Hawaii
Barack Obama, family start annual winter vacation
HONOLULU – President Barack Obama has arrived in Hawaii to kick off his annual winter vacation.
The president, first lady Michelle Obama and daughters Sasha and Malia landed in Honolulu shortly before midnight. Their two dogs, Sunny and Bo, joined them aboard Air Force One.
Obama has no public events scheduled while he’s in Hawaii, where he was born. On previous trips, he’s enjoyed regular rounds of golf, local restaurants and family trips to get shave ice, a Hawaiian version of a snow cone.
Last year, gridlock in Congress forced Obama to return to Washington the day after Christmas. This year, the Obamas are hoping their vacation will go uninterrupted.
The president is scheduled to be in Honolulu through Jan. 5.
California
San Francisco transit, union leaders reach deal
SAN FRANCISCO – San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit officials and labor union leaders announced a new deal early Saturday, saying the final issue in their ongoing dispute has been resolved.
The transit system and its two largest unions have been involved in months-long negotiations that stalled recently over paid medical leave time for employees.
BART officials and labor leaders had approved a deal in October after six months of negotiations and two strikes that caused problems for hundreds of thousands of people who ride the nation’s fifth-largest commuter rail system.
That deal fell apart last month when BART officials said the provision giving workers six weeks of paid annual leave to care for sick family members had been mistakenly included in the contract.
Florida
NASA astronauts tackle urgent spacewalking repairs
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Astronauts removed an old space station pump Saturday, sailing through the first of a series of urgent repair spacewalks to revive a crippled cooling line.
The two Americans on the crew, Rick Mastracchio and Michael Hopkins, successfully pulled out the ammonia pump with a bad valve –– well ahead of schedule. That task had been planned for the next spacewalk on Monday.
If Mastracchio and Hopkins keep up the quick work, two spacewalks may be enough to complete the installation of a spare pump, and a third spacewalk will not be needed on Christmas Day as originally anticipated.
Mission Control wanted to keep the spacewalkers out even longer Saturday to get even further ahead, but a cold and uncomfortable Mastracchio requested to go back. The spacewalk ended after 5½ hours, an hour short on time but satisfyingly long on content.
New Jersey
Four men are arrested on murder charges
NEWARK, N.J. – Four men have been arrested on charges of murder, conspiracy and other counts in the carjacking death of a man shot in front of his wife outside an upscale mall in northern New Jersey last weekend, authorities said Saturday.
The suspects were identified at a news conference as 29-year-old Hanif Thompson, of Irvington, and 31-year-old Karif Ford, 32-year-old Basim Henry and 33-year-old Kevin Roberts, all of Newark.
They are accused in the Dec. 15 carjacking and killing of Dustin Friedland outside The Mall at Short Hills. The 30-year-old lawyer from Hoboken was shot in the head in the mall parking garage after being confronted by two carjackers, authorities said. The assailants drove off in his silver Range Rover, which was found the next morning in Newark, about 10 miles from Short Hills.
The four face chaAssrges of murder, felony murder, carjacking, conspiracy, possession of a weapon and possession of a weapon for unlawful purpose. They were arrested between late Friday and early Saturday. Three of them were taken into custody at their residences in New Jersey, and Henry was arrested by an FBI task force at a hotel in Easton, Pa.
Associated Press
