USA

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Three satellites for the Canadian Space Agency’s Earth-monitoring Radarsat program were launched into orbit from California on Wednesday aboard a reused SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

The rocket lifted off from fog-shrouded Vandenberg Air Force Base at 7:17 a.m. and arced over the Pacific west of Los Angeles.

The first stage separated a few minutes into flight and headed back to the coastal base, extended its legs and set down on a landing zone.

The first stage previously was used in March for a demonstration flight of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — During a campaign swing through Iowa this week, Joe Biden mentioned that his family recently dined with former President Barack Obama’s family. At a Houston fundraiser, Biden joked about the infamous expletive he deployed in congratulating Obama’s health care victory. And Biden recently tweeted an image of Joe and Barack friendship bracelets.

The message is clear: Biden really wants you to know he’s still friends with Obama.

WASHINGTON (AP) — With a familiar chant, President Donald Trump’s backers regularly called for Hillary Clinton to be thrown in prison during the 2016 campaign. Now top Democrats are grappling with fraught questions about whether to lock HIM up.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Uber is testing restaurant food deliveries by drone.

The company’s Uber Eats unit began the tests in San Diego with McDonald’s and plans to expand to other restaurants later this year.

Uber says the service should decrease food delivery times.

It works this way: Workers at a restaurant load the meal into a drone and it takes off, tracked and guided by a new aerospace management system.

The drone then meets an Uber Eats driver at a drop-off location, and the driver will hand-deliver the meal to the customer.

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Moments after a North Carolina man pleaded guilty to gunning down three Muslim university students, a prosecutor played a cellphone video of the slayings in court Wednesday as one of the victims’ relatives fainted, others wept and a man cursed the confessed killer openly.

Craig Stephen Hicks, 50, pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree murder more than four years after the February 2015 slayings and two months after incoming District Attorney Satana Deberry dropped plans to seek the death penalty.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A House committee voted Wednesday to hold two top Trump administration officials in contempt of Congress for failing to comply with subpoenas for documents related to a decision adding a citizenship question to the 2020 census.

The Democratic-controlled House Oversight Committee voted 24-15 to advance contempt measures against Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan, who has said he supports an impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump, was the sole Republican to join with Democrats.

NEW YORK (AP) — The sequel to Michael Wolff’s million-selling “Fire and Fury” is not attracting the same kind of interest, not even from President Donald Trump.

NPD BookScan reported Wednesday just 17,756 first-week sales for “Siege,” Wolff’s latest account of the Trump White House. It ranked just No. 11 overall, well behind the top seller, Delia Owens’ novel “Where the Crawdads Sing.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — The topic of reparations for slavery is headed to Capitol Hill for its first hearing in more than a decade with writer Ta-Nehisi Coates and actor Danny Glover set to testify before a House panel.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The police chief of Alaska’s largest city hurried out of the department’s glass building after the ground began to shake. Phone lines jammed and even police radios were spotty after a major earthquake, but his cellphone was recently equipped with a national wireless network dedicated to first responders.

Anchorage Police Chief Justin Doll was able to reach other officials who had the new high-speed connection after the 7.1 magnitude quake last year caused widespread damage.

YORK, Pa. (AP) — A group of Pennsylvania manufacturers surrounded Mike Pence as he offered his standard greeting from President Donald Trump. The response was underwhelming.

“When I told him I was in the Keystone State, I think he sounded just a little bit jealous,” the vice president said to a few audible groans and tepid applause.