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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

In brief: 6.07-pound gold nugget sold in California

From Wire Reports

SAN FRANCISCO – One of the largest gold nuggets in modern times pulled from Northern California’s Gold Country has sold to a secret buyer.

The new owner of the so-called Butte Nugget and its exact price will both remain mysteries at the buyer’s request, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Saturday.

But Don Kagin, the Tiburon-based coin dealer who brokered the deal, said that a “prominent Bay Area collector” paid about $400,000 for the nugget weighing 6.07 pounds. That wasn’t far off from the asking price, he said.

“Let’s just say it’s a win-win for everybody, Kagin said.

Historically, prospectors found giant gold nuggets in California during the 19th century Gold Rush days, including a 54-pound chunk found in Butte County in 1859. It has been decades since a report of anyone discovering a rock of 6 pounds or more in California.

The gold hunter who discovered the nugget found it in July in the mountains of Butte County.

SpaceX capsule returns to Earth

LOS ANGELES – A SpaceX capsule loaded with space station experiments is back on Earth.

The unmanned Dragon capsule parachuted into the Pacific, west of Mexico’s Baja Peninsula, on Saturday.

It departed the International Space Station earlier in the day with 3,300 pounds of gear for NASA, including valuable science samples.

The California-based SpaceX company launched the Dragon from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Sept. 21. It was the fifth Dragon shipment. High seas in the recovery area delayed its return by four days.

NASA is paying SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corp. to make station supply runs. Only SpaceX is capable of bringing cargo back intact.

Orbital’s next launch is scheduled for Monday from Wallops Island, Virginia.

Officer admits to stealing racy photos

MARTINEZ, Calif. – A California Highway Patrol officer suspected of stealing nude and racy photos from the cellphones of women arrested on drunken driving charges sent the pictures to at least two fellow officers in what he called a game, according to court documents.

Officer Sean Harrington, 35, confessed to investigators that he sent such photos at last six times over several years to colleagues in Dublin, but learned to do it while working in Los Angeles, the Contra Costa Times reported Friday.

Harrington has worked for the CHP for five years, and the newspaper reports that he is assigned to administrative duties pending the investigation.

Contra Costa County prosecutors say they expect to announce if they will file criminal charges in the coming days. Officers Robert Hazelwood and Dion Simmons are named in an Oct. 14 search warrant affidavit, suspected of receiving the photos and exchanging banter with Harrington.