Things To Do In SW Florida

By MATTHEW BROWN and MEAD GRUVER

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — U.S. officials in the coming days are set to hold the government’s biggest coal sales in more than a decade, offering 600 million tons from publicly owned reserves next to strip mines in Montana and Wyoming.

The sales are a signature piece of President Donald Trump’s ambitions for companies to dig more coal from federal lands and burn it for electricity. Yet most power plants served by those mines plan to quit burning coal altogether within 10 years, an Associated Press data analysis shows.

Three other mines poised for expansions or new leases under Trump also face declining demand as power plants use less of their coal and in some cases shut down, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration and the nonprofit Global Energy Monitor.

Those market realities raise a fundamental question about the Republican administration’s push to revive a heavily polluting industry that long has been in decline: Who’s going to buy all that coal? read more

Sanford’s Planning and Zoning Commission voted 4-3 Thursday to recommend approval for a Christian nonprofit’s plans to revitalize a historic property in downtown Sanford. However, the organization will have to get final approval from the City Commission before it can move forward.

Dover Plains, NY-based World Olivet Assembly wants to convert the 100-year-old Mayfair Hotel into a southern headquarters and missionary training center, with 27,450 square feet of office space, a 550-square-foot museum and gift shop, and 46 residential units. In addition to the main building, the headquarters would also incorporate an annex building and an existing pool on the property.

Before the meeting, Sanford planning staff declined to provide a recommendation of approval or denial for the project, instead deferring to the commission’s judgment. However, staff noted that the use of a nonprofit headquarters conflicts with two main visions that the city has for the property.

One of the issues is that the World Olivet Assembly may not have to pay property taxes, which would equate to an estimated $91,832 in lost annual revenue for the city, according to a staff report. The city’s comprehensive plan also envisions the property as a public use that would attract more vibrancy and pedestrian activity to its downtown. The use of the property as a nonprofit training headquarters doesn’t fit the bill, according to some commissioners. read more

The competition for airspace is just beginning as the space age kicks into high gear on the Space Coast.

At the center of it all is SpaceX, which seeks to bring its game-changing Starship to Florida but with a sobering cost, delaying as many as 12,000 commercial flights each year.

The company’s target of as many as 120 Starship launches and landings annually could cause regular conflicts with takeoffs and landings at surrounding airports, according to two recent studies, the FAA’s draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for proposed SpaceX Starship activity from Kennedy Space Center and a similar EIS from the Department of the Air Force for a second Starship launch site at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Elon Musk’s rocket company insists the concerns are overblown.

In a missive posted to its website, SpaceX said the so-called aircraft hazard areas defined in the studies “are extremely conservative by nature and are intended to capture a composite of the full range of worst-case outcomes, but not any single real-world operation.” read more

Universal Orlando Resort will reopen its Stardust Racers rollercoaster on Saturday for the first time since the tragic death of rider Kevin Rodriguez Zavala last month, but guests in wheelchairs must be able to walk independently in order to ride, the Orlando Sentinel has learned.

Zavala, of Kissimmee, who was wheelchair-bound, was helped into the Epic Universe roller coaster on Sept. 17 by Universal employees, according to the family. The Orange County medical examiner ruled his death as accidental and the result of “multiple blunt impact injuries.”

Attorneys representing Zavala’s family have angrily blasted Universal for statements that they say suggest Zavala’s disability played a role in his death. Zavala had spinal cord atrophy since birth.

In a statement, family attorney Ben Crump demanded Universal pause the reopening and allow the law firm’s experts to inspect it. If Universal refuses, the firm would “address Universal’s callous actions in court,” he said.

“Stardust Racers is evidence in an active death investigation,” Crump said. “Reopening the ride before our experts can examine every component is unadulterated spoliation of evidence, a grave risk to public safety, and puts profit over people’s lives.” read more

By Phillip Reese, KFF Health News

The health care sector is a bright spot in the economy this year, driving nearly half of the nation’s employment gains, but economists and experts say immigration crackdowns and looming Medicaid cuts pose a threat to future job growth.

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Employers added 487,000 jobs from January to August, according to the latest nonfarm payroll data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The health care sector accounted for 48% of that lackluster growth, expanding by about 232,000 jobs, even though the sector employs only about 11% of workers. read more