(Cape Canaveral, Florida ) — Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) today successfully launched its Dragon spacecraft aboard a Falcon 9 rocket on the first official cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station. The launch went off on schedule at 8:35 p.m. ET from Launch Complex 40 in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The SpaceX CRS-1 mission marks the first of at least 12 SpaceX missions to the space station under the company’s cargo resupply contract with NASA. On board the Dragon spacecraft are materials to support investigations planned for the station’s Expedition 33 crew, as well as crew supplies and space station hardware.

Dragon – the only space station cargo craft capable of returning a significant amount of supplies back to Earth — will return with scientific materials and space station hardware.

The Falcon 9 rocket, powered by nine Merlin engines, performed nominally today during every phase of its approach to orbit, including two stage separations, solar array deployment, and the final push of Dragon into its intended orbit. Dragon will now chase the space station before beginning a series of burns that will bring it into close proximity to the station. If all goes well, Dragon will attach to the complex on October 10 and spend over two weeks there before an expected return to Earth on October 28.

“We are right where we need to be at this stage in the mission,” said Elon Musk, CEO and Chief Technical Officer, SpaceX. “We still have a lot of work to do, of course, as we guide Dragon’s approach to the space station. But the launch was an unqualified success.”

The CRS-1 mission follows a historic demonstration flight last May when SpaceX’s Dragon became the first commercial spacecraft to attach to the space station, exchange cargo, and return safely to Earth. The flight signaled restoration of American capability to resupply the space station, not possible since the retirement of the space shuttle in 2011.

Human trafficking “summit” set for today

Special to Central Florida Politics by Brett Clarkson, Sun Sentinel

(Palm Beach, Florida) – Florida’s status as a hub for human trafficking has state officials pushing a “zero-tolerance” policy toward criminals who exploit others for profit.

“It’s important to me because this is a crime against humanity, it’s truly modern-day slavery,” State Attorney General Pam Bondi said in an interview.

The problem of people slave-driving others in the Sunshine State is so bad that Florida is regarded by human trafficking experts as one of the most active states in the country.

Citing a 2011 study by the National Human Trafficking Resource Center, Bondi said that Florida ranks third to only California and Texas. The study tracked the number of reports to the center’s anti-trafficking hotline.

As a result, Bondi said legislators, investigators and prosecutors are working hard to better combat the problem. She pointed out changes to Florida’s human trafficking laws that bring stronger penalties.

Among the changes: The state will now be able to designate convicted sex traffickers as registered sex offenders, Bondi said. Offenders will be subject to the same monitoring requirements used to track the whereabouts of other abusers and molesters.

“We want to continue to bring awareness to this horrific issue and we’re proud that we’ve significantly strengthened our laws in the state,” Bondi said.

Looking to bring more attention to the issue, Bondi is taking part in a human trafficking “summit” Monday in Tallahassee. Advocates and officials will discuss ways to combat the problem – and bring it into sharper focus.

“Because it’s so ugly, I think a lot of people don’t believe it’s actually happening here,” Bondi said.

In South Florida, officials are stressing that the problem is very much happening here.

Recent cases include Mexican women being lured by the promise of love and a better life to the United States, only to find themselves coerced into prostitution, and 39 Filipino workers being forced to work for little or no pay in exclusive country clubs in Palm Beach County.

At the federal enforcement level, Assistant U.S. Attorney Barbara Martinez said the number of human trafficking cases being prosecuted in federal court rooms between Key West and Fort Pierce are at all-time highs.

Between July 2011 and June 2012, federal prosecutors in South Florida racked up 12 convictions and brought six indictments involving human trafficking, Martinez said.

“I believe that this is has been the highest number of trafficking prosecutions we’ve ever had,” said Martinez, the Human Trafficking Coordinator for the Southern District of Florida.

Tonja Marshall, group supervisor for Homeland Security Investigations’ human trafficking unit, oversees a team of special agents, investigators and analysts that probe cases in South Florida.

“What draws me to it, I think it’s being a voice for the voiceless,” Marshall said.

Law enforcement officials like Bondi, Martinez and Marshall believe human trafficking is thriving here because the state is a destination for tourists, transients, runaways, migrant workers, and organized crime.

It’s also a market for every kind of exploitation, whether it be sex work, farm labor, tourism jobs, domestic servitude, nail salons, or massage parlors, among others.

The concept of people being smuggled or held captive and forced to do work for little to no pay is not new to law enforcement.

What is relatively new, at least to the general public, is the term ‘human trafficking.’ It refers to the exploitation of people who are forced into situations where they are essentially used as slave labor, in some cases for sexual purposes. The victims could be anybody: U.S. citizens, illegal aliens, or legal immigrants, authorities say.

“Contrary to some misconceptions, human trafficking crimes do not require any smuggling or movement of the victim,” says the Department of Justice on its website.

Both Marshall and Martinez said investigators working with the South Florida Human Trafficking Task Force — a group that includes federal and local law enforcement agencies — look at the circumstances of a case before deciding whether or not to prosecute it under state laws or federal laws.

“Literally, whoever has the biggest hammer,” Marshall said. “When you have all these entities coming together, it’s very significant in the fight against human trafficking.”

Federally, a number of statutes in the criminal code cover human trafficking, with Section 1591 focusing on sex trafficking that involves children. People convicted of trafficking minors face sentences ranging from a minimum of 15 years to life.

Under the state legislation, which took effect July 1, human smuggling will no longer be a misdemeanor but a felony, meaning stronger sentences, Bondi said.

Any property proven to be used to traffic humans — for instance, houses or cars — will be seized and subject to forfeiture.

Massage parlors will also be subjected to stronger enforcement, Bondi said. Massage workers will be required to show valid government-issued photo identification upon request to police or Department of Health inspectors.

“We want to end the sex and labor trafficking in our state,” Bondi said.

Special to Central Florida Politics by Katie Watson of the Virginia Watchdog

By Kathryn Watson | Virginia Watchdog

ALEXANDRIA — The two companies tasked with building and managing Virginia’s heralded public-private transportation projects, Transurban USA Inc. and Fluor Corp., are cozy with state politicians on both sides of the aisle.

Together, they have contributed roughly $800,000 to Virginia campaigns and committees during the past decade — not to mention personal gifts, like expensive dinners for state legislators.

Transurban USA, the U.S. subsidiary of Australia-based toll road developer Transurban Group, is constructing the I-95 Express Lanes in Northern Virginia. It also built the Pocahontas Parkway in southern Virginia and the I-495 Express Lanes in Northern Virginia.

For the I-95 Express Lanes venture, Transurban and Fluor are dubbed 95 Express Lanes LLC. The joint venture is financing all but $71 million — the state’s portion — of the roughly $1 billion project, mostly through loans. In turn, the private partners will collect tolls, which will vary depending on vehicle size and time of day. The 29-miles of high occupancy toll lanes both ways will stretch from Stafford County in the south to I-395 in the north by 2015.

Transurban has donated at least $200,000 since 2005, according to the Virginia Public Access Project’s campaign finance portal. More than $90,000 of those contributions was made since 2011.

Since 2005, the top recipients were Dominion Leadership Trust, a PAC founded by House of Delegates Speaker William Howell, R-Fredericksburg, receiving $26,500; the Republican Party-Virginia House Campaign Committee with $25,000; and the Democratic Party-Commonwealth Victory Fund, $19,000.

But Transurban’s contributions pale compared with Fluor’s nearly $600,000 in political campaigns and committees between 2001 and 2012, according to VPAP records. The top recipients were the Democratic Party- Commonwealth Victory Fund receiving $66,500, followed by the Republican Party-Virginia House Campaign Committee, $55,000.

Fluor, the Texas-based engineering and construction firm responsible for 10 percent of the road work on the I-95 Express Lanes project, did not return calls for comment.

Since 2005, Transurban has supported both sides of the aisle, but Republicans walked away with the lion share of 62 percent in contributions, according to VPAP. Recipients range from Tim Kaine for governor to John Cook for Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.

Transurban’s giving records also reveal personal perks for legislators, like $40 to $150 dinners for state Delegates Barbara Comstock, R-McLean; David Bulova, D-Fairfax; Rich Anderson, R-Woodbridge; and Howell — all in regions affected by the I-95 and I-495 express lanes.

Transurban spokeswoman Jennifer Aument, a registered lobbyist, according to VPAP and opensecrets.org, a nonprofit resource for federal campaign contributions, did not return calls for comment.

In 2008, Transurban USA admitted to making more than $180,000 in illegal campaign contributions to Virginia officials between 2005 and 2008.

The contributions were illegal, because Transurban USA’s Australian parent company was involved, violating federal elections laws that prohibit foreign company participation in federal, state or local campaign donations. Contributions by a U.S. subsidiary are generally permitted without the involvement of a parent company, according to the Federal Election Commission, but the subsidiary must foot the bill.

Transurban made the contributions on faulty advice from government relations firm Vector Corp., according to FEC documents. Transurban leaders initiated an internal investigation and, taking advantage of FEC’s voluntary disclosure program, paid $33,000 in fines, according to FEC records.

Most state lawmakers — who said they were unaware of the violation — returned the funds to Transurban or donated them to charity.

Transurban, in its 2009 sustainability report, said it “did not make any political donations in the U.S.” in fiscal 2009, a statement that campaign finance documents support. But, in 2010, the donations surged again.

Stephen Spaulding, staff counsel for Common Cause, a nonprofit, nonpartisan lobbying group for a more transparent government, said the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission made the laws regarding U.S. subsidiary contributions murkier, “opening the door” for potential violations.

Tim Lee, an adjunct scholar at the libertarian-leaning Cato Institute, told Virginia Watchdog that lobbying often restricts the free-market argument pushed by proponents of public-private partnerships.

“Sometimes, you have lobbying to actually restrict competition,” Lee said.

Transurban and Fluor had one major competitor in the bidding process over the I-95 Express Lanes — partners Clark Construction Group LLC, and Shirley Contracting Co. LLC. The Clark-Shirley team was the first to introduce a high occupancy toll lane proposal in 2003. Fluor-Transurban followed.

Combined, the Clark-Shirley team contributed just a few thousand dollars to Virginia groups in recent years. Shirley Contracting donated roughly $5,000 to the Virginia Transportation Construction Alliance, a state association that advocates for the transportation construction industry, between 2008 and 2011, according to VPAP records. Since 1999, Clark Construction has donated $500 each to a county supervisor campaign and the Commercial Development PAC.

Fluor-Transurban’s and Clark-Shirley’s proposals were approved by an initial review committee, then by the governor-appointed members of the Commonwealth Transportation Board.

In November 2005, a panel of experts selected Fluor-Transurban.

Citizen information meetings followed, and the final agreement was signed in July of this year.

The Virginia Department of Transportation did not return calls for comment.

(Melbourne, Florida) – Harris Corp. was awarded a $46 million systems and network integration solution contract from the U.S. Air Force.

Harris will provide IT support services for the North American Air Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command including IT planning, projects and design; testing and validation; component installation, diagnostics and repair; enterprise network management; hardware and software procurement and more.

The total contract value includes one base year and three one-year options.

Melbourne-based Harris Corp. is an international communications and information technology company serving government and commercial markets in more than 150 countries.

The company has more than 16,000 employees.

To the right on most issues but to the left on pork barrel spending? U.S. Rep. John Mica has won the endorsement of the Tea Party of Florida, in his primary campaign against fellow GOP Congressman Sandy Adams.

Special to Central Florida Politics by Michael Freeman of Freeline Media Orlando

CELEBRATION – With the Sunsine States Aug. 14 primary now just days away, the Tea Party Of Florida has issued its endorsements for state and federal offices – although coming up with the list was an often frustrating experience, said John Long.

“So many times, fiscal conservatives have been suckered by people who have promised to go to Washington and Tallahassee, pledging to be fiscal conservatives, and then do whatever the machine tells them to do,” said Long, the chairman of the Tea Party of Florida. “We were looking for some independence.”

The Tea Party, which has its headquarters in Celebration, is looking for candidates who will commit to reducing spending both at the state and federal level — and not come up with excuses for why certain projects simply need to be exempt from the notion of fiscal discipline.

A good example of the Tea Party’s dilemma, Long said, is the race for Florida’s new 7th Congressional District, where two Republican incumbents – U.S. Rep. John Mica and U.S. Rep. Sandy Adams – are battling it out. Redistricting by the state Legislature merged their districts together.

The battle between these two Republicans has come down to sharp attacks over which one is more faithfully committed to opposing government spending. Adams has criticized Mica for supporting so-called pork barrel projects, including SunRail, the commuter rail line that is now being built in Central Florida, with federal dollars financing a large part of the construction.

Mica has criticized Adams for doing the same thing when she was serving in the Florida House of Representatives before her election to Congress in 2010. Both of them, Long said, are absolutely right.

“That exactly describes our problem,” Long said, adding that the Tea Party has long opposed SunRail as a waste of taxpayer money that’s unlikely to be self-sustaining in the years to come.

“On the federal level, we were looking for people who articulated fiscal discipline,” Long said. “Unfortunately, the state of Florida is still controlled by the Republican Party, and they simply do whatever the machine tells them to do.” That machine, Long said, is the lobbyists for special interest groups that want the state of Florida to spend money on their projects – taxpayer money, Long added.

“We’ve come to the opinion that very little differences separate the Democrats from the Republicans,” he said.

In the 7th Congressional District race, the Tea Party opted to endorse Mica. Political consultant Doug Guetzloe, an advisor to the Tea Party of Florida, said it was actually an easy decision to make.

Mica was first elected in 1992, and is the chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and he’s been a longtime advocate of bringing home federal dollars for mass transit projects in Greater Orlando, including SunRail. That rail line, expected to start operating in 2014, would run across four counties: Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Volusia.

“For the past 15 years, John Mica has said he would support that, and he has been true to his word,” Guetzloe said.

And while Guetzloe and other members of the Tea Party of Florida have opposed SunRail, Guetzloe noted that Adams was an advocate of SunRail while serving in the Florida Legislature. “She’s the one who helped shepherd it through the Legislature,” Guetzloe said, adding that for Adams to now criticize Mica’s support for the project seems hypocritical.

“She’s throwing anything she can at him,” he said. “That kind of duplicity we don’t need.”

The endorsements were made for candidates running in Orange, Brevard, Polk and Osceola counties. Guetzloe said the party was looking for candidates who are pledging to reduce spending, not the ones touting how much money they could bring to their districts.

“The core interest in this was economic freedom – less taxes, less government, more freedom,” Guetzloe said. “These were all economic conservatives that we endorsed.”

Among the candidates that the Tea Party of Florida is urging voters to support on Tuesday, Aug. 14 are U.S. Rep. Connie Mack, who is seeking the Republican nomination to challenge U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Florida; Todd Long, who is seeking the Republican nomination in Florida’s new 9th Congressional district;

Republicans Paul Owen and Tony Ferentinos, who are running in separate districts for the Osceola County Board of County Commissioner; Tracy Garcia and John Hall, who are running for the Polk County Board of Commissioners; and Daniel Perry, who is challenging 9th Circuit Court Judge Belvin Perry in a non-partisan judicial election.

John Long said he hopes the legislative candidates can break the political addiction to spending taxpayer money on local projects, “people who have the courage to oppose the machine in Tallahassee.”

To learn more about the endorsements, log on to www.TEAPartyofFlorida.US.

Contact us at FreelineOrlando@gmail.com.

(Orlando, Florida) – President Barack Obama has rescheduled his visit to Orlando for Thursday afternoon.

Obama was originally scheduled to visit Rollins College on July 20, but canceled his visit due to the shootings at a move theater in Aurora, Colo.

The president will travel to visit the Harold and Ted Alfond Sports Center at Rollins College on Aug. 2.

Doors to the event will open at noon, and those with tickets to the July 20 canceled campaign event can retrieve their tickets at 5 p.m. on July 31 at four different locations.

(Viera, Florida) – Brevard commissioners are working to persuade XCOR Aerospace Inc. to open a manufacturing and operations center at Kennedy Space Center.

Brevard County commissioners approved $182,400 in incentives to help coax XCOR Aerospace Inc. to the Space Coast, Florida Today reports.

Commissioners are working to persuade XCOR to open a manufacturing and operations center at Kennedy Space Center, which the company said would create 152 technical jobs.

At Tuesday’s County Commission meeting, XCOR said the potential Florida operation would be at KSC and its shuttle landing facility, and would include hangar and flight operations, vehicle manufacturing, engine assembly and space tourism, Florida Today reports.

Although XCOR said several locations are being considered, the California-based rocket components company said it would hope to open its KSC center in October 2014.

(Orlando) Ax the Tax, the statewide citizen grassroots organization that has helped taxpayers defeat over $50 billion in proposed sales and property tax increases, will officially oppose efforts in two Central Florida counties to increase taxes on county taxpayers.

“Government, especially the school districts, have plenty of money, they quite simply don’t spend the funds they have in a manner that instills confidence by area taxpayers,” stated Doug Guetzloe, Founder and Chairman of the statewide organization. “School boards have shown to be the absolute worst offenders of governmental waste and excess. Administration tends to be top heavy with the teachers and support personnel almost an afterthought in public school spending.”

Guetzloe founded Ax the Tax in 1982 and since then has led 17 successful anti-tax referenda efforts, including the effort by the Osceola County school board to raise taxes in 2004. Voters agreed with Ax the Tax with over 62% of the vote.

“Voters in Brevard and Seminole counties are beleaguered by a dizzying array of increased taxes and fees and certainly don’t need their hard-earned tax dollars flowing into the black hole of bureaucratic excess,” Guetzloe stated.

Ax the Tax will coordinate the technical aspects of the campaign and also will designate individual anti-tax leaders in each county as it has done successfully in the past.

Ax the Tax is budgeting $50,000 to oppose both proposed tax increases and expects to be outspent as usual.

Ax the Tax has successfully led opposition to increased taxes in both Brevard and Seminole counties in the past.

Ax the Tax is a registered statewide political committee based in Orlando that boasts over 140,000 supporters, contributors and enthusiasts throughout Florida.

You can get more information at the organizations website: www.AxTheTax.org