SpaceX plans major expansion at KSC with futuristic launch control center

It will be an operational monument to Elon Musk's vision: a towering SpaceX launch control center, a 133,000-square-foot hangar and a rocket garden rising in the heart of Kennedy Space Center. According to plans detailed in a draft environmental review published recently by KSC, SpaceX will undertake a major expansion of its facilities at the space center sometime in the not-too-distant future. More from Florida Today, the Orlando Sentinel, and Alphr.

See also:
» NASA publishes SpaceX’s futuristic proposal for Kennedy Space Center
» SpaceX revives the Space Coast
» SpaceX is not a threat to NASA

One Florida city wants more retirees, and is going after them

Tallahassee, which is not growing as fast as the rest of the state, is looking to attract new residents, including small-business owners who can generate jobs. A key part of the city’s efforts is expanding its population of retirees, and it has adopted some unusual tactics — including subsidizing a few people to move there. [Source: New York Times]

As Airbnb grows in Florida, so do challenges for taxes and safety regulations

Airbnb's reach is rapidly expanding throughout the state, and tourism officials say it has become an important market. There’s a lot users of the platform say they like about it — the unique listings, the friendships, the prices — but as critics will point out, the lawlessness of the company’s beginning compared to the empire it has created don’t always mesh. [Source: Panama City News Herald]

Following wave of suicides, Florida Bar president put mental health on the docket

Miami lawyer Ervin Gonzalez's death struck hard in already-reeling legal circles. When Michael J. Higer took office just weeks later as president of the 106,000-member Florida Bar association, he made mental health awareness a priority. See a column by Higer titled, "Mental Health: The Issue of Our Time." Also read more at the Miami Herald.

Strategic thinking about Florida's future

The Florida Chamber Foundation is designing Florida 2030, a blueprint for Florida’s future. The report will address ways to ensure global competitiveness, prosperity and vibrant and sustainable communities as Florida continues to grow and encounter both the challenges and opportunities ahead. [Sponsored report]

ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:

›Tropicana Field will come down one day. What will replace it? [Tampa Bay Times]
The Trop site is perhaps the most valuable property in the Tampa Bay area. There may be no parcel like it in the state, if not the nation. What the $3 billion, 55-acre Water Street Tampa project is to that downtown, the Trop could be to the future of St. Petersburg.

› Studying Santa Rosa County's search for business incubators [Pensacola News-Journal]
Santa Rosa County typically outperforms a lot of its Florida peers in categories like quality of education, quality of life, community health and crime rate. However, a recent study indicated some residents think the county is lagging behind in one important area: attracting and developing new businesses.

› Homegrown restaurants are bringing a Miami taste to the world [Miami Herald]
Mix together long and erratic hours, increasing rents, high employee turnover, products that expire and revenues subject to finicky consumer tastes and what do you get? The restaurant business, of course. In tourism-centric South Florida, it seems like everyone is opening a restaurant, and today’s hot sensation can be gone tomorrow.

› Electronic Arts' Game Changers wield influence on popular Madden series [Orlando Sentinel]
Electronic Arts’ Game Changers program brings high-profile Madden enthusiasts from across the U.S. – those with strong social media followings – to EA’s Maitland studio to test early versions of the latest game as it’s being developed.

Go to page 2 for more stories ...

› Jags president talks downtown, ticket prices, and more games in London [Florida Times-Union]
Jacksonville Jaguars President Mark Lamping said he hopes an economic development deal can go before City Council by the end of the year so work can start on a “new neighborhood” of apartments, offices, hotels, entertainment venues and convention space in the sports complex area of downtown.

› Cambridge Analytica scandal has Sarasota ties [Sarasota Herald-Tribune]
Cambridge Analytica, a bankrupt political data firm at the epicenter of a multi-continent furor over the manipulation of unwitting social media targets, has been called a “full-service propaganda machine” and a “grossly unethical experiment” by a whistleblower who testified before the U.S. Senate.

› State skipped national checks for concealed-carry applicants [Gainesville Sun]
For more than a year, the state of Florida failed to conduct national background checks on tens of thousands of applications for concealed weapons permits, potentially allowing drug addicts or people with a mental illness to carry firearms in public.

› SeaWorld bans plastic bags, straws from 12 theme parks [Orlando Sentinel]
To protect the environment, SeaWorld Entertainment has removed all single-use straws and plastic bags from the company’s 12 theme parks, including those in Orlando. The Orlando-headquartered company made the announcement Friday in a news release.