NFL FACES NATION Steelers posing Kristin Chenoweth Zeta delivers another big problems for OK with non-witch blow to Southeast in opposing QBs role in new movie record hurricane season Back page Page 14 Page 10 3 killed, others hurt by knife-wielding attacker in French church » Page 7 Volume 79, No. 140 ©SS 2020 CONTINGENCY EDITION FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2020 stripes.com Free to Deployed Areas Club shares VIRUS OUTBREAK paranormal experiences at Yokota BY ERICA EARL Stars and Stripes YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — Strange things started happening the day Alicia Adachi moved into her on-base home, a garden unit on Yokota’s west side, in 2012. She said she would sometimes find the bed in her spare bedroom inexplicably stripped of its sheets and blankets. She heard loud crashes in her kitchen in the mid- dle of the night but found nothing broken or misplaced. Sometimes, Adachi said, she’d wake up to find all her kitchen cabinets wide open when they were shut the night before. The series of bizarre events led her to seek confirmation among others with shared experiences, and eventually to start up the Yo- kota Ghost Hunter Club, which has more than 900 members on Facebook. The club encourages sharing written accounts, videos, electronic voice phenomenon and photo evidence of the spiritual ELAINE THOMPSON/AP realm and the paranormal. Early this month, for example, University of Washington research coordinator Rhoshni Prabhu holds up a swab after testing a passenger at a free COVID testing site in Staff Sgt. Breanna Adams of the Seattle on Oct. 23. Deaths per day from the coronavirus in the U.S. are on the rise again, just as health experts had feared. 374th Civil Engineer Squadron wrote to the group that she and her husband often heard clear, persistent knocking noises within their old eastside tower unit. Se- curity camera footage showed televisions and bedroom lights Slight rebound looks shaky turning on and off when no one was home, she told Stars and Stripes on Wednesday. Adachi said she started the US unemployment claims fall to 751,000, but new infections pose threat group because she wanted to feel less alone and get confirmation that she wasn’t “crazy” because BY CHRISTOPHER RUGABER Merkel tells Germans tion. Those trends could force employers to of her experiences. Associated Press slash more jobs during the winter. “At first, I was able to brush it The seven-day rolling average for con- WASHINGTON — The number of Ameri- to expect ‘difficult winter’ all off, excusing everything away firmed new cases in the U.S. soared over the cans seeking unemployment benefits fell last on things on my then-husband,” past two weeks from 51,161 to 71,832, accord- week to 751,000, the lowest since March, but as cases reach new high Adachi said in a recent interview ing to Johns Hopkins University data. it’s still historically high and indicates the with Stars and Stripes via Face- Page 8 The government said Thursday the econo- viral pandemic is forcing many employers to book Messenger from her home my expanded at a record 33% annual rate in cut jobs. in Oregon. Rising confirmed virus cases in nearly the July-September quarter. That’s a sharp Applications for unemployment aid fell “But when he deployed, I sud- every state, along with a cutoff in federal rebound after an epic collapse in the spring, 40,000 from the previous week, the Labor denly was left with no one else in aid, are threatening to weaken the economy when the economy shrank at a 31.4% annual Department said Thursday. They fell in 30 the house to blame for what was in the coming months. As temperatures fall, rate. Yet the increase recovers only about states, including big drops in California, going on.” restaurants and bars will likely serve fewer two-thirds of what was lost to the pandemic. Florida and Texas. Claims rose significantly customers outdoors. And many consumers SEE PARANORMAL ON PAGE 6 in Arizona, Illinois, and Michigan. could increasingly stay home to avoid infec- SEE SHAKY ON PAGE 9 PAGE 2 •STARS AND STRIPES• Friday, October 30, 2020 BUSINESS/WEATHER EXCHANGE RATES Military rates Switzerland (Franc)............................0.9138 Demand boosts UPS revenue, costs goes up too Euro costs (Oct. 30) ..............................$1.14 Thailand (Baht) ..................................... 31.24 Dollar buys (Oct. 30).........................€0.8328 Turkey (Lira) .........................................8.3247 British pound (Oct. 30) ........................ $1.26 Associated Press (Military exchange rates are those ness was nearly 10% less profit- rising for U.S. ground shipments Japanese yen (Oct. 30) ......................102.00 available to customers at military banking South Korean won (Oct. 30) ..........1,106.00 able than a year ago because of and slipping slightly for express Commercial rates facilities in the country of issuance Profit and revenue are rising for Japan, South Korea, Germany, the higher costs as UPS hired work- deliveries like next-day air. Bahrain (Dinar) ....................................0.3770 Netherlands and the United Kingdom. For at UPS, whose brown delivery British pound .....................................$1.2933 ers and expanded service. Unlike the domestic package nonlocal currency exchange rates (i.e., trucks have become omnipresent Canada (Dollar) ...................................1.3363 purchasing British pounds in Germany), UPS shares fell 8.8%, their big- business, profit rose in the com- China (Yuan) ........................................6.7094 on neighborhood streets during check with your local military banking Denmark (Krone) ................................6.3686 gest one-day percentage drop in pany’s international package and facility. Commercial rates are interbank the pandemic, but so are costs. Egypt (Pound) ....................................15.6999 The company reported nearly six years. freight units. Euro ........................................ $1.1692/0.8553 rates provided for reference when buying With so many people getting New CEO Carol Tome said the Hong Kong (Dollar) .............................7.7533 currency. All figures are foreign currencies Wednesday that third-quarter to one dollar, except for the British pound, what they need delivered to the results were led by strong de- Hungary (Forint) .................................314.27 profit rose 12% to $1.96 billion. Israel (Shekel) .....................................3.4183 which is represented in dollars-to-pound, With higher volume of packages front door, drivers for United Par- mand for shipments leaving Asia Japan (Yen) ...........................................104.35 and the euro, which is dollars-to-euro.) to deliver, revenue climbed 16% cel Service Inc. are staying busy. and growth among small and me- Kuwait (Dinar) .....................................0.3059 INTEREST RATES Norway (Krone) ...................................9.5511 to $21.24 billion. Both figures The company’s consolidated aver- dium-sized businesses. She said Philippines (Peso).................................48.41 Prime rate ................................................3.25 beat expectations. age daily volume jumped 13.5%. the higher profit indicates that Poland (Zloty) ..........................................3.95 Discount rate ..........................................0.25 Saudi Arabia (Riyal) ...........................3.7509 Federal funds market rate ...................0.09 However, operating profit in the Prices were roughly constant, the company’s “better, not big- Singapore (Dollar) ..............................1.3656 3-month bill ............................................. 0.10 company’s key U.S. package busi- with the average price per piece ger” strategy is working. South Korea (Won) ..........................1,133.79 30-year bond ...........................................1.56 WEATHER OUTLOOK FRIDAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST FRIDAY IN EUROPE SATURDAY IN THE PACIFIC Misawa 54/47 Kabul 70/43 Seoul 65/52 Baghdad 93/58 Kandahar 78/41 Osan Tokyo Mildenhall/ Drawsko 60/42 62/52 Lakenheath Pomorskie Busan 59/52 51/44 65/52 Iwakuni 66/48 Kuwait Bahrain Zagan Sasebo City 87/79 Brussels 54/47 Guam 92/63 60/51 Ramstein 71/59 86/78 Lajes, 56/49 Riyadh Doha Azores Stuttgart Pápa 86/53 90/76 67/64 58/44 54/41 Aviano/ Vicenza 64/47 Naples 69/50 Okinawa Morón 77/72 81/50 Sigonella Rota 73/53 The weather is provided by the Djibouti Souda Bay American Forces Network Weather Center, 88/80 77/53 72/66 2nd Weather Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb. T O D A Y IN STRIPES American Roundup ..12 Comics ................. 15 Crossword ............ 15 Faces ................... 14 Opinion ............ 16-17 Sports ............. 18-24 Friday, October 30, 2020 •STARS AND STRIPES• PAGE 3 PACIFIC Iwakuni ratchets up exercise experience BY JAMES BOLINGER Stars and Stripes MARINE CORPS AIR STA- TION IWAKUNI, Japan — Ev- eryone had a part this year in the annual base-defense drills, including Marines, sailors, Japa- nese troops and even service members’ families living in base housing. Air station commander Col. Lance Lewis significantly ex- panded this year’s Active Shield exercise to include drills on pan- demic response, missile strikes, aeromedical evacuations and daylong overhead patrols by two AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters. The three-day exercise conclud- ed around 1 p.m. Thursday. At 6 p.m. Wednesday, the sta- tion went into a 12-hour lockdown that meant everyone, including family members, had to shelter A combat engineer with Marine in place during a simulated at- Wing Support Squadron 171