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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: blackout

blackout stories: 11 news summaries

 Bad Weather Blamed 
 for Brazil Blackout 

60M affected after wind, rain knock out transmission lines

Nov 11, 09 6:17 PM CST
(AP) - Heavy rain and strong wind last night caused blackouts that left nearly a third of Brazilians—60 million people—in the dark, officials said today as they scrambled to restore confidence in the country's infrastructure before soccer's 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics. The weather made transformers on a... More »

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Brazil • dam • power outage • 2016 Olympics • hydroelectric power • blackout • Itaipu dam • 2014 World Cup

 In Recession, NFL 
 Blackout Rule Raises Ire 

To fill seats, league holds local TV broadcasts hostage

Sep 10, 09 3:52 PM CDT
(Newser) - High ticket prices and the recession are taking their toll on attendance at pro football games. But if you can’t afford the stadium, at least you can watch at home, right? Wrong. The NFL is sticking to its “blackout” policy—no local broadcast if the stadium doesn’t... More »

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television • NFL • football • recession • stadium • broadcasting • local TV stations • blackout • attendance • National Football League • pro football

 Lights Out for 
 Obama in Oahu 
 Power Outage 

800,000 lose power during storm; Prez-elect gets generator

Dec 27, 08 8:01 AM CST
(AP) - The Hawaiian island of Oahu lost power during heavy rain and lightning last night, leaving the population of 800,000 and thousands of tourists, including vacationing President-elect Obama and his family, in the dark. Authorities advised residents to stay home and to conserve water. Hawaiian Electric Co. took an emergency... More »

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Barack Obama • severe weather • storm • Hawaii • power outage • blackout • Oahu

(Newser) - A mini baby boom in the Netherlands has dark origins: The 44% jump in births in September came nine months after a 2-day blackout left most of the 24,000 residents of a small area in the eastern part of the country freezing. "They went to bed early to... More »

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Netherlands • baby • power outage • baby boom • Holland • blackout • Maasdriel

 Calif. Pol Aims to Burst Balloons 

Blames orbs on blackouts; opponents vehemently rally to helium-filled cause

Jul 15, 08 8:55 AM CDT
(Newser) - A California lawmaker is pushing to ban helium-filled foil balloons, blaming the globe-shaped menaces for flying into power lines and causing more than 800 blackouts in the state last year. The bill easily passed the state's senate, but it’s facing an uproar from balloon artists and balloon lovers alike... More »

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California • Arnold Schwarzenegger • helium • power outage • blackout • balloon

Cat and Mouse Cause Massive Albanian Blackout

Cat-mouse battle leads to blackout in  parts of Albanian capital

May 16, 08 6:42 PM CDT
(Newser) - It’s an unlikely reason for a power outage: A cat and mouse engaged in a chase accidentally ran into high-voltage cables at the main power station in Tirana, frying themselves and causing a 72-hour blackout in some districts of the Albanian capital, Reuters reports. Outages are relatively common in... More »

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weird • Albania • power outage • mouse • cat • blackout • Tirana

FCC Member Wants Probe of Ala. TV Station

'60 Minutes' went black as piece linking Rove to ex-gov's case began

Mar 4, 08 4:10 PM CST
(Newser) - An FCC commissioner wants to know why an Alabama TV station went off the air just as a "60 Minutes" segment critical of Karl Rove started, Broadcasting & Cable reports. WHNT blamed a “technical difficulty," but Michael Copps said today he wants to find out whether Sunday's... More »

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Karl Rove • FCC • Don Siegelman • Alabama • Michael Copps • Kevin Martin • governor • blackout • WHNT • technical difficulties • political decision

Engineer's Goof Turned Out Florida Lights

Worker disabled
two levels of protective backup systems

Mar 1, 08 10:31 AM CST
(Newser) - One engineer's blunder shut off the power in Florida Tuesday, the Miami Herald reports. Florida Light & Power says a field engineer diagnosing a faulty switch disabled two levels of safety backups—against company policy—as he worked. In a bit of extremely unfortunate timing, a fault then occurred that... More »

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Florida • utility companies • electricity • engineers • power outage • mistake • blackout

Power Back On in South Florida

Blackout hit 4 million people

Feb 27, 08 5:15 AM CST
(Newser) - Floridians saw the light again last evening when power was restored after equipment failure at a single Miami substation caused a blackout which dominoed across South Florida, leaving millions without power for several hours. Most homes were back on the grid before nightfall, but why a single substation's failure could... More »

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Miami • power outage • South Florida • blackout • substation • Florida Power & Light • FPL • Turkey Point • Public Service Commission • Miami-Dade County

Power Returns to Millions in Fla.

Authorities rule out terrorism but disagree on cause

Feb 26, 08 4:40 PM CST
(Newser) - A blackout that cut off millions of Florida residents today is ending, authorities say, but they disagree on the cause. Florida Power & Light blames a substation west of Miami for sparking the outage, and a state emergency office says a station south of Miami suffered a mechanical failure that... More »

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Florida • Miami • power outage • nuclear power plant • blackout • traffic accident

Lobbyists Pack Ethics Crusader McCain's Staff

Forget Iseman: Senior advisers represent major corporations

Feb 22, 08 8:00 PM CST
(Newser) - Vicki Iseman is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to John McCain’s associations with lobbyists, the Washington Post reports. McCain targets special interests, but his campaign manager and top advisers are or have been lobbyists representing some of the country’s biggest corporations. Top adviser Charles... More »

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John McCain • General Motors • lobbyists • AT&T • Vicki Iseman • blackout • JPMorgan Chase

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