Florida

GPS satellite rocket launched into space

A rocket roared from its seaside launch pad Saturday, carrying into space a $45 million Air Force Global Positioning System satellite.

The satellite will join a constellation of 27 other satellites already in orbit about 11,000 nautical miles above the earth, Air Force officials said. It will replace an aging satellite.

The satellite was carried into space by a Boeing Delta 2 rocket.

The satellite system provides signals to military personnel and civilians with GPS receivers, allowing them to determine their position and velocity with great accuracy.

The new satellite, to begin service in mid-April, has a life expectancy of 10 years.

North Carolina

Man wrongly imprisoned now victim of ID theft

Darryl Hunt, who served 18 years in prison for murder in a case of mistaken identity, is now a victim of identity theft.

Someone used Hunt’s name and Social Security number to pile up more than $5,200 in debt while he was in prison, police told the Winston-Salem Journal for a story Saturday. They have no suspects.

“I can’t figure it out, unless they just felt I was never getting out so it didn’t matter,” said Hunt, who got out of prison Christmas Eve.

Hunt learned of the scam after his wife filed her tax return. A bank sent him a letter notifying him of a $1,400 claim against any tax refund, apparently because of an unpaid loan obtained in 2002 by Hunt’s impostor.

Maryland

Two tipsters to share sniper arrest reward

Two men will share a $500,000 reward for providing information that led to the arrests of the Washington-area snipers nearly two years ago, officials said Saturday.

Robert Holmes, of Tacoma, Wash., will get $350,000 for tipping authorities that his friend John Allen Muhammad might be the shooter. Whitney Donahue, of Greencastle, Pa., will get $150,000 for spotting the snipers’ Chevrolet Caprice at a rest stop in Frederick County, Md., where they were arrested.

“It was nerve-racking,” Donahue said at a news conference to announce the rewards. “It was a tense time.”

Holmes could not make it to Rockville, Md., in time for the news conference.