• Country music superstar Kenny Chesney's No Shoes Reefs organization is helping to install an artificial reef off Florida's Atlantic coast. The organization and other marine groups such as the nonprofit Coastal Conservation Association Florida, recently donated and installed 13 reef balls, large concrete domes with round holes, on the ocean floor off Delray Beach in Palm Beach County. Each of the 7-foot-by-6-foot reef balls was dropped earlier this month in the Delray Dredge Hole, about a half-mile off the coast of Delray Beach, No Shoes Reefs said in a statement. It will make up a 32-acre underwater reef park known as No Shoes Reef 4. The reef will provide educational opportunities for students in Palm Beach County through the Sandoway Discover Center's educational programs, the statement said. "Love the water, give back to the water," Chesney said in the statement. "Many people don't realize both how fragile and resilient the ocean's ecosystems are, and I think it's the small projects that raise awareness on local levels that help people understand the ocean is a living thing." Once completed, the project will provide new habitats for unique seagrasses and a variety of fish species, as well as give divers an opportunity to explore.
• The Sinclair Broadcast Group says it is ending its "America This Week" show with Eric Bolling, which has been criticized for misstatements about the coronavirus pandemic. Sinclair said the show, which has been sent to stations that the company owns in 81 markets across the country, will shut down after this week'sq episode "as Eric has decided to pursue other professional opportunities." Bolling said he was excited about new projects, which include a podcast featuring "fun banter" between him and former NFL quarterback Brett Favre. He also said he's been discussing another TV possibilities but would give no details. "I think it is time to get back to having fun on air again," he said. "America needs more of that right now." One episode of "America This Week" was pulled from the air in July after Bolling featured an interview with a conspiracy theorist who suggested Dr. Anthony Fauci manufactured the virus that causes covid-19 and shipped it to China. There is no evidence to back up that theory. In October, Bolling was reportedly edited by his bosses again after saying "it's damn near certain this virus has to have been altered in a Chinese lab."
