MIRAMAR, Fla. — Spirit Airlines made a deal with its pilots on Wednesday that will end their strike, and the airline said it would fly again starting Friday. The strike won’t officially end until pilots sign a back-to-work agreement, the union said. “I think our people will be more than willing to assist the company in getting itself back together and fully operational as soon as we possibly can,” said the head of the local Air Line Pilots Association. Spirit had already canceled its Thursday flights before the agreement was reached. Spirit’s biggest hub is in Fort Lauderdale, with flights to U.S. cities including Detroit and Atlantic City, N.J., as well as the Caribbean and Latin America.
D.C.: Plaques honor slaves
Congress is honoring the African-American slaves who helped build the U.S. Capitol. Plaques have been erected inside the building in their memory. The plaques read: “This original exterior wall was constructed between 1793 and 1800 of sandstone quarried by laborers, including enslaved African Americans who were an important part of the work force that built the United States Capitol.” The federal government rented the slaves from local slave owners at a rate of $5 per person per month. The slaves were not paid.
California: Cell emissions
San Francisco could soon start requiring retailers to post notices showing how much radiation is emitted by the cell phones they sell. The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted 10-1 to give preliminary approval to the ordinance, which would require stores to provide each phone’s “specific absorption rate” — a measure of radiation registered with the Federal Communications Commission. Mayor Gavin Newsom is expected to sign the legislation into law after a 10-day comment period and a final vote by the board.
Minuteman missile tested
The Air Force has test-launched a Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missile. The ICBM lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 3:01 a.m. Wednesday. The Air Force said the missile’s single re-entry vehicle traveled 4,190 miles over the Pacific Ocean before hitting a target near the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. A spokesman said the launch was seamless.
Distress signals were hoaxes
A man accused of falsely claiming repeatedly to be stranded at sea has been sentenced in San Jose to 30 months in federal prison. Prosecutors said 53-year-old Kurtis Thorsted broadcast more than four dozen hoax distress signals over six months in 2008, costing the Coast Guard more than $102,000 for attempted searches. He was sentenced to two years in prison for the same crime in 2004.
Pennsylvania: Hearing spat
A man with hearing loss and eager to pursue a career in law enforcement filed a federal lawsuit against the state police over guidelines that he said exclude qualified candidates who need hearing aids. Bill Furman’s lawyers filed the lawsuit Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania asking that the rule forbidding the use of hearing aids in tests needed for certification be changed so that Furman has the opportunity to become a municipal police officer.
Britain: Shakespeare theft
A flashy British book dealer accused of stealing a rare first edition of Shakespeare’s plays appeared for trial in Newcastle Wednesday in a silver limousine, sporting a Panama hat and flashing victory signs. Raymond Scott was accused of stealing the 1623 folio from England’s Durham University in 1998. The 53-year-old was arrested after a man took the volume to the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, claiming he found it in Cuba and asking for verification that it was genuine. Experts at the library suspected the book was stolen and called in police. Scholars consider the folio one of the most important printed works in the English language.
Egypt: Animal smuggling
Security at Cairo’s international airport on Wednesday stopped an Egyptian man trying to smuggle eight live foxes and 50 chameleons in a huge suitcase out of the country. Police stopped the 36-year-old traveler and asked him to open his suspiciously large suitcase, revealing the squirming mass of animals confined in small plastic cages. The chief of airport security said they confiscated the animals and will turn them over to the Cairo zoo. He said the man planned to sell the animals in Thailand.
From Herald news services
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
