Florida
Bulldozers, Cows Face Off In Florida’s Fastest Growing County
Polk County, Florida land as soon as lined with orange groves is now being ready for improvement by … [+]
For many of the 20th Century, the point out of Florida municipalities Lakeland and Winter Haven obtained people pondering springtime and the crack of a bat on a baseball.
Generations of Northerners journeyed south every March to catch the Detroit Tigers of their spring coaching dwelling of Lakeland, and the Boston Purple Sox (and later Cleveland Indians) of their Grapefruit League hang-out of Winter Haven. When not catching baseball guests usually discovered their method to Cypress Gardens, close to Winter Haven. Referred to as the Sunshine State’s first theme park, Cypress Gardens operated for greater than three-quarters of a century, its triple-threat sights of botanic gardens, water ski exhibits and crinoline-adorned “Southern Belles” luring 1000’s of holiday makers every year.
The remainder of the yr, Lakeland and Winter Haven eased into their personas as sleepy bed room communities pocked by an occasional Ruby Tuesday or gun vary.
In Polk County, the place Lakeland and Winter Haven are located, these relaxed, rural days will very quickly be not more than a reminiscence. Polk is Florida’s fastest-growing county, and the fifth fastest-growing within the U.S. Proximity to Tampa and Orlando is luring builders with the prospect of buying extra reasonably priced land to construct attainable houses. Greater than 13,000 constructing permits have been accredited in Polk County final yr alone. And within the Polk County metropolis of Lake Wales, no fewer than 30 tasks now are awaiting numerous phases of approval.
When people conjure up photos of the Sunshine State, they’re not prone to assume first of Lakeland, Winter Haven and Lake Wales, says Gary Ralston, managing accomplice at Lakeland-based SVN l Saunders Ralston Dantzler Actual Property.
However Ralston believes that could be altering within the close to future given the quantity of improvement happening in these cities. “Their shut proximity to Tampa and Orlando is considered one of their most vital belongings, particularly as extra employers implement hybrid work fashions,” he says. “Within the subsequent 5 years, these communities will look very completely different with addition of deliberate communities, city facilities and new logistic and distribution amenities in undeveloped areas.”
Early adopter
Amongst those that acknowledged the potential of Polk County early was the CEO of South Florida-based BTI Companions, Noah Breakstone, who acquired a big tract of land within the county shortly after the Nice Recession eased to a conclusion a dozen years in the past.
Per the corporate’s customary method, BTI Companions constructed the infrastructure and bought tracts of land to builders of business, multifamily and retail actual property. Following that effort, the event agency bought 1,100 acres in Lake Wales with the intention of creating a master-planned group. After the permits are pulled and needed infrastructure put in, acreage will probably be bought to dwelling builders, who will be capable to develop each reasonably priced starter and higher-priced move-up houses.
“With excessive rates of interest and inflation rising, households are searching for housing alternatives in new bed room communities that provide them consolation at a value they will afford lower than an hour away from their jobs in Tampa or Orlando,” Breakstone says. “In most Florida cities, housing costs are out of step with the basics, so Polk County affords an answer.”
Precipitating components
Serving to to place Polk County on builders’ maps are two components. First, a generational shift is convincing youthful members of Central Florida households which have owned ranches for a century to promote these homesteads, enabling funding elsewhere. Second, a four-decade-long slide within the state’s citrus trade — introduced on by freezes, illness and floods — has pressured farmers to hawk acreage piecemeal to maintain their citrus operations. This season’s harvest is poised to be the smallest since 1943.
Dean Saunders, managing accomplice at SVN l Saunders Ralston Dantzler Actual Property, has added up adjustments making Polk’s growth a actuality. “It’s nearly an ideal storm of occasions the place you may have loads of land coming in the marketplace, a house affordability disaster, local weather change making storms stronger and folks desirous to dwell inland in addition to the expansion of the Tampa and Orlando markets which are fueling the expansion,” he says.
ORLANDO, Fla. – Florida is gearing up for a busy 2025 in space exploration, with a packed schedule of rocket launches planned. From high-profile NASA missions to ambitious commercial projects, the launches are poised to push the boundaries of space exploration and technology.
Here is a list of the scheduled and projected missions for 2025:
January
Thuraya 4-NGS:
Thuraya 4-NGS is a communication satellite built by Airbus Defense and Space for the UAE-based Yahsat. The satellite will incorporate a 12-meter L-band antenna and a payload with on-board processing. This processing will provide advanced routing flexibility of up to 3200 channels with dynamic power allocation over many spot beams.
Rocket: SpaceX Falcon 9
Scheduled: January 2, 2025 | 12 a.m. – 12:53 a.m.
SpainSat NG I:
SpainSat NG I is the first of two ‘new-generation’ satellites built by Airbus. These satellites were created to secure communications with the Spanish government, their allies and other international organizations.
Rocket: SpaceX Falcon 9
Scheduled: January 27, 2025 | 11 p.m.
Blue Ghost Lunar Lander Mission 1 & Hakuto-R M2 “Resilience”:
Blue Ghost is a commercial lunar lander by Firefly Aerospace for NASA’s CLPS program. It can carry up to 155 kg of payload to the Moon and will land in the Crisium Basin’s Mare Crisium. The mission is designed to last 14 days before the lander succumbs to the lunar night.
Resilience is the second mission of the Hakuto-R lunar lander, developed by the Japanese company ispace. The lander will carry a small rover designed to study the Moon’s surface. As part of a 2020 NASA contract, the rover will also collect lunar soil (regolith) and transfer its ownership to NASA directly on the Moon.
Rocket: SpaceX Falcon 9
Projected: January 2025
Starlink Group 12-3:
A batch of satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation – SpaceX’s project for space-based Internet communication system.
Rocket: SpaceX Falcon 9
Projected: January 2025
February
Nova-C IM-2:
This will be the second mission for the Nova-C lunar lander, which was developed and built by Intuitive Machines. This mission will carry a NASA payload called PRIME-1, known as the “Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1”. PRIME-1 is anticipated to be the first demonstration of in-situ resource utilization on the Moon. In-situ resource utilization is the practice of using materials found on other planets or moons to create consumables for human or autonomous activities.
Rocket: SpaceX Falcon 9
Scheduled: February 27, 2025 | Time TBD
CAPE CANAVERAL, FL: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft onboard is seen as it is raised into a vertical position on the launch pad (Photo by Joel Kowsky/NASA via Getty Images). (Getty Images)
Bandwagon 3:
A dedicated rideshare mission delivering dozens of microsatellites and nanosatellites to a mid-inclination orbit, serving both commercial and government customers.
Rocket: SpaceX Falcon 9
Projected: February 2025
Transporter 13:
A dedicated rideshare mission transporting dozens of microsatellites and nanosatellites to a sun-synchronous orbit, supporting both commercial and government customers.
Rocket: SpaceX Falcon 9
Projected: February 2025
March
Crew-10:
SpaceX Crew-10 is the tenth crewed operational flight of a Crew Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.
- Commander: Anne McClain (American)
- Pilot: Nichole Ayers (American)
- Mission Specialist: Kirill Peskov (Russian)
- Mission Specialist: Takuya Onishi (Japanese)
Rocket: SpaceX Falcon 9
Scheduled: March 25, 2025 | Time TBD
Blue Moon Pathfinder:
First flight of Blue Origin’s Blue Moon MK1 lunar lander which focuses on robotic exploration.
Rocket: Blue Origin New Glenn
Projected: March 2025
A Blue Origin New Shepard rocket launches from Launch Site One in West Texas north of Van Horn on March 31, 2022. The NS-20 mission carries Blue Origin’s New Shepard Chief Architect Gary Lai, Marty Allen, Sharon Hagle, Marc Hagle, Jim Kitchen, and Dr
Project Kuiper (Atlas V #2):
Project Kuiper is a mega constellation of satellites in Low Earth Orbit that will offer broadband internet access, this constellation will be managed by Kuiper Systems LLC, a subsidiary of Amazon. This constellation is planned to be composed of 3,276 satellites. The satellites are projected to be placed in 98 orbital planes in three orbital layers, one at 590 km, 610 km and 630 km altitude.
Rocket: United Launch Alliance Atlas V 551
Projected: March 2025
Fram2:
Fram2, the first astronaut mission to polar orbit, will launch from Florida aboard a Crew Dragon spacecraft, named after the Norwegian polar research ship Fram. The mission will reach a 90° circular orbit at an altitude of 425–450 km, marking the first human spaceflight over Earth’s polar regions from low-Earth orbit. Equipped with a cupola for Earth observation, the 3-to-5-day mission will study atmospheric phenomena like STEVE (Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement) and conduct research on the effects of spaceflight on the human body, including capturing the first x-ray images in space and examining behavioral health. The crew includes Chun Wang as mission commander, Jannicke Mikkelsen as vehicle commander, Eric Philips as pilot, and Rabea Rogge as mission specialist.
Rocket: SpaceX Falcon 9
Projected: March 2025
ViaSat-3 EMEA:
The ViaSat-3 series consists of three advanced Ka-band satellites designed to deliver exceptional service speed and flexibility. Each satellite is capable of providing over 1 Terabit per second of network capacity, with the ability to dynamically allocate bandwidth to areas with the highest customer demand.
Rocket: United Launch Alliance Atlas V 551
Projected: March 2025
Dragon CRS-2 SpX-32:
The 32nd commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station, operated by SpaceX under NASA’s second Commercial Resupply Services contract, will use the Cargo Dragon 2 spacecraft. It will deliver supplies and critical materials to support ongoing science and research aboard the orbiting laboratory.
Rocket: SpaceX Falcon 9
Projected: March 2025
April
Axiom Space Mission 4:
This mission is a Crew Dragon flight for Axiom Space. The mission will carry a professional commander and three astronauts to the International Space Station. The crew will stay aboard the space station for at least eight days.
Rocket: SpaceX Falcon 9
Projected: April 2025
May
Bandwagon 4:
This mission is a dedicated rideshare flight to a mid-inclination orbit with dozens of small microsatellites and nanosatellites for commercial and government customers.
Rocket: SpaceX Falcon 9
Projected: May 2025
Dream Chaser CRS 2 Flight 1:
First flight of the Dream Chaser Spaceplane to the ISS.
Rocket: United Launch Alliance Vulcan VC4L
Projected: May 2025
June
EscaPADE:
Blue Origin’s New Glenn launch vehicle will make its maiden flight, carrying the Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (EscaPADE) mission. This dual-spacecraft mission will study ion and sputtered escape from Mars, aiming to understand the processes shaping Mars’ hybrid magnetosphere, how it directs ion flows, the transport of energy and momentum from the solar wind, and the flow of energy and matter into and out of Mars’ atmosphere.
Rocket: Blue Origin New Glenn
Projected: June 2025
Winter Park couple launches with Blue Origin
Blue Origin launched its ninth space tourism flight on Friday. A Winter Park couple was onboard that flight for their second trip to space.
WorldView Legion 5 & 6:
WorldView Legion is a constellation of Earth observation satellites built and operated by Maxar. Constellation is planned to consist of 6 satellites in both polar and mid-inclination orbits, providing 30 cm-class resolution.
Rocket: SpaceX Falcon 9
Projected: June 2025
O3b mPower 9-11:
Last three of a constellation of eleven high-throughput communications satellites in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) built by Boeing and operated by SES.
Rocket: SpaceX Falcon 9
Projected: June 2025
Project Kuiper (Falcon 9 #1):
First of three launches apart of the contract for Amazon’s Kuiper low Earth orbit satellite internet constellation.
Rocket: SpaceX Falcon 9
Projected: June 2025
Transporter 14:
A dedicated rideshare mission to a sun-synchronous orbit with dozens of small microsatellites and nanosatellites that will be used by commercial and government customers.
Rocket: SpaceX Falcon 9
Projected: June 2025
Cygnus CRS-2 NG-22:
This mission falls under the Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA. It will be the 22nd flight of the Northrop Grumman unscrewed resupply spacecraft Cygnus and the 21st flight to the International Space Station.
Rocket: SpaceX Falcon 9
Projected: June 2025
July
Crew-11:
SpaceX Crew-11 will be the eleventh crewed operational flight of a Crew Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station. The mission is apart of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.
Rocket: SpaceX Falcon 9
Projected: July 2025
MTG-S1:
Second of EUMETSAT’s third generation of weather satellite.
Rocket: SpaceX Falcon 9
Projected: July 2025
September
IMAP & other NASA payloads:
IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe) is a NASA mission to study interactions between solar wind and local interstellar medium. Carrying a suite of 10 scientific instruments, IMAP is able to investigate how particles are accelerated, their composition and can help to advance space weather forecasting models. The launch will also include several payloads from NASA.
Rocket: SpaceX Falcon 9
Projected: September 2025
KOMPSAT-7A:
KOMPSAT-7 and 7A are advanced follow-up satellites to KOMPSAT-3A, designed to provide high-resolution satellite imagery to meet the governmental and institutional needs of South Korea.
Rocket: SpaceX Falcon 9
Projected: September 2025
SpainSat NG II:
Second of two new-generation satellites built by Airbus to provide secure communications to the Spanish government, its allies, and various international organizations.
Rocket: SpaceX Falcon 9
Projected: September 2025
SpaceX uses giant arms to grab Falcon Heavy on landing
NASA and SpaceX launched the Europa Clipper spacecraft towards Jupiter on Monday, the largest spacecraft ever built for a planetary mission. A day earlier in Texas, SpaceX celebrated an engineering win — using giant metal arms to literally grab one of its Falcon Heavy Boosters mid-air after returning to Earth after a test flight.
October
Transporter 15:
Dedicated rideshare flight to a sun-synchronous orbit with dozens of small microsatellites and nanosatellites for commercial and government customers.
Rocket: SpaceX Falcon 9
Projected: October 2025
TSIS-2:
The Total and Spectral Solar Irradiance Sensor 2 (TSIS-2) is a NASA satellite that measures the Sun’s energy reaching Earth. It has two key instruments: the Total Irradiance Monitor (TIM), which measures the Sun’s overall brightness, and the Spectral Irradiance Monitor (SIM), which measures energy across different wavelengths covering 96% of the solar spectrum. These instruments are similar to those used in the TSIS-1 mission on the International Space Station.
Rocket: SpaceX Falcon 9
Projected: October 2025
Dragon CRS-2 SpX-33:
The 33rd commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station, operated by SpaceX, is part of NASA’s second Commercial Resupply Services contract. The Cargo Dragon 2 spacecraft will deliver supplies and payloads, including essential materials to support science and research conducted on the station.
Rocket: SpaceX Falcon 9
Scheduled: October 30, 2025
November
Griffin Mission One:
The Astrobotic Griffin lander will undergo a demonstration flight to test its capabilities and engines. This mission was originally planned for NASA’s now-canceled VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) mission.
Rocket: SpaceX Falcon Heavy
Projected: November 2025
SpaceX rocket launch of 23 Starlink satellites
SpaceX has launched another Falcon 9 carrying 23 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
Florida’s spaceports are at the heart of 2025’s exciting space missions. From ISS resupply flights to lunar landers and advanced satellites, the state continues to lead the way in space exploration. With more launches ahead, Florida’s skies will stay busy, driving us toward a bright future in space.
MIAMI (AP) — Florida condominium owners are looking at higher costs from condo associations in the new year, a consequence of a safety law passed by state lawmakers in 2022.
It requires associations to have sufficient reserves to cover major repairs and to conduct a survey of reserves every decade. Because of the law, older condos — found largely in South Florida, according to state records — are facing hefty increases to association payments to fund the reserves and repair costs.
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the law in response to the partial collapse of Champlain Towers South, which killed 98 people in Surfside in June 2021. New regulations require condo associations for buildings with three or more stories to file an inspection report focused on structure, maintenance and expected costs for repairs or renovations by Dec. 31.
The report is just a small sector of the large-scale issue in Florida’s condo and property insurance crisis. A May report from the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation noted that the average homeowner’s insurance premium is approximately $3,600, about $1,000 more than the national average, according to the National Association of Realtors.
In Hallandale Beach, condo owner Kelli Roiter sympathizes with people having trouble paying the higher fees, but she said she supports rules requiring associations to maintain reserves for repairs if it means her oceanfront building — built in 1971 — gets the repairs it needs.
She said her building, a few miles from Champlain Towers South, is showing some of the same problems that were visible before that building collapsed.
“I’m concerned that this building will collapse,” Roiter said. “There are nights I wake up hearing a creak, and I jump. And then I remind myself that, no, no, no, we’re safe. But am I safe?”
Rick Madan, president of the Biscayne Neighborhoods Association, which represents 22 condo associations, said the law is bringing condo owners strife by forcing buildings to take full coverage and bringing forth a blanket solution that doesn’t holistically address the crisis.
Madan said the law puts newer condos in the same category of needing reserve funds, inspection reports and recertifications as much older buildings at the expense of the condo owners.
That’s especially tough for people who retired in South Florida on fixed incomes, Madan added.
“You’re making us do all these reserve studies. You’re making us fund our reserves more, so we have to come up with more money,” Madan said of the Florida Legislature. “On top of that, you’re not giving us any flexibility on the insurance side where the insurance companies are basically making so much profit because they write a policy for $100 million, which they know they’ll never have to pay a claim on.”
Democratic State Sen. Jason Pizzo, who represented Surfside at the time of the collapse, said he agrees with Madan’s point about property insurance.
Pizzo and state Sen. Jennifer Bradley, a Republican, held a condo summit in early December where he warned of transparency among associations about the required projects for repair costs to prevent structural damage.
Pizzo told The Associated Press it is important for associations to have that transparency with condo owners to ensure that the rising payments are truly related to repairs and not to amenity costs, and that it is done within a reasonable timeframe for residents’ safety.
He said it’s understandable to worry about anticipatory costs but that is why objective inspections of older buildings are necessary.
Nearly 90% of the 1.6 million condos in Florida are more than 30 years old, and Pizzo said it is concerning that they haven’t had critical inspections.
“They’re going to get a milestone inspection, and they may find some immediate repair or replacement requirements as a result of it,” Pizzo said. “That’s not really by operation of law. That’s by operation of common sense.”
Luis Konski, a Miami attorney who deals with construction and commercial liability cases, said previous condo regulations kept fees low by failing to save money for future repairs, and then owners were hit with special assessments when repairs finally needed to be done. Konski said this encouraged many associations to ignore necessary but expensive maintenance, which is what likely led to the Surfside building collapse.
He said he’s not sure whether the state has committed enough staff to actually make sure associations are following the new rules. Pizzo echoed similar concerns, saying the state’s Department of Business and Professional Regulation might require legislative changes so it can start reviewing structural integrity and inspection reports while continuing to regulate all parts of business in Florida, including licensing and enforcing rules.
Konski said that if associations can continue to delay maintenance with inaccurate surveys and minimal oversight, it’s only a matter of time before another disaster.
“It’s a question of do you save money or do you save lives?” Konski said. “You can’t do both.”
Real estate agent Rebeca Castellon, who owns a condo in Coral Gables, said she agrees with the idea of requiring condo associations to maintain reserves for future repairs but acknowledges that the timing is bad when the increased fees are combined with higher insurance costs and recent inflation.
“I think part of the challenge is that right now there is tsunami of things that are really making it very challenging for condo owners,” Castellon said.
The condo market has cooled with the uncertainty created by additional fees and regulations, but Castellon said condos are still the most affordable form of home ownership and the new regulations will just give buyers more information going forward.
“I would not be surprised if in the future buyers are going to demand to see the structural inspection that the towers are going through right now and take that into consideration, as far as whether or not that’s the right property for them to move forward and put an offer,” Castellon said.
Real estate agent Gatien Salaun, who owns a waterfront condo in Miami Beach, said what appears to be a recent reduction in average sale prices is largely just buyers negotiating with sellers to eat some of the costs.
“They are simply asking for price reductions that are commensurate with that exact amount that they will have to pay over the next 20 years, 30 years in assessments,” Salaun said. “And the sellers are somewhat stuck in terms of negotiating with the buyer or just paying for the cost themselves.”
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CENTRAL PARK (WABC) — A New Year’s Eve drone show in Central Park has been canceled, according to the New York Road Runners.
Not because of the local drone scares, but rather because it was being produced by the same vendor who was blamed for a disaster at a drone show in Florida.
Several drones that were part of a show in Orlando collided on Saturday night. A boy was hit and hospitalized.
NYRR had hired the company for a display in the park as part of a midnight race.
“As always, we are working to ensure that runners have a memorable time as they ring in 2025 at our festive NYRR Midnight Run on New Year’s Eve in Central Park. Unfortunately, due to circumstances out of our control, we will no longer be staging our planned drone show during the race,” the NYRR said in a statement.
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