Things To Do In SW Florida

NASA’s Europa Clipper mission to Jupiter’s ocean moon is not looking for life, but will see if life could be possible there. It’s a step that could help the bigger hunt beyond our solar system.

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy carrying the largest satellite ever built for NASA’s planetary science missions is set to lift off from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-A at 12:05 p.m. Monday.

Space Launch Delta 45’s weather squadron forecasts a 95% chance for good conditions, the same in the event of a 24-hour delay.

This will be the sixth and final flights of the two side boosters, as no recovery will be possible.

“NASA’s Europa Clipper mission will fill important gaps in our understanding of ocean worlds in our solar system and beyond,” said NASA’s acting director of its Planetary Science Division, Gina DiBraccio, during a press conference Sunday. “Exploring Europa is a high priority for NASA. One of our key science activities is to study how life in the solar system has originated and evolved. So with Clipper, we will explore the habitability of Europa in order to determine if it can host life.” read more

SpaceX made history Sunday on its latest test flight of Starship, managing to both successfully catch the massive rocket’s Super Heavy booster back at the launch site and return Starship to Earth for a controlled ocean landing, although one that ended with an explosion.

The rocket lifted off from SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, at 8:25 a.m. EDT.

It had a successful stage separation and while Starship continued on its suborbital trip around the Earth to splash down in the Indian Ocean, teams gave the go for the booster to make its first-ever return attempt back to the pad.

That’s when the booster shot back through its own exhaust plume it had created on the flight up, coming back in a supersonic return to Earth before a series of burns to make it nearly float in place coming in for a pinpoint placement adjacent the launch tower nicknamed “Mechazilla,” which was able to swing its two support arms called “chopsticks” to safely grasp the booster in place.

“This is absolutely insane,” said SpaceX commentator Kate Tice, watching amid cheers from SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California. “On the first-ever attempt we have successfully caught the Super Heavy booster back at the launch tower. … Folks, this is a day for the engineering history books.” read more

Despite warnings from two leading insurance rating agencies that Hurricane Milton weakened or threatened Florida’s troubled home insurance market, local experts say the market can manage losses from Milton and are ready to cover yet another hurricane, if one should come.

AM Best and Fitch Ratings each issued reports last week warning that Milton could stretch liquidity of Florida-based insurers that are primarily focused on protecting in-state homeowners.

“Hurricane Milton poses a significant threat to the Florida property insurers concentrated in the state that lack diversification and therefore are acutely susceptible to significant catastrophic events,” said AM Best in a news release promoting a report issued before Milton hit Florida on Oct. 9.

Fitch Ratings declared, “The Florida homeowners’ insurance market’s precarious position will weaken further with the destruction generated by Milton.” It raised concerns that Florida insurers are reliant on reinsurance — insurance that insurers buy from the global market to ensure they can pay all claims during active hurricane seasons. And it also said they have low surplus levels and concentrate their business in Florida. Those factors raise “questions as to their ability to raise capital following large loss events,” it said. read more

By DAVID KOENIG

Boeing plans to lay off about 10% of its workers in the coming months, about 17,000 people, as it continues to lose money and tries to deal with a strike that is crippling production of the company’s best-selling airline planes.

New CEO Kelly Ortberg told staff in a memo Friday that the job cuts will include executives, managers and employees.

The company has about 170,000 employees worldwide, many of them working in manufacturing facilities in the states of Washington and South Carolina.

Boeing had already imposed rolling temporary furloughs, but Ortberg said those will be suspended because of the impending layoffs.

The company will further delay the rollout of a new plane, the 777X, to 2026 instead of 2025. It will also stop building the cargo version of its 767 jet in 2027 after finishing current orders.

Boeing has lost more than $25 billion since the start of 2019.

Q. I am confused about the five-year regulations regarding Roth conversions. Can you clarify?

A. This is a question I receive frequently. I put the question to Sarah Brenner, an attorney with Ed Slott and Co., and what follows is a summary of information she provided.

The reason for the confusion is because there are two different five-year rules. First, there is a five-year FOREVER rule. This rule is related to “qualified” distributions from the Roth IRA. To be qualified, the distribution must be paid to the owner after age 59 1/2 — except when used for expenses relating to a disability, or for the purchase of a first home, or when made to a beneficiary after the death of the IRA owner. If a distribution is qualified, the entire distribution, including earnings, is tax-free.

In addition, a five-year waiting period must also be satisfied. This five-year period applies across the board to all of an individual’s Roth IRAs. It does not restart with future contributions or conversions. read more