Woonsocket Radio News Room

   
Millions of people will head back home this weekend after Thanksgiving. Forecasters are warning travelers heading home after the holidays to be prepared for slow traffic and flight delays. Today, driving will be hazardous in parts of the Midwest and Northeast, where lake-effect snow will cause whiteout conditions and slippery roads.        A first-degree murder charge is being filed against the suspect in the shooting of two National Guard members on the streets of Washington, D.C. U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro announced the upgraded charge this morning following the death of Sarah Beckstrom. The other guardsman shot in the incident, Andrew Wolfe, remains hospitalized in critical condition.        Online Thanksgiving sales are expected to soar this year. New data from Salesforce show that online purchases over Thanksgiving were expected to hit eight-point-six-billion dollars, which is up six percent from last year. As of 2pm Thursday, Thanksgiving spending was already nearly six-percent higher than at the same time last year.        Today marks the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season, but many Americans are planning to take part in Small Business Saturday. The National Retail Federation projects more than 80-percent of people, or 67 million, will shop small during Small Business Saturday. Small business owners tell American Express they make about 20-percent of their annual profit during Small business Saturday alone.        Lightning on Mars may have been detected by scientists, but it's not like the lightning found here on Earth. In research published this week in the journal Nature, scientist described the Mars lightning as "mini-lightning" that's more like the static electricity shocks you feel when you touch something metal. Dozens of instances of the "mini-lightning" were captured by a microphone on NASA's Perseverance rover.        The NFL has one game on the schedule this Black Friday. The Eagles will host the Chicago Bears in Philadelphia at 3 p.m. Eastern. Both teams enter the game with records of eight-and-three.       

Old News Archives