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SpaceX targeting late-night weekend Falcon 9 from Cape on heels of Starship midair explosion

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SpaceX targeting late-night weekend Falcon 9 from Cape on heels of Starship midair explosion


Weekend launch alert: SpaceX crews are targeting a 4½-hour window extending from Saturday night into Sunday morning to send up another Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, navigational warnings indicate.

SpaceX has yet to announce an exact target liftoff time. The nighttime launch window extends from 11:10 p.m. Saturday to 3:41 a.m. EST Sunday, a Federal Aviation Administration operations plan advisory shows.

After lifting off from Launch Complex 40 on a southeasterly trajectory, the Falcon 9 will deploy a payload of Starlink internet-beaming satellites into low-Earth orbit.

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After stage separation, the rocket’s first-stage booster will target landing aboard a SpaceX drone ship out in the Atlantic Ocean about eight minutes after liftoff. So no Central Florida sonic booms should occur.

For FLORIDA TODAY Space Team mission updates, visit floridatoday.com/space starting about 90 minutes before the late-night launch window opens.  

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SpaceX’s last Falcon 9 booster landing was marred by mishap. After landing atop the drone ship Just Read the Instructions on March 2, the first-stage booster suffered a fire that damaged one of the landing legs — and the booster tipped over roughly 250 nautical miles off the Florida coastline.

The ruined booster returned to Port Canaveral on Wednesday afternoon.

Then Thursday evening, a failed SpaceX Starship rocket broke up into a fiery manmade meteor shower minutes after liftoff from Texas — triggering Florida airport delays in Orlando, Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach.

SpaceX officials said “an energetic event in the aft portion of Starship” resulted in the loss of several Raptor engines, and final contact with the doomed rocket occurred about 9 minutes, 30 seconds after liftoff.

Rick Neale is a Space Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Neale at Rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter/X: @RickNeale1

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Florida wide receivers coach Billy Gonzales, RBs coach Jabbar Juluke not being retained

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Florida wide receivers coach Billy Gonzales, RBs coach Jabbar Juluke not being retained


Sources tell On3 that Florida interim head coach and wide receivers coach Billy Gonzales is not being retained on Jon Sumrall’s staff. He’s had three stints at Florida as a wide receivers coach, coming under Urban Meyer, Dan Mullen and Billy Napier.

He’s developed three first-round picks in Ricky Pearsall, Kadarius Toney and Percy Harvin. Gonzales landed top wide receiver talent out of the high school ranks, most recently five-star Vernell Brown and four-star Dallas Wilson. Both were top-50 recruits in the 2025 recruiting cycle.

Florida running backs coach Jabbar Juluke is not being retained, sources tell On3. He had been with Napier previously at Louisiana.

Gonzales stepped in as interim coach in October, when Florida fired Billy Napier after four seasons. Gonzales went 1-4 as Florida’s interim coach this season, picking up his lone win over Florida State in the regular season finale.

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“A goal of mine would be, obviously, [to] be able to stay here,” Gonzales said in his introductory press conference as interim head coach. “My first goal is to make sure we put a fantastic group of players on that football field that are going to compete and play for the University of Florida.”

Sumrall is a 43-year-old Alabama native who won two conference titles at Troy and made the American Conference title game in 2024 in Year 1 at Tulane. He won a conference title over the weekend and has the Green Wave playing in the College Football Playoff. Sumrall is 11-2 on the season and 43–11 in four years as an FBS head coach.



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Retired NYC restaurant owner charged with DUI in Florida golf cart crash that killed his wife

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Retired NYC restaurant owner charged with DUI in Florida golf cart crash that killed his wife


A retiree who once owned a quaint Queens diner was charged with a DUI after his wife was killed in a golf cart crash at their dream retirement spot in Florida late last month — while he was behind the wheel.

Angelo Theodosiou, 64, and his wife Christina Theodosiou, 58, were cruising through Nocatee, an unincorporated coastal community in Florida, on Nov. 30, when tragedy struck.

Christina Theodosiou, 58, and her husband Angelo Theodosiou, 64, retired in Nocatee, an unincorporated coastal community in Florida. Dignity Memorial

Christina Theodosiou fell from the golf cart and smacked her head against the pavement around 10:45 p.m. that night. She was transported to a nearby hospital, but succumbed to her injuries the following day, according to an arrest report obtained by Law & Crime.

Investigators observed that Angelo Theodosiou’s “eyes were bloodshot and watery and pupils displayed a reddened sclera.” Responding officers could also smell “an odor of alcoholic beverage” on him “from approximately three feet away in an open area,” according to the report.

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Angelo Theodosiou previously owned the Jackson House Restaurant in Jackson Heights, Queens. St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office

At the scene, a distraught Angelo Theodosiou refused to complete a standard field sobriety test. He also failed to submit to a breathalyzer test, according to the report.

Officials noted in the report that he was “repeatedly asked what was happening and why he was arrested” the following day.

Angelo Theodosiou’s lawyer, L. Lee Lockett, said that the widower is “heartbroken” and maintains his innocence that he wasn’t impaired the night of the accident.

Christina Theodosiou died after she fell out of the golf cart and hit her head on the ground. Dignity Memorial

“He’s distraught. He’s depressed as can be,” Lockett told the St. John’s Citizen.

Angelo Theodosiou was charged with driving under the influence and refusing to submit to police testing. He made bond and was released from jail the day after his arrest, according to Law and Crime.

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Residents in the cozy retirement hotspot told the outlet that they figured a recently opened greenway path would be bound to cause an accident sooner or later, since it’s created more congestion. Some said they’d seen some recent near-miss collisions between golf carts and e-bikes.

Angelo Theodosiou previously owned the Jackson House Restaurant in Jackson Heights, Queens, according to a 2018 article written by students at the School of the New York Times.

Angelo Theodosiou was charged with a DUI. Dignity Memorial

He and his brother ran the restaurant, which retained its original name after they purchased the property in the 1990s. Under their leadership, Angelo Theodosiou told the students that they aimed to treat every customer like “family.”

“It might sound corny, but it’s really true,” he said.

It’s unclear when he retired and made the move to the Sunshine State.

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Florida bear hunt sparks tension as groups buy up permits, offer cash to hunters

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Florida bear hunt sparks tension as groups buy up permits, offer cash to hunters


Florida’s bear hunt has roared back to life, with hunters expected to kill “several dozen” black bears as activists scramble to pay them not to.

For the next three weeks hunters are expected to kill “several dozen” Florida black bears, according to WESH.

Bear advocacy groups protested, petitioned and even dragged the state to court — all attempts to stop the hunt before it began. None worked. So activists pivoted to a new strategy: pay the hunters not to pull the trigger.

Florida non-profit Bear Warriors United is offering $2,000 to any hunter with a permit who’s willing to take the bench this season. Another local group, the Sierra Club of Florida says its members and allies have secured 52 of the states 172 permits.

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See also: Armed man in bulletproof vest detained for following congressman at Stuart parade

Sierra Club Florida Director Susannah Randolph told WESH she hopes that the FWC is keeping a close eye on how many bears each hunter kills. She noted that there has been chatter online among hunters wanting to “settle the score” now that dozens of hunters were bought out — even though taking more than one bear would amount to poaching.

“I don’t trophy hunt. When I deer hunt, I don’t hunt for antlers,” Hunter Jason Howard told WESH. “It’s for meat. I enjoy deer meat, wild hog meat, turkey meat and I hope to enjoy bear meat as well.”

For advocates, the debate doesn’t end when the season does. Randolph says she’s alarmed by FWC’s plans to eventually allow dog-hunting of black bears, calling it “extremely cruel” and noting that even former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi prosecuted dog-hunting cases.

The only certainty in this year’s hunt is that debate is far from hibernating.

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