■UNITED STATES
Strange lights explained
NASA said it successfully launched a rocket in Virginia as part of an experiment and the blast may have caused dozens of people to report seeing strange lights in the sky. The space agency said it launched the Black Brant XII on Saturday evening to gather data on the highest clouds in the Earth’s atmosphere. About the time of the launch, dozens of people in the Northeast started calling local television stations to report seeing strange lights. The calls came from as far away as Boston, which is about 610km northeast of the launch site.
■UNITED STATES
Residents rattled by alarm
A suburban New York City nuclear power plant’s siren system mistakenly blared out the warning “Emergency! Emergency! Emergency!” The ominous message rattled some of the residents of New City, about 48km north of midtown Manhattan. Auto shop worker Rudy Gaspari said the mechanical voice had an unsettling, post-apocalyptic overtone to it. The voice came from an Indian Point plant siren located downtown during a test on Friday, the Journal News reported. Indian Point spokesman Jerry Nappi says the voice message “shouldn’t have happened.” He says plant officials have disabled the voice mechanism in the siren. Four other sirens with faulty connections also have been fixed.
■UNITED STATES
Kid shares father’s cocaine
New Jersey police said a four-year-old boy shared cocaine with his friends at day care because his father told him it was candy. Newark police say 25-year-old Shaheed Wright of East Orange put several baggies of cocaine inside his son’s jacket after police nearly caught him with it. The boy shared the drugs with three other four-year-olds at his day care center on Friday. A teacher spotted a girl with a baggie in her mouth and called authorities after seeing the white powdery substance. The children were taken to a hospital, but none was injured. Police found more baggies of cocaine after searching the boy’s pockets. Wright was charged with four counts of child endangerment and drug offenses.
■CANADA
Seaway bridge shut down
The Seaway International Bridge, a temporary border crossing that connects New York state with Canada’s Cornwall Island and Cornwall city, was shut down on Saturday. The bridge was closed after tensions rose in a long-standing dispute between the Canada Border Services Agency and an Aboriginal community that lives on Cornwall Island. The Mohawks have objected to giving the border guards handguns. It remains unclear if the Canadian Border Services Agency, US border officials, or the Mohawk community initiated the closing. This came a day after the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne accused the Canadian border agents of seizing vehicles and fining residents who failed to report to customs after coming to the island from the US.
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