1+ hour, 31+ min ago (393+ words) The University of Central Florida has laid off 57 employees at the Florida Solar Energy Center, leaving seven remaining employees at the facility in Cocoa. The staffing reductions coincide with the Trump administration's ongoing efforts to strip back renewable energy programs previously enacted by the Biden administration. The state legislature designated FSEC the state's energy research institute in 1975. This year is the center's 50th anniversary. A celebratory open house event originally scheduled for last month was later canceled due to "unforeseen circumstances," according to FSEC's website. According to UCF: "In recent years, FSEC has experienced a decline in external funding, limiting its ability to sustain core research activities. This challenge was further compounded by recent shifts in federal funding priorities in energy research, including reductions and cancellations of key programs that historically supported the center's research activities." UCF didn't immediately provide details…...

13+ hour, 46+ min ago (792+ words) Florida continues to struggle in its efforts to detect and treat lung cancer early, ranking low in several key measures, according to a new report from the American Lung Association. Nearly 27% of Floridians diagnosed with lung cancer do not receive any treatment " one of the worst rates in the nation. The state ranks 45th out of 49 states with available data. The findings are especially worrisome for a disease that remains the deadliest form of cancer in the nation. For Brenda Connolly, chair of the association's Gulf Coast Florida Board and administrator of the thoracic and sarcoma program at Moffitt Cancer Center, the numbers are deeply troubling. The disease is among the deadliest cancers in the nation. "It's alarming that, just in general, lung cancer is a devastating disease. But then even in Florida, the lack of treatment, it's dismal," Connolly told…...

2+ day, 4+ hour ago (1076+ words) Updated November 21, 2025 at 11:12 AM CST Scientists at the University of Central Florida are studying saliva from dementia patients to better understand how music can benefit aging brains. It's no secret that music impacts people. Hearing a familiar song, especially one from your formative years, can bring back all sorts of memories. But there's still a lot scientists don't know about the effects of music, especially on people with dementia. Researchers at the University of Central Florida are hoping to learn more through a new partnership between UCF's School of Performing Arts' Pegasus String Quartet and the College of Medicine. On Friday, the Pegasus String Quartet will put on the second in a series of three concerts for dementia patients enrolled in a trial. The concerts are also open to the general public. For those enrolled in the trial, UCF scientists…...

3+ day, 16+ hour ago (648+ words) Putting together a Thanksgiving meal for a family is a lot of work " and a lot of money. That's what some churches and nonprofits, like Waterfront Rescue Mission, are preparing for. Waterfront has been serving free Thanksgiving meals since it was founded in 1949. "It really has been a staple," said Mark Isbell. This year, with the temporary cuts to SNAP funding and rising grocery prices, the rescue mission has seen an uptick in all of its services, including daily meals in Pensacola and Mobile, said Isbell. Between rising food costs and the increase in need, nonprofits like Waterfront are stretched thin. On a day-to-day basis, 90% of the food Waterfront serves is donated. Isbell said the community has continued to step up to meet the demand. "We had a church reach out to us at the beginning of November when all…...

4+ day, 6+ hour ago (1127+ words) With no further storms expected, the Atlantic hurricane season is ending on a quiet note, marked by records for both its inactivity and the power it unleashed. The basin produced a near-average number of named storms, a below-average amount of hurricanes and a number of major hurricanes - including Hurricane Melissa, the most intense landfalling cyclone ever observed in the Atlantic basin during modern times. According to NOAA's classification, the year was considered an above-normal season based on Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE), a metric that tallies storm intensity and longevity. Dr. Phil Klotzbach, a world-renowned hurricane specialist at Colorado State University, said the tropical season was dominated by conflicting signals. Warm Atlantic waters combined with neutral to weak La Ni'a conditions typically make the basin more favorable for hurricane activity, yet the heart of the season, from late August through mid-September,…...

4+ day, 15+ hour ago (596+ words) About three months after her announcement on social media, state Representative Michelle Salzman will help cut the ribbon Friday morning on a new military and veteran resource center in Santa Rosa County. The new VetCV Mission Next Center, the first of its kind in the state, will be located on the Pensacola State College Milton campus. It's a free, one-stop hub that supports veterans, active-duty service members, and their families in Santa Rosa County. Salzman said the idea is to create a collaborative care network to serve this segment of the population. According to Salzman, the new center is designed to supplement, not to compete with or duplicate the case management offered by local Veterans Services offices. It will offer in-person guidance through Patriot Navigators who will help identify needs and connect people with a variety of resources such as…...

6+ day, 9+ hour ago (363+ words) The Okaloosa County Board of Commissioners approved two agreements on Tuesday, which will secure $2 million in funding for the SS United States artificial reef project. Visit Pensacola and Coastal Conservation Association will be two partners in deploying the world's largest artificial reef. Visit Pensacola will contribute $1.5 million. As part of the partnership, $1 million will go to the purchase, preparation, transport, and deployment of the ship. The additional $500,000 will be dedicated to a five-year marketing partnership with Destin-Fort Walton Beach. The artificial reef will be positioned at approximately 22 miles southwest of the Destin East Pass and 32 nautical miles southeast of the Pensacola Pass. Visit Pensacola is scheduled to approve the funding agreement at its December meeting. Okaloosa County will also receive support from the Coastal Conservation Association with a donation of $500,000 to be awarded in two annual installments beginning January 2026 and…...

6+ day, 20+ hour ago (1193+ words) When Ashley Smith arrived to testify before the Maine Legislature during a committee hearing last spring, she was terrified. "I was shaking like a leaf in the wind," she says. She told lawmakers that she was there in support of Maine Family Planning, a 50-year-old network of reproductive health clinics where Smith is a patient. State lawmakers were considering how to make up a funding shortfall from Washington, D.C. where Republicans in Congress aimed to cut off federal funding to clinics that provide abortion. Smith told the committee that she doesn't have health insurance and that Maine Family Planning's nonprofit clinics were her only source of health care. Smith, who's 36, says she was inspired to testify and write an op-ed, because she's worried about what would happen if Maine Family Planning had to close in the face of deep federal funding…...

1+ week, 9+ hour ago (749+ words) The City of Pensacola is asking Triumph Gulf Coast for $86 million to help build a major shipbuilding complex at the Port of Pensacola " a proposal that would represent one of the largest industrial investments ever brought forward for the downtown waterfront and could significantly reshape the port's future. In a pre-application submitted to Triumph Gulf Coast, the city outlines a plan dubbed Project Maeve. The filing describes a "Tier 2 advanced ship manufacturing facility" that would occupy newly built structures on the municipal port and support about 2,000 jobs over the next five years. "The City of Pensacola respectfully requests $86,000,000 to assist with construction costs for two boat building facilities at the Port of Pensacola," the document states. Triumph process does not require public disclosure at the pre-application stage. The total estimated cost of the project is $250 million. Of that, $105 million would…...

1+ week, 3+ day ago (667+ words) The state Board of Education on Thursday approved new social studies standards for how the history of communism is taught to Florida middle and high school students " and the adoption of a framework put forth by the controversial conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation. The updated curriculum widens instruction to cover lessons on the regimes of Cuba and Venezuela, as well as China and the former Soviet Union. ""These new standards will ensure that our students learn about the dangers and the lasting consequences of communism," said Paul Burns, senior chancellor at the department. He added that the aim was for students have a better grasp on suppressed freedoms, abuse of power and suffering across the world at the hands of communism. It comes after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law last year requiring the history of communism…...