Japan’s Do-Dodonpa rollercoaster — once hailed as the faster rollercoaster in the world — has permanently been shut down.
Located at the Fuji-Q Highland amusement park, the ride was initially suspended in August 2021 after at least five visitors, aged 21 to 59, suffered from broken bones. Japan Today reports that the injuries weren’t caused by the guests sticking their hands out of the car and hitting the track or trees, but were instead neck or spine compression fractures due to the ride’s intense G-force of 3.75 Gs. To compare, fighter pilots experience 4 Gs when launching from the deck of an aircraft carrier.
While it was still in commission, Do-Dodonpa could hit a maximum speed of 180 kilmoteres per hour in 1.56 seconds and is considered the third-fastest rollercoaster in the world today. Fuji-Q suspended the ride to find a way to make it safer and still hold on to its record, however it seems as though it was impossible. “After extended discussions with the manufacturer, we have arrived at the conclusion that it would be [prohibitively] difficult to ensure safe operation that that completely eliminates the risk of rider injury,” said Fuji-Q Highland in a statement. “In order to fulfil our societal obligation as a theme park and make safety our top priority, we have made the decision to permanently cease operation of Do-Dodonpa.”
Where do Easter traditions come from? Good Question.
Where do Easter traditions come from? Good Question.
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Millions of Americans will celebrate Easter with family and friends this Sunday, which could require a last-minute run for treats before the egg hunt begins. Luckily, many retailers and restaurants will be open on March 31.
Here’s a list of what is and isn’t open on Easter.
What places are open on Easter Sunday 2024?
Albertson
Barnes & Noble
Bass Pro Shops
Bath & Body Works
Big Lots
Capital Grille
Cabela’s
CVS
Dollar General
Dollar Tree
DSW
Family Dollar
Half Price Books
Home Depot
Ikea
Kirkland’s Home
Kroger
Marshall Grain
Old Navy
Petco
Rally House
Ross
Sephora
Sprouts
Staples
Tractor Supply Company
Trader Joe’s
Ulta
Walgreens
Walmart
Wegmans
Whole Foods
Restaurants and fast-food chains open on Easter
Applebee’s
Benihana
Bob Evans
Bojangles
Boston Market
Buffalo Wild Wings
Capital Grille
Carrabba’s
Chik-fil-A
Chili’s
Cheesecake Factory
Cracker Barrel
Denny’s
Dunkin’
Golden Corral
IHOP
KFC
Longhorn Steakhouse
McDonald’s
Olive Garden
Outback Steakhouse
PF Chang’s
Red Lobster
Ruth’s Chris
Seasons 52
Sonic
Starbucks
Texas Roadhouse
Waffle House
Wendy’s
Whataburger
White Castle
Places with special hours of operation on Easter Sunday 2024
Some stores or restaurants may special hours of operation, depending on their location — including Burger King, Domino’s, Firehouse Subs, Jersey Mike’s, Jack in the Box, Panda Express, Panera, Popeyes, Shake Shack and Subway.
Stop & Shop’s grocery section will be open but the pharmacy will be closed.
Staples will be open from noon to 5 p.m., local time.
What places are closed on Easter Sunday 2024?
Aldi
Apple
Belk
Best Buy
Big Y
Bloomingdale’s
Brookshires
Burlington
Calloway’s Nursery
Costco
Container Store
Dick’s Sporting Goods
Five Below
Goodwill
H&M
H-E-B Grocery
Hobby Lobby
Hollywood Feed
HomeGoods
Homesense
Honey Baked Ham Company
JCPenney
Kohl’s
Macy’s
Market Basket
Marshalls
Michaels
Nordstrom & Nordstrom Rack
Office Depot
Publix
Sam’s Club
Sierra
Target
TJ Maxx
Restaurants and fast-food chains closed on Easter
Chik-fil-A
Chipotle
In-N-Out
Raising Cane’s
Khristopher J. Brooks
Khristopher J. Brooks is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch. He previously worked as a reporter for the Omaha World-Herald, Newsday and the Florida Times-Union. His reporting primarily focuses on the U.S. housing market, the business of sports and bankruptcy.
An AFP photographer captured rare shots showing everyday life in North Korea.
Pedro Pardo accessed a remote part of the border in China’s Jilin province to get the photos.
`The images show a bleak picture of life in the completely isolated nation.
An AFP photographer captured rare images showing daily life in North Korea.
To get the photos, Pedro Pardo accessed a remote part of North Korea’s border with China in the latter’s Jilin province.
The images Pardo took between February 26 and March 1 offer a bleak yet fascinating look at life in a country shrouded in secrecy.
North Korea was founded in 1948 under Kim Il-sung as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), inspired by strict Marxist-Leninist principles.
Its population of roughly 26 million people lives largely in isolation from the rest of the world in the austere communist state, barred from going abroad without permission from the government and subjected to state-run media that blare propaganda praising the nation and its supreme leader, Kim Jong Un.
North Korea’s self-imposed isolation is largely due to its guiding principle of “juche,” or “self-reliance” — the idea that it should be able to function completely independently and remain separate from the rest of the world.
In practice, this has achieved little other than to stifle the country’s economy and trade, and many of its citizens face high poverty levels and severe food shortages. The CIA says North Korea “remains one of the World’s most isolated and one of Asia’s poorest.”
Since the 1950s, it is estimated that around 31,000 North Koreans have sought to escape and defected to South Korea, The Guardian reported in January.
That number surged last year amid what the unification ministry in Seoul called “worsening conditions in North Korea.”
Pardo’s photos present a unique look into those conditions and life in one of the world’s last communist states.
North Korean soldiers working on the border.
Pedro Pardo / AFP via Getty Images
The North Korean city of Hyesan.
Pedro Pardo / AFP via Getty Images
A wagon in the North Korean city of Namyang.
Pedro Pardo / AFP via Getty Images
A sign on a hillside in the town of Chunggang reads: “My country is the best.”
Pedro Pardo / AFP via Getty Images
A watchtower by the border in Hyesan.
Pedro Pardo / AFP via Getty Images
Portraits of former North Korean leaders Kim Il sung and Kim Jong Il in Chunggang.
Pedro Pardo / AFP via Getty Images
Another set of portraits of the former leaders on a government building in Namyang.
Pedro Pardo / AFP via Getty Images
North Korean people working in a field.
Pedro Pardo / AFP via Getty Images
A sign in Chunggang reading: “Let’s unify the party and all society with the revolutionary ideas of comrade Kim Jong Un!”
Pedro Pardo / AFP via Getty Images
Trucks crossing a border bridge connecting Changbai, China, and Hyesan, North Korea.
A child was injured at an Orlando-area theme park after falling from a roller coaster, which has since been temporarily closed, officials said Friday.
The child, described as a 6-year-old, was hospitalized after he apparently fell Thursday afternoon from the Galaxy Spin ride at Fun Spot America, near Kissimmee, fire officials said.
“Units arrived to find a 6-year-old with traumatic injuries under the rollercoaster track which was approximately 20 feet above,” Osceola County Fire Rescue and EMS Office said in a statement.
An aerial view of the Galaxy Spin roller coaster ride at Fun Spot in Kissimmee, Fla., on Friday. WESH
The boy was taken to Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, first responders said. His condition was not available.
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services is investigating the incident, department spokesperson Aaron Keller said.
“The ride is closed pending the outcome of the investigation,” he said.
Fun Spot said in a statement that a preliminary inspection of Galaxy Spin by state officials “found it to be in normal operating condition with no mechanical issues.”
The park said it would not reopen the ride until its leadership was sure such an incident will not happen again.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the child and their family, and we pray for a speedy recovery,” the park said. “The safety of our guests is our number one priority.”
The website Roller Coaster DataBase, which tracks coaster specifications globally, states Galaxy Spin has “spinning cars” that can rotate as it moves along the tight turns that help define it as a “wild mouse” style attraction.
The Galaxy Spin can travel at 29 mph and can subject riders to a force 2.5 times that of gravity, according to the database.
Fun Spot America, which also operates parks in Orlando and Atlanta, said children must be at least 48 inches tall to ride Galaxy Spin or 42 inches if they’re with an adult.
Kissimmee is about 22 miles south of Orlando.
The injury comes days after an incident involving a roller coaster at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, in which the ride appeared to unexpectedly freeze near the top.
Videos and photos posted Monday on social media appear to show passengers walking down stairs from near the top of the 205-foot Magnum XL-200 coaster.
Cedar Point theme park in Sandusky, Ohio, on July 31, 2023.Tony Cafego / via Facebook
The coaster is touted on the park’s website as a Guinness Book of World Records holder for its leading-edge height.
Representatives for Cedar Point amusement park did not respond to a request for comment.
Over the Fourth of July holiday, a video shared by festival-goers in Wisconsin showed a number of riders hanging from a roller coaster stuck upside down midway. Last month in Rye, New York, a spinning ride would not stop until the amusement park’s staff eventually had no choice but to pull the plug so passengers could exit the ride.
Also this summer, a ride at Carowinds in North Carolina was shut down after a guest spotted a large crack that caused a support beam to move out of place as a car went by.
Dennis Romero
Dennis Romero is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.
Inyoung Choi, Sarah Kaufman and Emma Li contributed.
File: WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 19: Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) poses for photographs with members of the public before a news conference in Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol on July 19, 2023 in Washington, DC.
Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images
At the peak of Washington, D.C., tourism season, there are more signs of a post-COVID return of crowds and workers on Capitol Hill.
In testimony before senators and House members this week, Capitol Hill administrators reported they had completed the reopening of more of the office building doors, access points and entrances that were shuttered during COVID, while the campus was largely closed to visitors. As a result, the Capitol police chief acknowledged the reopening is adding some urgency to the agency’s efforts to recruit officers to staff the checkpoints.
The Senate sergeant at arms said in a submission to the legislative committees Wednesday, “We have reopened the Capitol Visitor Center on Saturdays, so that the American people are able to safely and easily visit their seat of government. On the Senate side, we have reopened all doors that were open prior to COVID.”
The architect of the Capitol released an estimate to a Senate panel stating that the peak population of workers on the grounds has again reached 30,000 people.
But U.S. Capitol Police acknowledge a stubborn staffing shortage, even as the Capitol complex experiences a return of crowds and restored access to visitors. As of this past Friday, a report from the agency said the department is approximately 110 officers below its authorized staffing levels. In a written report to the Senate Rules Committee, Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger wrote, “Adequately staffing a campus door requires three to four officers per shift to ensure a proper level of security… Long lines are not only an inconvenience to Members, staff, and for visitors, they represent a security risk that, in these increasingly volatile times, the Department must address. While big picture reforms are significant and important, staffing daily mission requirements are vital.”
But Manger said last week at a joint House-Senate hearing that some new recruitment efforts have been productive in “attracting good quality folks.”
“This is a unique police department,” Manger told lawmakers. “We are appealing to folks who want to serve their country.”
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has frequently credited Congressional administrators with re-opening the grounds fully to visitors this year. McCarthy periodically greets and poses for photos with tourists before holding media events. Earlier this month, his office announced a “pop-up photo line” with tourists inside the Capitol.
The Capitol complex was closed, fully or partially, to visitors for more than a year during the COVID pandemic.
