Plane in airspace blocks rocket launch
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A supply run to the International Space Station was delayed a day Saturday by a stray plane.
Everything was going well in the morning's launch countdown in Virginia. But at the last minute, a plane flew into the restricted airspace at Wallops Island. That prompted NASA's commercial shipper, Orbital ATK, to call off the liftoff.
The Virginia-based company plans to try again this morning to launch its unmanned Antares rocket with 7,400 pounds of cargo. The Cygnus capsule contains fresh fruit, vegetables and ice cream bars for the six station astronauts, plus mealworms and micro clover for student experiments.
Today's 7:14 a.m. launch should be visible as far north as Boston and as far south as Myrtle Beach, S.C. But sunrise will make it hard to see.
This will be Orbital ATK's first launch from its home base in more than a year.
The space station crew, meanwhile, took advantage of the lull to beam down thanks to U.S. veterans and wish everyone a happy Veterans Day.
Harassing posts spark Maryland probe
HARWOOD, Md. -- Police in Maryland are investigating a complaint that high school students harassed another student by posting threatening language under the name "Confederate Lives Matter."
The Capital Gazette reported that Anne Arundel police began their investigation Friday into messages posted on Snapchat with obscene and violent language aimed at a transgender student. The messages were allegedly posted by students at Southern High School.
Principal Kathryn Feuerherd sent an email to students and their families, saying disciplinary action has been taken against the students involved.
In a copy of his complaint provided to the newspaper, a father wrote that students threatened to hurt his 15-year-old son in posts titled "Confederate Lives Matter." One post includes a picture of a student wearing what appears to be a KKK-like hood made from paper towels.
Polygamist's daughter claims abuse
SALT LAKE CITY -- A daughter of polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs said he sexually abused her for years when she was a child growing up in the secretive group, according to an interview aired Friday on Megyn Kelly Today.
Rachel Jeffs, now 33, told NBC News that the abuse began when she was 8 and happened numerous times, despite her mother's attempt to intervene, before she confronted him about it in a letter at age 16.
Other former members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, including son Roy Jeffs, have also accused him of sexually abusing them as children. Rachel Jeffs has penned a book about her experiences titled Breaking Free: How I Escaped Polygamy, the FLDS Cult, and My Father, Warren Jeffs.
Warren Jeffs is serving a life prison sentence in Texas for assaulting girls he considered wives. He does not have a lawyer and did not respond to NBC's request for comment.
At age 18, Rachel Jeffs was informed that she would become the third wife of a man in the group, a breakaway sect based along the Utah-Arizona border. The prospect left her shaken and afraid, as did her father's suggestion that she try to become pregnant with her new husband's child on the day of the wedding.
She left the group after her father sent her away from her children for months at a time over perceived wrongs she denied committing.
R.I. police hold suspect in cruiser theft
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- A Rhode Island man accused of stealing a state police cruiser while in custody is facing charges, authorities said Saturday.
Donald Morgan, 35, faces a charge of escape from custody and other offenses. The Providence resident was arrested Friday night.
Morgan was being taken to court Thursday after being arrested on charges including obstruction. He was left alone and handcuffed in the cruiser when he allegedly stole it. The cruiser was later found abandoned.
The cruiser was stolen less than two hours before a deadly shooting involving officers on Interstate 95 in Rhode Island .