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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.

 
Saturday’s Scores
GIRLS PREP BASKETBALL= Central – Wise 58, Virginia 40 Cumberland 33, Rappahannock 24 Glen Allen 64, Matoaca 43 Liberty-Bedford 65, Jefferson Forest 47 Ocean Lakes 65, Hickory 44 SPIRIT Home School 35, Northern Virginia HomeSchool 28 Shining Stars Sports 100, Life Center Academy, N.J. 28 South County 51, West Potomac 47 Tabb 39, Oscar Smith 26 Virginia Academy 75, Evergreen Christian 25 Virginia Beach Catholic 59, St. Annes-Belfield 57 Woodstock Central 45, Luray 19 ___ Some high school basketball...

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A federal judge won’t immediately block DOGE...
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge said Friday he would not immediately block Elon Musk’s team from accessing systems at the Labor Department, which has investigated companies owned by the billionaire adviser to President Donald Trump. U.S. District Judge John Bates said he had concerns about Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, but the labor unions who sued to stop them haven’t yet shown a legal injury. “Although the court harbors concerns about defendants’ alleged conduct, it must deny plaintiffs’...

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Jimmy Butler joins the Warriors, says he...
Moments before Jimmy Butler was handed a Golden State Warriors jersey for the first time, he made clear what his motivation is going forward. He wants his first championship. His breakup with the Miami Heat now over, Butler was introduced by the Warriors before their game at the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night. Butler made many references to how he’s still driven by the lure of what would be his first title, and he figures Golden State is...

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Marcelo, the Real Madrid great, retires at...
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Marcelo, the Real Madrid great famous for his big hair and being one of the most decorated players in soccer history, announced his retirement on Thursday at the age of 36. “My journey as a player ends here, but I still have so much to give to football. Thank you for everything,” the Brazilian said in a video on X. A defender who excelled in attack, Marcelo had one of the most trophy-filled careers in...

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Stock market today: Wall Street drifts as...
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is drifting Thursday as gains for fashion brands and cigarette makers help offset drops for Ford Motor and Qualcomm following their latest profit reports. The S&P 500 was up 0.2% in early trading following healthy gains for stock markets across most of Europe and Asia. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 36 points, or 0.1%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.1% higher. Tapestry, the company behind...

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Exes make good competition on HGTV’s ‘The...
There’s conscious uncoupling and then there’s conscious collaborating. Exes and TV personalities Tarek El Moussa and Christina Haack have reunited for a new reality competition show, “The Flip Off,” on HGTV. El Moussa and Haack (then known as Christina Hall) were first introduced to viewers in 2013 as married co-stars of the HGTV series “Flip or Flop,” which aired for 10 seasons. When their marriage ended in 2017, they continued to film together — with some tension — until...

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Devoted nap-takers explain the benefits of sleeping...
NEW YORK (AP) — They snooze in parking garages, on side streets before the afternoon school run, in nap pods rented by the hour or stretched out in bed while working from home. People who make a habit of sleeping on the job comprise a secret society of sorts within the U.S. labor force. Inspired by famous power nappers Winston Churchill and Albert Einstein, today’s committed nap-takers often sneak in short rest breaks because they think the practice will...

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‘Wicked’ star Cynthia Erivo is feted as...
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — Screaming fans lined the streets in frigid conditions Wednesday to catch a glimpse of Cynthia Erivo, the “Wicked” star who is being celebrated as Harvard University’s Hasty Pudding Theatricals Woman of the Year. Erivo, bundled in a parka and donning her trademark long fingernails, blew kisses to the crowd and mouthed “I love you” as the car she and costumed members of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals were in slowly made its way through Cambridge. One...

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Movie Review: ‘Kinda Pregnant’ is kinda good
We have by now become accustomed to the lengths some movie characters will go to keep a good comedy lie going. But it’s still a special kind of feat when Amy Schumer, playing a baby-mad single woman who fakes a baby bump in “Kinda Pregnant,” is so desperate to maintain the fiction that she shoves a roast turkey up her dress. You might be thinking: This is too ridiculous. The stuffing, alone. But if we bought “Some Like it...

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Aliens, sloths and silliness: Super Bowl ads...
NEW YORK (AP) — Eugene Levy’s trademark eyebrows fly off for Little Caesars. A tongue dances to Shania Twain to promote Nestle’s Coffee Mate Cold Foam. And Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal reunite at Katz’s Deli in an ad for Hellmann’s. A frenzied mix of silliness and celebrities is hitting the airwaves and the internet, and that means one thing: it is Super Bowl ad time again. Veteran advertisers are using tried-and-true tactics like celebrity cameos, humor and cute...

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Cape vultures are swooping into a new...
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A “committee” of Cape vultures is swooping into the Los Angeles Zoo to make its home in an exhibit that seeks to mirror the birds’ natural South African habitat. Starting Thursday, zoo visitors will have the chance to catch a glimpse of the animals known as nature’s “clean-up crew” as the seven birds roost, nest and interact socially. The exhibit in the Animals of Africa section of the zoo will include nesting nooks in the...

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USAID direct hires put on leave worldwide,...
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is placing U.S. Agency for International Development direct-hire staffers around the world on leave except those deemed essential, upending the aid agency’s six-decade mission overseas. A notice posted online Tuesday gives the workers 30 days to return home. The move had been rumored for several days and was the most extreme of several proposals considered for consolidating the agency into the State Department. Other options had included closures of smaller USAID missions and...

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The Latest: China retaliates against Trump with...
China countered President Donald Trump’sacross-the-board tariffs on Chinese products with tariffs on select U.S. imports. It will also launch an antitrust investigation into Google and other trade measures. The U.S., Canada and Mexico have all agreed to pause planned tariffs for at least a month as negotiations over border security continue. Here’s the latest: Senate committee advances RFK Jr. for health secretary despite worry over his vaccine stance The Senate Finance Committee began a meeting to vote on Robert...

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Gilgeous-Alexander scores 34 as Thunder roll past...
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 34 points in 22 minutes, and the Oklahoma City Thunder routed the short-handed Milwaukee Bucks 125-96 on Monday night. Milwaukee was without injured stars Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard, Brook Lopez and Khris Middleton, turning what could have been an exciting rematch of the NBA Cup final that Milwaukee won into a blowout. Gilgeous-Alexander, the NBA’s leading scorer, showed no mercy. He scored 21 points on 9-for-11 shooting in the first quarter as...

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Surreal prices for COP30 in Brazil’s Amazon...
SAO PAULO (AP) — Nine months ahead of this year’s annual U.N. climate summit, known as COP30, lodging prices in the Brazilian host city of Belem are turning heads—and may soon turn off would-be attendees from the first such meeting in the Amazon rainforest. With a shortage of housing and high interest, property owners and rental companies are feeling emboldened to charge five-digit rates, even for cramped rooms with shared bathrooms. On Booking.com, one of the last available hotel...

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