CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA’s newest rocket successfully completed a brief test flight Wednesday, taking the first step in a back-to-the-moon program that could yet be shelved by the White House. The 327-foot Ares I-X rocket resembled a giant white pencil as it shot into the sky, delayed a day by poor weather. Nearly twice the height of the spaceship it’s supposed to replace — the shuttle — the skinny experimental rocket carried no passengers or payload, only throwaway ballast and hundreds of sensors. The flight cost $445 million. NASA said the flight was a success, based on early indications.
California: Runway incursion
The Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday a runway incursion put a taxiing jet about 82 feet from a departing airliner — less than half the separation required by rules. The incident Sunday at Los Angeles International Airport involved a Midwest Airlines Embraer 190 that landed and taxied toward a runway on which a Northwest Airlines Boeing 757 was taking off for Honolulu. The Midwest Airlines jet was told to turn onto a taxiway and hold there. An FAA spokesman said the jet was supposed to stop 200 feet from the edge of a parallel runway but continued on.
Kentucky: ‘Holiday’ tree woes
Some Christians are angry over the governor’s yuletide terminology. A giant evergreen that will brighten the Capitol lawn this winter won’t be called a Christmas tree. Instead, Gov. Steve Beshear’s administration has dubbed it a “holiday tree.” The Rev. Jeff Fugate of Lexington said the change is offensive to Christians. A Beshear administration spokeswoman said the holiday tree reference is meant to be inclusive of Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah and New Year’s.
Alaska: $1.25 million for book
Former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin reported Tuesday that she has received at least $1.25 million for her hugely anticipated upcoming memoir “Going Rogue.” A disclosure statement released Tuesday discusses Palin’s finances from Jan. 1 to July 26, when she resigned as Alaska governor. Palin said she received the money from publisher HarperCollins for the book. Palin will appear on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” the day before the release of her book, which is currently listed at No. 6 on Amazon.com and No. 11 on Barnes &Noble.com.
Ohio: Robbers hit poker game
Police said robbers armed with assault rifles burst into a Cleveland apartment during a high-stakes poker game and made the players take off their pants before fleeing with more than $11,000. A police report said one of the seven players went outside to smoke Monday when he was confronted by a man pointing a gun at his face. The two suspects entered the apartment, took the players’ money and wallets, forced them to remove their pants and doused them with pepper spray before leaving. The card game had been listed on a poker Web site.
West Virginia: Bigfoot hunt
A team of Bigfoot enthusiasts is hoping to find the legendary creature in the bogs and barrens of a West Virginia wilderness area. Members of Sasquatch Watch of Virginia went camping in the rugged Allegheny Mountain highlands of the Dolly Sods Wilderness Area with GPS navigators, cameras, voice recorders and plaster of Paris to make casts of huge footprints. Billy Willard, founder of the group, said they’re looking in places where people have reported sightings. He said he has never seen Bigfoot himself.
S. Carolina: Sex-toy firing
A deputy assistant attorney general who said he was on his lunch break when an officer found him with a stripper and sex toys in his vehicle has been fired, his boss said Wednesday. Roland Corning, 66, a former state legislator, was in a secluded part of a Columbia cemetery when an officer spotted him Monday, a police report said. As the officer approached, Corning sped off, then pulled over a few blocks away. He and the 18-year-old woman with him, an employee of the Platinum Plus Gentleman’s Club, gave conflicting stories about what they were doing in the cemetery, the report said.
Kenya: Pirates are captured
European Union naval forces captured Somali pirates after they tried to take over a French fishing vessel, which repulsed the attack with gunfire, officials said Wednesday. French military personnel aboard the trawler returned fire, a spokesman said. It did not appear that any of the shots hit the pirates, he said. When a warship arrived, seven pirates were detained, the EU Naval Force said.
From Herald news services
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