NY power outage knocks out subways, businesses, elevators

NEW YORK (AP) — Authorities say a transformer fire caused a power outage in Manhattan and left businesses without electricity, elevators stuck and subway cars stalled.

The New York City Fire Department said the fire started at West 64th Street and West End Avenue and affected at least 38,000 customers as of 8 p.m. Saturday.

Power reportedly went out early Saturday evening at much of Rockefeller Center and reached the Upper West Side.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority tweeted that there were outages at various underground stations. The MTA is working with Con Edison to determine the cause.

The outage comes on the anniversary of the 1977 New York City outage that left most of the city without power.

Fossil of bone-crushing mammal a first in the US Northwest

BEND, Ore. (AP) — A fossil jaw bone misidentified for 50 years turns out to belong to a bone-crushing mammal and is the first to be found in the Northwest, scientists said.

Scientists tell the Bend Bulletin in a story on Friday that the 40-million-year-old fossil discovered at the John Day Fossil Beds in eastern Oregon is from a Harpagolestes. That’s a hoofed mammal that’s a cross between a pig and a hyena.

“Imagine a pig that specializes in eating only bones,” said John Day Fossil Beds National Monument Chief Paleontologist Nicholas Famoso.

He said scientists previously thought the fossil was from a polar bear-like creature.

University of Oregon paleontology student, Selina Robson, started investigating after becoming convinced the fossil was misidentified.

“We weren’t expecting her to say: ‘This isn’t what you think it is,'” Famoso said.