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SpaceX calls off 1st launch attempt of giant rocket in Texas

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:52 GMT

By MARCIA DUNN (AP Aerospace Writer)SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas (AP) — SpaceX called off the first launch attempt of its giant rocket Monday after a problem cropped up during fueling,Elon Musk’s company had planned to fly the nearly 400-foot Starship rocket from the southern tip of Texas, near the Mexican border. The countdown was halted at the 40-second mark because of a stuck valve in the first-stage booster. Launch controllers couldn’t fix the frozen valve in time, and canceled the attempt. The countdown continued, and fueling was completed, as a dress rehearsal.No people or satellites were aboard. There won’t be another try until at least Wednesday. “Learned a lot today,” Musk tweeted after the flight was postponed.The company plans to use Starship to send people and cargo to the moon and, ultimately, Mars.On the eve of the launch attempt, cars, campers, RVs and even bicycles and horses jammed the only road leading to the launch pad, where the s...

High winds and cold temperatures postpone Monday’s Chicago White Sox-Philadelphia Phillies game

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:52 GMT

Monday’s Chicago White Sox game against the Philadelphia Phillies at Guaranteed Rate Field has been postponed because of a forecast of high winds and cold temperatures.It will be made up as part of a straight doubleheader beginning at 3:10 p.m. Tuesday.The second game will begin approximately 30-45 minutes following the conclusion of the opener, but not before 6:10 p.m.Parking lots and gates will open at 2:10 p.m. on Tuesday. ()

Live Updates: Hellen Obiri wins women’s race at 127th Boston Marathon

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:52 GMT

Hellen Obiri of Kenya has won the 127th Boston Marathon, crossing the finish line at 2:21:38.Amane Beriso of Ethiopia crossed second, Lonah Salpeter of Israel, crossed third. American Emma Bates came in fifth.Obiri, a two-time Olympic silver medalist in the 5,000 meters, won the women’s race in a sprint down Boylston Street to finish in an unofficial 2:21:38.Winning the women's race is an exuberant @HellenObiri in 2:21:38.— B.A.A. (@BAA) April 17, 2023Second is Beriso, 2:21:50; third Salpeter, 2:21:57. Bates 5th in 2:22:10.— B.A.A. (@BAA) April 17, 2023Evans Chebet, also of Kenya, won the 127th Boston Marathon in the men’s field, crossing the finish line a repeat champion with an unofficial time of 2:05:54.Chebet’s time is the third fastest in marathon history, according to the Boston Athletic Association.Chebet, 2021 winner Benson Kipruto and Gabriel Geay pulled away from world record holder Eliud Kipchoge, running his first highly anticipated Bost...

Police say woman found dead in Etobicoke fire was murdered

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:52 GMT

Toronto police say a woman who was found dead in a fire at an Etobicoke residence late last month was murdered.Crews were called to the residence in the Grand Avenue and Dalesford Road area on March 23, 2023, at around 12:20 a.m.Police say a woman, later identified as Melinda Boon, 64, was found inside the residence unresponsive.She was rushed to hospital and remained in intensive care until March 29, when she died.Following an autopsy, Toronto police took over the investigation and on April 5, 2023 they charged a suspect in her death.Dsuan Ludvig, 81, of Toronto is facing a single count of first-degree murder.

Authorities: Suspect arrested in killing of Oregon policeman

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:52 GMT

ONTARIO, Oregon (AP) — Authorities have arrested a man suspected of killing an eastern Oregon reserve police officer.The Malheur County District Attorney’s office confirmed Monday morning that the suspect in the Saturday night shooting of Officer Joseph Johnson was arrested in connection with the shooting. Johnson, a 43-year-old reserve officer for the Nyssa Police Department, died Saturday night after a man he pursued in a car shot at him. The man fled, and Johnson was dead when sheriff’s officers and medical workers arrived. Malheur County District Attorney David Goldthorpe said the shooting happened after Johnson responded to a report of a violent person damaging property and threatening people at a house. When he arrived, the people at the house told Johnson the suspect had left in a car, and Johnson then pursued the man through the area, Goldthorpe said. The suspect eventually pulled over and began shooting, Goldthorpe said, hitting Johnson while he was still in his car a...

Ex-Cardinal McCarrick charged in Wisconsin with sex abuse

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:52 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The defrocked Roman Catholic cardinal who became the face of the church’s clergy sex abuse crisis has been charged in Wisconsin with sexually assaulting an 18-year-old man more than 45 years ago, court records show.A criminal complaint filed Friday alleges that Theodore McCarrick, who was removed from the priesthood in 2019 after a Vatican investigation found he had sexually molested adults and children, fondled a man in 1977 while staying at a cabin on Geneva Lake in southeastern Wisconsin.The alleged victim, who is not named, told investigators that McCarrick had repeatedly sexually assaulted him since he was 11 and even brought him to parties where other adult men sexually assaulted him, according to the complaint.McCarrick became the highest-ranking Roman Catholic official in the U.S. to face criminal charges for sexual abuse when he was accused in 2021 of sexually assaulting a teenage boy in Massachusetts at a wedding reception in 1974. His attorneys ...

Chauvin murder conviction upheld in George Floyd killing

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:52 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Court of Appeals on Monday upheld former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin’s second-degree murder conviction in the killing of George Floyd, and his 22 1/2-year sentence remains in place.Chauvin’s attorney had asked the appeals court to throw out the ex-officer’s convictions for a long list of reasons, including the massive pretrial publicity. He also argued that legal and procedural errors deprived Chauvin of a fair trial. But the three-judge panel sided with prosecutors who said Chauvin got a fair trial and just sentence.Floyd died on May 25, 2020, after Chauvin, who is white, used his knee to pin the Black man’s neck to the ground for 9 1/2 minutes. A bystander video captured Floyd’s fading cries of “I can’t breathe.” Floyd’s death touched off protests around the world, some of which turned violent, and forced a national reckoning with police brutality and racism.“Police officers undoubtedly have a challenging, difficult, and so...

Driver arrested in Etobicoke hit-and-run that killed 69-year-old woman

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:52 GMT

Toronto police have arrested a driver suspected in a deadly hit-and-run in Etobicoke over the weekend.Officers say a woman was struck around 8:30 a.m. on Sunday in the area of Bloor Street West and Aberfoyle Crescent.The victim, a 69-year-old woman, was taken to hospital in life-threatening condition where she was pronounced dead.Police allege a red Toyota Prius involved in the crash did not remain at the scene.On Monday, police confirmed the suspect had been arrested and their car was impounded. It’s unclear if the suspect turned themselves in or they were tracked down by investigators.Toronto police are expected to provide an update on Monday.

See the EVs eligible for tax credits – and why most aren’t

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:52 GMT

DETROIT (AP) — Ten electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles will be eligible for a $7,500 U.S. tax credit, while another seven could get $3,750 under new federal rules that go into effect on Tuesday.But under the Treasury Department rules and other provisions of last year’s Inflation Reduction Act, most of the more than 60 electric or plug-in hybrids on sale in the U.S. won’t get any tax credits. That could slow acceptance of electric vehicles and could delay reaching President Joe Biden’s ambitious goal that half of new passenger vehicles sold in the U.S. run on electricity by 2030.The new rules, which govern how much battery minerals and parts can come from countries that don’t have free trade agreements with the U.S., bumped nine vehicles off the tax credit eligibility list that went into effect Jan. 1.The 10 vehicles eligible for the full $7,500 credit are Tesla’s Model 3 Performance model, the Tesla Model Y, Ford’s F-150 Lightning pickup, the Chry...

Review: Don Winslow writes mob war epic inspired by Homer

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:52 GMT

“City of Dreams,” by Don Winslow (William Morrow)“City of Dreams” is the middle book in a planned trilogy that began when a stunning woman emerged from the surf at a Rhode Island beach in last year’s “City on Fire” and sparked a war between the state’s Irish and Italian crime families.Now, as the latest installment opens, Danny Ryan leads what’s left of the defeated Irish mob on an epic, cross-country journey in search of a new home and a measure of safety from the Italian gangsters, the Rhode Island State Police, FBI agents and a growing number of other pursuers dead set on putting them in the ground.“Ryan’s not sure where they are going,” author Don Winslow writes, “just that they have to get the hell out of Rhode Island.”If the story reminds readers of Homer’s “The Iliad” and Virgil’s “Aeneid,” in which jealousy over a beauty named Helen sparked a war between the Greeks and the Trojans, it should. Winslow peppers his yarn with allusions and quotes from the epic Greek poems, casti...