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Suborbital space tourism finally arrives | FCC prepares to run public C-band auction | The big four in the U.S. launch industry — United Launch Alliance, SpaceX, Blue Origin and Northrop Grumman — hope to be one of two providers that will receive five-year contracts later this year to launch national security payloads starting in 2022. | China’s launch rate stays high | The International Space Station is the largest ever crewed object in space.

 
Mutual aid groups ponder future of community-based...
More than a decade ago, Erin Barnes came across data that drove home the importance of grassroots, volunteer-led groups. The U.S. Forest Service was trying to document all the groups that maintain green space in New York City, of which there were nearly 3,000 in 2007. About three-quarters were led by volunteers, and more than a third had annual budgets of less than $1,000. “They were literally stewarding all the open green space of New York City,” Barnes says....

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Virginia Film Festival brings Oscar contenders to...
toggle audio on and off change volume download audio WTOP’s Jason Fraley previews Virginia Film Festival (Part 1) $(function () { $(‘.fa-play’).on(‘click’, function(){ var audio_filename= $(‘div.wtop-audio-file’).data(“mp3-url”); ga(‘send’, ‘event’, ‘Audio’, ‘play’, audio_filename); }); }); Don’t worry if you missed the Middleburg Film Festival and Washington West Film Festival. The Virginia Film Festival returns to Charlottesville this Wednesday through Sunday. “We’ll be screening over 85 films in that five-day period on the downtown mall in Charlottesville and on the grounds of the...

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Henry Winkler, Lin Oliver to participate in...
Listen to the full conversation on our podcast “Beyond the Fame with Jason Fraley.” toggle audio on and off change volume download audio WTOP’s Jason Fraley chats with Henry Winkler (Part 1) $(function () { $(‘.fa-play’).on(‘click’, function(){ var audio_filename= $(‘div.wtop-audio-file’).data(“mp3-url”); ga(‘send’, ‘event’, ‘Audio’, ‘play’, audio_filename); }); }); The 23rd annual Fall for the Book Festival, based out of George Mason University, runs this week in Northern Virginia. This Friday afternoon, Henry Winkler and co-author Lin Oliver will discuss their...

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Facebook’s language gaps weaken screening of hate,...
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — As the Gaza war raged and tensions surged across the Middle East last May, Instagram briefly banned the hashtag #AlAqsa, a reference to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City, a flash point in the conflict. Facebook, which owns Instagram, later apologized, explaining its algorithms had mistaken the third-holiest site in Islam for the militant group Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, an armed offshoot of the secular Fatah party. For many Arabic-speaking users, it was...

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Burrow, Bengals rout Ravens 41-17 for AFC...
BALTIMORE (AP) — Joe Burrow threw for a career-high 416 yards and three touchdowns, including a pivotal 82-yarder to rookie Ja’Marr Chase in the third quarter, and the Cincinnati Bengals won their AFC North showdown against the Baltimore Ravens in style, pulling away in the second half for a 41-17 victory Sunday. The Bengals (5-2) drew even with the Ravens (5-2) atop the division, a sign that Burrow and Chase might be ahead of schedule in turning around this...

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Let computers do it: Film set tragedy...
NEW YORK (AP) — With computer-generated imagery, it seems the sky’s the limit in the magic Hollywood can produce: elaborate dystopian universes. Trips to outer space, for those neither astronauts nor billionaires. Immersive journeys to the future, or back to bygone eras. But as a shocked and saddened industry was reminded this week, many productions still use guns — real guns — when filming. And despite rules and regulations, people can get killed, as happened last week when Alec...

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Baldwin was told gun was ‘cold’ before...
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — As a film crew and actors in Western garb prepared to rehearse a scene inside a wooden, chapel-like building on a desert movie ranch outside Santa Fe, assistant director Dave Halls stepped outside and grabbed a prop gun off a cart. He walked back in and handed it to the film’s star, Alec Baldwin, assuring him it was safe to use because it didn’t have live ammo. “Cold gun,” Halls yelled. It wasn’t, according...

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García, Alvarez help Astros oust Red Sox,...
HOUSTON (AP) — Rookie Luis García showed the poise of an October ace, MVP Yordan Alvarez stayed hot at the plate and the Houston Astros earned yet another trip to the World Series, beating the Boston Red Sox 5-0 Friday night in Game 6 of the AL Championship Series. The Astros advanced to the World Series for the third time in five seasons. They won the championship in 2017, a crown tainted by the team’s sign-stealing scandal, before losing...

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Red Sox run out of fight, fall...
HOUSTON (AP) — Backs against the wall — occasionally by their own doing — these Boston Red Sox proved hard to pin down. The Houston Astros finally got them for good Friday night. Boston’s bats went quiet for the third straight game and the Red Sox bowed out of the AL Championship Series with a punchless 5-0 loss to the Astros in Game 6. They had just two hits Friday, baffled by starter Luis García and a quartet of...

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Keenum, 3rd-string back Johnson lead Browns past...
CLEVELAND (AP) — The Browns’ backups delivered. Case Keenum stepped in for Baker Mayfield and made the most of his first start in two years, third-string back D’Ernest Johnson rushed for 146 yards and the busted-up Cleveland Browns beat the Denver Broncos 17-14 on Thursday night. Keenum didn’t put up impressive stats (21 of 33 for 199 yards), but threw a touchdown pass and did enough — as did Cleveland’s maligned defense — to get the Browns (4-3) a...

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Calgary beats Chicago 4-1, keeping Blackhawks winless
CHICAGO (AP) — Jason Dickinson, Tanner Pearson and Brock Boeser scored their first goals of the season as the Vancouver Canucks topped the winless Chicago Blackhawks 4-1 on Thursday night. Thatcher Demko made 29 saves and Conor Garland added an empty-netter with 1:02 left to help the Canucks (2-2-1) end a two-game slide. Vancouver connected for two goals in the second period to take the lead for good in the fifth of a six-game trip, their longest to start...

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Stocks wobble as major indexes hover around...
Stocks wobbled in midday trading on Wall Street Thursday, a day after approaching record highs set this summer. The S&P 500 index fell 0.2% as of 11:35 a.m. Eastern. The benchmark index is sitting just below the all-time high it reached on Sept. 2. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 156 points, or 0.4%, to 35,449 and is just below its all-time high set on Aug. 16. The Nasdaq rose 0.1% and smaller stocks edged higher. The Russell 2000...

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Stars’ Pavelski, Radulov edge Penguins 2-1 in...
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Dallas Stars are built to win tight games, and they’re certainly wasting little time getting comfortable with them. Joe Pavelski and Alexander Radulov scored in a shootout and Braden Holtby finished with 27 saves as the Stars edged Pittsburgh 2-1 on Tuesday night to finish a season-opening four-game trip 2-2. Both wins came after regulation, and the two losses have been by a combined three goals. “This is how tough the league is,” Dallas coach...

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Unbeaten Sabres rally past Canucks 5-2 for...
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Jeff Skinner and Tage Thompson scored 23 seconds apart in the third period and the unbeaten Buffalo Sabres rallied to beat the Vancouver Canucks 5-2 on Tuesday night. Kyle Okposo and Zemgus Girgensons each added a goal and an assist, and Craig Anderson made 32 saves. After finishing in last place for the fourth time in eight seasons, the Sabres are 3-0 for the first time since 2008 and the fifth time in franchise history....

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Japan’s PM interrupts campaign as N Korea...
TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s new prime minister interrupted his first day of election campaigning and returned to Tokyo on Tuesday to deal with rising regional tensions following North Korea’s test-firing of a missile earlier in the day. Fumio Kishida’s campaign was already off to a rocky start with media polls showing his support rating sliding. Tuesday was the first official day of campaigning for nationwide legislative elections scheduled for Oct. 31. “I will drastically strengthen our defense capabilities. The...

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