this is the weekly on click Orlando comm
with Justin warmoth good morning and
thanks for joining us for a special
edition of the weekly on click Orlando
comm I'm Justin warmoth from the midterm
elections to hurricane's to the pulse
nightclub gunman's widows federal court
case it was a busy year of news and this
morning we're going to recap some of
those big stories starting with a
milestone for space in February you saw
it live here on new six and thousands
more watched it in person as SpaceX held
the first flight of its Falcon Heavy
rocket from the Space Coast
what a moment that was within minutes
the Rockets two side boosters also
returned to earth and they landed at the
exact same time that video is coming up
something SpaceX CEO Elon Musk called
the most exciting thing he has ever seen
but the sensor core rocket that one
wasn't so lucky that one ended up
hitting the water at 300 miles an hour
taking out two of the engines on a
floating barge and it was supposed to be
landing on and he also can't forget star
man you know that dummy astronaut
strapped to a Tesla Roadster that
floated through space so this morning
we're gonna talk all about that SpaceX
Falcon heavy rocket rocket launched from
February ginger Gadsden this has been a
really long year with that this year
actually I had to be reminded that that
was in fact this year isn't that crazy
we've managed to pack two years into one
year it's always that way especially
when you're talking about news here in
Central Florida in Florida in general
but that was a remarkable day for all of
us here and it's rare that cynical news
people get very excited about things
right but when you see that rocket take
off and it's just the enormity of it and
knowing what it's capable of
that was spectacular and we haven't been
in this territory since like missions
that took man to the moon exactly hollow
missions it is just spectacular and I
hope we do show that video of the two
boosters landing simultaneously because
that was something it looked like a
movie that we ran backwards it really
it's the most fascinating thing about
these launches is them landing them back
on earth and that creates such a great
opportunity for them to save money space
of course very very costly so that's a
great way to save money this was yeah
back to your point about the
anticipation surrounding this arguably
the most highly anticipated rocket
launch since the last space shuttle
mission and what's there it is right
there as we watch those boosters land
simultaneously like a video game yeah
kind of I guess you could say but yeah
you know it was it was so highly
anticipated and what was so cool is well
was they launched that rocket from the
old launch complex 39a that users yeah
that used to shoot off the the Apollo
missions and the Space Shuttle missions
so there's a lot of nostalgia there and
it's really just it the transformation
of the space industry and out into
commercial use and we're getting close
to sending man back to space from US
soil which is such a great opportunity
and just and that's why we called them
crewed flights not Rhian flights excuse
me yes no thank you for clearing that up
because you were there and you watched
you watched as those astronauts were
announced and oh and it's a great in
Houston yeah it was a great opportunity
to go out there and watch that and in
that historic moment talk about what it
was like to see those those crewed
missions and and some of the folks that
are gonna be a part of those oh my gosh
the the class of astronauts we're
talking about right now it really is one
of those moments where they announced
them and they introduced them to the
world for the first time on the stage in
Houston and it was one of those god
bless america moments because you can't
help but feel patriotic and you just
tear up because you're like these people
again they're going to be breaking new
ground into new territory and a lot of
them have already flown before but many
of them this will be their first time
and they're paired up with other
astronauts who have gone into space
before my favorites were of course I'm
biased because the two there are two
women yeah sunny Williams who is you
know she went on the shuttle missions
and she's one of the senior astronauts
there and also Nicole man she's a test
pilot I mean when you talk about the
baddest of the bad she is definitely one
of them they call her the Duke because
she's little but she walks like John
Wayne cuz she's got a heavy walk but
it's just a remarkable and you see them
on stage and you know these people are
going to go places that many of us can
only dream of and some of them will be
going or training on missions going to
Mars at some point which is going to be
exciting as well but going back to that
Falcon Heavy yeah when the Tesla was
announced that it was in there we had no
idea ready
yeah they always put things in there
just right await right but when Elon
Musk said that's my own personal Tesla
up there people said what what did you
just do we need an update on how star
man is doing because he looked happy as
he was uh you know can track his
progress or whatever yeah but you know
when the alien invasion happens and they
come back and they attack us and they're
all flying in on Tesla's we're going to
how that happened we gave them the
capability and the technology can take
care of that for us because he sent him
up there he needs to be able to fight
him off but that was a certainly a great
day and and doesn't feel like February
that that happened and yeah we have a
lot of stories that are like that is oh
absolutely and some of them not so
joyous of course more than a week after
the launch a tragic Valentine's Day in
South Florida a gunman opened fire
inside Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High
School and parkland killing 17 people 14
of the victims were students along with
three adults investigators say the
gunman Nicholas Cruz targeted this
school just as classes were ended by
pulling the fire alarm to create chaos
before opening fire the trial has not
yet started in his case but he faces the
death penalty if convicted
now this mass shooting sparked a lot of
change in its what we've been talking
about ever since that happened and again
something else that happened in February
and it seems like such a long time ago
but this is one of those things that it
has far-reaching implications and I
think the thing that we remember the
most the students who were impacted by
this
they really are at the forefront of
changes they want to see happen and
they've already started doing that less
than a week later they were in
Tallahassee marching I think it was the
never again margin and they were telling
lawmakers it's like how many more of
these is it's going to take before you
guys ban weapons like in this one all
together and make changes so we feel
safe and we did see some of the
legislation that was passed during the
next legislative session you know so
many times some of these tragedies
happen and it doesn't happen so quickly
nothing happens well and this one
happened right before the legislative
session so it was fresh on a lot of
minds you know for if you're gonna
compare it when we talk about the pulse
nightclub shooting that happened in June
the next legislative session didn't
happen from several more months down the
road and unfortunately for some of the
lawmakers it's forgotten news right and
it and they're not reminded of the
impacted lives that something like that
happens and that that Marjory Stoneman
Douglas Safety Act Public Safety Act
that was passed if you talk to some of
those kids I said it was a good start
it's not enough because it did have some
some big things that they that they were
missing but it did offer a little bit of
relief for for some of those kids
including some of the things that were
passed that were changes made to who
could purchase guns and when they could
purchase guns as far as age was
concerned they raised the age as a 21
right and they also had a three day
waiting period on on gun sales as well
so the Guardian program the school
Guardian program was also in there so
there were some of the things that that
they wanted but some of the things that
that weren't that they were missing well
you know I feel like they think that
this is as you mentioned a great start
but these kids I feel like they are the
face of change because many of them many
of the mass shootings we've covered and
we've talked about especially the ones
that have happened in school and sadly
there have been many of them you don't
necessarily hear from the kids you hear
from the parents you hear from lawmakers
but this is one of the first times I can
recall that kids who were in that school
students there and who or it may be
locked down in some of those classrooms
they were in Tallahassee they marched on
Washington DC because they aren't going
to let this happen again without having
something done or at least them doing
something and resonated masse oh it
really did and you know I've had the
pleasure of talking to a number of
Central Florida high school students in
a segment we call generation under fire
and every so often we have students from
different schools come in and just talk
about what they are experiencing in
schools Justin and I can't imagine just
talking to them I feel the stress and
the pressure because you know they talk
about having drills is it real is it not
real and what they have to go through
and like when they hear a drill or a
fire alarm now they just don't all rush
out into the hallway they have to wait
for the teachers or authorities or
administrators to say okay it's a real
drill so let's go outside because they
didn't want to be drawn out in fear of
it's somebody out there waiting to gun
them down right back when we were in
school it was about getting in fights
now it's a whole different story so
those were simpler times those were very
simpler times are at ginger we're gonna
be back with much more gonna revisit
some of the hurricanes Florence and
Michael and how they impacted the East
Coast and the Gulf Coast as well yeah
and we'll also take a look at the
midterm elections and the recount it
seems like it's still going on
right here we will be right back welcome
back just in warmoth alongside ginger
Gadsden as we continue to recap some of
the big stories of the year here on the
weekly we continue now with the very
active hurricane season we had 15 named
storms eight of which were hurricanes
ginger not just any hurricane some bets
were just massive hurricanes and one of
them Florence caused widespread flooding
in the Carolinas hurricane Michael
devastated parts of the Florida
Panhandle who can forget that when you
see the devastation there and look at
the images I mean there were towns that
were just wiped off the map when you
look at the satellite imagery there was
a town that was there and then it wasn't
there I mean you're like is that Florida
but that could have been us we are used
to seeing the bullseye right on us but
when and it was initially for both those
storms I'm ready yeah Florence
especially it just kept veering up the
East Coast and unfortunately for the
Carolinas that hit them it really did
that one wasn't necessarily a huge win
maker there were strong winds but the
biggest factor was that one was the
flooding so much rain was dropped and it
kind of just it's set right on top of
them wasn't moving sort of like
hurricane Harvey did at Texas it just
wouldn't go anywhere and it just kept
dumping rain on top of these these towns
as we look at some of these images just
they're hard to forget it heart rate it
really is heartbreaking and hurricane
Florence we were watching that one
really closely because that was one that
started way off the the Lesser Antilles
and off the coast of Africa moved up and
you thought you saw it and it looked
there were chances it was gonna come to
Central Florida and impact us to cat 5
as a cat 5 it was no joke and I think
that was the difference between
hurricane Florence and hurricane Michael
hurricane Michael of course quickly
started and quickly gained strength yes
the Gulf was really warm waters and that
was just a few not that there's any
ideal situation for a hurricane but you
certainly want one that's going to come
do what it's going to do and then get
out of there as opposed to sit on you
become a rain maker besides just causing
all that wind damage and you know our
chief meteorologist Tom Searles talked
about how that hurricane was going to be
so devastating even after it was done
and sure enough we saw this
urghhh happen and when that happens you
could you can't there's nothing you can
do you sit you watch and you wait and
you feel so helpless and when you look
at the devastating images there and many
people that we work with they you know
we forget that here in Central Florida
we're from all over the state and when
you have to cover the news and you have
family who are in those areas being hit
but you still have to go out and do what
you have to do and then when we send
crews there to see it it's one thing to
see it like that but it's another thing
to have boots on the ground and being
able to see it for yourself right and so
and to see and meet some of the people
as well who lost everything in this
storm and it was a storm that you know
oftentimes we we have time to plan yeah
time to prepare this one not so much it
was a Mackay mallow and then about three
to four days later it was a category for
almost a category five gaining steam and
heading right for the Panama City area
port st. Joe really got hit the hardest
this is a look at port st. Joe and I
know Nadia me honest like to your point
that was a market that she previously
worked in she was a reporter at market
and she went up there and and saw some
of the people that some of the residents
that she lived near that she knew when
she was up there some of her co-workers
as well and this place will never be the
same but they vow to to rebuild that was
such a quaint little beach town oh my
gosh because because people think if you
live on the beach then you're a
multimillionaire
right and that's not always the case in
case in point is that the area that was
was devastated and you know I say cat5
because I think a revisionist history
what we're going to see is that they're
going to look at the damage caused by
that because it was just shy of a cat5
and I feel like probably in a year or
two they will readjust and realize that
that was actually a cat5 though it
doesn't matter that right it really
doesn't the devastation is the
devastation and it's going to take years
to recover from that and it had
implications all over one of those
implications though it affected it
affected the midterm elections as well
Governor Scott and of course I had to
suspend his Senate campaign
Andrew Gilliam had to suspend his
governor's campaign he's the mayor of
Tallahassee and they were right there in
the middle of everything so that also
and speaking of let's get right
more interesting it made it very
interesting so results 2018 now November
a long month for November election
results less than a month ago or about a
month ago right and it feels like we
just finally got everything check okay
finally does come count two weeks after
the polls closed on election day
Floridians experienced a rare machine
recount and then an even more rare
manual recount but in late November
election 2018 finally came to an end in
a five-minute formality the elections a
canvassing commission certified Governor
Rick Scott as Florida's next US Senator
Ron disentis as Florida's next governor
Nicki freed as Commissioner of
Agriculture and all other state and
local election results were certified
despite allegations of voter fraud
though and miss deadlines in Broward and
Palm Beach counties what a mess that was
the canvassing Commission says
Floridians can trust the final vote
tally state senator Bradley says the
Legislature will be reviewing Florida's
election laws yes they will and I know
that we put a lot of the focus on
Broward and Palm Beach counties as far
as their election handlings and and some
of the supervisors there and we yes
however though unfortunately we lose
track of the great work done in Central
Florida and around the state we had two
bad counties and it was they worked
tirelessly I talked to the Osceola
County Supervisor of Elections and she
told me that they were working 15 14
hour shifts trying to get this all
prepared and get this ready at a ride
and I get it right because this was
obviously so important and the results
were so close and we saw this on
election night you remember going back
to election night I know but Jim Jim
Clark our political expert goes no no
this is not we this is not close enough
for effort to call we saw mr. Gilliam
concede ended up taking that back
because of the election results and some
of those missing precincts ended up
going his way so yeah isn't that funny
he conceded bill Nelson did not concede
for a while later he wanted to make sure
that every vote was counted eventually
he did concede and Governor Scott and
Matt Caldwell who was running for
Agriculture Commissioner had a victory
speech turns out after the recount after
all the
precincts finally reported it went to
Nikki freed who is now the next
Agriculture Commissioner for the state
of Florida a Democrat one of the only
did one of the Democrats the only
Democrats on the floor in the Florida
cabinet right now so you know it's just
it goes back to you know Florida and the
spotlight on Florida when it comes to
elections well we knew it was going to
happen but I don't think we knew how it
was going to play out I don't think you
ever see how it's going to play out but
you know that at some point Florida is
going to come into play because it is
such an important state and that's what
makes it so interesting but we had no
idea just how interesting it was going
to be and I feel like when people say
Andrew Gilliam came out of nowhere right
but I think the people some people knew
who he was before that victory that
midterm election victory right and but
surprisingly he was so close he was but
it it just wasn't meant to be on the
flip side it took one sweep or two
tweets from the president to propel Ron
de santis past Adam Putnam who was the
favorite so 20/20 is right around the
corner president Trump back up on the
ballots so we'll be watching that very
closely here at News 6 as we always know
and of course you can find all of these
stories we mentioned this morning right
on click Orlando com we really
appreciate you joining us this morning
for a special edition of the weekly for
ginger Gaston I'm Justin warmoth have a
great Sunday and have a happy and safe
new year
take care
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