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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.

 
Staying home: Lakers ink Staples Center lease...
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Los Angeles Lakers will stay home at Staples Center through at least 2041 after signing a long-term lease extension. The Lakers and their downtown arena announced the deal Thursday. The 17-time NBA champion Lakers share Staples with the Los Angeles Clippers, the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings and the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks. The Lakers have won six titles during their 22 seasons at the arena that opened in 1999. The Lakers christened the building...

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DC delegate asks Park Service to permanently...
D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton has asked the National Park Service to permanently close a portion of Beach Drive in Northwest to traffic. The National Park Service closed the upper part of Beach Drive in Rock Creek Park during the COVID-19 pandemic to allow for more space for people to walk, bike, run and play. In a letter sent to Shawn Benge, acting director of the National Park Service, Norton said the benefit of spending time outdoors is something...

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The Latest: Journal: 2 vaccines by China...
JAKARTA, Indonesia — Two vaccines made by China’s Sinopharm appear to be safe and effective against COVID-19, according to a study published in a medical journal. The report, published online in the Journal of the American Medical Association, concluded the two vaccines are about 73% and 78% effective, as Sinopharm has previously claimed. Scientists have been waiting for more details about the two vaccines, even though they already are used in many countries and one recently won the backing...

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Slumping Berti’s 2-run single lifts Marlins over...
MIAMI (AP) — Slumping Jon Berti hit a go-ahead. two-run single in a three-run eighth inning, and the Miami Marlins beat the Philadelphia Phillies 4-2 on Wednesday night. Philadelphia, playing without injured stars Bryce Harper, Didi Gregorius and J.T. Realmuto. built a 2-1 lead on Brad Miller’s bases-loaded walk in the third off Nick Neidert and Rhy Hoskins’ fifth-inning sacrifice fly against Anthony Bender. Aaron Nola allowed one run and two hits — both singles — in six innings...

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Vasilevskiy, Lightning beat Panthers 4-0 to advance
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Andrei Vasilevskiy wrapped up a series with a Game 6 shutout for the second straight time, stopping 29 shots in the Tampa Bay Lightning’s 4-0 victory over the Florida Panthers on Wednesday night. Vasilevskiy also shut out the Dallas Stars last year to win the Stanley Cup. The Lightning advanced to face the Carolina-Nashville winner in the second round. Tampa Bay advanced to the second round for the fifth time in the past seven years....

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Edmunds: Five fuel-efficient used car picks under...
The price of gasoline is up more than a dollar on average in the last 12 months, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Used car prices are also up nearly 25%, partly due to a lack of inventory on the used market. This combination might make you more inclined to seek out a fuel-efficient vehicle for your next purchase. To streamline your search, Edmunds’ experts have highlighted five used vehicles worth considering. We chose a mix of cars...

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Belarusian leader defends diversion of flight that...
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Belarus’ authoritarian president defended Wednesday his decision to tell a passenger jet to land in his country and accused European leaders of waging a “hybrid war” to “strangle” his nation by ordering up new sanctions for diverting the flight and arresting an opposition journalist who was aboard. Speaking before lawmakers and top officials, President Alexander Lukashenko maintained his contention that there was a bomb threat against the Ryanair flight and called it an “absolute lie”...

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What would it take to solve the...
The possibility of federal student loan forgiveness grabs all the headlines. But experts say no single policy — not even wiping the slate clean for millions of borrowers — solves the root causes of the nation’s $1.74 trillion student loan debt crisis. That debt has been fueled by decades of wages not keeping up with the rising cost of college. And unless wages increase and college costs decrease, students will still need to take on debt to complete degrees,...

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Nets get 7 3s from Harris, rout...
NEW YORK (AP) — Brooklyn is more than just its Big Three. There’s also Joe Harris and his 3s. Even if a team can contain Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden, it still has to stop the NBA’s most accurate 3-point shooter. That’s a lot of problems to solve, and Harris understands why teams don’t make him the priority. “I think it’s just sort of, this is the reality of the matter,” Harris said. “I mean, we have...

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In a chaotic market demand and prices...
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. housing market has gotten so out of whack, with demand far outpacing supply, that prices have risen to record levels and roughly half of all U.S. houses are selling for above their list price. Data from real estate brokerage Redfin shows that two years ago, before the pandemic, just a quarter of homes were selling above the seller’s asking price. The current level is the highest in the decade that Redfin has tracked the...

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People of color more exposed to heat...
In nearly every major city in the U.S., people of color are exposed to more extreme urban heat than white people, a new study found. Using government temperature and census data, researchers examined the distribution of heat islands – parts of cities with higher average temperatures than the surrounding areas. The study, published Tuesday in Nature Communications, found that during the summer of 2017 in nearly all large urban areas, the average non-white person lived in a census tract...

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Police capture man wanted in 4 killings...
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Police arrested a man wanted in four killings this month across two states on Monday after a seven-day search in South Carolina. Tyler Terry was arrested around 10:30 a.m. with no more shots fired and he and the more than 300 officers searching for him were not hurt, the Chester County Sheriff’s Office posted on Twitter. They did not release any additional details. Officers, dogs, helicopters and drones have searched in woods, neighborhoods and industrial...

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A little US city, battered by the...
CENTRAL FALLS, R.I. (AP) — The beleaguered people of Central Falls moved quickly through the high school gym’s injection stations and then to rest on dozens of metal folding chairs, borrowed from the Knights of Columbus. Immunity was at hand, but no one was celebrating. Central Falls — the poorest and smallest city in the nation’s smallest state — is also among the hardest hit by COVID-19. Sorrow reaches across the city: The dead husband. The mother who came...

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UK bars Belarus airline after plane forced...
LONDON (AP) — Britain on Monday barred Belarus’s national airline and instructed U.K. aircraft to avoid Belarussian airspace after a Ryanair passenger jet was forced to land in Minsk. The government said it was suspending the permit allowing airline Belavia to operate in the U.K.. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said he had instructed Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority “to request airlines avoid Belarusian airspace in order to keep passengers safe.” A Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius, Lithuania, unexpectedly landed...

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List of Billboard Music Awards winners in...
A list of winners in the top categories at the 2021 Billboard Music Awards, held Sunday at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. — Top artist: The Weeknd — Top Hot 100 song: The Weeknd, “Blinding Lights” — Top Billboard 200 album: Pop Smoke, “Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon.” — Top female artist: Taylor Swift — Top male artist: The Weeknd — Top new artist: Pop Smoke — Top collaboration: Gabby Barrett featuring Charlie Puth, “I...

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