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VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AP) - A rocket carrying an Earth observation satellite is scheduled to blast off from the California coast on a mission to keep a continuous eye on the planet's resources.

The countdown for the Atlas V launch begins Monday morning from the Vandenberg Air Force Base along California's central coast.

The Landsat satellite is the eighth of its kind to be launched since 1972 to track glaciers, forest fires, crop production and coastlines. Unlike its predecessors, the latest carries more powerful sensors and can return more images.

For the past four decades, the polar-orbiting Landsat satellites have documented changes to Earth's surface including the effects of deforestation and urban sprawl.

The $855 million mission is managed by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey.

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) - Thousands are expected to attend a public memorial service Monday for former Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle, who was killed at a Texas shooting range allegedly by a young veteran he was trying to help.

Mourners will gather at Cowboys Stadium to pay tribute to the 38 year old who was reputed to be the deadliest sniper in American military history.

Kyle left the Navy in 2009 after four tours of duty in Iraq and wrote the best-selling book "American Sniper."

Twenty-five year old Iraq War veteran Eddie Ray Routh has been charged with killing Kyle and his friend Chad Littlefield at a gun range Feb. 2.

Kyle will be buried at the Texas State Cemetery in Austin after a 200 mile funeral procession starting in the Dallas area Tuesday morning.

Does the St. Louis Rams arbitration victory over the Edward Jones Dome lease mean the team will leave town? Not necessarily.

The Convention and Visitors Commission has until mid-April to respond to the ruling. The Rams could then begin negotiating for new stadiums and new cities. But officials say that doesn't mean they'll leave St. Louis.

This isn't the first time the Rams and the CVC have dealt with the "first-tier" issue. The lease actually required that the dome be one of the top eight NFL facilities in 2005. After four-years of negotiating, the Rams eventually waived the first-tier requirement in exchange for $30-million in improvements that included new turf and scoreboards.

CVC officials have said they don't plan to ask taxpayers for the $700 million renovation the Rams proposed, so building a new stadium will likely be the new focus.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that possible sites for a new football stadium include the shuttered Chrysler plant in Fenton, farmland in Maryland Heights, or the mostly-vacant Bottle District north of downtown.

Rams officials aren't commenting.