Uncommon Knowledge
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Florida has become increasingly popular with college graduates, with metros in the state seeing some of the highest net gains of college-educated Americans, according to research from HireAHelper.
Metropolitan areas such as North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, Jacksonville and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, were among the most popular destinations for college graduates looking to relocate in 2023.
North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton topped the list of attractive Florida metros, seeing a net gain of college-educated Americans of 135 percent.
Jacksonville also ranked highly, with an 81 percent net gain.
Miranda Marquit, consumer advocate for HireAHelper, suggested that a higher cost of living in other states and a growing job market in Florida could be why so many are flocking to the Sunshine State.
“Florida cities that saw an influx are also cities that have seen big gains in their job markets in recent years. Tampa, especially, is known for its increase in available jobs.” she told Newsweek.
“Florida has a lower cost of living and the cities where college-educated millennials and Gen Z-ers are moving have good job prospects.
“Add to the fact that these areas have a lower cost of living than places like California and New York, and they seem more attractive. You can get paid reasonably well and your dollar goes further.”
When it came to those places with the highest net losses of college-educated Americans, California dominated the list with three metros in the top five.
“Recently, big-tech layoffs have been in the news, so California might not be as attractive to job-seekers,” Marquit said.
The report also highlighted states that were popular among degree holders.
Washington State, South Carolina and Nevada where the first, second and third most popular states.
HireAHelper’s study suggested graduates may have been enticed by the absence of state income taxes in some of those states, such as in Washington and Nevada.
The study drew on 2023 data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey and Annual Social and Economic Supplements.
The typical prices of homes and rent in Florida are much more affordable than in many of America’s most popular cities.
Redfin puts average rent prices in Florida at $1,917 for apartments and $2,400 for housing rentals. Average house prices in the state are $392,306 according to Zillow.
Meanwhile, the average New York rent currently stands at over $4000 a month, whilst average home values in the city to be in excess of $746,000.
Rent in San Francisco was more than $3,400 a month and the average home value was $1.2 million.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Bolstered by more than 300 Falcon 9 rocket launches — primarily from Florida’s Space Coast — SpaceX’s 9,000-plus Starlink high-speed internet satellites now serve more than 9 million customers in more than 155 countries and markets, the company reported last week.
Now, the burgeoning Starlink constellation is slated to expand again. SpaceX is targeting Thursday, Jan. 8, for an afternoon Falcon 9 liftoff from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Launch window: 1:29 p.m. to 5:29 p.m.
The rocket will deploy 29 Starlink satellites in low-Earth orbit. Similarly, the Falcon 9 first-stage booster should wrap up its 29th mission by landing aboard the SpaceX drone ship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic Ocean, hundreds of miles southeast of the Cape.
FLORIDA TODAY Space Team live coverage of Thursday’s Starlink 6-96 mission will kick off roughly 90 minutes before liftoff at floridatoday.com/space.
The first launch of 2026 from Florida’s Space Coast took flight at 1:48 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 4. That’s when a Falcon 9 lifted off from the Space Force installation, then deployed a batch of 29 Starlink satellites.
What’s more, SpaceX has another Starlink mission in store this upcoming weekend. More details:
In a 2025 progress report, Starlink officials reported crews equipped more than 1,400 commercial aircraft with Starlink antennae last year. That represents nearly four times the number of aircraft outfitted during 2024.
More than 21 million passengers experienced Starlink’s “at-home-like internet” last year aboard United Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, Alaska Airlines, JSX, WestJet, Qatar Airways, Air France, Emirates, Air New Zealand and airBaltic flights, per the report.
For the latest news from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, visit floridatoday.com/space. Another easy way: Click here to sign up for our weekly Space newsletter.
Rick Neale is a Space Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY, where he has covered news since 2004. Contact Neale at Rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter/X: @RickNeale1
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Former Georgia Tech interior offensive lineman Harrison Moore is expected to transfer to Florida, according to CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz.
The direct connection between Moore and Florida is offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner. Moore, a former three-star recruit, played in 10 games as a true freshman under Faulkner, playing 184 total snaps at left guard, center and tight end. Pro Football Focus gave him a 68.8 offensive grade — No. 12 among freshman interior linemen with 100 or more snaps — 67.8 run-blocking grade and 72.0 pass-blocking grade.
He became a starter in 2025 — five games at left guard and four at center — playing 11 games. His PFF grades took a dip to 63.6, 65.5 and 68.4, respectively, but still ranked inside the top 30 among underclassmen with 500 or more snaps.
247Sports ranks Moore No. 229 overall among all players in the 2026 transfer portal cycle and No. 11 among interior offensive linemen.
Florida’s interior offensive line returns starting left guard Knijeah Harris and backup guards Roderick Kearney and Tavaris Dice Jr. Moore slots in nicely at center with All-American Jake Slaughter out of eligibility and Marcus Mascoll moving on. Noel Portnjagin and Marcus Mascoll are in the portal, and Damieon George Jr. and Kamryn Waites have exhausted their eligibility.
Moore would compete with redshirt freshman Jason Zandamela for the starting center role, or Kearney could move to center and Moore could play guard.
Follow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, as well as Bluesky, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.
Florida Tech students working on prototypes of a robotic manatee
Florida Tech students working on prototypes of a robotic “Mechanatee” manatee for a variety of research possibilities.
This past year brought mixed milestones for manatees: near-record deaths for young sea cows but also a bit more seagrass for grazing, some new scientific insights and other hints of hope for 2026.
While they kept dying in droves, sea cows on the Space Coast — among their most important feeding spots — found more seagrass in the northern Indian River Lagoon. And a landmark legal ruling mandated that Florida’s most popular threatened species will soon swim in cleaner waters and must be fed lettuce to prevent winter starvation.
Here’s how the year in manatee news played out:
Good news arrived in recent years regarding the overall sea cow population. Florida estimated in 2021-2022 that its manatee population was between 8,350 to 11,730, up from estimates of less than half of that only a few decades ago.
But in 2025, Brevard County topped Florida’s manatee deaths, with young sea cows continuing to be the hardest hit, despite the local seagrass gains. State biologists suspect the young are still perishing as a result of a long-term famine.
Brevard typically leads Florida sea-cow deaths, because most seagrass (manatees’ main food) grows here in the 72-mile-long county’s portion of the 156-mile-long Indian River Lagoon.
According to the most recent stats from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, through Dec. 26:
In May, a federal judge ruled that Florida has to temporarily stop approving new septic tanks near the northern Indian River Lagoon and plan to start feeding manatees again when they are faced with winter starvation.
Brevard is offering homeowners financial help to meet that and other state septic-tank mandates.
The new manatee rules will remain in effect until the state gets a federal permit that allows so-called “incidental takes” of threatened manatees, the judge ruled. Incidental take refers to the unintentional (but not unexpected) death, injury, or harassment of a protected species during otherwise lawful activity.
In a separate legal battle, conservation groups have for several years been suing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to reclassify manatees from “threatened” back to “endangered.” Last year, the service declined to return Florida manatees to “endangered” status, a ruling environmental groups continue to challenge.
Last year, Brevard Zoo took in the first two manatee patients — Churro and Randa — at the zoo’s new $2.1 million sea cow rehab center. As with the zoo’s sea turtle rehab, the facility is not open to the general public. But on April 4, the zoo gave Gov. Ron DeSantis a behind-the-scenes tour as the zoo celebrated the center’s opening with a ribbon cutting.
In 2025, Florida Tech students made leaps forward with a robotic manatee, called “Mechanatee.” They hope in years ahead to use the robot to study real manatees in the wild without disturbing them. The robot will mimic the movements and communication of manatees to gather data on their behavior and habitat. The project is still in its early stages, but the team hopes to eventually test Mechanatee in Belize.
Several other groundbreaking studies in 2025 showed, among other things, that a popular herbicide is suppressing manatee immunity, that sea cows aren’t nearly as longstanding Florida natives as once thought and are sophisticated navigators.
Contact Waymer at (321) 261-5903 or jwaymer@floridatoday.com. Follow him on X at @JWayEnviro.
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