Congress finds a unifying issue — geothermal energy

WASHINGTON — Republicans and Democrats in Congress seem to have found a unifying issue, and it’s a hot one lurking beneath the earth’s surface: geothermal energy.

Without objection and without partisan digs from either side, the House on Tuesday passed by voice vote a package of six bills — three from Republicans and three from Democrats — intended to make it easier to permit geothermal projects on public lands.

“When Americans are often told Congress cannot work together across the aisle, this bill is proof that we still can,” said Rep. Jeff Hurd, R-Colo., who sponsored the base bill carrying language from all six measures.

Hurd and colleagues from both parties stood on the floor Tuesday to extol the benefits of geothermal exploration, for state and federal economies, for grid reliability and for energy affordability.

—CQ-Roll Call

Space Florida to fund ocean-based space launch company, other secretive projects

Space Florida continues to hold things close to the vest with several ongoing projects as it tries to attract aerospace business to the state — but did reveal the company behind what they had dubbed “Project Manta” to be Seagate Space, for which the state agency will help fund an offshore launch platform.

The state’s aerospace finance and development authority held a Board of Directors meeting Tuesday giving the approval to move forward on a variety of space and airline deals in the works with names like Project Jaguar, Project Forge and Project Henry.

Project Manta called for Space Florida to negotiate and enter into an equipment purchase and leaseback agreement up to $270,000 for advance infrastructure system hardware to be developed and demonstrated in the state. After the board approved the funding, the agency announced it was for Seagate, a St. Petersburg-based company that’s been lining up small-rocket customers for its proposed offshore launch vessel.

Two of those customers have been Cocoa-based Vaya Space with its Dauntless rocket and Firefly Aerospace with its Alpha rocket. The company’s goal is to provide a mobile launch site based in the ocean that could serve the needs for smaller companies that may have a harder time breaking into the busy pads on the Space Coast.

—Orlando Sentinel

Trump says he swore at Netanyahu over Lebanon attacks

Donald Trump said he swore at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a call this week as the U.S. president tried to deescalate fighting in Lebanon and keep peace talks with Iran on track.

“I did,” Trump said in an interview with the Pod Force One podcast, responding to a question about whether he directed expletives toward Netanyahu, widely known as Bibi, and called him crazy.

“I was a little bit perturbed at him constantly fighting with Lebanon,” Trump said on the podcast, aired on Wednesday. “At some point, I said: ‘Bibi, we have to stop this.’”

Trump added he “liked Bibi a lot” and denied the Israeli leader had “tricked” him into attacking Iran in February. “I’m the one that started it,” Trump said. “I started it because they can’t have a nuclear weapon. If it wasn’t for me, there would be no Israel right now.”

—Bloomberg News

Drones hit St Petersburg port as Putin hosts major economic forum

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — Ukraine launched drone attacks on the city of St. Petersburg on Wednesday morning, Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, hours before the Russian metropolis was set to open its international economic forum.

"Purely military targets at the Kronstadt base were also hit," Zelenskyy posted on X. Kronstadt, an island off St. Petersburg, is an important military site and serves as a base for the Russian Baltic Fleet.

Zelenskyy said the various strikes as a result of the joint work of drone units from various branches of the armed forces and the intelligence services had "yielded good results." He stressed that the targets were located almost 1,100 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.

According to the head of Ukraine's drone forces, Robert Brovdi, the drones also set fire to the Russian Navy corvette Boikiy (Brisk). The attacks cast a shadow over the opening of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), which is usually staged as a glamorous event for guests from all over the world.

—dpa