December 7, 2021 4:16 am
(AP) – Amazon Web Services suffered a major outage Tuesday, the company said, limiting service at many key and popular sites. The company provides cloud computing services to many governments, universities and companies, including The Associated Press. Amazon said in a post an hour after the outage began that it had identified the root cause and was “actively working towards recovery.” It did not disclose more about the cause. The outage also affected Amazon’s ability to provide updates, it said. The outage began midmorning on the U.S. East Coast, said Doug Madory, director of internet analysis at Kentik Inc, a network intelligence firm…“AWS is the biggest cloud provider and us-east-1 is their biggest data center, so any disruption there has big impacts to many popular websites and other internet services,” he said. Madory said he did not believe the outage was anything nefarious. He said a recent cluster of outages at providers that host major websites reflects how the networking industry has evolved. “More and more these outages end up being the product of automation and centralization of administration,” he said. “This ends up leading to outages that are hard to completely avoid due to operational complexity, but are very impactful when they happen. Kentik was seeing a 26% drop in traffic to Netflix, among major web-based services affected by the outage, Madory said. According to Down Detector, a clearinghouse for user reports on outages, Delta and Southwest have been affected, but not American, United, Alaska or JetBlue. People trying to use Instacart, Venmo, Kindle, Roku, and Disney+ have reported issues. The McDonald’s app is also down.
December 7, 2021 4:15 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden have marked the 80th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor with a visit to the World War II Memorial in Washington. The Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor and other locations in Hawaii killed 2,403 service members and civilians and was a defining moment leading to U.S. entry into the war. Joe Biden touched a wreath at the memorial and saluted on Tuesday. The first lady laid a bouquet honoring her father, a Navy signalman in the war. In a White House proclamation last week recognizing National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, the president thanked “the Greatest Generation.”
December 7, 2021 4:06 am
A pipeline developer will dredge part of a contaminated lake and pay more than $4 million for spilling thousands of gallons of drilling fluids at a popular state park outside Philadelphia. That’s according to Pennsylvania state officials, who announced the settlement with Sunoco Pipeline LP on Monday. The spill happened in August 2020 during construction of Sunoco’s troubled Mariner East pipeline. The spill contaminated wetlands, tributaries and part of the 535-acre lake at Marsh Creek State Park in Chester County. About 33 acres of the lake were placed off limits to boating and fishing because of the spill. The settlement will allow construction on the pipeline to resume.
December 7, 2021 3:56 am
(WPXI) – Two tigers have tested positive for COVID-19 at Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium, according to the zoo. According to a press release, the tigers began showing signs including occasional coughing and loose stool but have otherwise been in good condition. The initial results came from a rapid antigen test and was later confirmed by voluntary nasal swabs gathered from the cats. PCR testing of fecal matter has also been submitted for analysis. Animal care staff continue to provide supportive care to the tigers; the felines are eating normally and are expected to make a full recovery. “We are taking this situation seriously and are continuing to provide the best care possible to our tigers,” said Dr. Jeremy Goodman, president and CEO in the press release. “We do not allow any of our visitors to come within close proximity to any of our cats, so the risk of transmission to our guests is very low.” The infected tigers likely contracted the virus after exposure to an asymptomatic zoo employee.
December 7, 2021 3:16 am
The state of Pennsylvania is pledging $6.6 million toward redevelopment of Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue, where a gunman killed 11 people in 2018 in the nation’s deadliest attack on Jews. Tree of Life Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, who survived the attack, said Monday that the state funding will help “transform this site that has been marked by horror …. into one full of hope, remembrance and education.” The money comes from the state’s Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program. The synagogue was one of 16 community redevelopment projects statewide to receive a grant from the program.
December 6, 2021 5:17 pm
CHICAGO (AP) – Former “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett has denied that he staged an anti-gay, racist attack on himself, testifying at his trial that “there was no hoax.” Smollett is facing charges that he lied to Chicago police about the January 2019 attack downtown Chicago. He is refuting testimony from two brothers who said last week Smollett, who is gay and Black, orchestrated the assault and paid them $3,500 to carry it out. Smollett says the money was for meal plans and training because he wanted to get more toned. Asked by his attorney if he was planning a hoax, Smollett said no.
December 6, 2021 1:30 pm
OXFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) – The prosecutor overseeing the case against the student accused in last week’s deadly Michigan school shooting and who took took the rare step of charging his parents has left open the possibility that school officials could also face charges. Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said Monday on ABC’s “Good Morning America” that the investigation into Tuesday’s attack at Oxford High School will determine whether school officials will face charges. She noted that three hours before 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley opened fire, killing four students and wounding six others and a teacher, he was sent back to class after his parents and school counselors met about a drawing a teacher found on his desk showing a bullet and the words “blood everywhere.”
December 6, 2021 10:17 am
NEW YORK (AP) – Mayor Bill de Blasio says all New York City employers will have to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations for their workers by Dec. 27. De Blasio said Monday that the new mandate is aimed at preventing a spike in coronavirus infections during the holiday season and the colder months. He called it a “preemptive strike” to “stop the further growth of COVID.” Vaccinations are already required for city employees including teachers, police officers and firefighters, and a vaccination mandate for employees of private and religious schools was announced last week. De Blasio said he expects the new mandate to survive any legal challenges.
December 6, 2021 4:30 am
U.S. health officials say that while the omicron variant of the coronavirus is rapidly spreading in the country, early indications suggest it may be less dangerous than delta, which continues to drive a surge of hospitalizations. President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci, told CNN’s “State of the Union” scientists need more information before drawing conclusions about omicron’s severity. But reports from South Africa, where it emerged and is becoming the dominant strain, suggest hospitalization rates have not increased alarmingly. Omicron had been detected in about a third of U.S. states by Sunday. Fauci said the Biden administration is considering lifting travel restrictions against non-citizens entering the United States from several African countries.
December 6, 2021 4:26 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The body of the late Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas will lie in state in the U.S. Capitol on Thursday as congressional leaders honor the former Republican presidential candidate and World War II veteran. He served in Congress for 36 years. Dole died Sunday at the age of 98. He was a leader known for his caustic wit, which he often turned on himself but didn’t hesitate to turn on others, too. He shaped tax and foreign policy and worked vigorously to help the disabled, enshrining protections against discrimination in employment, education and public services in the Americans with Disabilities Act.
