California: Frisbee figure dies at age 78

Ed Headrick, father of the modern Frisbee and designer of Wham-O’s first “professional model” flying disc, has died. He was 78.

Headrick died in his sleep Monday at home in San Jose, according to his eldest son, Ken. He had been partially paralyzed after suffering two strokes last month at a disc golf tournament in Miami.

Headrick patented toy maker Wham-O’s first designs for the modern Frisbee after improving the aerodynamics of the company’s initial models.

After joining the company in the early 1960s, Headrick incorporated concentric grooved lines into the top of the curved disc to create the first “professional model” for Emeryville-based Wham-O.

The added ridges created better lift, straighter flight and improved stability by increasing “interference with the smooth airflow pattern,” according to U.S. Patent No. 3,359,678, filed by Headrick on Nov. 1, 1965, for a “Flying Saucer.”

Arkansas: Airline pilot fired; alcohol test positive

A Mesa Airlines pilot who tested positive for alcohol before a scheduled flight has been fired, the airline said Tuesday.

Peter Treanor, 29, of Charlotte, N.C., had a blood-alcohol reading of 0.06 percent and 0.05 percent in two tests administered after screeners at Little Rock National Airport smelled alcohol on him, the airline said.

Federal regulations prohibit pilots from operating an aircraft or performing other sensitive functions within eight hours of consuming alcohol or if they have an alcohol concentration of at least 0.04.

Connecticut: Explosion kills 2, levels three condos

An explosion at a condominium complex Tuesday leveled three homes, killing two people and sending five others to the hospital.

The blast sent a fireball hundreds of feet in the air, bathing the neighborhood in bright light, said John McNulty, who lives around the corner from the complex.

Authorities continued to investigate the cause of the blast, which residents said blew windows and doors out of their frames, sent roof shingles flying and jolted bathroom fixtures off the walls.

Another explosion in Torrance, Calif., destroyed a house that had been tented for termite fumigation and damaged more than 50 others Tuesday, fire officials said. At least 10 people were injured.

The cause remained under investigation. Initially, gas company officials said a natural gas line into the home had not been shut off during fumigation. They later said that wasn’t the case.

California: NASA’s Voyagers mark 25 years in space

A quarter-century after setting out on missions that were to have lasted just four years, NASA’s twin Voyager spacecraft have yet to end their travels.

The two probes, launched Aug. 20 and Sept. 5, 1977, are still speeding toward an unexplored region of space where the sun’s influence abruptly ends.

“They are showing signs of their old age but we have no good reason to think they won’t last another 20 years or so,” said Tim Hogle, the Voyager systems engineer and mission controller at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.

Voyager 1, the most distant of any manmade object, is 7.8 billion miles from Earth; Voyager 2, which was launched first, is 6.3 billion miles away.

Initially, NASA intended for the 1-ton robotic probes to visit just Jupiter and Saturn, wrapping up their tour by 1981.