Around the nation

Pentagon awards Microsoft $10B deal

SAN FRANCISCO — The Pentagon has awarded Microsoft a $10 billion cloud computing contract, snubbing early front-runner Amazon, whose participation drew criticism from President Trump and its business rivals.

Bidding for the huge project, known as Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI, pitted leading tech titans Microsoft, Amazon, Oracle and IBM against one another.

The giant contract has attracted more attention than most, sparked by speculation early in the process that Amazon would be awarded the deal. Tech giants Oracle and IBM pushed back with their own bids and also formally protested the bidding process last year.

Actress Huffman out of prison early

SAN FRANCISCO — Actress Felicity Huffman was released Friday morning from a federal prison in California two days before the end of a two-week sentence for her role in the college admissions scandal, authorities said.

The “Desperate Housewives” star was released from the low-security prison for women because under prison policy, inmates scheduled for weekend release are let out on Friday, the U.S. Bureau of Prisons said.

Arkansas

Hunter dies after deer he had shot attacks

YELLVILLE — Officials in Arkansas say a hunter died after he was attacked by a deer that he had shot and believed was dead.

Arkansas Game and Fish Commission spokesman Keith Stephens says 66-year-old Thomas Alexander shot a buck with a muzzleloader while hunting Tuesday near Yellville, an area in the Ozark Mountains about 105 miles north of Little Rock.

Stephens told Springfield, Missouri, television station KY3 the buck attacked Alexander when the hunter approached the animal to see if it was dead. He says Alexander, who suffered multiple puncture wounds, later died at a hospital.

North Carolina

Missing family dog is among 51 found

MARSHALL — A dog missing for two years is home with his family after he was found with 50 other dogs in a western North Carolina home.

The Asheville Citizen-Times reported the shepherd mix named Ruger was 6 months old when he disappeared from Barnardsville. The town is about 45 miles away from where he was found earlier this month in the unincorporated community of Spring Creek in Madison County.

The county’s animal control has set up a temporary shelter at the county fairgrounds to house the dogs, known as the “Madison 51.” Officials encouraged people with missing dogs to check the shelter.

The 78-year-old woman who was housing the dogs faces assault charges because authorities say she threatened to kill animal control officers.

Florida

Russian covert agent released from prison

TALLAHASSEE — A tantalizing chapter in Russia’s efforts to collect intelligence on American politics came to a close on Friday as a woman who worked as a covert agent was released from prison to be returned to her home country.

Maria Butina, a gun rights activist who sought to infiltrate conservative U.S. political groups and promote Russia’s agenda around the time that Donald Trump rose to power, left a low-security facility in Tallahassee, Florida, and boarded a plane home to Moscow.

She had been in custody since her arrest in July 2018.

Wire reports