Here’s today’s news briefs:
Man placing rice cooker around New York apprehended
A West Virginia man caught on security footage placing rice cookers around New York City, sparking fears during rush hour Aug. 16, was in custody on Saturday, police said.
The “individual has been located and the investigation continues,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea said in a statement.
The devices were deemed suspicious and initially thought to be pressure cookers, which have in the past been used during terrorist attacks.
Two were found on Friday morning in Manhattan’s Fulton Street subway complex, causing delays for subway commuters. A third was found on 7th Avenue.
New York Times strategizes new Trump coverage
New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet said that the paper’s focus has shifted from the Russia-Trump collusion theory to Trump’s “character,” while agreeing with staffers that the paper should focus on race in its stories since “race has always played a huge part in the American story.”
In a town hall with staffers following its bungled headlineabout Trump’s response to recent mass shootings, Baquet said the focus has gone “from being a story about whether the Trump campaign had colluded with Russia and obstruction of justice to being a more head-on story about the president’s character.” A recording of the town hall was obtained by Slate.
The Times relentlessly pushed the Russia-Trump narrative, which documents, texts, and testimony indicated was started by officials in the Obama administration.
This comes after another editor was caught saying that the Times should start rumors that the Trump rally crowd sizes were manipulated. The crowd sizes have been setting record number, even beating any crowd of former President Barack Obama.
Luxury lounge revealed for Virgin Galactic
Richard Branson’s space tourism startup, Virgin Galactic, is showing off a luxurious lounge area and top-shelf amenities for its wealthy clientele.
The company on Aug. 15 shared images of the interior at Spaceport America in New Mexico. Ticket holders, most of whom paid $200,000 or more for a Virgin Galactic flight, will one day congregate at the spaceport before they board a supersonic plane for a 90-minute ride into the upper atmosphere.
The renovations are another sign that Virgin Galactic is preparing to open for business at Spaceport America, a controversial facility that was built a decade ago using local taxpayer dollars.
After two successful test missions of its rocket-powered space plane over the past few months, the company announced in May that it was ready to move 100 of its workers to the New Mexico spaceport. Some other workers will stay in Mojave at Virgin Galactic’s manufacturing headquarters.
Virgin Galactic said it will unveil other developments at the spaceport later this year.
Peter Fonda dies
Peter Fonda, best known for his role in “Easy Rider,” died at age 79, it was reported.
TMZ reported on Friday, Aug. 16 that he died after battling lung cancer.
A spokesman for the actor said he died on Friday morning at his Los Angeles home, surrounded by family.
His official cause of death was respiratory failure due to lung cancer, said the report, adding that he had been in the hospital recently.
He is the brother of Jane Fonda and son of Henry Fonda.
Disney star of Mulan back Chinese crackdown
Disney’s upcoming live-action remake of Mulan is facing widespread backlash after the starring actress voiced support for Hong Kong city police’s use of force against the pro-democracy protestors.
“I support the Hong Kong police. You can all attack me now. What a shame for Hong Kong,” Chinese-born Crystal Liu Yifei, the lead actress of Mulan’s live-action remake, posted on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like social media platform.
Liu immediately faced backlash across social media, with #BoycottMulan becoming a trending topic around the world with over 70,000 tweets posted by the time of writing.
–Metro Voice and wire services