Florida
SpaceX delays debut launch of new rocket
CAPE CANAVERAL — SpaceX has delayed the launch debut of its upgraded workhorse rocket.
This latest version of the Falcon 9 was supposed to blast off Thursday from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center, carrying Bangladesh’s first satellite, which would bring the internet to all corners of the country.
But the countdown came to an abrupt halt with less than a minute remaining.
Flight controllers scrambled to figure out the cause of the automatic abort but, with time running out, called it quits for the day. SpaceX says it will try again Friday.
Iowa
Man says dog shot him while playing
FORT DODGE — An Iowa man says his dog inadvertently shot him while they were roughhousing Wednesday.
Fifty-one-year-old Richard Remme, of Fort Dodge, told police he was playing with his dog, Balew, on the couch and tossed the dog off his lap. He said when the pit bull-Labrador mix bounded back up, he must have disabled the safety on the gun in his belly band and stepped on the trigger.
The gun fired, striking one of Remme’s legs. He was treated at a hospital and released later that day.
Remme told The Messenger newspaper that Balew is a “big wuss” and lay down beside him and cried because he thought he had done something wrong.
Illinois
Officials: Scam sent UPS mail to man’s home
CHICAGO — A man has been charged in an astonishing scheme that temporarily changed the address for the global headquarters of shipping giant United Parcel Service to his tiny garden apartment in Chicago, resulting in thousands of pieces of mail meant for UPS executives and other employees being delivered to his doorstep.
A criminal complaint charging Dushaun Henderson-Spruce, 24, with theft of mail and fraud was unsealed Tuesday.
When confronted Jan. 25, Henderson-Spruce at first agreed to talk to federal agents but “terminated the interview” when he was asked why he submitted the change-of-address form for UPS, according to the complaint.
According to the charges, Henderson-Spruce, who briefly worked as a package handler for UPS in 2012, submitted a written change-of-address form Oct. 26 requesting that the company’s headquarters address at 55 Glenlake Parkway NE in Atlanta be changed to 6750 N. Ashland Ave. — his one-bedroom apartment in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood.
About 150 corporate American Express cards in various employee names — including the CEO and members of the board of directors — had been issued under the Ashland Avenue address, according to a search warrant affidavit. Only five had actually been shipped, and none had been misused, the affidavit said.
New York
Spotify cuts R. Kelly music from playlists
NEW YORK — Spotify has removed R. Kelly’s music from its playlists, citing its new policy on hate content and hateful conduct.
A spokesperson said Thursday that Kelly’s music is no longer available on the streaming service’s owned and operated playlists and algorithmic recommendations. His music will still be available, but Spotify will not promote it.
R. Kelly’s management decried the move in a statement to The Associated Press.
“R. Kelly never has been accused of hate, and the lyrics he writes express love and desire,” the statement read.
Wire reports
