. 22 opening date amid the wide variety of film-related merchandise.

The space features “fanciful costumes and prop replicas created by the designers from the film,” according to the park’s news release.

Here’s what to know before you go to The Experience.

Which way is Wicked?

Wicked: The Experience is near the entrance of Universal Studios. The building is strikingly pink and green with jumbo images of film stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo on its facade. It’s across the street from the Today Cafe and the main souvenir store.

Oh, and there’s a yellow brick-ish road leading into the attraction. (In person, it reminded me of Homer’s tongue outside the park’s Simpsons Ride.) read more