Things To Do In SW Florida

SpaceX has lined up more business for its human spaceflight program with a private launch from Florida that will take its passengers on a polar orbit for the first time.

The mission called Fram2 that could launch from the Space Coast before the end of 2024 is headed up Chun Wang of Malta, according to a post on the SpaceX website. Wang is an entrepreneur who made a fortune in cryptocurrency and an avid adventurer. Along for the ride will be fellow adventurers Eric Philips of Australia, Jannicke Mikkelsen of Norway and Rabea Rogge of Germany. Mikkelsen will take the role of mission commander and Philips the role of pilot.

SpaceX has flown 13 missions and 50 humans so far on its fleet of four Crew Dragon capsules, and was working on a fifth. It’s unclear if Fram2 will fly on the new Crew Dragon, but it will feature a cupola attachment as opposed to the docking apparatus needed for when Crew Dragon spacecraft fly to the International Space Station.

The Crew Dragon Resilience flew with such an attachment, allowing for better views of space and Earth, when it took up billionaire Jared Isaacman for the first time on the Inspiration4 mission in 2021. That three-day flight was also an all-private crew that orbited the Earth. He’s set to fly again on Resilience as early as Aug. 26 on a launch from Kennedy Space Center on the Polaris Dawn mission, also an orbital flight, but without the cupola, and instead a hatch that will allow for the first commercial tethered spacewalk. read more

By NICHOLAS RICCARDI, Associated Press

Donald Trump was once a cheerleader of publicizing hacked materials. “Russia, if you’re listening,” Trump said during a press conference in his 2016 presidential run, when Hillary Clinton’s deleted personal emails were a hot topic, “I hope you are able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing.”

“I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press,” he said back then.

That changed when Trump’s latest presidential campaign declared this weekend it had been hacked by Iran. “Any media or news outlet reprinting documents or internal communications are doing the bidding of America’s enemies and doing exactly what they want,” Steven Cheung, the campaign’s communications director, said in a statement on Saturday announcing that the campaign had been hacked.

The campaign has not responded to questions about why its view on hacking changed, including a query on Monday from The Associated Press. But its new position is a striking change from 2016, when Trump heartily embraced the Russian hacking of his opponent Clinton’s aides and the Democratic National Committee. read more

By MAE ANDERSON, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Small businesses along popular vacation destinations like boardwalks and piers in the U.S. say the number of tourists flocking to the waterfront is back to normal, meaning pre-2020 levels. But while the affluent are spending freely, lower-income vacationers are sticking to carefully planned-out budgets.

Sean Bailey, marketing manager of the SkyWheel observation wheel by the Myrtle Beach, S.C., Boardwalk and Promenade, said ticket sales for the 13-year-old attraction have exceeded 2019 levels since 2021, and so far this year are tracking slightly above 2023 levels.

Bailey has noticed that tourists buying the cheaper tickets – which increased from $18 to $21 this year — are planning ahead and buying online instead of walking up to the 200-foot attraction. A regular ride, or “flight,” on the SkyWheel, which has glass enclosed gondolas that seat up to six, takes 10 to 15 minutes.

On the other end of the spectrum, the costlier tickets have become more popular. There are $35 sunrise tickets and $109 VIP tickets which include up to four people and get the buyer a flight that lasts 30 minutes. SkyWheel also offers a $250 gender reveal package which includes a light show and a ride for up to six. read more

Delays and cancellations at airports across the country are sometimes unavoidable because of winter or summer storms, or even global technology outages.

So what do airlines offer passengers for the inconvenience?

All U.S. airlines are required to follow through on promises made in customer service plans and to refund travelers if their flights are canceled or “significantly delayed,” according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

“Each airline has its own policies about what it will do for delayed or canceled passengers,” federal transportation officials said. “If an airline has made a commitment to provide a particular service or compensation, then the Department can hold the airline accountable.”

However, airlines only have to adhere to their customer service plans when the delays and cancellations are “controllable” — such as for maintenance or crew problems, cabin cleaning, baggage loading, and fueling, according to federal transportation officials.

When flights are delayed or canceled because of the weather, disasters or air traffic control conditions, airlines do not have to honor any promises in their customer service plans. read more

Christi Carras | (TNS) Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES — When Hollywood writers went on strike in 2007 and 2008, unscripted TV production soared.

Scripted projects stalled during the work stoppage, and studios turned to reality TV — a cheaper, faster format that didn’t rely on writers — to fill the airwaves. Audiences began keeping up with the Kardashians and saying yes to the dress, and a new era of television was born.

But around the time writers walked out again in 2023, something strange happened.

“I thought because of the strikes there might be an uptick in reality TV because most of my jobs haven’t been union,” said Celeste Diamos, a TV editor who has worked on “House Hunters,” “Property Brothers” and “The D’Amelio Show.”

“In fact, it was the opposite.”

From April through June, reality TV production in the Greater Los Angeles area plummeted by 57% compared with the same period of time last year and 50% compared with the five-year average, according to FilmLA, a nonprofit organization that tracks on-location shoot days and filming permits in the region. (The five-year average excludes three months in 2020 when production shut down because of COVID-19.) read more