NEWS OF THE FORCE
Saturday, January 20, 2018 - Page 2
US Coast Guard
With warmer weather and rain in Michigan and Ohio's forecasts, the US Coast Guard has
issued a warning about potentially dangerous ice conditions. Last week,
Coast Guard Sector Detroit's Command Center rescued 10 people and had
one death on Lake Erie.
Warmer temperatures may make it dangerous to go out onto frozen lakes
and ponds to do things like go ice fishing or ride ATVs. In a news
release, the US Coast Guard in Detroit says the expected warmer temperatures could create “extremely dangerous” conditions on the ice.
United States Coast Guard cutters were back out on the
Connecticut River yesterday. Ice continues to float down the river and that
is due to the work done by
USCGC Bollard and
USCGC Hawser.
A Russian spy ship - the
Viktor Leonov - is operating near the US
roughly a year after it popped up off the coast of Connecticut. A Pentagon spokesman said he could not "specifically" confirm whether the
military was tracking the Russian spy ship, but did say, "The US Coast Guard and the US Navy's Fleet Forces Command are on the case."
The Coast Guard received a request on Wednesday from the Maine
Emergency Management Agency to break up the ice on the Kennebec River to reduce the flooding
risk. The depth of the river and bridges limit the Coast Guard's ability to reach the ice jam, but it could still break up ice downriver to improve the flow.
Three people were killed and five others injured after an explosion on a
towboat on the Tennessee River in Kentucky yesterday, a US Coast Guard spokeswoman said. Authorities are investigating what caused the blast on the vessel, which was moored and being repaired.
USCGC Oliver Berry (WPC 1124)'s crew patrolled off the coast of Maui during
Operation Kohola Guardian this week. Operation Kohola Guardian is a
cooperative effort between state and federal agencies to reduce risk to
mariners and to whales in Hawaiian waters.
The US Coast Guard in Grand Haven, Mich., is warning ice sport enthusiasts of
potentially unstable ice conditions due to weather forecasts calling for
warmer temperatures and anticipated rain and fog. The Coast
Guard warns that venturing out onto the ice is extremely dangerous
during increases in temperatures.
A US Coast Guard cutter that was en route to the Straits of
Mackinac to help free five ships trapped in ice there is now limping
back to port after suffering an engine failure, the military said. The
crew of
USCGC Biscayne Bay left the St Marys River earlier yesterday, where
it had been breaking ice.
A Coast Guard aircrew from Sector/Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas,
conducted the first-ever training evolution with a Signet Maritime
Corporation tugboat on Thursday in Corpus Christi Bay. The Coast Guard MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew and the crew of the
Signet Polaris conducted joint hoist training.
The Coast Guard says that they assisted two people in distress yesterday near The Pen, near Lafitte, La. Coast Guard
Sector New Orleans says they received a call from the men that their
16-foot flat bottom boat got stuck in the mud due to shallow waters in
The Pen, a lake near New Orleans.
False alarm at North Carolina nuclear plant The siren that went off yesterday afternoon at the Shearon Harris
Nuclear Power Plant in North Carolina resulted from an accidental activation, authorities
said.
A spokesman for Duke Energy, which owns the plant in New Hill, N.C.,
in southern Wake County, said the energy company is investigating what
prompted the alarm to sound shortly before 1 p.m., EST. The siren prompted a
flurry of calls to WRAL News and posts on social media. "This afternoon several sirens around the Harris Nuclear Plant
malfunctioned, specifically near Apex and Cary," spokesman Brandon
Thomas said in a written statement. "There is no impact to the public
and no need for public actions."
The Apex Police Department tweeted around 1:15 p.m. that Wake County
Emergency Management confirmed that the siren’s alarm system went off in
error and there were no issues at the plant.
Officials at Wake County posted a statement on
Facebook saying the alarms were tripped in error. "We have confirmed with Emergency Management staff that the sirens
going off at the Harris Nuclear Plant this afternoon are a false alarm,"
the statement said. "Please refer to Duke Energy for more details and
information."
Authorities said had there been a real emergency at the plant, local
emergency response officials would have provided information for the
public on how to respond.
US Air Force
A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket launched the new missile-warning satellite last night from Cape Canaveral Air Force
Station in Florida. Liftoff occurred at 7:48 p.m., EST, after a one-day delay so engineers could address a ground-based
issue
.
Undersecretary of the Air Force Matthew Donovan delivered the keynote
speech during an Air Force Association (AFA) breakfast on Jan. 18th in
Washington, D.C. Donovan addressed variety of issues facing the Air
Force.
The US Air Force has found 20 contaminated water wells at the former Reese Air Force Base. In a news release, officials say the Air Force is providing
bottled water to affected well owners and has been working with the
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), the EPA and affected
communities to protect human health and drinking water supplies.
A man who died in a house fire in Lansing, Mich., early Wednesday has been identified as Gerald Price, 72. He was a US Air Force veteran who was born in 1945, Lansing officials said in a news release late yesterday afternoon.
The United States Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine
is celebrating 100 years. It started out in World War I to handle the
needs of pilots who were dying at alarming rates, and has trained tens
of thousands of students.
A 90-year-old lesbian who was dishonorably discharged from the US Air Force
in 1955 after a crackdown in LGBTQ service members has finally had the
situation rectified. Helen Grace James was expelled from the service
after a crackdown led by the the US Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI).
The US Air Force is considering forming international squadrons
of low-cost fighter planes to strike terrorist targets in the Middle
East, Africa and Asia.
The US Air Force issued an advisory yesterday warning that several A10-C
Thunderbolt II aircraft will be "conducting a deployment exercise"
around MacDill AFB in Tampa, Fla. The Air Force says the Warthogs - which belong to the Indiana Air National Guard
122nd Fighter Wing's 163rd Fighter Squadron - will be flying with
KC-135 Stratotankers and C-130 Hercules aircraft out of MacDill AFB.
Members of the 315th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron and the 86th AES
recently participated in a three-day training mission in which
real-world troops and cargo were transported from Joint Base Charleston,
S.C., to Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska.
Airmen with the Mississippi Air National Guard's 186th Air Refueling Wing graduated from the Community College of the Air Force (CCAF) on Key Field Air National Guard Base, in Meridian, on Jan. 7th.
Lt. General L. Scott Rice, the director of the Air National Guard,
recently toured California National Guard units and installations. He
was accompanied on his tour by Maj. Gen. Clay Garrison, the commander of the
California Air National Guard.
A double fuel tanker hauling 9,000 gallons of gasoline and 1,000 gallons
of diesel fuel overturned and exploded on the I-15 interstate near
Midvale, Utah, on Jan. 18th. The Utah Air National Guard was called in to assist with extinguishing the fire.
The Kerrville Composite Squadron of the CAP's Texas Wing will be hosting an Open House at Ingram
Tom Moore High School on Jan. 29th at 7 p.m. Are you interested in
aviation, youth leadership, or service to your country? If so, the Civil Air Patrol – the United States Air Force Auxiliary – is for you.
The Lt. Col. Arthur King Composite Squadron, the Civil Air Patrol squadron in Modesto, Calif., will be having an open house for new youth cadets ages 12 to
18 at the Modesto Airport. Squadron 50 accepts new cadet members three
times per year. The new membership period begins Feb. 1st.
"First, we really appreciate each of the volunteers that either
sponsored a wreath, attended our ceremony, or helped distribute wreaths
in December," the Civil Air Patrol's 2nd Lt. Austen Roberts said in Chattanooga, Tenn. "Now, we need volunteers to help us retrieve the wreaths."
And it's highly unusual, but
AuxBeacon.org has apparently not published anything new in more than a month.
News of the Force sent them an inquiry early this week, and we've still not received a reply.
The parting shots
The National Security Agency (NSA) has reportedly deleted data it promised to keep for use in court cases.
Actress C.C.H. Pounder is known for playing the role of "Loretta Wade" on the hit CBS show
NCIS:
New Orleans. But did you know she was an avid art collector? The
actress and former gallery owner got Xavier University's attention and
wanted to display some of Ms. Pounder's pieces.
Pope Francis has told Catholic sex abuse victims that they committed "slander" by making their reports.
It was all in a day's work for the ever-unpredictable Pope Francis.
First he celebrated the first-ever airborne papal wedding, marrying two
flight attendants at 36,000 feet during a flight on Thursday over Chile.
Former US Marine Drew Carey has signed on to play a character by the name of "Marine
Sergeant John Ross" in an upcoming episode of the ongoing fifteenth
season of
NCIS. "John Ross" retired from his work as a Marine sergeant and now spends his days shipping care packages to active duty servicemen but finds himself accused of murder.
The Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority ferry line has decided to not show CNN, Fox News or MSNBC after customer complaints, and will instead air The Weather Channel.
Facebook, tired of being accused of bias and blamed for "fake news,"
is now leaving it up to users to decide which news organizations are
credible and which are not. The social media organization has announced that it would rank news organizations by credibility based on users’
responses to "trust ranking" surveys, with organizations determined to
be "broadly trusted" likely to see a boost in readership. In a statement,
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote that the
organization is no longer comfortable deciding which news outlets are
trustworthy, saying they "decided that having the community determine
which sources are broadly trusted would be most objective. The hard question we’ve struggled with is how to decide what news
sources are broadly trusted," Zuckerberg wrote. "We could try to make
that decision ourselves, but that’s not something we’re comfortable
with. We considered asking outside experts, which would take the
decision out of our hands but would likely not solve the objectivity
problem. Or we could ask you - the community - and have your feedback
determine the ranking."
The wrecking ball could be
swinging toward the old Club Imperial, a St. Louis, Mo., music venue landmark that
helped launch the careers of Ike and Tina Turner. Bought at a city delinquent tax sale over the summer, the new owner of the
building at the southwest corner of Goodfellow Boulevard and West Florissant
Avenue said he'’d be happy to sell it to someone to rehab it, but the only
proposal he received for the property was from someone who wants to tear it down
for a restaurant.
Singer Tom Petty died of an overdose, his family says.
The
legendary singer-songwriter's overdose in October was caused by taking
several pain medications, according to a statement issued yesterday.
New Zealand's prime minister says she is expecting her first child in
June. Jacinda Ardern says she'll take six weeks of leave after the birth
and her partner will be a stay-at-home dad.
A prank intended to fool snow removers in Montreal, Canada, snagged a much more delicious target: the cops. The Canadian man and local police had a good laugh after the Montreal resident fooled officers with a full-size car made entirely of snow.
Police in Portugal and Spain said they seized hundreds of kilograms of cocaine hidden inside fresh pineapples, and arrested nine people.
The state of Ohio is launching a voluntary accreditation program for Ohio's licensed private investigators and companies that provide security services. The program's standards were developed last fall by the Department of Public Safety's Private Investigator and Security Guard Services unit.
And Sunset
Hills, Calif.-based Panera Bread on Thursday filed a petition with the Food and Drug
Administration asking that it establish a clear definition of one of the
world’s simplest foods —- an egg. Without such a definition, the food industry is allowed to promote egg
products on menus and in advertising as eggs, even when the products consist of
multiple non-egg ingredients, Panera said in a statement. "“We firmly believe that if I ask for an egg, I should get an egg,"” Blaine
Hurst, Panera’s' president and chief executive officer, said in a phone
interview. He said such a move continues the discussion about what’s in our food, and
about being transparent. Sara Burnett, Panera’s' director of wellness and food policy, said the
company’s petition to define eggs is another step toward meeting the consumer’s
right to clear labeling, and that half of the top 10 fast-casual restaurants
that sell breakfast have an egg made of five ingredients or more. The petition comes as the chain, which operates in Missouri as the St. Louis Bread
Co., markets its newest breakfast sandwiches that rolled out nationally late
last year. Only a small amount of citric acid is used in its scrambled eggs. While developing the sandwiches, the company said it discovered that current
FDA regulations do not establish a “definition and standard of identity” for
eggs. Without a definition, companies can sell food under the generic term of egg,
even if that food contains additives such as butter-type flavors, gums and added
color. Panera contends 100 percent, real eggs should be defined as freshly prepared,
cracked shell eggs and/or egg whites with no additives. The new sandwiches move Panera from the more commercial method of cooking
eggs —- hardcooking them in a ring known in the industry as an egg puck - — to a
made-to-order method such as over-easy or scrambled. Hurst said that shift required training more than 10,000 employees how to
cook eggs in the new way.
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