Ira Gerhart finally found a place last year to fulfill his yearslong dream of opening a brewery: a 1923 Presbyterian church. It was cheap, charming and just blocks from downtown Youngstown. But soon after Gerhart announced his plans, residents and a minister at a Baptist church just a block away complained about alcohol being served in the former house of worship. “I get it, you know, just the idea of putting a bar in God’s house,” Gerhart said. “If we didn’t choose to do this, most likely, it’d fall down …

Facebook and Google once aimed to connect the world. Now they would be happy just to reconnect part of it. In the wake of Hurricane Maria, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg pledged to send a “connectivity team” to help restore communications in ravaged Puerto Rico. Google parent company Alphabet offered to send its Wi-Fi balloons. They were among several tech companies proposing disaster response ideas, most aimed at getting phone and internet service up and running. Some of these plans, of course, are more aspirational than others. Battery Power Tesla CEO …

Hawaii officials are working to raise awareness of the top cause of drowning for people visiting Hawaii: snorkeling. Out of 650 ocean drownings from 2007 to 2016, the state Department of Health has recorded 169 as related to the common ocean activity, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported on Saturday. A total of 156 of those deaths were of tourists to the islands. Motor vehicle crashes were the next highest cause of visitor deaths, with 85 recorded during the same period. The numbers have prompted a state committee to explore ways to …

The Chinese Basketball Association is on tour in the US, with teams playing against US professional squads. Calla Yu from VOA’s Mandarin Service was at a recent game in the Washington area. … From: MeNeedIt

Two back-to-back hurricanes in the continental U.S. displaced more workers than first thought resulting in a net loss of 33 thousand jobs in September. But the job losses seem to have had little effect on the national unemployment rate, which fell to 4.2 percent the lowest since 2001. Mil Arcega has more. … From: MeNeedIt

Astronauts say seeing the Earth from a distance, where the whole planet comes into perspective, is a life-changing experience that makes you realize how beautiful and fragile it is. A group of enthusiasts in California set up a nonprofit organization that uses satellite imagery to spread this feeling to as many people as possible and raise awareness about the dangers of detrimental human activities. VOA’s George Putic has more. … From: MeNeedIt