Verizon says hourslong outage that disrupted calling and data services has been resolved

Verizon says hourslong outage that disrupted calling and data services has been resolved

NEW YORK (AP) — Verizon said it resolved an outage that disrupted many U.S. customers' calling and other cellular services for more than 10 hours on Wednesday.

The New York-based carrier didn't specify what caused Wednesday's disruptions, but confirmed that the outage was resolved by 10:20 p.m. ET. Verizon previously said it had deployed its engineering teams to address “an issue impacting wireless voice and data services.”

“Today, we let many of our customers down and for that, we are truly sorry,” Verizon wrote in updates shared on social media. A spokesperson later added that the company would give those impacted a $20 account credit through Verizon's app, which on average “covers multiple days of service," and directly contact its business customers with compensation.

Outage tracker Downdetector showed that Verizon customers began to report issues with their service around noon E.T. Wednesday. Reports appeared to peak in the early afternoon, but remained elevated later in the day. Downdetector said it had received a total of over 1.5 million reports before 5 p.m. ET.

Frank Kriz was always willing to lend a hand to someone in need

Frank Kriz never wore a halo or wings, but talk to the many people he helped during his life and you would swear the man was a real-life angel.

For those who were fortunate enough to call him friend, he was always there to lend a hand, whether it was helping fix a wiring issue in someone’s house or organizing a group camping trip.

“He lived for other people, for helping other people,” says close friend Brian Turner.

“He was a very special guy that way. There’s no one like him that I know. Everyone has a little piece of him, in a sense, with how he fixed something for them or helped them out with something. That was his legacy.”

Summer Reading Challenge concludes with more musings from young readers

Another Free Press Summer Reading Challenge for Kids is in the books, but before we turn the page completely, there are a few more reviews written by our young readers to share.

Participating readers were tasked to write down their thoughts about any of the books on the Summer Reading Challenge’s three reading lists; with a range of formats (novels, graphic novels, books with pictures), themes and reading levels to choose from, budding reviewers of all ages were eager to share their opinion.

Those registered for the challenge received reading resources and activities throughout the summer, from word searches or puzzles based on the content of the books to a set of discussion questions and, in one instance, a special video from an author.

There were also more creative activities meant to engage readers’ critical thinking skills, all of which were free to access for anyone who signed up for the challenge.

Kusama embraced dots which crowded her vision

In 2012, just as I was leaving the Tate Modern in London, I noticed an exhibition that I had nearly missed: The Obliteration Room by Yayoi Kusama, the famed Japanese artist with the bright-red bob known for her use of repetition and polka dots.

I had read about this exhibition but had no idea it was on while I was in the U.K. Conceived as an interactive exhibition for children and first put up at the Queensland Art Gallery in 2002, it begins as a monochromatic white room, furnished with all-white furniture and objects that visitors are then encouraged to cover with the multi-coloured dot stickers they are given on entry.

The idea is that, over weeks, the pristine room becomes “obliterated” by dots of colour.

Obviously, I beelined for it. I was handed my sheet of stickers, all different sizes of circles, and sent to add to a work that hundreds of people had already contributed to.

‘Not his best work,’ Kinew says of Trump’s order to rename Lake Ontario

An executive order by U.S. President Donald Trump to rename Lake Ontario as Lake America is “sad,” Premier Wab Kinew says.