Sunshine Slate

[Cape Canaveral, FL] After scrubbing the first attempt at the last possible second, at 3:45 a.m. Tuesday, SpaceX successfully launched its flagship Falcon 9 rocket into orbit and with it, the Dragon spacecraft. The mission – which includes docking the Dragon spacecraft with the International Space Station (ISS) – is a first for a commercial [...]

[Cape Canaveral, FL] SpaceX conducted a successful test fire of its Falcon 9 rocket a week before its scheduled May 7 launch. The testing lasted for only a couple of seconds, but was designed to simulate the countdown process as though it was launch day. The Falcon 9 launch vehicle will fly the Dragon spacecraft [...]

[Tampa, FL] The open-late drugs-and-donuts retailer Walgreens is giving the whole electric cars movement-industry an incredible boost. That’s right, Walgreens has teamed up with a national company to broaden charging capabilities for electric cars at 13 locations in the State of Florida. We’ll call Walgreens the “Drug & Plug” for now on. The Car Charging [...]

[Daytona Beach, FL] The head of Florida’s Brevard County-based public corporation to grow the state’s aerospace industry is looking to triple the number of jobs over the next 10 years. That’s the goal anyway, according to the CEO of Space Florida, Frank DiBello. On Wednesday, DiBello made the statement as he was speaking to room [...]

[Miami, FL] Last week, the smart phone got game as The Official Miami Heat Mobile App was unveiled, available in two flavors: iPhone and Android. Aren’t there already mobile apps for the Miami Heat, you say? Yes, tech wizard, there are several. But those aren’t official, you see. And being official gives this app a [...]

[Cape Canaveral, FL] The folks at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) are overall pleased with the Obama Administration’s budget for the fiscal year 2013, despite the level of employment staying the same. “I’d say it’s very good for the Kennedy Space Center,” said Center Director Bob Cabana, who spoke to reporters on Monday. “Is it going [...]

[Gainesville, FL] Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group have joined Universal Music Group in a legal complaint against online music streaming service Grooveshark and parent company Escape Media. The amended complaint, filed Thursday in a New York district court, brings all three of the major label groups together in alleging that the site has [...]

[Tallahassee, FL] On Friday, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that the state was filing a lawsuit against the manufacturers and sellers of cathode ray tubes (CRTs) for price fixing. CRTs are the main ingredient of the “old-school” boxy TVs and computer monitors. But new information about the old devices has Bondi going to court [...]

[Cape Canaveral, FL] We have liftoff. And this one’s going to the red planet. This morning at 10:02 a.m. EST, NASA‘s Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) spacecraft – including the new Curiosity rover – has been confirmed to be “flying free” after  a successful liftoff aboard the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket. The rocket [...]

[Tallahassee, FL] Last week, Attorney General Pam Bondi’s office reached an agreement with an internet advertiser for offering “free” gifts, but not divulging the required terms of the offer. SubscriberBASE Holdings, Inc., an internet advertiser out of Columbia, S.C., has agreed to an $800,000 settlement for its deceptive practice of “not clearly and conspicuously” disclosing [...]

[Tallahassee, FL] The entire City of Tallahassee is energized as its newly “repowered” generating station is now an international superstar and “best of” magazine model, part of a continuous stream of praise for Florida’s capitol. In June, the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) awarded Tallahassee with the first-place 2011 City Livability Award for excellence in [...]

[Tallahassee, FL] Today, the City of Tallahassee’s mass transit authority announced that they have agreed to purchase three new electric buses. StarMetro signed a contract with Proterra Inc. for the construction of three brand new, zero emission, all-electric buses and a charging station. To help pay for the “green” move, last year the Federal Transit [...]

[Melbourne, FL] A small solar power firm in Melbourne has big plans for the State of Florida. National Solar Power (NSP), which was founded in 2010, will award one of four lucky counties the opportunity to be home to the what is to be the world’s largest solar farm in the country. The short list [...]

[Sorrento, FL] Big-time solar energy provider BlueChip Energy, LLC (BCE) is building a 40 megawatt “solar farm” in Sorrento. The farm, to be the largest in Florida and one of the largest in the U.S., will sit on 140 of the 201 acres of land the company owns in Lake County. The project will utilize [...]

[Folsom, CA]In the current issue of Digital Communities, Palm Beach County – one of the geographically largest counties in the nation – was selected as the best county in the country with a population over 500,000 in the 2011 Digital Counties Survey. With 3,068 counties in the U.S., that is no small achievement. Three other [...]

[Cape Canaveral, FL] At 12:25 a.m. EST Friday, the Juno spacecraft took-off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The solar-powered explorer began its five-year mission to Jupiter by being blasted into space strapped onto an Atlas V rocket. The craft, built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems, will help us learn more about the gas giant’s origin [...]

[Jacksonville, FL] According to a report in The Florida Times-Union, Floridians will be able to order the all-new Nissan Leaf electric car starting Monday. Orders will be limited to those who already put down $99 deposits in the fall. Since February, Nissan has sold 4,000 of the all-electric vehicles in Arizona, California, Hawaii, Oregon, Tennessee, [...]

[Cape Canaveral, FL] It is all over. There will be no more dramatic launches or atmosphere-cracking landings for the Space Shuttle fleet. Thirty years of history came to an end Thursday. At exactly 5:57 a.m. EDT, Space Shuttle Atlantis touched down on the Shuttle Landing Facility’s Runway 15 for an early-morning wake-up call for those [...]

[Cape Canaveral, FL] The final mission of NASA’s Space Shuttle Program (STS-135) began today at 11:29 a.m. EDT, as space shuttle Commander Chris Ferguson and his three crew mates blasted their their way into space aboard the Atlantis for a 12-day mission. This is the 33rd flight for the space shuttle Atlantis. It is the [...]

[Washington D.C.] U.S. Senator Marco Rubio spoke on the Senate floor today. The topic? NASA and the future of America’s space program. It is a hot topic as the space shuttle prepares to launch its final mission on Friday, weather permitting. The full transcript of his remarks: I am here today on the eve of [...]