Things To Do In SW Florida

After more than two weeks grounded by the Federal Aviation Administration, SpaceX returned to launching its workhorse Falcon 9 lifting off early Saturday from Kennedy Space Center.

The rocket took off at 1:45 a.m. carrying 23 of the company’s Starlink internet satellites from KSC’s Launch Pad 39-A.

The first-stage booster made its 17th trip to space and managed another recovery landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions stationed downrange in the Atlantic.

Falcon 9 lifts off from pad 39A in Florida! pic.twitter.com/ozYLYUxCss

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) July 27, 2024

It was the 51st launch from the Space Coast for the year, with all but three coming from SpaceX. Including California, it was the 71st operational mission for SpaceX, not including two test launches of its Starship and Super Heavy rocket from Texas.

The company’s frenetic launch pace this year was ground to a halt by the FAA after a July 11 launch from California ended in a failure of the Falcon 9’s upper stage.

The failure was due to liquid oxygen leak that caused its second stage engine to ice over in between its initial burn and a planned second burn to raise its orbit before deploying its payload. No second burn occurred, and the 20 Starlink satellites on board, which did manage to be deployed, were at too low an altitude and ultimately burned up on reentry in the Earth’s atmosphere. read more

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER — The launch clock isn’t set yet, but the hardware is lined up for what would become the most powerful rocket to ever send humans into space during a moonbound trip the likes of which has not happened in more than 50 years.

The biggest piece of the Space Launch System rocket, the 212-foot-long core stage, crept its way into the massive Vehicle Assembly Building on Wednesday where work will begin to prepare it for the Artemis II launch set for no earlier than September 2025.

“The clock’s already started,” NASA SLS program manager John Honeycutt said. “We’ve got a great deal of work to do to get the rocket ready to go fly.”

The core stage sports four RS-25 engines converted by Melbourne-based L3Harris’ Aerojet Rocketdyne from the retired stock of the Space Shuttle Program. Two of the engines have previously flown on a combined 20 shuttle missions while the other pair are making their debuts.

Engine 2047 flew on STS-135, the final launch of the program on Space Shuttle Atlantis in 2011. read more

By Kimberly Palmer | NerdWallet

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The term “self-care” might conjure images of relaxing bubble baths or massages. But true self-care encompasses your finances, too.

“Self-care is about taking care of yourself so you can look better, feel better and be prepared for the future,” says Stacy Miller, a certified financial planner and founder of BayView Financial Planning in Tampa, Florida. “Financial self-care is an aspect of that. You’re giving your bank accounts a facial.”

Money experts say financial self-care starts with looking at your current money practices, then continues toward developing a solid plan for the future. And just like a skincare routine, everyone’s approach looks a little different.

Reflect on your past

Taking time to consider your “money story,” or how you grew up thinking about money, can be a good place to start, says Lindsey Konchar, a financial therapist in Minnesota. “Were your parents open about it? Were you taught anything about money?” she suggests asking yourself. read more

According to IRA expert Ed Slott (www.irahelp.com ), the penalty protection for missed required minimum distributions (RMDs) may not be as good as it seems.

The SECURE 2.0 Act, passed at the end of 2022, reduced the penalty from 50% to 25%. In addition, the penalty was reduced to 10% if the missed RMD was made up within two years, and the 10% penalty was paid.

On the surface it seems as though the new regulation offers a significant reduction in penalty. However, in the past, the IRS only rarely assessed the penalty. Moreover, even when the 50% penalty was in force, when the taxpayer filed IRS Form 5329, and offered a reasonable excuse, the IRS had been waiving the penalty, so it was rare when a taxpayer did pay the 50% penalty. The excuses that had been accepted upon the waiver request included incorrect advice from a financial adviser or institution, illness in the family, disability and death.

In the SECURE 2.0 Act, Congress referred to the statute of limitations (SOL) that determines how far back the IRS can go back in time to establish a penalty. With a normal tax return, the SOL is three years; the SOL is six years when the taxpayer understates his gross income by more than 25%. (There is no statute of limitation in cases of fraud, or when there is a willful attempt to avoid paying taxes.) read more

Florida’s record hot summers can be dangerous for some people and a new study puts numbers to just how dangerous those soaring temperatures can be.

The Sunshine State leads the country in the number of emergency room and hospital visits from heat illness and has more than six million at-risk residents and outdoor workers, according to a report released this week by the Florida Policy Institute.

The state saw more than 26,000 emergency room visits and 5,000 hospitalizations for heat-related illness between 2018 and 2022, according to the most recent U.S. Centers for Disease Control data compiled by the Orlando-based institute, a nonprofit organization that researches health, education and other policy issues.

Lives were lost, too. It’s estimated that 150 Florida residents died from heat-related illnesses between 2017 and 2021, ranking sixth in the nation. Arizona, the study found, finished first for heat-related fatalities.

Those numbers, as the Miami Herald found last year, are likely an undercount, with heat’s impact watered down in official statistics. For example, when someone is hospitalized for a condition worsened by heat, their provider typically records only the chronic illness as a cause. The new report also highlights that some Floridians, such as outdoor workers who may fear retaliation from employers for reporting an incident, are excluded from national statistics. read more