The military's tradition of tracking Santa Claus on his gravity-defying sweep across the globe will carry on this Christmas Eve, even if the U.S. government shuts down, officials said Friday.
NORAD Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Charles D. Luckey takes a call while volunteering at the NORAD Tracks Santa center at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo., Dec. 24, 2014. The military's tradition of tracking Santa Claus on his gravity-defying sweep across the globe will carry on this Christmas Eve, even if the U.S. government shuts down, officials said Friday.
Bob Sommers, 63, a civilian contractor and NORAD volunteer, told The Associated Press that there are "screams and giggles and laughter” when families call in, usually on speakerphone. Air Force Col. Harry W. Shoup picked up an emergency-only “red phone” and was greeted by a tiny voice that began to recite a Christmas wish list.
In a likely reference to the Soviets, the article noted that Santa was guarded against possible attack from "those who do not believe in Christmas.”Some grinchy journalists have nitpicked Shoup's story, questioning whether a misprint or a misdial prompted the boy's call. In 2015, The Atlantic magazine doubted the flood of calls to the secret line, while noting that Shoup had a flair for public relations.
Shoup died in 2009. His children told the StoryCorps podcast in 2014 that it was a misprinted Sears ad that prompted the phone calls. He leaves the North Pole and typically heads for the international dateline in the Pacific Ocean. From there he moves west, following the night.“That's when the satellite systems we use to track and identify targets of interest every single day start to kick in,” Cunningham said. “A probably little-known fact is that Rudolph’s nose that glows red emanates a lot of heat. And so those satellites track through that heat source.
A Jewish elementary school in Toronto has been struck by gunfire for the third time in the last seven months.Environment Canada has issued a series of winter weather alerts from Edmonton to St. John's as freezing rain, snow squalls and extreme cold blanket parts of the country. Canada's anti-money laundering agency is looking to introduce a system that gives financial institutions and other businesses real-time feedback through scorecards, two sources said, as the regulator ramps up initiatives to tackle financial crime.No state has a longer, more profit-driven history of contracting prisoners out to private companies than Alabama.
A 20-year-old woman is facing a manslaughter charge in relation to a suspicious death on Little Black Bear First Nation.One arrest, four suspects still wanted for armed robbery at Waterloo jewelry storeAround 4:45 p.m. on Wednesday, local police were contacted by Peel Regional police and learned a suspect was believed to be in the north and of Chatham.
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