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Ron DeSantis appoints new members to 2 Florida county commissions

Two Florida county commissions are getting new members.

Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed two new County Commissioners this month. One is taking a seat on the Lee County Board of Commissioners. The other will assume a seat on the Holmes County Commission.

DeSantis appointed Patricia “Trish” Petrosky to the Lee County Commission, home to Fort Myers. Petrosky is replacing Mike Greenwell.

Greenwell has served in the District 5 seat of the County Commission since July 2022. That’s when DeSantis appointed Greenwell to that panel. Greenwell was elected Chair of the Lee County Commission in 2024 and was re-elected to that post that year. But he passed away on Oct. 9 after a battle with cancer, and there were memorial services in Lee County. DeSantis also ordered that the American and Florida flags fly at half-staff on Oct. 21.

Greenwell was with the Boston Red Sox Major League Baseball organization for about a dozen years. That franchise has Spring Training operations in Fort Myers, and Greenwell returned to Lee County to raise a family and entered local business.

Controversial $2.5 billion Florida toll road through sensitive land approved

Touting it as “a major milestone,” transportation officials on Tuesday approved a controversial $2.5 billion road project set to reduce congestion but also pave through environmentally sensitive land in southern Osceola County.

The unanimous decision by the Central Florida Expressway Authority in favor of the Southport Connector, a 15-mile tolled expressway that will traverse the Florida Wildlife Corridor and pass near the Disney Wilderness Preserve, marks the final step in a project more than seven years in the making, overcoming lawsuits, public scrutiny and low toll projections.

The scale and investment of the Connector will “rival projects like I-4 Ultimate and the Wekiva Parkway,” said Will Hawthorne, CFX’s director of transportation planning and policy. “[It] will mark a major milestone, opening the door to potential next steps needed to deliver this critically improved, important regional transportation facility.”

However, the project is still expected to fall short in projected toll revenue to cover its cost, the same issue that caused the CFX board in 2018 to abandon the expressway.

SpaceX squeezes in 100th Space Coast launch, but weather delays ULA, 2nd SpaceX mission

SpaceX managed to find a lull in the winds early Monday, but a second SpaceX launch as well as one from United Launch Alliance opted to wait at least a day before trying to add to the Space Coast’s rocket mission total.

The one that did go up though was SpaceX’s 100th launch from Florida this year.

A Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-82 mission with 29 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 12:25 a.m.

This was the ninth flight of the first-stage booster, which made a recovery landing downrange on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas stationed in the Atlantic.

Space Launch Delta 45’s weather squadron had forecast only a 30% chance for good conditions at the launch site in addition to low-to-moderate concerns for the booster recovery weather.

The poor conditions came from a cold front approaching the region Sunday afternoon with a surge of of northerly winds on Sunday evening that were forecast to worsen overnight.

ULA had been lined up to fly next early Monday, but is now pushing to early Tuesday. SpaceX later opted to push a second Falcon 9 launch it had planned for later Monday morning to Tuesday as well.

Broward schools bungle effort to find company to oversee construction work

The Broward School District bungled its latest effort to find outside managers to take over its troubled construction program, an audit has found, raising questions about how the district will ensure more than 100 school projects don’t face further delays.

Superintendent Howard Hepburn plans to ask the School Board to vote Tuesday to reject all bids received from companies vying to oversee the district’s construction projects, following the report drafted by Chief Auditor Dave Rhodes, district spokesman John Sullivan told the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

“The Chief Auditor’s report identified concerns with how the procurement process was conducted, including deviations from established procedures,” Sullivan said. “The Superintendent is continuing to review the report to determine appropriate next steps. That review will guide any corrective actions to strengthen oversight and ensure future procurements fully comply with District policy and state law. Personnel matters will be addressed appropriately once the review is complete.”

School Board members are now considering taking emergency actions for the construction program, which has been plagued by years of delays and cost overruns.

The audit report, released Tuesday, found that district staff selected vendors without ensuring they were qualified and engaged in a rushed process that led to missteps.