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Pentagon: Budget readies US for possible China confrontation

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:41:51 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military must be ready for possible confrontation with China, the Pentagon’s leaders said Thursday, pushing Congress to approve the Defense Department’s proposed $842 billion budget that would modernize the force in Asia and around the world.“This is a strategy-driven budget — and one driven by the seriousness of our strategic competition with the People’s Republic of China,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in testimony before the House Appropriations subcommittee on defense. Pointing to increases in new technology, such as hypersonics, Austin said the budget proposes to spend more than $9 billion, a 40% increase over last year, to build up military capabilities in the Pacific and defend allies.The testimony comes on the heels of Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s visit to Moscow, amid concerns China will step up its support for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine and increasingly threaten the West.China’s act...

After derailment, toxic burn, student-athletes seek normalcy

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:41:51 GMT

EAST PALESTINE, Ohio (AP) — On the surface, everything looks normal.There’s the East Palestine High School baseball team learning the finer points of baserunning at one edge of Reid Memorial Stadium. At the other, a handful of sprinters dart through the mild March air, the blue parachutes attached to their waists mushrooming behind them as they pick up speed.Same as it ever was at East Palestine as it transitions from winter to spring sports. Only, not really.A little over a mile east of the small school — student population 285 — tucked near the Pennsylvania state line, cleanup crews are still dealing with the aftermath of the Feb. 3 train derailment. While no one was hurt, concerns over a potential explosion led state and local officials to approve releasing and burning toxic vinyl chloride from five tanker cars that forced the evacuations of half the village and closed schools for a week.More than a month later, the cleanup is ongoing. The legal wrangling over who to blame ...

Ukraine president visits front-line areas as new phase nears

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:41:51 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s president on Thursday made his third visit in two days to areas that have felt the brunt of Russia’s war, with a trip to the southern Kherson region that was retaken from the Kremlin’s forces, and as a senior Kyiv commander hinted that a brewing Ukrainian counteroffensive could come “very soon.”Ukraine took back control of the Kherson region’s capital, also called Kherson, at the end of last year, pushing out the Russian occupiers who had captured the city in the weeks following the start of Moscow full-scale invasion more than a year ago. The Dnieper River now marks the front line in the region, which is still partially occupied.While in Kherson on Thursday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with local security officials and inspected infrastructure damaged by Russian strikes, his office said.On Wednesday, Zelenskyy visited Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city in northeastern Ukraine. Kyiv’s troops recaptured Kharkiv from the Russian...

South Carolina comptroller to resign after $3.5B error

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:41:51 GMT

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Embattled South Carolina Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom will resign next month after a $3.5 billion accounting error in the year-end financial report he oversaw.The state’s chief accountant will leave the elected post he has held for 20 years on April 30, according to a copy of the resignation letter obtained by The Associated Press.“I have never taken service to the state I love or the jobs to which I have been elected lightly, endeavoring to work with my colleagues, from constitutional officers to members of the General Assembly, to be a strong defender of the taxpayer and a good steward of their hard-earned tax dollars,” Eckstrom wrote in the March 23 letter to South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster. “They deserve nothing less.”The blunder’s revelation last month brought mounting scrutiny. House lawmakers called for an impeachment inquiry. The Senate panel investigating the error issued a damning report last week that suggested Eckstrom resign ...

Bones kept by former eugenics institute buried in Berlin

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:41:51 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Thousands of bone fragments, which may include the remains of victims of Nazi crimes, were buried Thursday after they were found on a Berlin university campus where an institute for anthropology and eugenics was once located.Some 16,000 fragments were found on the campus of the Free University in excavations that started in 2015 after human and animal bones were discovered during restoration work. The site was once home to the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Anthropology, Human Heredity and Eugenics, which operated from 1927 until 1945.The university said that the recovered fragments are from “victims of crime contexts” that could include colonial-era events and Nazi crimes. Researchers determined that the bones belonged to people of all age groups, male and female.But the university said that, following non-invasive examinations of the fragments and historical research. it wasn’t possible to identify individual victims or to link the finds to specific colonize...

Parents of Oxford school shooter can face trial, court says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:41:51 GMT

DETROIT (AP) — The parents of a teenager who killed four students at a Michigan high school can face trial for involuntary manslaughter, the state appeals court said Thursday in a groundbreaking case of criminal responsibility for the acts of a child. The murders would not have happened if the parents hadn’t purchased a gun for Ethan Crumbley or if they had taken him home from Oxford High School on the day of the shooting, when staff became alarmed about his extreme drawings, the appeals court said.The court noted that the legal threshold at this stage of the case is fairly low under Michigan law. “Whether a jury actually finds that causation has been proven after a full trial, where the record will almost surely be more expansive — including evidence produced by defendants — is an issue separate from what we decide today,” the court said in a 3-0 opinion.James and Jennifer Crumbley are accused of failing to secure a gun and ignoring the mental health needs of thei...

Fly fishing retreats offer men with cancer chance to enjoy nature, learn, share journey

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:41:51 GMT

Standing knee-deep in a pristine stream and basking in sunshine, surrounded by the peaceful sounds of nature, is a dream day for someone who enjoys fly fishing — but the experience can produce a lifelong, and perhaps life-saving, effect on men diagnosed with cancer.Reel Recovery is a national non-profit organization that conducts free fly fishing retreats for men living with cancer.Men participating in a Reel Recovery fly fishing retreat, in Syria, Virginia. (Courtesy Stan Golub)Co-founder Stan Golub says the “benefits are many,” for cancer patients who spend a weekend fly fishing in a remote locale, with other men who are in similar situations. The next local retreat is May 1 through May 3, near the Shenandoah Mountains in Syria, Virginia.“Getting men out into nature is very important when they’re often confined to hospital rooms or  their homes dealing with treatment,” Golub tells WTOP. “Most of our retreats are in beautiful places very peaceful...

1 adult critically injured after minivan crashes into school bus in Montgomery Co.

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:41:51 GMT

One person was seriously hurt Thursday morning after a minivan crashed into the back of a school bus in Montgomery County, Maryland.The school bus was not carrying any students at the time of the crash, according to Pete Piringer, spokesman with the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service.ICYMI (~830a) Mid County Hwy Rt124 near Washington Grove Ln, minivan rear-ended school bus (no passengers), 1 driver severely trapped/pinned in vehicle (extricated), total 3 transported, ~30 @mcfrs FFs on scene, incl 2 squads, 3 manpower engines, 3 ems transport, 4 command staff https://t.co/FLlxDFk3qH pic.twitter.com/SXN4PSfMWD— Pete Piringer (@mcfrsPIO) March 23, 2023More Montgomery County NewsMore Local NewsThe crash happened just after 8:30 a.m. on the Midcounty Highway in the area of Washington Grove Lane in Gaithersburg. That’s across the median from Shady Grove Middle School.The driver of the minivan was “severely pinned” inside the vehicle after the crash, and it took re...

Denver Public School Board calls urgent session over school safety

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:41:51 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — Following a shooting at East High School in Denver the Denver Public School Board will be holding an urgent session Thursday.The urgent session will begin at 10 a.m. and comes on the heels of a shooting that injured two faculty members. The two deans were shot while searching a student who attended the school.There are lots of questions coming from parents, students and the community about the future of school safety. East High shooting victim returns home School Resource Officers were a big topic after Wednesday. In 2020, DPS voted to remove all SROs from campuses. DPS Superintendent Alex Marrero is now calling for at least one armed police officer to be posted on all high school campuses. The board will also hold a press conference at 1 p.m. FOX31 will air that conference on air and livestream it in the player above.

Europe told to aim for a moon mission

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:41:51 GMT

BRUSSELS — The European Space Agency should boost its human and robotic exploration quickly if it expects to keep pace with global rivals, a group of experts said Thursday, pushing capitals to zone in on a lunar mission.The 12-strong independent advisory group includes ex-ministers, a comic book artist and leading consultancy CEOs, all led by Anders Fogh Rasmussen, a former Danish premier and NATO secretary-general. “A bold mission would galvanize and revolutionize the whole European economy, well beyond the space sector, and inspire a generation of Europeans to build the future,” their report published Thursday says.The group was given a brief last summer to define Europe’s strategic priorities for space, for which building out the capacity to launch astronauts and new uncrewed missions should be a critical priority, according to the report.Of the more than 100 lunar missions that have been announced by agencies and companies for the years running to 2030, Eu...