Boeing To Get Flight Test -- Stocks Soar On Optimism -- Mass. Nuclear Power Plant Loses Power -- Panetta Retires, Hagel Waits -- White House Warns Of Sequestration -- Asteroid Approaches Earth -- Hunt For LAPD Cop Hindered By Snow -- Nemo Strikes Northeast United States
BOEING 787 DREAMLINER FLIGHT TEST TODAY
Boeing will begin flight tests of its 787 Dreamliner on Saturday morning to gather data on the battery system that has caused the in-service 787 fleet to be grounded, according to an inside source.
The plane that will fly Saturday is Dreamliner No. 5, one of six planes filled with measuring equipment that was used in the flight tests for the 787’s original Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification.
Ground tests were successfully completed on the jet Friday.
On Thursday, the FAA granted Boeing’s request to do test flights specifically to gather data on the battery performance in flight.
The FAA has imposed strict operating conditions on the test flights, requiring preflight inspections and in-flight monitoring of the battery system.
STOCKS END HIGH FOR SIXTH STRAIGHT WEEK
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| Reuters |
(Reuters) - The Nasdaq composite stock index closed at a 12-year high and the S&P 500 index at a five-year high, boosted by gains in technology shares and stronger overseas trade figures.
The S&P 500 also posted a sixth straight week of gains for the first time since August.
The technology sector led the day's gains, with the S&P 500 technology index .SPLRCT up 1.0 percent. Gains in professional network platform LinkedIn Corp (LNKD.N) and AOL Inc (AOL.N) after they reported quarterly results helped the sector.
MASSACHUSETTS NUCLEAR POWER PLANT LOSES POWER
PLYMOUTH, Mass. — The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says a power plant in Massachusetts has lost power and shut down during a massive snowstorm.
The NRC says the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant in Plymouth experienced an automatic shutdown at around 9:15 p.m. Friday after losing off-site power. Spokesman Neil Sheehan says the plant has declared an unusual event, which is the lowest level of emergency classification.
Sheehan says that the reactor shut down without any problems and that backup generators are powering plant equipment.
The NRC says there’s no threat to public safety.
The shutdown came as a major snowstorm began clobbering the New York-to-Boston corridor, knocking out power to more than 300,000 customers in Massachusetts.
PANETTA RETIRES WHILE SUCCESSOR AWAITS VOTE
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| Reuters |
(Reuters) - President Barack Obama bade a fond farewell to retiring Defense Secretary Leon Panetta at a ceremony on Friday and voiced strong support for his nominated successor, Chuck Hagel, who was attacked by Republicans at a contentious Senate confirmation hearing last week.
Panetta, in his 19 months as Pentagon chief, ended the ban on women serving in front-line combat roles and oversaw the integration of gays and lesbians serving openly in the military. The Iraq war ended and the lastAfghanistan "surge" troops came home on his watch.
But he may be remembered most for his work before he came to the Pentagon in July 2011, as the CIA director who helped oversee the raid earlier that year that killed Osama bin Laden.
WHITE HOUSE WARNS OF "DAMAGING" SEQUESTRATION SPENDING CUTS
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| Reuters |
(Reuters) - The White House said on Friday that government spending cuts due to take effect March 1 would have harsh consequences for ordinary Americans and the U.S. economy, seeking to turn up pressure on Congress to come up with a plan to avoid what Washington calls "sequestration."
President Barack Obama said the spending cuts could weaken U.S. military preparedness.
"There is no reason, no reason for that to happen," Obama said at a farewell ceremony for Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.
"Putting our fiscal house in order calls for a balanced approach, not massive, indiscriminate cuts that could have a severe impact on our military preparedness," he said.
ASTEROID TO NARROWLY MISS EARTH
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| NASA |
Astronomers are keeping a wary eye on a large asteroid expected to narrowly miss hitting Earth next Friday in the closest known approach of a dangerous cosmic object since NASA started tracking such debris.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration experts who plotted its trajectory are confident that the primordial rock, weighing an estimated 130,000 metric tons, will pass within "a remarkably close distance" of Earth, nearer than many orbiting communications satellites but far enough away to safely speed past the planet.
HUNT FOR LA COP LEADS TO SNOWY MOUNTAINS
BIG BEAR LAKE, Calif. – The hunt for Christopher Dorner in the snow-covered San Bernardino Mountains is expected to resume at daybreak Saturday, when authorities hope clearer skies will allow airplanes to help them in their search.
Relentless snowfall on Friday grounded helicopters with heat-sensing technology and hampered their effort to find the former Los Angeles police officer suspected of going on a deadly rampage to get back at those he blamed for ending his career.
NORTHEAST SNOWED IN AS 'NEMO' HITS
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| BuzzFeed |
More than 23 inches of snow had fallen in parts of central Connecticut by early Saturday, and more than 21 inches covered Randolph in southeastern Massachusetts.
The National Weather Service says up to 3 feet of snow is expected in Boston, threatening the city's 2003 record of 27.6 inches.
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