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Quick Takes

UPGRADE: Safety regulators are ordering that engine software be replaced on some Airbus passenger jets because of a problem that has caused pilots to abort several takeoffs in cold weather.

The order covers 82 engines on planes registered in the United States. The engines were built by CFM International, a joint venture of General Electric, and France’s Safran, for Airbus A320neo and A321neo jets.

The Federal Aviation Administration and European Aviation Safety Agency said this week operators will have until late January to replace electronic-control software.

The regulators say water can accumulate and freeze in pressure-sensor lines, preventing the fan blades from reaching takeoff speed.

The FAA says the problem caused six aborted takeoffs. It says CFM has improved the software to better detect freezing in sensor lines.

HELP FOR COAL: The Appalachian Regional Commission is spreading $26.5 million in awards to nine states to assist struggling coal communities.

The commission said in a news release Thursday that the money is projected to create or retain more than 5,400 jobs and leverage more than $193 million in private investments in those areas.

West Virginia is set to receive about $7.6 million of the grant awards, while Kentucky will receive nearly $3 million and Tennessee about $1.5 million.

The commission says programs will support workforce training and education in manufacturing, tech, health care and other fields.

The other states receiving grant awards are Alabama, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

The money was made available through the commission’s POWER initiative, Partnerships for Opportunity and Workforce and Economic Revitalization.

FIRMS TO PAY: A federal judge in St. Louis has ordered companies from Missouri and California to pay a combined $7 million for shipping ingredients containing poultry feathers and other misbranded items to pet food manufacturers.

Wilbur-Ellis Feed LLC of San Francisco pleaded guilty in April. Diversified Ingredients Inc. of Ballwin, Mo., pleaded guilty in July. Charges against both companies were misdemeanors. Both were sentenced Thursday.

Federal authorities say Wilbur-Ellis substituted lower cost ingredients for chicken and turkey meal in shipments from a Texas plant to pet food manufacturers in 2013 and 2014. Some shipments included ground-up feathers.

Diversified — a commodities broker, merchandiser and distributor — had pet food companies among its customers. Its clients received the adulterated ingredients.

Federal prosecutors say the ingredients posed no health threat to animals that ate the pet food.

PURGE: Facebook says it has purged more than 800 U.S. pages and accounts for spamming users with garbage links and clickbait.

Facebook accuses their backers of “coordinated inauthentic behavior” for setting up networks of pages and accounts designed to mislead users about who they are and what they’re doing.

The social network says these accounts spread “sensational political content” designed to drive people to ad-laden websites outside Facebook. In the past, such spammers have often focused on celebrity gossip, weight loss remedies and fake iPhones.

The turn toward politics suggests that spammers are learning from the Russian playbook on how to get people riled up and clicking. Facebook has been working to weed out misinformation and election meddling since it acknowledged that Russian agents abused its service in 2016.

By The Associated Press

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