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Sonic boom possible today as SpaceX lines up national security launch from Cape Canaveral

SpaceX is set to complete its second launch in less than 24 hours on the Space Coast with a national security mission lines up for Tuesday afternoon.

A Falcon 9 rocket is set to lift off on the NROL-77 mission with a classified satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 ...Read more

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images North America/TNS

Commentary: The American West's most iconic tree is disappearing

A profound unraveling is underway in the American Southwest, happening across a thousand-mile arc from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to the central Sierra. In an unprecedented calamity, the most widely distributed, most iconic tree of the region — the beautiful ponderosa pine — is disappearing. So significant is this loss, both visually and ...Read more

Dominic Di Palermo/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Illinois researchers say versatile grass could be used for sustainable fuel, building materials and more

CHICAGO — When you look across a field of miscanthus, it’s “hypnotically beautiful,” says Emily Heaton, whose family farm has for two decades grown the first commercial field of this grass in Illinois. Dense, sun-loving and often called “giant,” it blooms in late summer to fall with a showy silver flower.

Just like cornstalks across...Read more

Benjamin Hager/Las Vegas Review-Journal/TNS

'It was a matter of time': Diseased bats may have arrived in Las Vegas

After avoiding it for nearly two decades, wildlife officials say that the illness wiping out millions of bats may have reached Nevada.

The fungal disease is known as white-nose syndrome, and it’s considered to be the single most deadly wildlife disease outbreak in North American history. Scientists first documented the disease in New York in ...Read more

Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Federal judge strikes down Trump's order blocking development of wind energy

A federal judge on Monday struck down the Trump administration’s ban on federal permits for wind energy projects in what supporters said was an important victory for the embattled industry.

President Trump issued the ban on his first day in office through an executive order that called for the temporary withdrawal of nearly all federal land ...Read more

Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Trump ban on wind energy projects ruled illegal by US judge

WASHINGTON — Less than a year after President Donald Trump banned new wind projects, a federal judge ruled the president’s executive order was illegal.

U.S. District Judge Patti Saris said Monday the order is “arbitrary and capricious and contrary to law,” siding with more than a dozen U.S. states and a clean energy group that had ...Read more

Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Trump ban on wind energy projects ruled illegal by US judge

President Donald Trump’s executive order directing government agencies to halt approving new wind energy projects was ruled illegal by a federal judge.

The ruling Monday sided with more than a dozen states and a New York clean energy group that had challenged the executive order that essentially froze U.S. approvals of wind energy ...Read more

Joel Saget/Getty Images North America/TNS

Musk denies reports of SpaceX seeking $800 billion valuation

Elon Musk denied news reports that his rocket and satellite maker SpaceX is seeking a $800 billion valuation through a share sale.

“There has been a lot of press claiming SpaceX is raising money at $800B, which is not accurate,” Musk said in a post Saturday on his social media platform X. “SpaceX has been cash flow positive for many ...Read more

Luis Santana/Tampa Bay Times/TNS

Activists honor Scientologist Lisa McPherson 30 years after her death

TAMPA, Fla. — Thirty years ago, Lisa McPherson died after spending 17 days in the care of the Church of Scientology at its Fort Harrison Hotel in downtown Clearwater. Throughout the more than two-week period, caretakers logged McPherson’s behavior as she experienced a mental breakdown and became physically ill.

On Dec. 5, 1995, they took ...Read more

Maya Dehlin Spach/Getty Images North America/TNS

A softer image of AI? This Google-backed film aims to change the narrative

A man mourns the loss of his dead celebrity mom, who unexpectedly appears before him as a hologram in his childhood home, singing and strumming a guitar.

The touching scene is from a new short film called “Sweetwater” that has an unlikely backer: Google.

Amid all the hand-wringing over artificial intelligence and the potential threat it ...Read more

Fabrice Coffrini/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

A safety report card ranks AI company efforts to protect humanity

Are artificial intelligence companies keeping humanity safe from AI's potential harms? Don't bet on it, a new report card says.

As AI plays an increasingly larger role in the way humans interact with technology, the potential harms are becoming more clear — people using AI-powered chatbots for counseling and then dying by suicide, or using AI...Read more

US energy secretary tours Lower Snake River dams after Trump nixed deal

ICE HARBOR DAM, Wash. — U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright arrived in the Tri-Cities this week on a tour of some of Washington state's energy infrastructure, including a dam on the Lower Snake River.

The visit comes on the heels of President Donald Trump exploding a hard-fought deal this summer over river operations that could have led to dam...Read more

Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune/TNS

A snowy, cold start to winter follows a very warm fall. How are Illinois seasons changing?

CHICAGO — After years of little snow across the Chicago area, recent record-breaking snowfall and below-freezing temperatures might seem to contradict scientific reports of winters getting warmer. But climate change is still transforming how locals experience the changing seasons, including this fall, one of the top 10 warmest recorded in ...Read more

Patrick Connolly/Orlando Sentinel/TNS

Swim with Florida's sea cows in Crystal River, the 'Manatee Capital of the World'

ORLANDO, Fla. — It’s one thing to visit an aquarium and gaze in awe at a 1,000-pound manatee swimming just behind the glass. It’s another thing to share the same water with Florida’s sea cows, encountering them in an up-close and personal way.

Such an opportunity is only possible while visiting the aptly-named “Manatee Capital of the ...Read more

Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Chicago Tribune sues Perplexity AI for copyright infringement

The Chicago Tribune filed a copyright infringement lawsuit Thursday in New York federal court against Perplexity AI, alleging the California-based startup has been unlawfully profiting off the newspaper’s content in building its AI-driven search engine.

The complaint challenges the unauthorized use of often fully reproduced Tribune reporting ...Read more

Trey Mewes/The Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

Extremely rare 'dinosaur mummy' makes its way to Minnesota for study

WINONA, Minn. — It’s hard to overstate how rare and exciting a dinosaur mummy is.

And yes, the fossil called "Medusa” could be a dinosaur mummy — the remains of an Edmontosaurus about 66 million years old that researchers believe contains a significant amount of skin and tendon tissue.

It’s so rare that only about a dozen such ...Read more

Natrice Miller/The Atlanta Journal Constitution/TNS

Earth needs more energy. Atlanta's Super Soaker creator may have a solution

The old warehouse strip reborn as the Lee + White development is a popular destination for anyone seeking a bite or a beverage on the Atlanta Beltline’s Westside Trail. But steps from the breweries and eateries inhabiting much of the space, serious science is taking place.

In an industrial space at the complex’s north end, engineers in blue...Read more

Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times/TNS

California strongly objects to Trump's plan to pump more delta water south

The Trump administration plans to weaken environmental protections for threatened fish in California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and pump more water to Central Valley farmlands, according to letters obtained by the Los Angeles Times.

The letters show Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration strongly criticizing the Trump administration ...Read more

Richard Tribou/Orlando Sentinel/TNS

Blue Origin's wastewater plans add to Florida's Indian River Lagoon concerns

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has issued a draft proposal that would allow nearly 500,000 gallons of wastewater daily at Blue Origin’s Merritt Island facilities that would affect the Indian River Lagoon.

The permit would allow Jeff Bezos’ rocket company to operate an industrial wastewater treatment facility that could ...Read more

(Devolver Digital)/TNS

New video games worth playing: Dispatch, Keeper, Ball x Pit

The past few weeks have seen some major video game releases, including Ghost of Yōtei, Battlefield 6, Pokémon Legends: Z-A and Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. On top of that, the nominee announcements for December’s Game Awards have brought attention back to some titles that have gotten love all year, like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Hollow ...Read more