Calls For Sales Tax Reduction In Florida
(Tallahassee, FL) -- A Florida lawmaker wants to lower the state's sales tax. House Speaker Daniel Perez is asking the Ways and Means Committee to reduce the sales tax to five-and-one-quarter percent. He says the move will save Florida residents almost five-billion dollars a year.
Target Of Fine Comment Speaks
(Orlando, FL) -- A man State Senator Randy Fine accused of wearing a terrorist rag is now responding. Fine directed the comment at Robert Lee during a senate committee hearing on Tuesday. Lee was wearing a Middle Eastern headdress called a keffiyeh [[kuh-FEE-yuh]]. Fine, who's Jewish, says he found the headdress to be offensive because it's the symbol of Hamas and Hezbollah. Lee tells Channel 9 he wears the kaffiyeh to show support for Palestine, and it wasn't fair for Fine to paint an entire people as terrorists.
Judge To Hear Complaints About Nuisance House In Brevard County
(Melbourne, FL)-- Help may be on the way for neighbors upset about a house in Brevard County. Those who live on Seneca Drive in Melbourne have complained about what appears to be a squatting situation at a neighbor's house. Dewey Shattuck and his neighbors have complained about trash, noise, and drugs, but the alleged squatters remain. Shattuck says law enforcement can't remove the squatters without the permission of the homeowner, but they're dead. It may be up to the mortgage lender to give Shattuck and his neighbors relief. They have started the foreclosure process, and there's a hearing set for next month.
NASA Delays Supply Mission To ISS
(Cape Canaveral, FL)-- An upcoming NASA mission is on hold. The agency announced yesterday it's postponing its resupply mission to the International Space Station. The problem is the capsule being used in the mission was damaged on its way to the Space Coast. This could delay NASA's mission to the fall. A NASA spokesperson says they'll make sure to pack the supplies on the next month's SpaceX mission to the ISS.
USF Professor Recalls School's Long Relationship With AI
(Tampa, FL) -- This fall, the University of South Florida will start a new college devoted to studying artificial intelligence. The school's ties to AI go back decades, though. Lawrence Hall is co-director of the USF Institute for Artificial Intelligence and X. He recently recalled his work on AI back in the 1980s with Professor Kevin Bowyer [[BOY-er]]. Bowyer is now at Notre Dame, but he still remembers working with Hall on teaching an AI system to identify a chair. It took years before their research was published in 1992, and Bowyer says that was a breakout moment. He tells USF News if there's nobody thinking you're doing crazy stuff, you're probably not pushing the boundaries enough.
Frida Celebrates Product Launch With Breast Milk-Flavored Ice Cream In Nine Months
(New York, NY)-- A new breast milk-flavored ice cream is due in nine months. Frida is celebrating its new two-in-one manual breast pump with the sweet treat. The ice cream does not contain real breast milk, but the flavor aims to bring out the "sweet, creamy" taste of breast milk. It's also fortified with the same nutrients found in breast milk, like Omega-3 fats and vitamins like iron, calcium, zinc, and Vitamins B and D.
Today in History
2024, founder of FTX exchange Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison after he was convicted of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering.
2016, the FBI was able to crack the iPhone of San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook and "no longer required" Apple's help. The Justice Department withdrew its legal action against the company. Apple fought a court order demanding it create a way to break into the phone, saying doing so would damage users' privacy.
1996, Congress passed the line-item veto, giving the president the power to cut government spending.
1979, residents in and around Middletown, Pennsylvania, were evacuated following a nuclear meltdown inside the Unit Two reactor at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant. It is remembered as the country's worst commercial nuclear disaster.
1881, Barnum and Bailey formed their "Greatest Show On Earth."