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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.

 
In VP debate, plexiglass an extra participant...
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — There were three participants in Wednesday night’s vice presidential debate: Republican Mike Pence, Democrat Kamala Harris and the plexiglass between them. The clear partitions went largely unmentioned as Pence and Harris directed criticism at one another, and the home audience couldn’t see them in split-screen TV images. But when the cameras showed Pence or Harris from the side, the candidates’ reflections were evident on the barriers. It was a reminder of the coronavirus, prominent...

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AP FACT CHECK: Claims from Pence and...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Kamala Harris tussled Wednesday in the first and only vice presidential debate before the Nov. 3 election, coming as the coronavirus sidelined President Donald Trump at the White House. A look at how the running mates’ statements from Salt Lake City stack up with the facts: RUSSIA INVESTIGATION PENCE, on the conclusions of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation: “It was found that there was no obstruction, no collusion. Case...

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Man pleads not guilty in death of...
WEST SENECA, N.Y. (AP) — A New York bar patron accused of giving a fatal shove to an 80-year-old man during a confrontation about the need to wear a mask has pleaded not guilty to criminally negligent homicide. Donald Lewinski, 65, entered a plea of not guilty at a court on Tuesday and was released on his own recognizance, his attorney Barry Covert said. Rocco Sapienza confronted Lewinski at a bar in West Seneca on Sept. 26 because he...

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Wisconsin governor restricts public indoor gatherings
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Gov. Tony Evers’ administration issued a new order Tuesday limiting the size of public indoor gatherings as COVID-19 spreads unchecked across the state, in a move certain to alienate Republicans as well as tavern and restaurant owners. Wisconsin has become one of the worst hot spots for the disease over the last month, with experts attributing the spike in cases to colleges and schools reopening and general fatigue about wearing masks and social distancing. The...

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3 scientists win Nobel physics prize for...
STOCKHOLM (AP) — Three scientists won the Nobel Prize in physics Tuesday for establishing the all-too-weird reality of black holes — the straight-out-of-science-fiction cosmic monsters that suck up light and time and will eventually swallow us, too. Roger Penrose of Britain, Reinhard Genzel of Germany and Andrea Ghez of the United States explained to the world these dead ends of the cosmos that are still not completely understood but are deeply connected, somehow, to the creation of galaxies. Penrose,...

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Novelist Lydia Millet among National Book Award...
NEW YORK (AP) — Stories of race, class and climate change were among the fiction finalists Tuesday for the 71st annual National Book Awards. The National Book Foundation, which presents the awards, announced five works in each of five categories: fiction, nonfiction, poetry, translation and young people’s literature. None of the authors have been finalists before, although novelist Lydia Millet has been on the fiction longlist of 10. Eight of the finalists were cited for their debut work. Millet’s...

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Trump’s return means more anxiety for White...
NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump’s return to the White House to recover from the coronavirus seems certain to raise the already heightened anxiety level of the journalists assigned to follow him. Three reporters have tested positive for COVID-19 in recent days while covering a White House described as lax, at best, in following basic safety advice like wearing masks. Discomfort only increased Monday with news that press secretary Kayleigh McEnany had tested positive. The image of Trump...

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James’ turnovers, Davis’ fouls doom Lakers in...
LeBron James powered into the lane, looking to take another step toward an NBA title. Instead, he took too many steps. James was whistled for traveling, ending a possession that could have given the Los Angeles Lakers a fourth-quarter lead. A couple minutes later, he did it again. In the time of the game when he usually turns it up, James turned it over Sunday night, part of a sloppy performance by the Lakers in a 115-104 loss to...

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Trump’s diagnosis shows US vulnerability to the...
ST. CHARLES, Mo. (AP) — President Donald Trump’s startling COVID-19 diagnosis serves as a cruel reminder of the pervasive spread of the coronavirus and shows how tenuous of a grip the nation has on the crisis, health experts said. With U.S. infections rising for several weeks, Trump became one of the tens of thousands of Americans who test positive each day. He went through a “very concerning” period Friday and the next 48 hours “will be critical” in his...

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The Latest: Indiana schools use $200M federal...
INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana schools are slowly making a dent in more than $200 million of federal aid meant to help local districts manage financial hardships spurred by the coronavirus. Since May, nearly $22 million of Indiana’s share of federal CARES Act aid has been issued to school districts around the state, according to the Indiana Department of Education. State officials say millions more are expected to be given out in the coming months. The financial help is intended to...

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South Carolina’s Graham, challenger to meet in...
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham and his Democratic challenger are set to meet in their first face-to-face matchup, amid record-breaking fundraising and a Supreme Court nomination debate that means Graham will be spending much of the remaining campaign in Washington. On Saturday, Graham and Jaime Harrison debate in Columbia in their first of three scheduled meetings. Two more debates are slated for later in October, although Washington politics may throw a wrench into that schedule, as...

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Good grief! ‘Peanuts’ celebrates 70th anniversary with...
NEW YORK (AP) — The virus pandemic won’t stop Charlie Brown, Snoopy or the “Peanuts” gang from marking an important birthday and they’re hoping to raise the spirits of sick kids while they celebrate. The beloved comic celebrates its 70th anniversary this week with new lesson plans, the announcement of a new TV show and a philanthropic push that includes donating “Peanuts” murals for kids to paint in 70 children’s hospitals around the globe, from Brooklyn to Brazil. “When...

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Broadway stars and drag queens to unite...
NEW YORK (AP) — Broadway and the world of drag will combine later this month for a streaming variety show to promote voter participation that promises plenty of show tunes and a lot of fierce lipstick. “Divas For Democracy: United We Slay” will feature Broadway stars such as Chita Rivera and Stephanie J. Block singing theater songs while their drag counterparts from “RuPaul’s Drag Race” “match their vocal prowess with lip sync passion and style,” according to organizers. The...

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World leaders, virtual meeting 1.0: Was anybody...
In the space of a few minutes, on a prerecorded video filmed thousands of miles from where it was shown, the tech-savvy president of El Salvador captured the two strikingly different sides of this year’s unprecedented — and virtual — “gathering” of world leaders “at” the U.N. General Assembly in 2020. On one hand, Nayib Bukele said, humanity holds in its smartphone-clutching hands a 21st-century miracle: “In a world which is almost completely connected, I can say a few...

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Crowds out, masks in: Debating in the...
CLEVELAND (AP) — Crowds and pageantry are out. COVID-19 tests and masks are in. Presidential debates are typically some of the most exciting nights of the campaign season, drawing a crowd of thousands of staffers, media and guests. But this year, as with almost everything else, things are very, very different, with a long list of precautions in place. Instead of the usual auditorium setting, the debate is being hosted by the Cleveland Clinic and Case Western Reserve University...

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