Updated

Updated · The Washington Post · Nov 11

SS United States to Sink 20 Miles Off Florida, Creating World’s Largest Artificial Reef

Updated

Updated · The Washington Post · Nov 11

SS United States to Sink 20 Miles Off Florida, Creating World’s Largest Artificial Reef

Q: What specific legislative missteps led the state Supreme Court to invalidate the recent redistricting effort?

The Virginia Supreme Court invalidated the redistricting effort because lawmakers did not follow the state constitution’s required amendment process, not because the court barred mid-decade redistricting itself. The core problem was the timing of the General Assembly’s two approvals of the constitutional amendment. Under Virginia’s constitution, an amendment must pass in two separate legislative sessions with an intervening House of Delegates election between them. The court found that requirement was not properly met because lawmakers acted after the 2025 election process had already begun. The justices said early voting counts as part of the election, so the legislature had missed the constitutional window when it gave the amendment its initial approval. Lower-court rulings in the same litigation also identified other procedural defects that fed into the challenge. Those included findings that the 2024 special session did not comply with the legislature’s own procedural rules, that the ballot language presented to voters was misleading, and that the referendum was scheduled too quickly because early voting began less than 90 days after the amendment’s final legislative passage. In short, the amendment was struck down for procedural flaws: lawmakers mis-timed the two required legislative approvals, failed to satisfy the required intervening-election sequence, and faced additional findings that the ballot wording and referendum timing did not meet constitutional standards.

3 articles · Updated · The Washington Post · Nov 11

A live stream begins at noon Eastern on Wednesday, with the 990-foot SS United States set to start sinking an hour later, weather permitting.
Controlled flooding will send the former ocean liner to the seabed about 20 nautical miles off Florida, where it will rest 180 feet down with its upper deck roughly 55 feet below the surface.
Okaloosa County expects the reef to replace lost habitat, support reef fish and draw fishing and recreational diving tourism; the ship’s funnels were removed for museum display in the Destin-Fort Walton Beach area.
The vessel, decommissioned in 1969, still holds the 1952 transatlantic speed record after reaching 42 knots, making its final role a high-profile reuse of a historic U.S. liner.