LUY-Development

Category: Andrew-Michael

  • Jupiter, Saturn merging in night sky, closest in centuries

    Jupiter, Saturn merging in night sky, closest in centuries

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Jupiter and Saturn will merge in the night sky Monday, appearing closer to one another than they have since Galileo’s time in the 17th century.

    Astronomers say so-called conjunctions between the two largest planets in our solar system aren’t particularly rare. Jupiter passes its neighbor Saturn in their respective laps around the sun every 20 years.

    But the one coming up is especially close: Jupiter and Saturn will be just one-tenth of a degree apart from our perspective or about one-fifth the width of a full moon. They should be easily visible around the world a little after sunset, weather permitting.

    Toss in the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, the longest night of the year — and the summer solstice in the Southern Hemisphere — and this just-in-time-for-Christmas spectacle promises to be one of the greatest of Great Conjunctions.

    “What is most rare is a close conjunction that occurs in our nighttime sky,” said Vanderbilt University’s David Weintraub, an astronomy professor. “I think it’s fair to say that such an event typically may occur just once in any one person’s lifetime, and I think ‘once in my lifetime’ is a pretty good test of whether something merits being labeled as rare or special.”

    It will be the closest Jupiter-Saturn pairing since July 1623, when the two planets appeared a little nearer. This conjunction was almost impossible to see, however, because of its closeness to the sun.  Considerably closer and in plain view was the March 1226 conjunction of the two planets — when Genghis Khan was conquering Asia. Monday’s conjunction will be the closest pairing that is visible since way back then.

    Saturn and Jupiter have been drawing closer in the south-southwest sky for weeks. Jupiter — bigger and closer to Earth — is vastly brighter.

    “I love watching them come closer and closer to each other and the fact that I can see it with my naked eyes from my back porch!” Virginia Tech astronomer Nahum Arav said in an email.

    To see it, be ready shortly after sunset Monday, looking to the southwest fairly low on the horizon. Saturn will be the smaller, fainter blob at Jupiter’s upper right. Binoculars will be needed to separate the two planets.

    Despite appearances, Jupiter and Saturn will actually be more than 450 million miles (730 million kilometers) apart. Earth, meanwhile, will be 550 million miles (890 million kilometers) from Jupiter.

    A telescope will not only capture Jupiter and Saturn in the same field of view, but even some of their brightest moons.

    Their next super-close pairing: March 15, 2080.

  • Connect with us on Social Media

    Connect with us on Social Media

    We LOVE social media, and we know you do also!  Here is how you can follow our stations and personalities:

     

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  • The U.S.S. Constitution Museum in Boston has acquired more than 150 documents that shed light on the warship’s early years

    The U.S.S. Constitution Museum in Boston has acquired more than 150 documents that shed light on the warship’s early years

    The collection had been in private hands for more than 225 years.

    The U.S.S. Constitution Museum has acquired more than 150 documents, including correspondence from President George Washington’s secretary of war and the leader of the Haitian Revolution, that shed light on the warship’s early years and the young United States’ first international conflict.

    The collection acquired at auction had been in private hands for more than 225 years and will be unveiled during a Facebook Live celebration of the ship’s 223rd birthday Wednesday.  It is the largest acquisition the Boston-based U.S.S. Constitution Museum has made in nearly a decade.

    “I have been looking for collections for this museum for over 30 years and have never seen anything like it,” museum President and CEO Anne Grimes Rand said in a statement. “The U.S.S. Constitution Museum is actively pursuing its mission in tough times by acquiring these documents that shed light on previously unknown aspects of the construction, outfitting, and first movements of U.S.S. Constitution.”  The cost of the documents was not disclosed, but they were paid for by a group of museum supporters known as the Commodores, she said.  “We rallied them and we were able to bid aggressively and we landed the collection,” she said.

    The museum is the nonprofit that preserves the history of the ship known as Old Ironsides, which is still an active-duty U.S. Navy vessel berthed in the city’s Charlestown neighborhood.  The U.S.S Constitution is the world’s oldest commissioned warship afloat. It was undefeated in battle and earned its nickname during the War of 1812, when British cannonballs bounced off its wooden hull.

    The papers cover several topics, including the construction of the U.S. Navy’s first six frigates, which include the Constitution, and strategic plans for the undeclared Quasi-War with France from 1798 until 1800.  The collection belonged to Capt. James Sever, first commander of U.S.S. Congress, another frigate constructed at the same time as Constitution. It had been in his family ever since.  Sever supervised construction of Congress and was deployed with the ship to the Caribbean to protect U.S. merchant ships from French privateers. Old Ironsides served alongside Congress in the conflict.

    The collection includes handwritten correspondence and papers from the Constitution’s commander, Capt. Silas Talbot; Henry Knox, secretary of war under Washington, who oversaw the appropriations for the construction of the Constitution and its sister frigates; and Toussaint Louverture, the formerly enslaved leader of the Haitian Revolution, who corresponded with U.S. Navy commanders about U.S. support of his government.

    The documents will be archived at the museum and shared publicly via email newsletters and social media posts at first. They will also be digitized and made available on the museum’s website.

  • Oklahoma jail employees charged for playing ‘Baby Shark’ on repeat

    Oklahoma jail employees charged for playing ‘Baby Shark’ on repeat

    “It was unfortunate that I could not find a felony statute to fit this fact scenario,” Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater said.

    OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Two former Oklahoma jail employees and their supervisor face misdemeanor cruelty charges after investigators found they forced inmates to stand handcuffed for hours and listen to the children’s song “Baby Shark” on repeat, a prosecutor said Monday.

    At least four inmates were secured to a wall with their hands cuffed behind them while the song played on a loop at a loud volume for hours, The Oklahoman reported. The separate incidents occurred in November and December, according to court records.

    The misdemeanor charges were filed Monday against former Oklahoma County jail employees Gregory Cornell Butler Jr. and Christian Charles Miles, both 21, and their supervisor, Christopher Raymond Hendershott, 50.

    “It was unfortunate that I could not find a felony statute to fit this fact scenario,” Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater said. “I would have preferred filing a felony on this behavior.”

    Butler and Miles are accused of imposing the discipline and Hendershott is accused of knowing about it but not stopping it, the newspaper reported. Court records do not list an attorney for any of them.

    Sheriff P.D. Taylor said Monday that Butler and Miles resigned during an internal investigation and that Hendershott retired.

    “We don’t tolerate it,” Taylor said of the mistreatment. “We always did an excellent job policing ourselves.”

    The “Baby Shark” song gained huge popularity two years ago after the company Pinkfong released its first video online. The video has since been viewed more than 6.5 billion times.

  • Reba McEntire & Darius Rucker take over as CMA Awards hosts

    Reba McEntire & Darius Rucker take over as CMA Awards hosts

    It will be Darius Rucker’s first time as CMA Awards show host

     

    NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Country stars Reba McEntire and Darius Rucker are promising laughs and good music when they co-host this year’s CMA Awards in November.

    McEntire, a Country Music Hall of Famer and veteran host of country music awards shows, returns after hosting last year with Carrie Underwood and Dolly Parton. It will mark her fifth year as a host. Rucker, who crossed over from the rock world about 15 years ago and is a Grand Ole Opry member, will be a first-time host of the CMAs when the show airs on Nov. 11 on ABC from Nashville, Tennessee.

    “We both love to giggle and laugh and cut up. Whatever they give us to say, I have a feeling that we’re going to be adding a little bit of our own kind of sense of humor,” said McEntire, during an interview with Rucker with The Associated Press.

    “One of the cool things about getting to do this with Reba is we can both be the straight man, or we can be the person who delivers the joke,” said Rucker.

    One of the first people that Rucker said he was planning on telling about his new co-hosting gig was country icon Charley Pride. Pride was the first Black country artist to co-host the awards show, in 1975 with Glen Campbell. Pride had won the CMA’s top prize, entertainer of the year, in 1971 and paved the way for artists like Rucker decades later.

    “When I started in this business, I was at my very first CMAs when I won the best new artist,” said Rucker, of his 2009 win. “I said to my manager, ‘I want to host this someday.’ I was joking. And to be here 14 years later hosting with Reba freaking McEntire? Wow!”

    While COVID-19 restrictions would make the show’s production different this year, the pair said they were aiming to deliver an uplifting night of music and entertainment.

    “We’re trying to keep it upbeat and light. We as a country, we as a nation, we as a world, we need entertainment,” said McEntire. “I think people sitting at home in front of their TV screens or their computers, I think they want to see what we can deliver.”

    The show will be airing from a new venue, the Music City Center, a convention center just across the street from the show’s regular home at the Bridgestone Arena. Rucker said they will be addressing the pandemic and the struggles that many people have experienced this year, but he said the focus will be on the music.

  • Americans load up on candy, trick or treat – or not

    Americans load up on candy, trick or treat – or not

    Americans may not know if trick or treating will happen this year because of the pandemic, but they’re buying a lot of Halloween candy while they wait to find out.

     

    U.S. sales of Halloween candy were up 13% over last year in the month ending Sept. 6, according to data from market research firm IRI and the National Confectioners Association. That’s a bigger jump than the usual single-digit increases. Sales of Halloween chocolate alone are up 25%.  Earlier Halloween displays at some chains, like dollar stores, Meijer and ShopRite, likely helped boost sales. But Americans may also be in a mood to celebrate after months of pandemic anxiety.

    Cassandra Ambrosius, who lives in central Wisconsin, was surprised to see bags of Halloween candy at the grocery in early September; her husband snapped one up. She expects to buy more bags as Halloween gets closer, because she thinks people in her neighborhood will figure out how to trick or treat safely.

    That enthusiasm is good news for candy companies, which rely on the 10-week Halloween period for nearly 14% of their annual $36 billion in U.S. sales. Halloween is the biggest holiday of the year for candy makers, followed closely by Christmas and Easter. Valentine’s Day is a distant fourth.

    Ferrara Candy Co., which makes Brach’s Candy Corn, says it saw online demand three months earlier than usual. Some stores also asked Ferrara for earlier shipments.

    But while early demand are strong, sales in late October could suffer if the coronavirus clamps down on trick or treat. Fifty-five percent of Mars Wrigley’s Halloween candy sales usually happen in the last two weeks of October, says Tim LeBel, the company’s chief Halloween officer and head of U.S. sales.

    New York’s governor recently announced that he won’t ban trick or treating in the state. But some cities, like Springfield, Massachusetts, and Antigo, Wisconsin, have called it off. Big Halloween events at places like Disney World and Salem, Massachusetts aren’t happening.  Ben Reed, of Arlington, Texas, takes pride in giving out full-size candy bars for Halloween. He usually buys between 160 and 200 candy bars.

    “This year I have no idea how many to purchase,” he said. “I do not want to disappoint the kids, but on the other hand, I do not want to be stuck with too many and add more COVID pounds to myself.”

    Numerator, a market research firm, surveyed 2,000 consumers in early August and found that 52% planned to buy less candy this year than they usually do. Just 11% planned to buy more.

    Candy companies have been making some changes to deal with all the uncertainty around Halloween. Hershey is selling fewer large Halloween-themed bags of candy and shifting more candy to smaller, everyday bags that can still be sold after the holiday, said Phil Stanley, Hershey’s global chief sales officer.

    Mars is customizing bag sizes. A place like Los Angeles County, which is discouraging trick or treating, may get smaller bags, for example.

    “We’re trying to cover all the bases because each market is going to celebrate a little bit differently,” LeBel said.

    CVS Caremark says it’s reduced the number of large and giant bags of candy stores will receive. It’s also expanded its assortment of “instant consumable” sized candy and gum that parents can pick up to treat themselves. Target says it’s cut back its assortment of Halloween candy in anticipation of a reduction of trick or treating this year.

    Still, online sales could give candy companies a boost as the pandemic changed shopping habits. Digital sales more than doubled at Easter, LeBel said, and that could happen again at Halloween.

    Companies have also shifted their marketing in response to the pandemic. Mars is launching a Treat Town website that will let people trick or treat virtually and earn credits toward real candy. Hershey has a map showing COVID risk by county on its website.

    Miranda Leon of Albany, Georgia, still plans to buy Halloween candy in mid-October and make treat bags for her three kids’ classrooms. There’s no official word on Halloween in her city, but she plans to take her kids trick or treating and hand out candy.

    “So much has been taken from our kids this year — classes cut short, sports cancelled, summer camps cancelled,” she said. “I refuse to take away the joy of trick or treating from my kids.”

    ___

    AP Business Writer Anne D’Innocenzio contributed from New York.

  • Kanye West makes presidential ballot in Mississippi

    Kanye West makes presidential ballot in Mississippi

    JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Kanye West will appear as a presidential candidate on Mississippi’s ballot in November, after being approved as a qualified candidate by the State Board of Election Commissioners on Tuesday.

    The rapper has already qualified to appear on the ballot as an independent candidate in several states, including Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Utah.

    To qualify in Mississippi, he was required to pay a $2,500 fee to the Secretary of State’s Office and get the signatures of at least 1,000 Mississippi voters.

    “It was interesting to see him pick Mississippi, and obviously it will be interesting to see what happens with that vote on Nov. 3,” Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson said after the board’s meeting. “But he did qualify.”

    West, who once backed Republican President Donald Trump, announced last month that he had broken with Trump and would launch his own presidential bid. His campaign filed paperwork July 15 with the Federal Election Commission.

  • Miranda Lambert leads CMA nominations, Luke Combs’ streak continues

    Miranda Lambert leads CMA nominations, Luke Combs’ streak continues

    NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Country star Miranda Lambert turns her “Wildcard” into an ace as she’s the leading nominee at the 2020 Country Music Association Awards, including her first entertainer of the year nomination in five years.

    The CMAs announced Tuesday that Lambert earned seven nominations. The Grammy winner was pushed by the success of songs like “Bluebird,” her first country airplay No. 1 in years, as well as positive reviews of her smart and sassy “Wildcard” album. Lambert — who has won 13 CMAs throughout her career — makes history this year, breaking the record for most nominations by a female artist with 55 overall nods.

    She’s followed by Luke Combs, who continues his streak of success as one of country music’s biggest streaming artists with six nominations, including his first for entertainer of the year. Combs earned his first all-genre No. 1 album last year with “What You See Is What You Get,” which had the largest streaming week ever for a country album with 74 million on-demand streams.

    “It’s pretty crazy. It’s been shocking to say the least,” Combs said of his entertainer of the year nod, which comes two years after he was named new artist of the year. “You’re kind of up in the big leagues.”

    Carrie Underwood joins Combs and Lambert in the entertainer of the year category, along with Keith Urban and Eric Church. Garth Brooks, who won last year, recently announced he no longer wanted to be nominated for entertainer of the year because it was time for others to win.

    Combs’ nominations include album, single and male vocalist of the year. He’s nominated twice in the song of the year category for his own track, “Even Though I’m Leaving,” and for co-writing the Carly Pearce-Lee Brice duet “I Hope You’re Happy Now.”

    “It’s a dream come true for somebody that writes their own stuff,” said Combs. “Having won that award last year was just really really really special.”

    The CMA Awards will be held Nov. 11 in Nashville.

    Dan + Shay’s Dan Smyers has six nominations, including four he shares with bandmate Shay Mooney and three with pop star Justin Bieber for their crossover hit “10,000 Hours.” Smyers earned individual nominations for his work as a producer on the song. These are the first CMA nominations for Bieber, who won a CMT Music Award in 2011 for “That Should Be Me” with Rascal Flatts.

    Other top nominees include Maren Morris, who scored five nominations including song and single of the year for her love song, “The Bones.” Her track became the longest-running No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot country songs chart by a solo female artist since Taylor Swift’s “We Are Never Getting Back Together.”

    Producer Jay Joyce also earned five nominations for his work on albums by Lambert and Ashley McBryde, who earned three nominations including album of the year and female vocalist of the year.

    After years of criticism for the lack of women on country radio, women actually outnumber men in the new artist category, which include Pearce, Gabby Barrett and Ingrid Andress. Pearce earned three more nominations for “I Hope You’re Happy Now,” and her producer busbee, who died last year after a fight with cancer, is posthumously nominated for musical event of the year.

    “September marks a year that he’s been gone,” said Pearce. “I know that he is so proud looking down at how far I’ve come and this was the last song that he worked on before he got sick, so it would be huge to take it home for him.”

    Barrett, who competed on “American Idol,” earned a nomination for single of the year with “I Hope,” a No. 1 country hit and Top 10 success on the pop charts. And Andress was nominated for song of the year with “More Hearts Than Mine.” Morgan Wallen and Jimmie Allen round out the new artist nominees.

    Notable snubs missing from the nomination list include country icon Tanya Tucker, who earned her first two Grammy Awards this year for her comeback album “While I’m Livin.’” The Chicks, who returned with their first new album in 14 years, also weren’t nominated, likely due to a longstanding rift between some country fans and the outspoken female group. Sam Hunt, who put out a long-awaited album this year, was also missing from the nominations.

    The coronavirus pandemic likely affected some of the nominations this year because touring was postponed and some albums were pushed back. Luke Bryan, who delayed his album until after the cutoff deadline for this year’s awards show, was not nominated.

  • Sandbags Available For Natchez-Adams County Residents

    Sandbags Available For Natchez-Adams County Residents

    Bring Your Own Shovel

    Sand and empty sandbags are available at the following locations this week for Natchez and Adams County residents if you need extra protection for your home or business during the upcoming storms:

    City Of Natchez (gates open 7:00 a.m. until 2:30 p.m.)

    Natchez Public Works on Washington Road behind the Police Station

    Adams County (gates open from 7:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m.)

    1208 Liberty Road (County Maintenance Barn)

    35 Majorca Road (County Road Department)

    228 Foster Mound Road (Volunteer Fire Station)

     

  • “Watchmen’ leads charge with 26 Emmy nominations, Netflix earns 160 total

    “Watchmen’ leads charge with 26 Emmy nominations, Netflix earns 160 total

    LOS ANGELES (AP) — “Watchmen,” cloaked in superhero mythology and grounded in real-world racism, received a leading 26 nominations Tuesday for the prime-time Emmy Awards.

    The HBO series, which captured America’s deep unease as it faces racial and political discord amid a pandemic, was nominated as best limited series and received bids for cast members including Regina King and Jeremy Irons.  King was part of a vanguard of actors of color indicating that TV academy voters took heed of the social climate.  “Zendaya!” exclaimed Emmy announcement host Leslie Jones, her gleeful reaction to the “Euphoria” star’s nomination as best actress in a drama. “This is a great day,” Jones said.

    She was part of a socially distanced, virtual release of nominees that was online, not on television as is usual. But nothing is usual during a coronavirus era that has brought Hollywood production to a virtual standstill and is making the Emmys and other awards grasp for alternatives.

    The strong showing by Netflix’s “Ozark” helped the streaming service achieve a record-setting 160 nominations that bested onetime perennial leader HBO, which earned 107 nods. Netflix, although the Emmy veteran among streamers, has yet to win a best comedy or drama series trophy.

    treaming newcomer Apple TV+ earned attention in its first season with Jennifer Aniston’s best drama actress bid for “The Morning Show.” Another streaming newbie, Disney+, saw its Star Wars franchise spinoff, “The Mandalorian,” claim a best drama nomination among its hefty 15 total nods.

    The Amazon comedy “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” is the second most-nominated series with 20, followed by Netflix’s “Ozark” with 18.

    “This year, we are also bearing witness to one of the greatest fights for social justice in history. And it is our duty to use this medium for change,” Frank Scherma, chairman and CEO of the Television Academy said at the outset of the presentation.

    The acting categories included a record number of Black nominees, 35, among the 102 contenders for lead, supporting and guest performances in drama, comedy and limited series or TV movie. At slightly more than 34 percent of nominees, that bettered the 2018 record of just under 28 percent of Black actors in those categories.

    In sharp contrast, few other people of color were recognized. Among them: Sandra Oh, repeating as a best actress nominee for “Killing Eve,” and Dev Patel, who received a comedy guest actor nod for “Modern Love.”

    Kerry Washington’s four nominations covered a wide range, including lead actress for “Little Fires Everywhere” and for her production company’s work on the limited series and other programs.

    Washington said she was most emotional about the posthumous nomination for “Little Fires Everywhere” director Lynn Shelton, who died from a blood disorder in May.

    “For the academy to acknowledge her in her passing, deservedly so, it’s really moving. We’re at a moment where we so desperately need the voices of storytellers from marginalized communities: women directors, people of color,” Washington said.

    Billy Porter, who last year became the first openly gay man to win the top drama series acting prize, was nominated again this year for “Pose.”

    Diversity was especially notable in the comedy categories after being nearly absent last year.

    “Ramy,” which finds nuanced humor in a young Muslim American’s crisis of identity and faith, earned a best actor bid for its star and co-creator, Ramy Youssef. Issa Rae returned to the best comedy actress category for her series “Insecure,” which earned a best comedy bid.