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Virgin Galactic completes final test flight before launching paying customers to space

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

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M (AP) — Virgin Galactic completed what’s expected to be its final test flight Thursday before taking paying customers on brief trips to space. Six of the company’s employees, including two pilots, landed at Spaceport America in southern New Mexico after the short up-and-down flight that included a few minutes of weightlessness. It took about an hour for the mother ship to carry the spaceplane to an altitude of 44,500 feet (13,563 meters), where it was released and fired its rocket motor to make the final push.“Successful boost, WE HAVE REACHED SPACE!” Virgin Galactic tweeted.It reached an altitude of 54.2 miles (87 kilometers) before gliding back down to the runway, according to the company.The flight came nearly two years after founder Richard Branson beat fellow billionaire and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and rocket company Blue Origin into space. Bezos ended up flying nine days later from West Texas and Blue Origin has since launched several passenger tr...

After Club Q shooting, New York woman accused of threats to Colorado LGBTQ businesses

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

DENVER (AP) — A New York woman has been indicted for making threats against Denver-area LGBTQ businesses in the days after five people were killed at a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs last year.Sharon Robinson, who appeared in federal court in Brooklyn on Wednesday, is accused of calling at least four businesses on Dec. 8 and making threats including, “You’re gonna be shot up like Club Q,” and, “I’m going to go over there and shoot you all,” according to her May 17 indictment. Robinson, 40, who prosecutors say lives in Brooklyn, is accused of making anti-gay slurs during the calls and the grand jury found that she targeted the businesses because of their actual and perceived sexual orientation, the indictment said. That finding could lead to a longer sentence if Robinson is convicted, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Colorado said in a press release Wednesday announcing Robinson’s indictment and arrest. The federal public defender who represented Robinson during he...

Ontario police forces target street racing, say activity is on the rise

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

Several police forces in Ontario say they will be working together to crack down on street racing, which they say has been on the rise.Police across the Greater Toronto Area, as well as Ontario Provincial Police and forces in Waterloo and Barrie, are part of the operation —  dubbed Project Erase — that will use enforcement and education to combat the issue.The #OPP, along with policing partners across the #GTA, are launching the E.R.A.S.E. campaign in Mississauga. #ERASE #DriveSafe #DriveLegal. pic.twitter.com/HmX1TNTatu— OPP Highway Safety Division (@OPP_HSD) May 25, 2023Peel Regional Police and partnering agencies will provide details about Project E.R.A.S.E., our collaborative efforts with eliminating street racing and other high-risk driving behaviours https://t.co/PWsbExeGqR— Peel Regional Police (@PeelPolice) May 25, 2023Toronto police acting Supt. Matt Moyer says that since January, Toronto has seen 521 charges related to stunt driving and a 31 per ce...

Quebec provincial police conduct raid in Mohawk community of Kanesatake

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

QUEBEC — Investigators with the Quebec provincial police’s financial crimes unit are conducting searches in a Mohawk community near Montreal.The Mohawk Council of Kanesatake says provincial police are searching the band office and the health centre in connection with an investigation into the community’s COVID-19 task force.The council said in a post on Facebook that the grand chief and the manager of the community’s health centre are co-operating with investigators.Provincial police spokesman Sgt. Marc Tessier says he can’t comment on the nature of the police operation.The community has been officially served by provincial police since an Indigenous-led force was disbanded in 2005, but police rarely enter the community, which was the site of the 1990 Oka Crisis — a 78-day standoff over land rights between Mohawk people and the Canadian Armed Forces.Multiple media have reported that some Kanesatake community members are living under a climate of intimidation ...

B.C. Premier embarks on trade mission in Japan, Korea, Singapore and Vietnam

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

VICTORIA — British Columbia Premier David Eby is heading to Asia on a trade mission that makes stops in Japan, Korea, Singapore and Vietnam.But the premier’s tour itinerary, released by his office on the day of his departure, does not include China.Eby says in a statement the overseas mission will bolster B.C.’s trade and investment ties in the Indo-Pacific region, the world’s fastest growing economic zone.B.C. cabinet ministers Josie Osborne and Brenda Bailey, and Jagrup Brar, the New Democrat government’s minister of state for trade, will accompany Eby on the trip.The statement says the premier and his ministers will meet with government and economic leaders in the Asian countries on issues of trade and investment, and discuss partnership opportunities ranging from clean technology to critical minerals and communications technology.The statement says Eby and his ministers return June 7.This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 25, 2023.The C...

Sports no sure respite from politics when title-winning athletes visit the White House

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

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Calvin Coolidge wasn’t as big a baseball fan as his wife, Grace. But even Silent Cal got swept up in the excitement of the Washington Senators’ unexpectedly successful season in 1924. After the team clinched the American League pennant, the players swung by the White House to shake hands and pose for pictures with Coolidge. It was the beginning of what would eventually become a tradition of victorious athletes visiting the president, and it’ll continue on Friday when Joe Biden hosts the championship men’s and women’s college basketball teams. But what started as a nonpartisan rite of passage has become increasingly tangled up in politics, a shift that some peg to Bill Clinton’s presidency. Tom Lehman, a professional golfer, declined a White House invitation and described Clinton as “a draft dodging baby killer.”“That’s really when it started,” said Fred Frommer, a former Associated Press journalist who has written about the history...

America aged quickly in the last decade as baby boomers lived longer and births dropped

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

The United States grew older, faster, last decade.The share of residents 65 or older grew by more than a third from 2010 to 2020 and at the fastest rate of any decade in 130 years, while the share of children declined, according to new figures from the most recent census.The declining percentage of children under age 5 was particularly noteworthy in the figures from the 2020 head count released Thursday. Combined, the trends mean the median age in the U.S. jumped from 37.2 to 38.8 over the decade.America’s two largest age groups propelled the changes: more baby boomers turning 65 or older and millennials who became adults or pushed further into their 20s and early 30s. Also, fewer children were born between 2010 and 2020, according to numbers from the once-a-decade head count of every U.S. resident. The decline stems from women delaying having babies until later in life, in many cases to focus on education and careers, according to experts, who noted that birth rates never rec...

'Armed and dangerous' Zion man on the run after allegedly shooting estranged wife, another man

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

WAUKEGAN, Ill. — A 42-year-old Zion man allegedly shot his estranged wife and a man she was with late Thursday night in what Waukegan police called a "domestic-related incident."The alleged shooter, Tomas Tapia, remains at large and is considered armed and dangerous, police added. North Chicago man dead, 18-year-old injured in alleged targeted shooting: docs Around 11:15 Thursday, police responded to the 1300 block of Bridge Drive and located two gunshot victims in the parking lot. Tomas Tapia (Photo/Waukegan PD)The 42-year-old wife of Tapia suffered a gunshot wound to the stomach. According to police, the pair were separated. A second victim, a 25-year-old North Chicago resident, was shot in the chest. Both victims were taken to a nearby hospital in stable condition. According to police, a bullet pierced the vehicle's windshield belonging to Tapia's wife. Despite police recovering a vehicle belonging to Tomas Tapia, his whereabouts are unknown. Read more: Latest Chicago news hea...

Historic Lake Geneva estate goes up for sale, becomes most expensive listing in Wisconsin

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

LAKE GENEVA, Wis. — The 20,000 square foot Aloha Lodge is one of Lake Geneva's most recognized mansions, and could be yours for $35 million.The estate was originally built in 1900 for Tracy Drake, founder of the Drake and Blackstone hotels in Chicago. The 8 bedroom, 11 full-bathroom, 5-half bathroom home was the first of several lakeside mansions designed by Chicago architect Howard Van Doren Shaw. Home 300 feet from Wrigley Field up for sale According to brokerage @properties Christie's International Real Estate, "Aloha Lodge sits on more than 360 feet of shoreline, with genteel colonnades, curved façade and ornamental railings that are a beautiful throwback to the days when guests arrived via steamboat or paddlewheel. A full interior and exterior renovation in 2011 tripled the home’s original size, extending its footprint to add two wings off the original structure, built with period details to look as if they were always part of the home."Photo credit: ©@properties Ch...

Chicago's new leaders' Memorial Day weekend public safety plan

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

CHICAGO — Memorial Day marks the first holiday weekend in leadership for Chicago's new mayor and his interim top cop.Mayor Brandon Johnson will join Chicago Police Department Interim Superintendent Fred Waller Thursday afternoon to share the city's public safety plan in advance of the unofficial start to summer. Bleeding control kits at wall stations in Wrigley Field The two are expected to be joined by Chicago Fire Department Commissioner Annette Nance-Holt, Alderman Desmon Yancy, Alderman Lamont Robinson, Partnership for Safe and Peaceful Communities Executive Director Esther Franco-Payne, along with other city and community leaders.WGN plans to livestream the press conference in its entirety within this story beginning at approximately 1:30 p.m. It will then be update later today with details of the plan and reaction.