NASA probe joins twin at moon

NASA probe joins twin at moon

LOS ANGELES

NASA says its twin spacecraft are now circling the moon on a mission to measure lunar gravity.

The latest probe slipped into orbit on New Year’s Day, joining its twin, which arrived a day earlier.

The Grail spacecraft — short for Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory — will spend the next two months spiraling closer to the surface. In March, they will begin mapping the moon’s uneven gravity field from orbit to understand its interior down to the core.

Children rescued after icy river crash

SALT LAKE CITY

The Utah Highway Patrol says rescuers jumped into an icy river to help save two children after a car plunged down a 10-foot embankment and flipped over.

Patrol Lt. Steve Winward says one rescuer shot out the car’s window with a handgun and cut a seat belt to help free the children Saturday afternoon. As many as 10 people jumped into the river and helped turn the car upright.

Roger Andersen, 46, of Logan lost control driving northbound on U.S. 89 during slick conditions. His 9-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son were trapped along with a second 9-year-old girl.

Winward says the daughter and son were taken to a Salt Lake City hospital and were recovering from hypothermia Sunday. The father and second girl escaped injury.

Divers recover bodies of 2 boys

MARICOPA, Ariz.

Arizona authorities say they’ve recovered the bodies of two boys from an 11-foot-deep irrigation canal.

Pinal County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Elias Johnson says an 8-year-old special-needs child apparently fell in the canal in Maricopa on Sunday afternoon, and his two brothers, ages 9 and 11, slid down the canal’s steep embankment while trying to save him.

Johnson says the boys didn’t know how to swim. He says the 9-year-old was able to make it out of the canal and ran home to get help.

Divers found the boys Sunday evening near where they had slipped into the water.

Trooper accidentally shoots woman

NORTON, Mass.

An off-duty state trooper who was hunting in southeast Massachusetts shot and wounded a 66-year-old woman who was out walking her two dogs when he mistook her pets for a deer.

The woman was shot in the torso while walking on a wooded path in Norton about 5 p.m. Saturday. Police said the trooper called 911 after realizing he had mistaken the tails of the two retrievers for a deer’s tail.

The unidentified woman who lives in Norton was taken to Rhode Island Hospital for treatment. Authorities provided no further information on her condition.

State police said Sunday investigators determined the shooting was an accident. The name of the trooper, who also lives in Norton, was not released because he faces no charges.

Police release video in LA car-fires case

LOS ANGELES

Police in Los Angeles are distributing DVDs featuring surveillance video of a man wanted for questioning in connection with a rash of suspicious car fires in the city.

Officer Sara Faden said Sunday the person of interest is a white male between 20 and 30 years old with a receding hairline and a shoulder-length ponytail. The man was seen on video Saturday after emerging on foot from inside an underground parking structure that was the scene of a car fire.

The outbreak of dozens of arson fires has left a trail of smoldering debris in Hollywood, West Hollywood, North Hollywood and the Fairfax district of Los Angeles since Thursday.

Associated Press