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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.

 
Mississippi churches face difficult decisions at Christmas
RIDGELAND, Miss. (AP) — It always feels special for Pastor Jay Richardson when his congregation at Highland Colony Baptist Church gathers during the holidays — but this year, that’s even more true because of time they’ve spent apart. The church temporarily shut down at the start of the pandemic, and again three months ago, when 25 worshipers became infected with coronavirus during an outbreak. Richardson, 70, was hospitalized with double pneumonia caused by the virus. As hard as it...

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Trump downplays Russia in first comments on...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Contradicting his secretary of state and other top officials, President Donald Trump suggested without evidence that China — not Russia — may be behind the cyber espionage operation against the United States and tried to minimize its impact. In his first comments on the breach, Trump scoffed at the focus on the Kremlin and downplayed the intrusions, which the nation’s cybersecurity agency has warned posed a “grave” risk to government and private networks. “The Cyber Hack...

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Overwhelmed, California hospitals contemplate rationing care
LOS ANGELES (AP) — California hospitals are battling to find beds to house patients amid fears that the exploding coronavirus infection rate will exhaust resources and health care workers. As of Saturday, nearly 17,400 people were hospitalized with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 infections — more than double the previous peak reached in July — and a state model that uses current data to forecast future trends shows the number could reach an unfathomable 75,000 by mid-January. More than 3,600...

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Salah double after being benched, Liverpool routs...
LONDON (AP) — Mohamed Salah made sure he had the final say in Liverpool’s 7-0 rout of Crystal Palace after being dropped from the starting lineup on Saturday, scoring twice after coming off the bench. The Premier League’s top scorer was unusually benched — by coincidence or not — hours after an interview was published in which he flirted with a move to Spain nd grumbled about not captaining the English champions. After coming off the bench in the...

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Pompeo says Russia ‘pretty clearly’ behind cyberattack...
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says Russia was “pretty clearly” behind the grave cyberattack against the United States, the first administration official to publicly tie the Kremlin to the widespread intrusion at a time when President Donald Trump has kept silent on the failure to protect government and private-sector computer networks. It’s not clear exactly what the hackers were seeking, but experts say it could include nuclear secrets, blueprints for advanced weaponry, COVID-19 vaccine-related research and information for dossiers...

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California: More than 1,000 virus deaths in...
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The coronavirus toll in California reached another frightening milestone Thursday with health officials announcing a one-day record of 379 deaths and a two-day total of nearly 106,000 newly confirmed cases. The nation’s most populous state has recorded more than 1,000 deaths in the last five days. Its overall case total now tops 1.7 million, a figure nearly equal to Spain’s and only surpassed by eight countries. The state’s overall death toll has reached 21,860. Many...

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Live from Italy, Hershey Felder tells stories,...
NEW YORK (AP) — Just the other day, pianist and actor Hershey Felder found himself in the apartment in Italy once owned by the 19th century Russian composer Tchaikovsky. It must have been a treat for anyone watching since Felder at the time was dressed as Tchaikovsky. He walked in the old master’s rooms, took in the views and stood in Tchaikovsky’s terrace. He had even brought a letter that the composer had written on that very terrace. Felder...

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Minnesota frees man serving life in child’s...
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Black man who was sentenced to life behind bars as a teenager walked out of a Minnesota prison Tuesday to the sound of ringing bells and cheering supporters, hours after a pardons board commuted his sentence in a high-profile murder case. Myon Burrell’s case, and his age at the time of the killing, raised questions about the integrity of the criminal justice system that put him away. Earlier this year, The Associated Press and American...

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Right at Home: Resetting for a new...
After an anxiety-filled 2020 and during the continuing pandemic, many of us are looking to our homes for nearly everything: a place to work, study, sleep, eat, exercise. And don’t forget unwind. Homes these days can offer calm and relaxation, designers say. Whether that means a decor refresh or a few small additions, they suggest some easy ways to create a more restful home space for 2021. Think both big and small as you assess your rooms, says John...

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California virus surge brings body bags, makeshift...
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California is distributing 5,000 body bags mostly to the hard-hit Los Angeles and San Diego areas and has 60 refrigerated trailers standing by as makeshift morgues in anticipation of a surge of coronavirus deaths from hospitalizations that now are double the summertime peak and threaten to overwhelm the hospital system, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday. The number of average daily deaths has quadrupled from 41 a month ago to 163 now, while positive cases have...

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Before next term even begins, Hoyer gets...
This content was republished with permission from WTOP’s news partners at Maryland Matters. Sign up for Maryland Matters’ free email subscription today. Six weeks ago, U.S. Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) romped to re-election, winning a 21st term in the U.S. House of Representatives. He will begin that term next month, when the 117th Congress is sworn in. This week, a municipal official in Hoyer’s district announced that he hopes to deny him a 22nd term.  Colin Byrd, the 28-year-old mayor...

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SpongeBob, slime, football: Nickelodeon ready for NFL...
Get ready for SpongeBob SquarePants running out of the tunnel, players being covered with digital slime after touchdowns and commentary from the cast of “All That” when Nickelodeon airs an NFL playoff game. CBS Sports and Nickelodeon revealed their plans on Tuesday for the kid-focused channel’s broadcast of a wild-card game on Sunday, Jan. 10. The Nickelodeon feed will be tailored for younger audiences with the usual broadcast airing on CBS and online at CBS All Access. CBS and...

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DC Black Lives Matter organizer blames Mayor...
After a night of conflict in D.C. that followed a day of rallies supporting outgoing President Donald Trump’s attempts to challenge the results of November’s election, leaders of Black Lives Matter DC challenged how Mayor Muriel Bowser and the local police handled the event and its aftermath. On Sunday, Nee Nee Taylor, a co-organizer with Black Lives Matter DC, was asked about the widely-circulated video of pro-Trump demonstrators burning a Black Lives Matter sign taken from a local church....

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NFL Today, Week 14
SCOREBOARD Monday, Dec. 14 Baltimore at Cleveland, 8:15 p.m. EST, ESPN — A rematch of the season opener, when the Ravens routed the Browns 38-6 to spoil coach Kevin Stefanski’s debut with Cleveland. The Browns (9-3) have won nine of 11 since and are riding their second four-game winning streak of the season. The Ravens (7-5) have spent the past few weeks dealing with COVID-19 issues, but quarterback Lamar Jackson returned to help them beat Dallas last Tuesday night....

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The Latest: Warp Speed leader decries pressure...
WASHINGTON — Moncef Slaoui, the chief scientist leading the White House’s Operation Warp Speed, said President Donald Trump’s public pressuring of the Food and Drug Administration commissioner last week to quickly approve the coronavirus vaccine was not helpful for building public confidence in the inoculation campaign. Trump on Twitter and his chief of staff Mark Meadows privately lambasted FDA commissioner Stephen Hahn last week for moving too slowly before the FDA issued an emergency authorization on Friday for an...

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