Amid protest, Hawaii astronomers lose observation time

Amid protest, Hawaii astronomers lose observation time

HONOLULU

Asteroids, including those that might slam into Earth. Clouds of gas and dust on the verge of forming stars. Planets orbiting stars other than our own.

This is some of the research astronomers say they missed out on as a protest blocked the road to Hawaii’s tallest mountain, one of the world’s premiere sites for studying the skies.

Astronomers said Friday they will attempt to resume observations, but they have already lost four weeks of viewing – and in some cases, they won’t be able to make up the missed research. Protesters, meanwhile, say they should not be blamed for the shutdown.

Astronomers across 11 observatories on Mauna Kea canceled more than 2,000 hours of telescope viewing, work they estimate would have led to the publication of about 450 papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals.

“Any one of them could have been spectacular, could have been Nobel Prize-winning science. We just now will never know,” said Jessica Dempsey, deputy director of the East Asian Observatory, which operates one of Mauna Kea’s telescopes.

Woodstock generation looks back, from varied vantage points

NEW YORK

It was the weekend that shaped the image of a “Woodstock Generation.” And that image would echo, appeal and provoke for generations to come.

To many who went or wished they did, the pivotal festival of “peace and music” 50 years ago remains an inspiring moment of counterculture community and youthful freethinking.

“We went for the music and found something so much more, and so much more important – camaraderie,” says Karen Breda, who was 17 when she went to Woodstock. She recalls feeling part of “a generation that felt like nothing could stop us. Peace. Love. The whole thing.”

Some other Americans saw Woodstock as an outrageous display of indulgence and insouciance in a time of war. And some didn’t look to Woodstock to celebrate their own sense of music and identity.

“There was no one baby boomer generation. There was no one approach to what Woodstock meant,” says David Farber, a University of Kansas professor of American history. But Woodstock became an “aspirational vision of what countercultural youth thought they could achieve in the United States.”

Rare tornado hits Luxembourg, injuring 19, damages 100 homes

BERLIN

A rare tornado injured 19 people, two of them severely, in Luxembourg, while 15 soccer players were injured by a lightning strike in southern Germany as unseasonal storms hit northern Europe late Friday.

The tornado in the southwestern Luxembourg communities of Pettingen and Kaerjeng left a path of destruction that made up to 100 homes uninhabitable, local media reported Saturday. Debris and damaged cars were left strewn around the area, while at least four power poles were destroyed.

“Architects are going to come and survey the damage. Meanwhile, we will coordinate to cover the roofs,” Paul Schroeder, director general of Luxembourg’s fire and rescue service, told residents, according to Luxembourg French-language newspaper L’Essentiel.

The tornado was less destructive in nearby eastern France, but local media reported that dozens of roofs were ruined and cars were damaged in the communities of Longwy and Herserange.

Amateur footage obtained by The Associated Press showed a small tornado whirling in the Oosterdok section of Amsterdam on Friday night. Tornadoes are very unusual in Europe, where fierce gales that are more the norm also created hazardous conditions.

In southern Germany, lightning struck a soccer field in Rosenfeld-Heiligenzimmern where 15 players were exercising Friday night. They were injured slightly but were taken to the hospital as a precaution.

Man who claimed police locked him in closet awarded $50M

CLEVELAND

A jury in Cleveland has awarded $50 million to a man who claimed police beat him while he was handcuffed and locked him in a storage closet for four days with no toilet and nothing to eat or drink but a carton of milk.

The award Friday in 52-year-old Arnold Black’s lawsuit follows an appeals court decision vacating a $22 million damage award against East Cleveland from June 2016.

Cleveland.com reported the officers who arrested Black thinking he was a drug dealer took the stand at the latest trial and described a culture of violence and corruption within the department.

Black’s attorneys said he continues to suffer from physical problems caused by the beating.

An email message seeking comment was sent to East Cleveland’s law director Saturday.

Columbus stops prosecuting low-level pot possession cases

COLUMBUS

Misdemeanor marijuana possession cases are no longer being prosecuted by the city of Columbus.

City Attorney Zach Klein said last week a new state law legalizing industrial hemp would require testing to distinguish hemp from marijuana. Hemp contains little if any THC, marijuana’s psychoactive ingredient.

Klein said his office can’t prove marijuana possession beyond a reasonable doubt without testing. He’s also dismissing pending misdemeanor possession charges.

He said officers still have constitutional grounds to stop someone or search them if they believe a person has marijuana, which remains an illegal substance.

A new city ordinance reduces penalties for possessing small amounts of marijuana. Possession of less than 100 grams (3.5 ounces) is a $10 fine, while possession of between 100 and 250 grams (8.8 ounces) is $25.

$7M pours into university doing Ohio’s first hemp research

WILBERFORCE

A historically black university in Ohio is advancing its plans to become the first public institution in the state to conduct hemp research.

Central State University announced it’s received $7.1 million in contributions toward current initiatives, including its new hemp research program.

The sum includes a single record-setting private donation of $2 million from philanthropist Frank Murphy.

President Cynthia Jackson-Hammond says Central State is the only Ohio public university planting seeds for research into hemp, a strain of the cannabis plant used for fiber and cannabidiol, or CBD.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed a bill last month legalizing cultivation of industrial hemp and the manufacture and sale of CBD products.

The dilemma of when to intervene, shooter’s girlfriend says

DAYTON

A former girlfriend of the man who killed nine people in Ohio says there were a few times he did something that made her wonder if she should reach out to authorities.

But Adelia Johnson says Connor Betts’ one-time drunken rambling about wanting to hurt people and his thoughts of suicide didn’t seem like red flags. She said that and his interest in serial killers seemed normal for a fellow psychology student who told her he was struggling with mental illness.

Johnson also said it’s not like Betts expressed any concrete plans for an attack during the two months they dated this spring. And she’s not sure what could have been done if he had.

Man accused in plotting foiled terror attack pleads guilty

TOLEDO

An Ohio man accused of plotting with his girlfriend to obtain guns and explosives for a foiled domestic terror attack has pleaded guilty in federal court.

Twenty-three-year-old Vincent Armstrong, of Toledo, pleaded guilty last week to a charge related to conspiring to transport or receive an explosive with intent to cause harm.

The Blade newspaper reported he faces up to 20 years in prison. His sentencing isn’t scheduled.

A message seeking comment was left Friday with Armstrong’s defense attorney.

Prosecutors said Armstrong and his girlfriend talked about taking part in violent attacks on public places, visited the site of the Columbine High School massacre and had bomb-making materials and weapons in their home. They were arrested in December.

Authorities allege Armstrong’s girlfriend drove the plans. She has pleaded not guilty.

Ohio man charged with making online threat to Ocasio-Cortez

TOLEDO

Authorities say an Ohio man has been charged in federal court for a Facebook post saying U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez “should be shot.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Cleveland said 41-year-old Timothy Ireland, of Toledo, was charged Friday with making interstate threats.

An arrest warrant affidavit said U.S. Capitol Police received a tip July 23 about the post. The affidavit written by a Capitol Police special agent said he called Ireland earlier this month and that Ireland acknowledged writing the post concerning the New York Democrat and said he was very proud of it.

Agents from the Capitol Police and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives searched Ireland’s home and found seven rounds of ammunition. Ireland is in federal custody.

Ireland’s court-appointed attorney declined to comment.

Utility to close Pennsylvania coal power plant early

AKRON

An Ohio-based energy company says it’s closing its last coal-fired power plant in Pennsylvania nearly two years earlier than expected.

FirstEnergy Solutions said Friday that its plant in Shippingport will be idled Nov. 7. The company had previously said the Bruce Mansfield plant would be shut down in June 2021.

FirstEnergy, which is going through bankruptcy reorganization, blamed “a lack of economic viability in current market conditions.”

The company has said it can’t compete in regional wholesale markets as coal and nuclear lose out to cheaper energy sources such as natural gas and renewables.

Associated Press