California

MODESTO, Calif. (AP) — Between vast almond orchards and dairy pastures in the heart of California’s farm country sits a property being redesigned to look like it did 150 years ago, before levees restricted the flow of rivers that weave across the landscape.

Vandenberg Space Force Base (US), Apr 18 (AP) A classified satellite for the US National Reconnaissance Office was launched into space from California on Sunday.

The NROL-85 satellite lifted off at 6:13 a.m. from Vandenberg Space Force Base aboard a two-stage SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Newly filed court documents in the downtown Sacramento shooting that killed six people and wounded a dozen others reveal that three of the dead had been involved in the gang dispute that led to the massive shootout, with at least one of them firing a weapon.

Documents filed Friday by Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert’s office show that the three deceased men affiliated with gangs were Joshua Hoye-Lucchesi, 32, Devazia Turner, 29, and Sergio Harris, 38, The Sacramento Bee reported Saturday.

FORT IRWIN, Calif. (AP) — In the dusty California desert, U.S. Army trainers are already using lessons learned from Russia’s war against Ukraine as they prepare soldiers for future fights against a major adversary such as Russia or China.

The role-players in this month’s exercise at the National Training Center speak Russian. The enemy force that controls the fictional town of Ujen is using a steady stream of social media posts to make false accusations against the American brigade preparing to attack.

LOS ANGELES, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an emergency use authorization on Thursday for the country's first COVID-19 diagnostic test that detects chemical compounds in breath samples associated with a SARS-CoV-2 infection.

The test can be performed in environments where the patient specimen is both collected and analyzed, such as doctor's offices, hospitals and mobile testing sites, using an instrument about the size of a piece of carry-on luggage, according to the FDA.

(AP) --- Tesla CEO Elon Musk is offering to buy Twitter, saying the social media platform he has criticized for not living up to free speech principles needs to be transformed as a private company.

Twitter Inc. said in a regulatory filing on Thursday that Musk, currently the company’s biggest shareholder, has proposed buying the remaining shares of Twitter that he doesn’t already own at $54.20 per share, an offer worth more than $43 billion.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — California’s first-in-the-nation reparations task force meets in person Wednesday, the first time members have gathered face-to-face since their inaugural meeting nearly a year ago and mere weeks after the group voted to limit restitution to descendants of enslaved Black people.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Tesla CEO Elon Musk won’t be joining Twitter’s board of directors as previously announced. The tempestuous billionaire remains Twitter’s largest shareholder.

Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal tweeted the news, which followed a weekend of Musk tweets suggesting possible changes to Twitter, including making the site ad-free. Nearly 90% of Twitter’s 2021 revenue came from ads.

LOS ANGELES, April 8 (Xinhua) -- NASA, Axiom Space, and SpaceX launched a first private astronaut mission to the International Space Station on Friday.

The four-person multinational crew is composed of Commander Michael López-Alegría and Pilot Larry Connor of the United States, Mission Specialist Eytan Stibbe of Israel, and Mission Specialist Mark Pathy of Canada.

The mission, codenamed Ax-1, was launched on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket at 11:17 a.m. Eastern Time from the historic Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. 

SAN JOSE, April 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A cargo plane carrying mail and packages skidded off the runway and broke in two during an emergency landing in Costa Rica on Thursday, causing the temporary closure of the international airport in San Jose.

Smoke was billowing from the bright yellow plane of German logistics giant DHL as it ground to a halt, having slid off the runway when it spun and broke up around the rear wheels.

Two crew members aboard were “in good health,” said Costa Rica’s firefighters chief, Hector Chaves.