Event promoters, hotels and lodging sites soon will have to disclose extra fees up front
By DEE-ANN DURBIN
The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday said it will soon require hotels, vacation rental platforms and live event promoters to disclose any fees up front when they list prices.
Should you donate your points and miles to charity?
If you’re sitting on a pile of travel or credit card rewards with no immediate travel plans, donating them to a charity is an easy way to have a positive impact. And it’s a popular way to give: In 2021, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan members donated around 94 million miles to charities at an approximate cash value of $2.6 million, according to the airline.
SpaceX completes 3 rocket launches, 1 Dragon landing in 22 hours
In a span of less than 22 hours, SpaceX managed three Falcon 9 rocket launches and one landing of a Dragon spacecraft.
It flew a Department of Defense mission from Cape Canaveral on Monday night and on Tuesday knocked out a National Reconnaissance Office mission from California, the landing of the latest cargo Dragon spacecraft off the coast of Florida and the final topper of a busy day with a launch from Kennedy Space Center.
Liftoff! pic.twitter.com/BhsixEo7Vw
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) December 17, 2024
The final launch saw a Falcon 9 on the mPower-E mission lifting off from KSC’s Launch Pad 39-A at 5:26 p.m. with a payload of a pair of satellites for Luxembourg-based communications company SES headed to medium-Earth orbit.
This was the first launch of the first-stage booster, which made a recovery landing downrange on the droneship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic.
Falcon 9’s first stage lands on the Just Read the Instructions droneship pic.twitter.com/XuyNyggQBq
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) December 17, 2024
‘It’s go time’: Artemis II moon mission players focus on job despite Trump uncertainty
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER — While the puzzle pieces have been laid out over the last two years, a picture is beginning to form for NASA’s pursuit of the first human spaceflight of its Artemis program to the moon.
While the launch of Artemis II is still officially more than 16 months away, its massive Space Launch System rocket core stage went vertical inside KSC’s cavernous Vehicle Assembly Building this week while the four crew set to be the first to fly to the moon in more than half a century say they’re ready to go.
Amid the clanging echoes of work in progress across the building that spans eight acres, the three NASA and one Canadian Space Agency astronauts were on hand to let everyone know they’re on board with NASA’s decision to move forward without replacing the heat shield on their ride to the moon, the Orion space capsule.
“My wife, when the announcement was made, she looked at me and she said, ‘Well, what do you think?’ I said, ‘I think it’s safe and I think it’s go time,” said NASA’s Victor Glover, the pilot for the mission. “I always tell my family, don’t pay attention to launch dates until I tell you to do so. And this is the first one — you know, there have been several since we’ve been assigned to this mission — and this is the first one I said, ‘Hey, put it on your calendar and and be ready.’”
Americans end 2024 with grim economic outlook, but Republicans are optimistic for 2025: poll
By JOSH BOAK and LINLEY SANDERS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The unemployment rate is healthy and the stock market is up, but Democrats are feeling more pessimistic about the U.S. economy after Donald Trump’s election victory, according to a new poll.
Republicans, meanwhile, are still dour about the current state of the economy but hopeful that growth will be stronger next year when Trump returns to the White House as president.
The latest survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research suggests that some Americans are evaluating the economy more by who holds political power than on what the underlying trends suggest. This was a persistent challenge for President Joe Biden that Trump appears to be inheriting — and it raises the possibility that Trump, too, might struggle to translate his economic policies into political wins.
About 7 in 10 U.S. adults rate the country’s economic state as very or somewhat poor, up slightly from about 6 in 10 in October. Self-identified Democrats are primarily driving the recent negativity. About 6 in 10 Democrats described the U.S. economy as “good” in October. With Republicans on the verge of controlling the executive and legislative branches, only about half of Democrats say that now.