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Massachusetts National Guard changes linked to leak case

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:23 GMT

Top brass at the Massachusetts National Guard said the military outfit is holding off on making changes before findings are released from an investigation into how a 21-year-old airman leaked highly sensitive government documents.Officials there suspended some security clearances after the Department of Justice brought charges against Jack Teixeira for posting classified national defense information to a social media application designed for video game enthusiasts.Teixeira’s unit, the 102nd Intelligence Wing, lost its intelligence mission and two commanding officers were suspended. The head of the Air Force this week gave military leaders 30 days to review access protocols for classified information. The inspector general is also investigating the matter.Major General Gary Keefe, the head of the Massachusetts National Guard, said he will implement changes that the Department of Defense and Air Force “want us to put in place.”“We’ve made the initial changes of suspending some s...

Howie Carr: Why worry? Biden has you covered

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:23 GMT

Is anyone really worried about the “debt ceiling?”Fill in your own doomsday headline or chyron here — Deadline nears… Default looms… Wall Street Chaos… Taking Hostages….If people were concerned, cable news ratings would be going up, rather than down.And do you know why nobody is sweating over state-run media’s latest sky-is-falling walls-are-closing-in narrative? It’s because Dementia Joe Biden is in charge, and as he told us recently:“I know more than the vast majority of people.”Obviously. That’s why everyone is just going on about their normal Memorial Day preparations, shopping for steaks for the barbecue and boycotting Bud Light. Because Mr. and Mrs. John Q. Sixpack understand that Brandon has a firm grasp on not just the federal budget, but on everything else.For this month’s Weekend at Brandon’s column, we begin with the budget impasse. As usual all dialogue guaranteed verbatim. Here he is, bragging about his mastery of the debt, er deficit, er whatever.“Unlike the last...

Professional athletes to lend hand, and Shofield name, to Orland Park artificial turf sports fields

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:23 GMT

With a name already deeply linked to Orland Park, NFL player Michael Schofield III will see his name on a scoreboard at a village park where future football players will hone their skills.Schofield and his wife, Kendall Coyne Schofield, an Olympic gold medalist, have bought naming rights for a portion of a redevelopment of Schussler Park in Orland Park, with the couple also agreeing to raise funds for an all-inclusive playground at the park.The installation of two artificial turf playing fields are part of a multimillion-dollar renovation of Schussler. The 21-acre park, 14609 Poplar Road, has baseball and soccer fields along with a playground, tennis courts and sledding hill.The park will be the home of Orland Park Pioneer Football, and Michael Schofield, who most recently played with the Bears, is a product of the Pioneer football organization.He has played nine seasons in the NFL, and graduated from Carl Sandburg High School in Orland Park in 2009. He won a Super Bowl with the Den...

Texas’ extraordinary move to impeach scandal-plagued GOP Attorney General Ken Paxton

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:23 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — After years of legal and ethical scandals swirling around Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, the state’s GOP-controlled House of Representatives has moved toward an impeachment vote that could quickly throw him from office.The extraordinary and rarely-used maneuver comes in the final days of the state’s legislative session and sets up a bruising political fight. It pits Paxton, who has aligned himself closely with former President Donald Trump and the state’s hard-right conservatives, against House Republican leadership, who appear to have suddenly had enough of the allegations of wrongdoing that have long dogged Texas’ top lawyer.Paxton has said the charges are based on “hearsay and gossip, parroting long-disproven claims.”Here is how the impeachment process works in Texas, and how the 60-year-old Republican came to face the prospect of becoming just the third official to be impeached in the state’s nearly 200-year history:THE PROCESSUnder the Texas ...

Unexploded WWII bomb forces evacuation of 2,500 residents in Poland

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:23 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A large unexploded bomb from World War II discovered in the Polish city of Wroclaw forced the evacuation of 2,500 residents on Friday.The bomb weighing 250 kilograms (550 pounds) was found near a railway overpass in the city in southwestern Poland during construction work. Poland’s armed forces said it was a German SC-250 aerial bomb from the war.The city organized buses to take the evacuated residents to a safe area while bomb removal experts worked at the scene. Train traffic also had to be halted until the bomb was removed, according to Polish media reports.Police spokesperson Aleksandra Freus told broadcaster TVN24 that not all residents agreed to leave their homes and that authorities could not force them to do so. Police issued a public call to evacuate, citing “the threat to human health and life caused by unexploded ordnance.”During World War II, Wroclaw was the German city of Breslau. It saw heavy fighting and widespread destruction, coming under...

Belgium, Iran conduct prisoner swap in Oman, freeing aid worker and diplomat convicted in bomb plot

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:23 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Belgium and Iran conducted a prisoner exchange Friday in Oman, with officials saying Tehran released a Belgian aid worker in exchange for an Iranian diplomat convicted of attempting to bomb a meeting of exiles in France. The initial announcement by Oman’s Foreign Ministry did not identify the prisoners being swapped. However, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said in a statement that the aid worker, Olivier Vandecasteele, had been freed. Iranian state television later said, in an on-screen graphic, that the diplomat would be freed. “Informed sources report the release of Assadollah Assadi, an Iranian diplomat detained in Belgium,” Iranian state TV said. “Further details will be announced.”Oman’s Foreign Ministry said that “those released were transferred from Tehran and Brussels to Muscat today, Friday, in preparation for their return to their countries.” It added that “the sultanate of Oman appreciated the high positive sp...

World Bank approves $300 million financing to help the poor in Lebanon

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:23 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — The World Bank approved a $300 million additional financing to Lebanon’s poor, providing cash payments to help families struggling through the country’s historic economic meltdown, institution said in a statement Friday. The new financing comes two years after the World Bank approved a $246 million loan to Lebanon to provide emergency cash assistance to hundreds of thousands in the tiny Mediterranean nation of 6 million people. Lebanon is in the throes of the worst economic and financial crisis in its modern history. The meltdown, rooted in decades of corruption and mismanagement by Lebanon’s ruling class, began in October 2019 and has left more than three quarters of Lebanon’s population in poverty. “The additional financing will enable the Government of Lebanon to continue to respond to the growing needs of poor and vulnerable households suffering under the severe economic and financial crisis,” said Jean-Christophe Carret, World Bank Middle East Country ...

Climate protesters dog oil major TotalEnergies’ shareholder meeting in Paris

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:23 GMT

PARIS (AP) — French police threw a security cordon around a shareholders’ meeting in Paris of oil major TotalEnergies on Friday, spraying tear gas and pushing back climate protesters who chanted, “Be gentle, police officers, we’re doing this for your kids !” Shareholders, some escorted into the meeting by police, ran a gauntlet of the peaceful, earnest and mostly young demonstrators, who waved placards attacking the climate record of the French energy giant that has reaped colossal profits from price surges that have accompanied war in Ukraine.“The last pipeline before the end of the world,” “Listen to the scientists: No more fossil projects,” their placards read.Protesters sat down in surrounding streets and linked arms to block access to the meeting in a famed Paris concert hall. Police officers bodily carried some protesters to move them out of the way. They sprayed tear gas from canisters to force people back.The burning of coal, oil, natural gas and biomass is...

Passenger opens exit door during airplane flight in South Korea; 12 people injured slightly

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:23 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A passenger opened an emergency exit door during a plane flight in South Korea on Friday, causing air to blast inside the cabin and slightly injure 12 people, officials said. The plane landed safely.Some people aboard the Asiana Airlines Airbus A321 aircraft tried to stop the person, who was able to partially open the door, the Transport Ministry said.The person was detained by airport police on suspicion of violating the aviation security law, a ministry statement said. The person’s identity and motive weren’t immediately released.The law bars passengers from handling exit doors and other equipment on board and provides for penalties of up to 10 years in prison, the ministry said.The plane with 194 people aboard was heading to the southeastern city of Daegu from the southern island of Jeju. The flight is normally about an hour, and the incident occurred when the plane was reaching the Daegu airport at an altitude of 700 feet (213 meters).A vide...

Pro-government rally planned in Serbia amid growing discontent after mass shootings

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:23 GMT

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Tens of thousands of people are expected in the Serbian capital on Friday for a major rally in support of President Aleksandar Vucic, who is facing an unprecedented revolt against his autocratic rule amid the crisis triggered by two mass shootings that stunned the nation.Answering Vucic’s call for what he called “the largest rally in the history of Serbia,” his supporters, many wearing identical T-shirts with his portrait, were being bused to Belgrade from all over the Balkan country as well as neighboring Kosovo and Bosnia. Those working in state firms and institutions were told to take a day off from work to attend the rally in front of the parliament building. Some said that they were warned that they could lose their jobs if they don’t show up on the buses which started arriving hours before the gathering was to start.Serbian officials said the rally promotes “unity and hope” for Serbia. At three large anti-government protests held earlier this mont...