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ational ewsN N Bono Says He Almost Died While Making U2 AlbumNationalNewsNews 10 A NASA spacecraft Spacecraft Lands on Mars - 300 millionMinor League Baseball Team’s Logo Goes Viral Athletes are usually known for their strength and What you may know: U2’s new album, Songs of Experience, came out in early December. What you may not know: Bono apparently center of rock music.“I think music has gotten very girly,” Bono notes. “And there are some good things about that, but hip-hop is the only Most Polite Stars of 2017 Hawaii Shark Attack Victim Also Had Bear, Prince's $200M Estate Remains Untouched As Gold Bars Arrived at LAX, Workers Allegedly Got Greedy designed to burrow mile journey beneath the surface of Mars landed on theredplanetMondayafterasix-month, 300 million-mile journey and a perilous, six-minute descent through the rosehued atmosphere. Flight controllers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, leaped out of their seats and erupted in screams, applause, and laughter as the news came in. “Touchdown confirmed!”a flight controller announced.The three-legged InSight spacecraft reached the surface after being slowed by a parachute and braking engines, the space agency said. Updates were coming in via radio signals that take more than eight minutes to cross the nearly 100 million miles between Mars and Earth.What you need to know, per the AP: The plan called for the spacecraft to go from 12,300mph to zero in six minutes flat as it pierced the Martian atmosphere and settled on the surface. “Landing on Mars is one of the hardest single jobs that people have to do in planetary exploration,” said InSight’s lead scientist, Bruce Banerdt. “It’s such a difficult thing,it’s such a dangerous thing that there’s always a fairly uncomfortably large chance that something could go wrong.” Mars has been the graveyard for a multitude of space missions. Up to now, the success rate at the red planet has been only 40%, counting every attempted flyby, orbital flight and landing by the US, Russia, and other countries since 1960. The US, however, has pulled off seven successful Mars landings in the past four decades, not counting InSight, with only one failed touchdown. No other country has managed to set and operate a spacecraft on the dusty red surface. InSight was shooting for Elysium Planitia, a plain near the Martian equator that the InSight team hopes is as flat as a parking lot in Kansas with few, if any, rocks. This is no rock-collecting expedition. Instead, the stationary 800-pound lander will use its 6-foot robotic arm to place a mechanical mole and seismometer on the ground. The self-hammering mole will burrow 16 feet down to measure the planet’s internal heat, while the seismometer listens for possible quakes. Nothing like this has been attempted before on Mars, where no lander has dug deeper than several inches, and no seismometer has ever worked. By examining the interior of Mars, scientists hope to understand how our solar system’s rocky planets formed 4.5 billion years ago and why they turned out so different—Mars cold and dry, Venus and Mercury burning hot, and Earth hospitable to life. InSight has no life-detecting capability, however.That will be left to future rovers. NASA’s Mars 2020 mission, for instance, will collect rocks that will eventually be brought back to Earth and analyzed for evidence of ancient life. Minor league baseball teams occasionally get a little cheeky, but a new Alabama team is seeing merc handise In 1918, the double whammy of World War I and the worldwide flu pandemic drove down American life expectancy for a third year in a row. A century later, another triple-year decline has been recorded—and this time, suicide and drug overdoses are major causes. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's annual report, US life expectancy dropped to 78 years and 7 months in 2017, down around a month from the year before, the AP reports. Men could expect to live 76.1 years, and women 81.1. Public health experts called the statistics alarming, noting that early deaths among middleaged people did the most to bring life expectancy down After 22 consecutivew years of steady rises. Life expectancy has fallen for a 3rd year in a row in US fly out the door after it decided to talk a little trash. Meet the Madison-based Rocket City Trash Pandas, which unveiled their logo on Saturday—a raccoon lifting off in a trash-can like rocket. "The name has gone viral," managing partner Ralph Nelson said. "We eclipsed over $100,000 worth of merchandise in the first couple of days. Everybody and their brother is writing that they want merchandise."Official team colors are "Space Black, Rocket Red, Sky Blue and Trashcan Gray." As the second anniversary of Prince’s death passed his heirs have yet to collect a dollar of his estimated $200 million estate. Bankers, lawyers, and consultants have earned millions from it. The long saga to settle the estate provides a cautionary tale about dying without a will, as Prince did when he died of an accidental overdose at his suburban Minneapolis studio The survivor of a Hawaii shark attack has had run-ins with some of nature’s fiercest predators before. Specifically, Dylan McWilliams has previously suffered bites from both a bear and a venomous snake, according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. The 20-yearold was reportedly bitten by a 6- to 8-foot tiger shark in the waters off Kauai while treating himself to some much-deserved boogie boarding after days of helping out the island’s victims of recent historic flooding. Just months earlier, McWilliams had to get nine staples in his neck after he was woken up by an angry 280-pound black bear while sleeping outdoors at a Colorado summer camp. That shocking encounter alone was enough to land McWilliams in national news—he told People he had to fight off the bear as it dragged him some 12 feet. McWilliams said he used a similar tactic with the shark, which he gave a swift kick before swimming for his life back to shore. However, it’s probably for the best that McWilliams didn’t try that with the pygmy faded rattlesnake that bit him three years ago while on a hike in Utah. McWilliams walked away from what was luckily just a “dry bite,” with only enough venom to make him sick for a couple days. So what’s this guy’s deal with run-ins and terrifying animals? “I’m either really lucky or really unlucky,” he told the Star-Advertiser. ShopInRI 5 speed, but three big names can also add “politeness” to their CVs. The National League almost died while making it. That’s per a new interview with Rolling Stone co-founder Jann Wenner in which the U2 frontman doesn’t reveal exactly what happened, but notes he considers it an “extinction event.” He explains that such a happening for people “could be psychological or it could be physical,” and for him it was physical. He says it was in sync with the “political apocalypse” going on in the US and abroad and that “you get warning signs, and then you realize that you are not a tank.” Bono also talks about how this neardeath experience shaped the album. But what has raised more than a few eyebrows is his assessment in the interview of the current state of the industry for male musicians and the “rage”that should be at the place for young male anger at the moment—and that’s not good.” That remark has spurred online eyerolling, with Rebecca Fishbein noting at Jezebel that white male musicians are “relegated only to releasing their rage at being the least oppressed members of society via mediums like film, television, national lawmaking, company CEOing, and Twitter-threading.” And for the Independent, Roisin O’Connor says Bono’s remarks “reduce hip-hop to the laziest possible stereotype of ‘aggressive’ black masculinity,” while his “pejorative” use of the word “girly” seems to ignore that some of U2’s biggest hits have been romantic ballads. “Rock music never was, and never should be, simply a place to channel male anger,” O’Connor writes. Game of Thrones fans are going to have to wait a while for the final season—and it’s only going to be six episodes long. HBO has confirmed that the final instalment of its biggest-ever hit won’t be released until some time in 2019. It will be shorter than previous series, though some episodes may be extra-long. Production of Season 8 began in October and is expected to wrap up in mid-2018. Producers say multiple endings will be filmed to avoid leaksThe move gives George RR Martin more time to finish the next book in his A Song of Ice and Fire series, though the HBO series is still expected to reveal the end of the saga before his final book is released. Martin is also involved with five Game of Thrones prequels now in development, reports Entertainment Weekly. of Junior Cotillions, a group that trains kids in ballroom dancing (as well as to “act and learn to treat others with honor, dignity, and respect for better relationships,” per its website), has released its annual list of the “best-mannered” celebrities in 2017. The person who would most earn Miss Manners’ nod of approval: pro golfer Rickie Fowler, who showed “consistently well-mannered conduct both on and off the golf course,”the NLJC said in a statement to USA Today. “We believe this year’s student nominations (and our ultimate winners) are a reminder that,whether you are a celebrity,athlete,musician, or politician, America’s young people are watching and they do value character.” Last year’s top spot went to gymnast Simone Biles.Rounding out the top 10 this year, in addition to Fowler: Aly Raisman, Gymnast Deshaun Watson, Houston Texans QB Joanna Gaines, Fixer Upper star and soon-to-be mom of five Sadie Robertson, Duck Dynasty star David Beckham, Former pro soccer player Selena Gomez, Singer Thomas Rhett, Country music performer Matt Kuchar, Pro Golfer Meghan Markle, actress and soon-to-be wife of Prince Harry “Game ofThrones” Won’t Return Until 2019... Final Season Will Only Have Six Episodes Rattlesnake Run-Ins on April 21, 2016, and the heirs can’t quit squabbling. Here’s a look at where things stand: Even though it’s been nearly two years since Prince died, the executor of the estate, Comerica Bank and Trust, can’t split the money among Prince’s six surviving siblings until the Internal Revenue Service and executor agree on the estate’s value when Prince died. It’s not clear when that might happen. The IRS and state of Minnesota are entitled to collect about half, though the estate can stretch out the payments over time. Court filings several months after Prince’s death suggested that it was worth around $200 million before taxes. The actual value remains one of the biggest secrets in the case, hidden in sealed and redacted documents. The actual valuation could have gone up or down since then. That’s because the various attorneys, accountants, and industry experts at that point had not yet finished appraisals and deals for the use of his music, videos, and assets including his Paisley Park studio. An eastern Minnesota teen who asked her celebrity crush Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson to prom got a huge surprise when he actually responded, per the AP. Stillwater Area High School senior Katie Kelzenberg asked the actor to "Rock" it with her at the school's May 5 prom in a Twitter video posted last week, the Pioneer Press reports. The self-proclaimed fan was dressed like The Rock in the video, sporting a black turtleneck, jeans, a gold necklace, and fanny pack. She also showed off her collection of Johnson-related merchandise, including a pillow, T-shirts, and an action figure. Johnson's recorded response was played over the school intercom Friday. A Warner Bros. representative contacted school officials Thursday about the surprise message, says a spokeswoman for the district. Johnson said he admires Kelzenberg's courage but that he won't be able to attend prom because he'll be in Hawaii filming Jungle Cruise. Instead, Johnson rented out a nearby movie theater on Saturday for Kelzenberg and more than 230 friends and family to watch his latest movie, Rampage. Johnson even covered the cost of snacks and drinks for the theater. "I couldn't believe it. I was so surprised," Kelzenberg says. "I just kept thinking, 'He saw me! He knows who I am!'" Kelzenberg says she became a fan of Johnson's five years ago. Her favorite movies of his include Central Intelligence and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. 'The Rock' Couldn't Make Teen's Prom But Still Came Up Big on April 21, 2016, and the heirs can’t quit squabbling. Here’s a look at where things stand: Even though it’s been nearly two years since Prince died, the executor of the estate, Comerica Bank and Trust, can’t split the money among Prince’s six surviving siblings until the Internal Revenue Service and executor agree on the estate’s value when Prince died. It’s not clear when that might happen. The IRS and state of Minnesota are entitled to collect about half, though the estate can stretch out the payments over time. Court filings several months after Prince’s death suggested that it was worth around $200 million before taxes. The actual value remains one of the biggest secrets in the case, hidden in sealed and redacted documents. The actual valuation could have gone up or down since then. That’s because the various attorneys, accountants, and industry experts at that point had not yet finished appraisals and deals for the use of his music, videos, and assets including his Paisley Park studio. sentative contacted school officials Thursday about the surprise message, says a spokeswoman for the district. Johnson said he admires Kelzenberg's courage but that he won't be able to attend prom because he'll be in Hawaii filming Jungle Cruise. Instead, Johnson rented out a nearby movie theater on Saturday for Kelzenberg and more than 230 friends and family to watch his latest movie, Rampage. Johnson even covered the cost of snacks and drinks for the theater. "I couldn't believe it. I was so surprised," Kelzenberg says. "I just kept thinking, 'He saw me! He knows who I am!'" Kelzenberg says she became a fan of Johnson's five years ago. Her favorite movies of his include Central Intelligence and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. The possibility of playing golf seems distant, and Tiger Woods doesn’t want to say whether that’s his long-term goal. But after his horrific auto accident in February, the star golfer says he’s “focused on my No. 1 goal right now: walking on my own.” He made the comments in an interview with Golf Digest in which he discussed his progress since the accident. Woods works daily to strengthen his right leg, in which tibia and fibula bones were fractured. He sometimes takes time out to encourage a golfer in the middle of a tournament, such as Justin Thomas, who heard from Woods during the Players Championship in March. “If you would have told us when we were 15, 20 years old that Tiger Woods was texting us the night before we have a chance to win the tournament trying to inspire us, that’s pretty cool,” Thomas said. Woods has been through rehab many times; he’s had five operations on his left The theft of four gold bars from a shipment sent to Los Angeles International Airport could send two cargo handlers to prison for up to 15 years. South Los Angeles residents Marlon Moody, 38, and Brian Benson, 35, were arrested Tuesday by the FBI on charges of conspiracy and theft of interstate and foreign shipment after allegedly stealing four gold bars from a shipment of 2,000. The shipment, which arrived at LAX on a Singapore Airlines flight on April 22, 2020, en route from Australia to New York, had been arranged by a bank in Toronto, reports NBC News. Employees from a cargo company had secured the shipment outside the airport before a box of 25 gold bars was found to be missing, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. Moody claimed to have found it near the airline’s cargo warehouse the following day. Prosecutors say the employee of private cargo handling company Alliance Ground International took the box to a location where he removed four of the bars, each worth $56,000. He was then picked up by a coworker. They allegedly exchanged text messages about the gold while other employees were riding in the same vehicle. Prosecutors say Moody later gave Benson one bar, buried two others in his backyard, and gave the fourth to a relative, telling them to exchange it for cash or a car. Other cargo handlers found the infiltrated box of 21 gold bars on April 23, prompting an investigation. Within two weeks, the FBI had recovered all four gold bars, including the one Benson allegedly stashed in a bedroom. Moody and Benson each face a statutory maximum sentence of 15 years in federal prison if convicted as charged. General Motors is teaming up with Lockheed Martin to produce the ultimate NASA Orders Way Off-Road Vehicles GM-Lockheed collaboration to design rugged, faster electric rovers knee and five on his back, 6 ShopInRI 4 Shop In RI for example. off-road, self-driving, electric vehicles—for the moon. The project announced “This has been an entirely different animal,” Wednesday is still in the early stages and has yet to score any NASA money, Woods, 45, said of the current recovery. “I the AP reports. But the goal is to design light yet rugged vehicles that will travel understand more of the rehab processes farther and faster than the lunar rovers that carried NASA’s Apollo astronauts in the because of my past injuries, but this was early 1970s, the companies said. ”Mobility is really going to open up the moon for more painful than anything I have ever us,” said Kirk Shireman, a former NASA manager who is now Lockheed Martin’s experienced.” Support “from people both vice president for lunar exploration. The rovers used by the Apollo 15, 16, and 17 inside and outside of golf” has helped, he moonwalkers ventured no more than 4½ miles from their landers. GM also helped said, per Golf Digest. And he found Phil design those vehicles. Mickelson’s historic PGA Championship at age 50 to be inspirational, which Woods NASA, which aims to return astronauts to the moon by 2024, last year put out a told him in a post. He spotted an advantage call for industry ideas on lunar rovers. The initial rovers will be designed to carry to his new routine in an Instagram post, two astronauts at a time, company officials said. A brief video showed a large, open noting that in the photo, “the crutches rover speeding over lunar slopes, with more headlights in the distance. By operating definitely make my shoulders look big!” autonomously when needed, Shireman noted, the rovers can keep astronauts safely Or it could be the workouts, he said. Either away from dangerous spots like the permanently shadowed craters at the moon’s way, “it’s been nice having the ability to still South Pole. Frozen water gathered from these dark corners could be used for stay strong and work out my upper body.” drinking, growing plants, and creating rocket fuel.