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Thursday's Daily Pulse
What you need to know about Florida today
Florida could outlaw all forms of distracted driving
Florida could outlaw drivers from putting on makeup, using smartphones, reading or other activities that distract them on the road. The Senate Innovation, Industry and Technology Committee unanimously approved a distracted driving bill Wednesday after hearing stories from people who have lost relatives in car crashes. Right now, it is illegal to text and drive in Florida, but drivers can only be ticketed if they are first pulled over for another reason. The bill sponsored by Republican Sen. Wilton Simpson would make distracted driving a primary offense, meaning law enforcement wouldn't need another reason to ticket a driver.
More from WPLG
Buchanan joins Rubio’s push for nationwide year-round daylight saving time
As Florida works to make daylight saving time permanent year-round, the rest of the country may not be far behind. Senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott were joined by Representative Vern Buchanan in introducing the Sunshine Protection Act to Congress which would apply to all US states that currently participate in daylight saving time.
The bill is reflective of Florida's proposed legislation on the matter, also dubbed the Sunshine Protection Act.
"Studies have shown many benefits of a year-round Daylight Saving Time, which is why Florida’s legislature overwhelmingly voted to make it permanent last year,” Rubio said. “Reflecting the will of the State of Florida, I’m proud to reintroduce this bill to also make Daylight Saving Time permanent nationally.” [Source: WBBH]
Florida officials used Hardest Hit mortgage relief for luxury hotel stays
Florida officials used a federal fund designed to help struggling homeowners as a "deep pocket'' for travel and stays in high-end hotels, a new report says. Between 2011 and 2016, officials of the Florida Housing Finance Corp. charged the Hardest Hit Fund all or part of the cost of attending conferences in San Diego, Orlando, Miami, Boston and Nashville, Tenn., even though less than two hours out of four days of meetings in each instance appeared to be related to the Hardest Hit mortgage relief program. [Source: Tampa Bay Times]
Hemp may help Florida farmers. Legislature starts letting the idea grow.
When Congress passed a new farm bill in December 2018, it allowed hemp production to fire up beyond the university research setting. When the bill passed, Agriculture Commissioner-elect Nikki Fried said her campaign promise to expand industrial hemp could now hold true.
But when it comes to expanding the licensing structure and access to grow, the Legislature takes responsibility. [Source: Miami Herald]
A look inside Lockheed Martin's deep space astronaut habitat prototype
The beds are built into the walls, the tables fold down and a robotic arm looms about the cabin. Like an RV in space, the module that astronauts may one day call their home very far away from home is closer to becoming a reality. At Kennedy Space Center, Lockheed Martin has finalized its version of what a deep space astronaut habitat could look like, with four beds, a greenhouse, space for computers and space for science. It’s tight — 13 feet wide and about 8 feet across inside, about the size of a van — and cylindrical, with just enough room for four astronauts to one day float around inside.
Lockheed’s design for the habitat is one of five in production under NASA’s NextSTEP contract, which also partnered with Boeing, Sierra Nevada Corp.’s Space Systems, Orbital ATK and Bigelow Aerospace for a combined $65 million to design deep space lunar habitats. Texas-based NanoRacks is also part of the contract and working on repurposing the spent upper stage of rockets. The modules may one day be part of the space agency’s planned lunar version of International Space Station called the Gateway. [Source: Orlando Sentinel]
ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:
› Medical marijuana smoking ban close to being repealed in Florida
Gov. Ron DeSantis, House and Senate leaders are close to doing away with a state ban on smoking medical marijuana.
› U.S. Postal Service fighting $129,336 fine for making mail carriers deliver in heavy heat
The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration proposed a $129,336 fine for the U.S. Postal Service after investigating the Jacksonville branch at 1100 Kings Road..
› After hotel construction deaths near Disney World, companies facing $157,000 in fines
Multiple failures to inspect equipment led to two men falling to their deaths last August at the Disney World-area JW Marriott under construction, OSHA said in proposing $157,792 in fines for PCL Construction and Universal Engineering Services.
› Windermere voters to decide if town can borrow for new police headquarters
Quaint but thin-walled and not bullet-proof, Windermere’s police headquarters is part of an aging town office complex, originally designed as a schoolhouse more than 80 years ago in the small, affluent town 14 miles west of Orlando.
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