Photo: Science Photo Library RF
1 Housekeeper May Have Prevented Vegas-Style Shooting At All-Star Game
Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game happening tomorrow, police responded to a tip over the weekend from a housekeeper at the Maven Hotel and found 16 long guns, over 1,000 rounds of ammo, and an undisclosed amount of body armor in one of the hotel’s rooms. Four people were also arrested on Friday on multiple charges. Details haven’t been released on the motives of the four suspects, but an internal law enforcement memo obtained by ABC News said the arsenal may be linked to a possible illegal drug deal. However, one of the suspects reportedly said in a Facebook post that he’d “go out in a big way” following a divorce.
2 Richard Branson Reaches Space
After months of build-up, Virgin Galactic owner Richard Branson completed a brief trip into space yesterday, reaching an altitude of 53.5 miles before returning to earth. Branson was originally scheduled to make the trip later this year but moved himself to an earlier flight. Jeff Bezos is scheduled to ride his own rocket into space on July 20, the 52nd anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, but Branson says he didn’t move his flight to beat Bezos. Yesterday’s flight allowed Branson and the other passengers to experience three to four minutes of weightlessness on a flight that lasted about as long as Alan Shepard’s first U.S. spaceflight in 1961. The space plane was flown under an airplane to an altitude of around 8.5 miles, then broke loose and fired its rocket. Virgin Galactic plans to start taking paying passengers into space next year.
3 Trump Easily Wins CPAC Straw Poll
At the annual Conservative Political Action Conference meeting this weekend, the usual straw poll was conducted, asking the conservatives in attendance who they wanted to see run for president in 2024. With roughly a dozen names to choose from, 70% of those participating in the poll chose former President Donald Trump as their choice, with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis grabbing 21%. A second question asked the same thing but didn’t have Trump listed as a choice. In that second question, Governor DeSantis received 68%. Trump’s approval rating among CPAC attendees was 98%. Other questions in the straw poll showed that election integrity was the top issue facing the country for CPAC attendees. Trump used the opportunity to speak to the crowd yesterday to repeat his claims that the 2020 election was fraudulent, while other speakers talked about issues like critical race theory, “cancel culture,” and the federal government becoming “big brother.”