Howard L. Petterson

3558 Posts
Bird, ‘The Wire,’ a life sentence paroled and a Colts game 40 years in the making

Bird, ‘The Wire,’ a life sentence paroled and a Colts game 40 years in the making

Bleary-eyed from 16 hours on a Greyhound bus, he strolled into the stadium running on fumes. He’d barely slept in two days. The ride he was supposed to hitch from Charlotte to Indianapolis canceled at the last minute, and for a few nervy hours, Antonio Barnes started to have his doubts. The trip he’d waited 40 years for looked like it wasn’t going to happen.But as he moved through the concourse at Lucas Oil Stadium an hour before the Colts faced the Raiders, it started to sink in. His pace quickened. His eyes widened. His voice picked up.“I got chills…
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Vulcan Rocket Lifts Off, First U.S. Moon Launch in Decades

Vulcan Rocket Lifts Off, First U.S. Moon Launch in Decades

A brand-new rocket lifted off early Monday morning from Cape Canaveral, Fla., sending a robotic spacecraft toward the surface of the moon.The launch was flawless, and the spacecraft, built by Astrobotic Technology of Pittsburgh, separated 50 minutes into the flight; its systems powered on successfully. However, a few hours later, Astrobotic reported a problem that prevented the spacecraft, known as Peregrine, from keeping itself in a steady orientation pointed at the sun.“The team is responding in real time as the situation unfolds and will be providing updates as data is obtained and analyzed,” Astrobotic posted on the social media service…
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U.S. Steel Acquisition Proposal Tests Biden’s Industrial Policy

U.S. Steel Acquisition Proposal Tests Biden’s Industrial Policy

U.S. Steel is an iconic example of the lost manufacturing muscle that President Biden says his economic policies will bring back to the United States.But last month, the storied-but-diminished company announced plans to be acquired by a Japanese competitor. That development has put Mr. Biden in an awkward bind as he tries to balance attempts to revitalize the nation’s industrial sector with his efforts to rebuild international alliances.Mr. Biden’s administration has expressed some discomfort with the deal and is reviewing the proposed $14.1 billion takeover bid by Japan’s Nippon Steel. The company is offering a hefty premium for U.S. Steel,…
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Boeing’s 737 Max 9 and the Alaska Airline Grounding: What to Know

Boeing’s 737 Max 9 and the Alaska Airline Grounding: What to Know

An emergency landing on Friday of an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 jet in Portland, Ore., led the Federal Aviation Administration to order some U.S. airlines to stop using some Max 9 planes until they are inspected. The order will affect about 171 planes owned by Alaska, United and other airlines. The episode also raised troubling new questions about the safety of a workhorse aircraft design dogged by years of problems and multiple deadly crashes.No one was seriously injured in Friday’s incident. The jetliner returned to the airport in Portland shortly after the plane’s fuselage broke open in midair,…
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The Income Gap Jeopardizing Retirement for Millions

The Income Gap Jeopardizing Retirement for Millions

Monique Louvigny, an event coordinator in the San Francisco Bay Area, economizes where she can. She drives a 10-year-old Prius, brings a thermos of coffee to work instead of patronizing a place with baristas, and takes advantage of a drive-through food pantry once a month.Laid off at 57, “I kind of reinvented myself,” she said. She rebuilt her career as a freelancer, overseeing receptions and conventions for many companies and institutions, including the local de Young and Legion of Honor art museums.But her income fell to less than $30,000 last year. “It’s erratic,” she said. “In January, I have 12…
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Why Wayne Rooney was sacked by Birmingham City – 15 games into ‘long-term project’

Why Wayne Rooney was sacked by Birmingham City – 15 games into ‘long-term project’

When Wayne Rooney was told his time as Birmingham City manager was up after just 15 games, he was shocked.Having signed a three-and-a-half-year contract, the former England striker was under the impression he had joined a long-term project. Rooney had enjoyed an open dialogue with the club hierarchy — including chief executive Garry Cook and director of football Craig Gardner — and there had been no indication their faith in him was waning.Birmingham won just two of Rooney’s 15 games but even after his most recent defeat, at Leeds United on New Year’s Day, he had spoken bullishly of being…
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Switching to a Flip Phone Helped Me Cut Down on My Smartphone Addiction

Switching to a Flip Phone Helped Me Cut Down on My Smartphone Addiction

This time of year, everyone asks what you like least about your life, but they phrase it as, “What’s your New Year’s resolution?”My biggest regret of 2023 was my relationship to my smartphone, or my “tech appendage” as I’ve named it in my iPhone settings. My Apple Screen Time reports regularly clocked in at more than five hours a day.That’s only an hour more than the average American, but I still found it staggering to think that I spent the equivalent of January, February and half of March looking at that tiny screen (April too, if we only count waking…
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F.A.A. Orders Airlines to Ground Some Boeing 737 Max 9 Jets After Alaska ‘Incident’

F.A.A. Orders Airlines to Ground Some Boeing 737 Max 9 Jets After Alaska ‘Incident’

The Federal Aviation Administration on Saturday ordered U.S. airlines to stop using some Boeing 737 Max 9 planes until they are inspected, less than a day after one of those planes lost a chunk of its body in midair “with an extremely loud pop,” terrifying passengers before the jet safely returned to ground.Those on board Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 described an unnerving experience during the 20 minutes of the flight, which was destined for Ontario, Calif., but returned to Portland International Airport in Oregon on Friday night. As yellow oxygen masks dangled above their heads, a powerful wind tore through…
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Canada’s Boreal Forests Badly Damaged by Logging

Canada’s Boreal Forests Badly Damaged by Logging

Canada has long promoted itself globally as a model for protecting one of the country’s most vital natural resources: the world’s largest swath of boreal forest, which is crucial to fighting climate change.But a new study using nearly half a century of data from the provinces of Ontario and Quebec — two of the country’s main commercial logging regions — reveals that harvesting trees has inflicted severe damage on the boreal forest that will be difficult to reverse.Researchers led by a group from Griffith University in Australia found that since 1976 logging in the two provinces has caused the removal…
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Paxlovid Cuts Covid Death Risk. But Those Who Need It Are Not Taking It.

Paxlovid Cuts Covid Death Risk. But Those Who Need It Are Not Taking It.

As Covid rises again, killing about 1,500 Americans each week, medical researchers are trying to understand why so few people are taking Paxlovid, a medicine that is stunningly effective in preventing severe illness and death from the disease.A study of a million high-risk people with Covid found that only about 15 percent who were eligible for the drug took it. If instead half of the eligible patients in the United States had gotten Paxlovid during the time period of the research, 48,000 deaths could have been prevented, the authors of the study, conducted by the National Institutes of Health, concluded.It’s…
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