Defense – Federal News Network https://federalnewsnetwork.com Helping feds meet their mission. Tue, 05 Jul 2022 11:03:08 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/cropped-icon-512x512-1-60x60.png Defense – Federal News Network https://federalnewsnetwork.com 32 32 High cost of Russian gains in Ukraine may limit new advance https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2022/07/high-cost-of-russian-gains-in-ukraine-may-limit-new-advance/ https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2022/07/high-cost-of-russian-gains-in-ukraine-may-limit-new-advance/#respond Tue, 05 Jul 2022 10:47:55 +0000 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/?p=4134881 After more than four months of ferocious fighting, Russia claimed a key victory: full control over one of the two provinces in Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland.

But Moscow’s seizure of the last major stronghold of Ukrainian resistance in Luhansk province came at a steep price. The critical question now is whether Russia can muster enough strength for a new offensive to complete its capture of the Donbas and make gains elsewhere in Ukraine.

“Yes, the Russians have seized the Luhansk region, but at what price?” asked Oleh Zhdanov, a military analyst in Ukraine, noting that some Russian units involved in the battle lost up to a half their soldiers.

Even President Vladimir Putin acknowledged Monday that Russian troops involved in action in Luhansk need to “take some rest and beef up their combat capability.”

That raises doubts about whether Moscow’s forces and their separatist allies are ready to quickly thrust deeper into Donetsk, the other province that makes up the Donbas. Observers estimated in recent weeks that Russia controlled about half of Donetsk, and battle lines have changed little since then.

What happens in the Donbas could determine the course of the war. If Russia succeeds there, it could free up its forces to grab even more land and dictate the terms of any peace agreement. If Ukraine, on the other hand, manages to pin the Russians down for a protracted period, it could build up the resources for a counteroffensive.

Exhausting the Russians has long been part of the plan for the Ukrainians, who began the conflict outgunned — but hoped Western weapons could eventually tip the scales in their favor.

They are already effectively using heavy howitzers and advanced rocket systems sent by the U.S. and other Western allies, and more is on the way. But Ukrainian forces have said they remain badly outmatched.

Ukraine’s Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said recently that Russian forces were firing 10 times more ammunition than the Ukrainian military.

After a failed attempt at a lightning advance on the capital of Kyiv in the opening weeks of the war, Russian forces withdrew from many parts of northern and central Ukraine and turned their attention to the Donbas, a region of mines and factories where Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces since 2014.

Since then, Russia has adopted a slow-and-steady approach that allowed it to seize several remaining Ukrainian strongholds in Luhansk over the course of recent weeks.

While Ukrainian officials have acknowledged that their troops have withdrawn from the city of Lysychansk, the last bulwark of their resistance, the presidential office said Tuesday the military was still defending small areas in Luhansk.

Zhdanov, the analyst, predicted that the Russians would likely rely on their edge in firepower to “apply the same scorched earth tactics and blast the entire cities away” in Donetsk. The same day that Russia claimed it had taken the last major city in Luhansk, new artillery attacks were reported in cities in Donetsk.

But Russia’s approach is not without drawbacks. Moscow has not given a casualty count since it said some 1,300 troops were killed in the first month of fighting, but Western officials have said that was just a fraction of real losses. Since then, Western observers have noted that the number of Russian troops involved in combat in Ukraine has dwindled, reflecting both heavy attrition and the Kremlin’s failure to fill up the ranks.

The limited manpower has forced the Russian commanders to avoid ambitious attempts to encircle large areas in the Donbas, opting for smaller maneuvers and relying on heavy artillery barrages to slowly force the Ukrainians to retreat.

The military has also relied heavily on separatists, who have conducted several rounds of mobilization, and Western officials and analysts have said Moscow has increasingly engaged private military contractors. It has also tried to encourage the Russian men who have done their tour of duty to sign up again, though it’s is unclear how successful that has been.

While Putin so far has refrained from declaring a broad mobilization that might foment social discontent, recently proposed legislation suggested that Moscow was looking for other ways to replenish the ranks. The bill would have allowed young conscripts, who are drafted into the army for a year and barred from fighting, to immediately switch their status and sign contracts to become full professional soldiers. The draft was shelved amid strong criticism.

Some Western officials and analysts have argued that attrition is so heavy that it could force Moscow to suspend its offensive at some point later in the summer, but the Pentagon has cautioned that even though Russia has been churning through troops and supplies at rapid rates it still has abundant resources.

U.S. director of national intelligence Avril Haines said Putin appeared to accept the slow pace of the advance in the Donbas and now hoped to win by crushing Ukraine’s most battle-hardened forces.

“We believe that Russia thinks that if they are able to crush really one of the most capable and well-equipped forces in the east of Ukraine … that will lead to a slump basically in the Ukrainian resistance and that that may give them greater opportunities,” Haines said.

If Russia wins in the Donbas, it could build on its seizure of the southern Kherson region and part of the neighboring Zaporizhzhia to try to eventually cut Ukraine off from its Black Sea coast all the way to the Romanian border. If that succeeded, it would deal a crushing blow to the Ukrainian economy and also create a corridor to Moldova’s separatist region of Transnistria that hosts a Russian military base.

But that is far from assured. Mykola Sunhurovsky of the Razumkov Center, a Kyiv-based think tank, predicted that growing supplies of heavy Western weapons, including HIMARS multiple rocket launchers, will help Ukraine turn the tide of the war.

“The supplies of weapons will allow Ukraine to start a counteroffensive in the south and fight for Kherson and other cities,” Sunhurovsky said.

But Ukraine has also faced massive personnel losses: up to 200 soldiers a day in recent weeks of ferocious fighting in the east, according to officials.

“Overall, local military balance in Donbas favors Russia, but long term trends still favor Ukraine,” wrote Michael Kofman, an expert on the Russian military and program director at the Virginia-based CNA think tank. “However, that estimate is conditional on sustained Western military assistance, and is not necessarily predictive of outcomes. This is likely to be a protracted war.”

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Associated Press journalists Yuras Karmanau in Lviv, Ukraine, and Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.

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Follow AP’s coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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Putin declares victory in eastern Ukraine region of Luhansk https://federalnewsnetwork.com/world-news/2022/07/russia-tries-to-press-its-offensive-into-ukraines-east/ https://federalnewsnetwork.com/world-news/2022/07/russia-tries-to-press-its-offensive-into-ukraines-east/#respond Mon, 04 Jul 2022 20:14:30 +0000 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/?p=4133691 POKROVSK, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday declared victory in the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk, one day after Ukrainian forces withdrew from their last remaining bulwark of resistance in the province.

Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reported to Putin in a televised meeting Monday that Russian forces had taken control of Luhansk, which together with the neighboring Donetsk province makes up Ukraine’s industrial heartland of Donbas.

Shoigu told Putin that “the operation” was completed on Sunday after Russian troops overran the city of Lysychansk, the last stronghold of Ukrainian forces in Luhansk.

Putin, in turn, said that the military units “that took part in active hostilities and achieved success, victory” in Luhansk, “should rest, increase their combat capabilities.”

Putin’s declaration came as Russian forces tried to press their offensive deeper into eastern Ukraine after the Ukrainian military confirmed that its forces had withdrawn from Lysychansk on Sunday. Luhansk governor Serhii Haidai said on Monday that Ukrainian forces had retreated from the city to avoid being surrounded.

“There was a risk of Lysychansk encirclement,” Haidai told the Associated Press, adding that Ukrainian troops could have held on for a few more weeks but would have potentially paid too high a price.

“We managed to do centralized withdrawal and evacuate all injured,” Haidai said. “We took back all the equipment, so from this point withdrawal was organized well.”

The Ukrainian General Staff said Russian forces were now focusing their efforts on pushing toward the line of Siversk, Fedorivka and Bakhmut in the Donetsk region, about half of which is controlled by Russia. The Russian army has also intensified its shelling of the key Ukrainian strongholds of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, deeper in Donetsk.

On Sunday, six people, including a 9-year-old girl, were killed in the Russian shelling of Sloviansk and another 19 people were wounded, according to local authorities. Kramatorsk also came under fire on Sunday.

An intelligence briefing Monday from the British Defense Ministry supported the Ukrainian military’s assessment, noting that Russian forces will “now almost certainly” switch to capturing Donetsk. The briefing said the conflict in Donbas has been “grinding and attritional,” and is unlikely to change in the coming weeks.

While the Russian army has a massive advantage in firepower, military analysts say that it doesn’t have any significant superiority in the number of troops. That means Moscow lacks resources for quick land gains and can only advance slowly, relying on heavy artillery and rocket barrages to soften Ukrainian defenses.

Putin has made capturing the entire Donbas a key goal in his war in Ukraine, now in its fifth month. Moscow-backed separatists in Donbas have battled Ukrainian forces since 2014 when they declared independence from Kyiv after the Russian annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea. Russia formally recognized the self-proclaimed republics days before its Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.

Since failing to take Kyiv and other areas in Ukraine’s northeast early in the war, Russia has focused on Donbas, unleashing fierce shelling and engaging in house-to-house combat that devastated cities in the region.

Russia’s invasion has also devastated Ukraine’s agricultural sector, disrupting supply chains of seed and fertilizer needed by Ukrainian farmers and blocking the export of grain, a key source of revenue for the country.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in his nightly video address, called for immediate economic aid to help the country rebuild even as fighting continues.

“The restoration of Ukraine is not only about what needs to be done later after our victory, but also about what needs to be done right now. And we must do this together with our partners, with the entire democratic world,” he said.

“A significant part of the economy has been destroyed by hostilities and Russian strikes. Thousands of enterprises do not work. And this means a high need for jobs, to provide social benefits, despite the decrease in tax revenues,” Zelenskyy said.

In its Monday intelligence report, Britain’s defense ministry pointed to the Russian blockade of the key Ukrainian port of Odesa, which has severely restricted grain exports. They predicted that Ukraine’s agricultural exports would reach only 35% of the 2021 total this year as a result.

As Moscow pushed its offensive across Ukraine’s east, areas in western Russia came under attack Sunday in a revival of sporadic apparent Ukrainian strikes across the border. The governor of the Belgorod region in Western Russia said fragments of an intercepted Ukrainian missile killed four people Sunday. In the Russian city of Kursk, two Ukrainian drones were shot down, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

In other developments:

— Ukrainian soldiers returning from the front lines in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region — where Russia is waging a fierce offensive — describe life during what has turned into a grueling war of attrition as apocalyptic.

— Two Russian airplanes departed Bulgaria on Sunday with scores of Russian diplomatic staff and their families amid a mass expulsion that has sent tensions soaring between the historically close nations, a Russian diplomat said.

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Associated Press journalists Inna Varenytsia, Maria Grazia Murru and Oleksandr Stashevskyi contributed to this report from Kyiv.

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Follow AP’s coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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Lebanese PM criticizes Hezbollah over drone provocation https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2022/07/lebanese-pm-criticizes-hezbollah-over-drone-provocation/ https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2022/07/lebanese-pm-criticizes-hezbollah-over-drone-provocation/#respond Mon, 04 Jul 2022 12:35:16 +0000 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/?p=4133846 BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister on Monday criticized the militant group Hezbollah for sending three unmanned aircraft over an Israeli gas installation last week, saying it was an unnecessarily risky action.

Najib Mikati’s comment came two days after Hezbollah launched three drones over the Karish gas field in the Mediterranean Sea.

The Israeli military said on Saturday said that it has shot down the three drones, before Hezbollah issued a statement saying they were unarmed and were sent on a reconnaissance mission. “The mission was accomplished and the message was received,” Hezbollah said.

Lebanon claims the Karish gas field is disputed territory under ongoing maritime border negotiations, whereas Israel says it lies within its internationally recognized economic waters.

“Lebanon believes that any actions outside the state’s framework and diplomatic context while negotiations are taking place is unacceptable and exposes it to unnecessary risks,” Foreign Minister Abdallah Bouhabib said, citing Mikati’s statement.

Israel and Hezbollah are bitter enemies that fought a monthlong war in the summer of 2006. Israel considers the group its most serious immediate threat, estimating it has some 150,000 rockets and missiles aimed at Israel.

The incident in the Karish gas field took place soon after U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein recently visited Lebanese and Israeli officials, as talks were advancing.

Mikati on Saturday told reporters that Lebanon had received “encouraging information” regarding the border dispute, but refused to comment until after he receives a “written official response to the suggestions by the Lebanese side.”

Negotiations between Lebanon and Israel to determine their maritime borders commenced in October 2020, when the two sides held indirect U.S.-mediated talks in southern Lebanon. Since taking over the mediation from late 2021, Hochstein has resorted to shuttle diplomacy with visits to both Beirut and Jerusalem.

The two countries, which have been officially at war since Israel’s creation in 1948, both claim some 860 square kilometers (330 square miles) of the Mediterranean Sea. Lebanon hopes to exploit offshore gas reserves as it grapples with the worst economic crisis in its modern history.

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Japan sights China, Russia warships near disputed islands https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2022/07/japan-sights-china-russia-warships-near-disputed-islands/ https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2022/07/japan-sights-china-russia-warships-near-disputed-islands/#respond Mon, 04 Jul 2022 11:45:32 +0000 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/?p=4133752 TOKYO (AP) — Japan protested to Beijing after spotting Chinese and Russian warships just outside its territorial waters around the disputed East China Sea islands on Monday.

Japan’s Defense Ministry said a Chinese frigate sailed inside the “contiguous zone,” just outside Japanese territorial waters around Senkaku Islands, which Beijing also claims and calls the Diaoyu, for several minutes Monday morning.

The Chinese warship’s presence was confirmed about 40 minutes after a Russian frigate had entered the waters for more than an hour, the ministry said.

It was not immediately clear what was behind the latest Chinese-Russian military activity in the area. Japanese defense officials mentioned a possibility that the ships may have been there to avoid a typhoon.

Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seiji Kihara said Japan lodged a protest expressing “grave concern” to Beijing over the incident.

“The Senkaku islands are an inherent part of Japan’s territory historically and under international law. The government will deal with the matter calmly but firmly to protect the Japanese land, territorial waters and air space,” Kihara said.

There was no violation of the territorial waters, he said.

In Beijing, China justified the frigate’s entry and criticized Tokyo’s protest. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said the islands are Chinese territory.

“The activities of Chinese vessels in waters nearby are lawful and justified,” he said at a regular news conference. “Japan has no right to make such irresponsible remarks.”

Japan sees China’s increasingly assertive military activity in the East and South China seas as a threat to regional stability. Toyo is especially sensitive to Chinese activities near the disputed islands.

Kihara said that Monday’s incursion into the contiguous zone, which is between the territorial sea and the wider exclusive economic zone, by the Chinese warship was a fourth such event since June 2016.

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Associated Press writer Ken Moritsugu in Beijing contributed to this report.

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UK military investigates hacks on Army social media accounts https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2022/07/uk-military-investigates-hacks-on-army-social-media-accounts/ https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2022/07/uk-military-investigates-hacks-on-army-social-media-accounts/#respond Mon, 04 Jul 2022 11:25:41 +0000 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/?p=4133709 LONDON (AP) — British military authorities are trying to find out who hacked the army’s social media accounts over the weekend, flooding them with cryptocurrency videos and posts related to collectible electronic art.

The investigation was launched after authorized content on the army’s YouTube account was replaced with a video feed promoting cryptocurrencies that included images of billionaire Elon Musk. The Army’s Twitter account retweeted a number of posts about non-fungible tokens, unique digital images that can be bought and sold but have no physical counterpart.

“Apologies for the temporary interruption to our feed,’’ the army said in a tweet posted after the Twitter account was restored on Sunday. “We will conduct a full investigation and learn from this incident. Thanks for following us, and normal service will now resume.”

The Ministry of Defense said late Sunday that both breaches had been “resolved.”

While internet users were unable to access the Army’s YouTube site on Monday, a spokesperson said the site was down for standard maintenance. The Twitter feed was operating normally.

Although U.K. officials have previously raised concerns about state-sponsored Russian hacking, the military did not speculate on who was responsible for Sunday’s breaches.

“The army takes information security extremely seriously, and until their investigation is complete it would be inappropriate to comment further,” the Ministry of Defense said.

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‘Hell on earth’: Ukrainian soldiers describe eastern front https://federalnewsnetwork.com/world-news/2022/07/hell-on-earth-ukrainian-soldiers-describe-eastern-front/ https://federalnewsnetwork.com/world-news/2022/07/hell-on-earth-ukrainian-soldiers-describe-eastern-front/#respond Mon, 04 Jul 2022 11:05:58 +0000 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/?p=4133673 BAKHMUT, Ukraine (AP) — Torched forests and cities burned to the ground. Colleagues with severed limbs. Bombardments so relentless the only option is to lie in a trench, wait and pray.

Ukrainian soldiers returning from the front lines in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region — where Russia is waging a fierce offensive — describe life during what has turned into a grueling war of attrition as apocalyptic.

In interviews with The Associated Press, some complained of chaotic organization, desertions and mental health problems caused by relentless shelling. Others spoke of high morale, their colleagues’ heroism, and a commitment to keep fighting, even as the better-equipped Russians control more of the combat zone.

Lt. Volodymyr Nazarenko, 30, second-in-command of the Ukrainian National Guard’s Svoboda Battalion, was with troops who retreated from Sievierodonetsk under orders from military leaders. During a month-long battle, Russian tanks obliterated any potential defensive positions and turned a city with a prewar population of 101,000 into “a burnt-down desert,” he said.

“They shelled us every day. I do not want to lie about it. But these were barrages of ammunition at every building,” Nazarenko said. “The city was methodically leveled out.”

At the time, Sievierodonetsk was one of two major cities under Ukrainian control in Luhansk province, where pro-Russia separatists declared an unrecognized republic eight years ago. By the time the order to withdraw came on June 24, the Ukrainians were surrounded on three sides and mounting a defense from a chemical plant also sheltering civilians.

“If there was a hell on Earth somewhere, it was in Sievierodonetsk,” Artem Ruban, a soldier in Nazarenko’s battalion, said from the comparative safety of Bakhmut, 64 kilometers (40 miles) to the southwest of the since-captured city. “The inner strength of our boys allowed them to hold the city until the last moment.”

“Those were not human conditions they had to fight in. It is difficult to explain this to you here, what they feel like now or what it was like there,” Ruban said, blinking in the sunlight. “They were fighting until the end there. The task was to destroy the enemy, no matter what.”

Nazarenko, who also fought in Kyiv and elsewhere in the east after Russia invaded Ukraine, considers the Ukrainian operation in Sievierodonetsk “a victory” despite the outcome. He said the defenders managed to limit casualties while stalling the Russian advance for much longer than expected, depleting Russia’s resources.

“Their army incurred huge losses, and their attack potential was obliterated,” he said.

Both the lieutenant and the soldier under his command expressed confidence that Ukraine would take back all occupied territories and defeat Russia. They insisted morale remained high. Other soldiers, most with no combat experience before the invasion, shared more pessimistic accounts while insisting on anonymity or using only their first names to discuss their experiences.

Oleksiy, a member of the Ukrainian army who started fighting against the Moscow-backed separatists in 2016, had just returned from the front with a heavy limp. He said he was wounded on the battlefield in Zolote, a town the Russians also have since occupied.

“On the TV, they are showing beautiful pictures of the front lines, the solidarity, the army, but the reality is very different” he said, adding he does not think the delivery of more Western weapons would change the course of the war.

His battalion started running out of ammunition within a few weeks, Oleksiy said. At one point, the relentless shelling kept the soldiers from standing up in the trenches, he said, exhaustion visible on his lined face.

A senior presidential aide reported last month that 100 to 200 Ukrainian troops were dying every day, but the country has not provided the total number killed in action. Oleksiy claimed his unit lost 150 men during its first three days of fighting, many from a loss of blood.

Due to the relentless bombardments, wounded soldiers were only evacuated at night, and sometimes they had to wait up to two days, he said.

“The commanders don’t care if you are psychologically broken. If you have a working heart, if you have arms and legs, you have to go back in,” he added.

Mariia, a 41-year-old platoon commander who joined the Ukrainian army in 2018 after working as a lawyer and giving birth to a daughter, explained that the level of danger and discomfort can vary greatly depending on a unit’s location and access to supply lines.

Front lines that have existed since the conflict with pro-Russia separatists began in 2014 are more static and predictable, whereas places that became battlegrounds since Russia sent its troops in to invade are “a different world,” she said.

Mariia, who refused to share her surname for security reasons, said her husband is currently fighting in such a “hot spot.” Everyone misses and worries about their loved ones, and though this causes distress, her subordinates have kept their spirits high, she said.

“We are the descendants of Cossacks, we are free and brave. It is in our blood,” she said. “We are going to fight to the end.”

Two other soldiers the AP interviewed — former office-workers in Kyiv with no prior battle experience — said they were sent to the front lines in the east as soon as they completed their initial training. They said they observed “terrible organization” and “illogical decision-making,” and many people in their battalion refused to fight.

One of the soldiers said he smokes marijuana daily. “Otherwise, I would lose my mind, I would desert. It’s the only way I can cope” he said.

A 28-year-old former teacher in Sloviansk who “never imagined” he would fight for his country described Ukraine’s battlefields as a completely different life, with a different value system and emotional highs as well as lows.

“There is joy, there is sorrow. Everything is intertwined,” he said.

Friendship with his colleagues provide the bright spots. But he also saw fellow soldiers succumbing to extreme fatigue, both physical and mental, and displaying symptoms of PTSD.

“It’s hard to live under constant stress, sleep-deprived and malnourished. To see all those horrors with your own eyes — the dead, the torn-off limbs. It is unlikely that someone’s psyche can withstand that,” he said.

Yet he, too, insisted that the motivation to defend their country remains.

“We are ready to endure and fight with clenched teeth. No matter how hard and difficult it is,” the teacher said, speaking from a fishing store that was converted into a military distribution hub. “Who will defend my home and my family, if it is not me?”

The center in the city of Sloviansk provides local military units with equipment and provisions, and gives soldiers a place to go during brief respites from the physical grind and horrors of battle.

Tetiana Khimion, a 43-year-old dance choreographer, set up the center when the war started. All kinds of soldiers pass through, she says, from skilled special forces and war-hardened veterans to civilians-turned-fighters who signed up only recently.

“It can be like this: For the first time he comes, smiles widely, he can even be shy. The next time he comes, and there is emptiness in his eyes,” Khimion said. “He has been through something, and he is different.”

Behind her, a group of young Ukrainian soldiers on rotation from the front lines sit sharing jokes and a pizza. The thud of artillery can be heard a few miles away.

“Mostly they hope for the better. Yes, sometimes they come in a little sad, but we hope to raise their spirits here, too,” Khimion said. “We hug, we smile at each other and then they go back into the fields.”

On Sunday, Russian forces occupied the last Ukrainian stronghold in Luhansk province and stepped up rocket strikes on Donetsk, the Donbas province where the center is located.

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Valerii Rezik contributed to this story.

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Follow AP’s coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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WWII Medal of Honor recipient to lie in honor at US Capitol https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2022/07/wwii-medal-of-honor-recipient-to-lie-in-honor-at-us-capitol/ https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2022/07/wwii-medal-of-honor-recipient-to-lie-in-honor-at-us-capitol/#respond Sun, 03 Jul 2022 23:37:59 +0000 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/?p=4133894 WASHINGTON (AP) — Hershel W. “Woody” Williams, the last remaining Medal of Honor recipient from World War II, will lie in honor at the U.S. Capitol, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Sunday.

A date and other details will be announced later, Pelosi and Schumer said in a joint statement.

“Woody Williams embodied the best of America: living a life of duty, honor and courage,” Pelosi said. Schumer said: “Woody Williams was an American hero who embodied the best of our country and the greatest generation.”

Williams, who died on Wednesday at 98, was a legend in his native West Virginia for his heroics under fire over several crucial hours at the battle for Iwo Jima. As a young Marine corporal, Williams went ahead of his unit in February 1945 and eliminated a series of Japanese machine gun positions. Facing small-arms fire, Williams fought for four hours, repeatedly returning to prepare demolition charges and obtain flamethrowers.

Later that year, the 22-year-old Williams received the Medal of Honor from President Harry Truman. The Medal of Honor is the nation’s highest award for military valor.

In remarks at a memorial Sunday in Charleston, West Virginia, U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin said Williams “never quit giving back.” That included raising money for gold star families — immediate family members of fallen service members — with an annual motorcycle ride.

“It’s raised hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Manchin said. He joked that “it’s not going to be stopping, because Woody would come after me in a heartbeat.”

Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, said he will miss Williams’ phone calls, noting how Williams would always give him directions and to-do lists.

“I’ll miss him telling me how I’m supposed to vote. And when I didn’t, how I made a mistake,” Manchin said.

Gen. David H. Berger, commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, said at the memorial that Williams always took exception to the notion that he accomplished that feat alone. He always acknowledged the other men on his team, some of whom never returned home.

“Woody may be the most genuine person I ever met,” Berger said, noting his unique combination of humility and humor. “He could make you laugh. He could make you care. That was his gift.”

Williams remained in the Marines after the war, serving a total of 20 years, before working for the Veterans Administration for 33 years as a veterans service representative. In 2018, the Huntington VA medical center was renamed in his honor, and the Navy commissioned a mobile base sea vessel in his name in 2020.

“He left an indelible mark on our Marine Corps,” Berger said. “As long as there are Marines, his legacy will live on.”

Manchin announced during his remarks that Williams would lie in state at the Rotunda, but Pelosi and Schumer said he would lie in honor. The distinction, according to the Architect of the Capitol, which oversees the building, is that government officials and military officers lie in state while private citizens lie in honor.

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Texas’ border mission grows, but crossings still high https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2022/07/texas-border-mission-grows-but-crossings-still-high/ https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2022/07/texas-border-mission-grows-but-crossings-still-high/#respond Sat, 02 Jul 2022 14:17:32 +0000 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/?p=4133647 AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Following the horror of a human-smuggling attempt that left 53 people dead, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott ordered state troopers to inspect more trucks — again expanding a border security mission that has cost billions, given the National Guard arrest powers and bused migrants to Washington, D.C.

What Abbott’s get-tough plans haven’t done in the year since he began rolling them out is curb the number of people crossing the border.

Along the border in Texas, where officials say Monday’s fatal tractor-trailer journey began, U.S. authorities stopped migrants from crossing illegally 523,000 times between January and May, up from 417,000 over the same span a year ago. It reflects how, across the nation’s entire southern border, crossings are at or near the highest in about two decades.

The deadliest smuggling attempt in U.S. history illustrated the limitations of Abbott’s massive border apparatus as the two-term governor, who is up for reelection in November, points the finger at President Joe Biden. Immigration advocates have disagreed with Abbott’s criticism and said Biden is focused on enforcement.

“Texas is going to take action to do our part to try to reduce the illegal immigration coming into our country,” Abbott said Wednesday while on the border in the town of Eagle Pass.

He said that state troopers would begin inspecting more tractor-trailers in wake of the tragedy. He did not provide details about the extent or location of the inspections. But unlike an inspection effort three months ago that gridlocked the state’s 1,200-mile (1,930-kilometer) border for a week, troopers are not checking every tractor-trailer as it comes into Texas.

The Texas Department of Public Safety did not respond to questions Friday about how many trucks have been inspected since the governor’s order or whether any migrants have been found.

Critics have questioned the transparency and metrics of what is now a $3 billion mission since Operation Lone Star was launched in the spring of 2021. Some arrests, including for low-level amounts of marijuana during traffic stops, appear to have little to do with border security. After a rushed deployment of the Texas National Guard, some members complained of low morale, late paychecks and having little to do.

Since April, Abbott has offered bus rides to Washington, D.C., to migrants who cross the border, saying he was taking the immigration issue to Congress’ doorstep. So far, about 3,000 migrants have taken the trip at a cost of more than $5 million.

“Greg Abbott, all he wants to do is gotcha phrases and gotcha stunts without any real solutions,” said state Sen. Roland Gutierrez, a Democrat whose district includes the back road in San Antonio where the truck was found abandoned. “He’s spent over $10 billion supposedly securing the border and hasn’t done one damn thing to fix this.”

U.S. border authorities are stopping migrants more often on the southern border than at any time in at least two decades. Migrants were stopped nearly 240,000 times in May, up by one-third from a year ago.

Comparisons to pre-pandemic levels are complicated because migrants expelled under a public health authority known as Title 42 face no legal consequences, encouraging repeat attempts. Authorities say 25% of encounters in May were with people who had been stopped at least once in the previous year.

Abbott’s earlier truck inspection effort drew wide backlash and caused deep economic losses, and troopers found no migrants or drugs.

Abbott stopped the checks after signing agreements with governors in Mexico’s four neighboring states, but warned he might reimpose them if he didn’t see improvement. The number of migrants crossing in May was higher than in April.

Asked about it Wednesday, Abbott said “accountability may come soon.” He also blamed Mexico’s federal government, saying it needs to do more.

He says the operation overall has been successful, pointing to more than 4,000 migrants arrested on state criminal trespassing charges, 14,000 felony arrests and drug seizures. He also said Texas has turned back more than 22,000 migrants over the last year — a fraction of the attempted border crossings across the southern border in a single month.

Before Monday’s tragedy, the deadliest attempted smuggling in Texas was in 2003 when the bodies of 19 people were found dead in a sweltering trailer about 100 miles (160 kilometers) southwest of San Antonio. Jeff Vaden, a former U.S. attorney who helped prosecute that case, said sentences for smuggling migrants are not high enough.

“It’s not a deterrent for people taking that risk,” he said.

One of the first to visit some of the migrants pulled from the truck and hospitalized in San Antonio was Antonio Fernandez, president and CEO of Catholic Charities, which provides migrants and their families with housing and assistance.

Fernandez said summer is usually a slower time, but not this year. A hotel used by Catholic Charities that typically shelters 50 people has lately been filled with 100 every night, and he now has eight members of staff who help families with immigration, up from just one.

“My conversations with a lot of these people, clearly, they have nothing in their countries,” Fernandez said. “They don’t have a life and they don’t feel safe. They’re hungry. For them, America is not a choice. It’s the only option they have.”

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Virgin Orbit rocket launches 7 US defense satellites https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2022/07/virgin-orbit-rocket-launches-7-us-defense-satellites/ https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2022/07/virgin-orbit-rocket-launches-7-us-defense-satellites/#respond Sat, 02 Jul 2022 08:14:21 +0000 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/?p=4133713 LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Virgin Orbit rocket carrying seven U.S. Defense Department satellites was launched from a special Boeing 747 flying off the Southern California coast and streaked toward space Friday night.

The modified jumbo jet took off from Mojave Air and Space Port in the Mojave Desert and released the rocket over the Pacific Ocean, northwest of Los Angeles.

The launch was procured by the U.S. Space Force for a Defense Department test program. The seven payloads will conduct various experiments.

“And there we have it, folks!” the company tweeted shortly before 1 a.m. local time, about an hour after the rocket separated from the 747. “NewtonFour successfully reignited and deployed all customer spacecraft into their target orbit.”

It was Virgin Orbit’s fourth commercial launch and first night launch. The launch was originally scheduled for Wednesday night, but that attempt was scrubbed due to a propellant temperature issue.

Virgin Orbit named the mission “Straight Up” after the hit on Paula Abdul’s debut studio album “Forever Your Girl,” which was released through Virgin Records in 1988.

Virgin Orbit was founded in 2017 by British billionaire Richard Branson. It is headquartered in Long Beach, California, and currently conducts launches from the Mojave airport but is planning international missions.

Later this year, the company will launch two satellites on a mission flying out of Newquay Airport in Cornwall, England. The satellites will conduct radio signal monitoring tests in a joint project of the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defense and the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office.

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Distrust remains after Navy report on tainted Hawaii water https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2022/07/distrust-remains-after-navy-report-on-tainted-hawaii-water/ https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2022/07/distrust-remains-after-navy-report-on-tainted-hawaii-water/#respond Sat, 02 Jul 2022 02:44:52 +0000 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/?p=4133308 HONOLULU (AP) — Lauren Wright continues to be leery of the water coming out of the taps in her family’s U.S. Navy home in Hawaii, saying she doesn’t trust that it’s safe.

Wright, her sailor husband and their three children ages 8 to 17 were among the thousands of people who were sickened late last year after fuel from military storage tanks leaked into Pearl Harbor’s tap water.

The family has returned to their military housing after spending months in Honolulu hotels, but they continue taking safety measures including taking short, five-minute showers. They don’t drink their tap water or cook with it.

A Navy investigation released Thursday blamed the fuel leak and the water crisis that followed on shoddy management and human error. Some Hawaii residents, including Native Hawaiians, officials and military families said the report doesn’t help restore trust in the Navy.

“I was at least hoping for some sort of remorse for the families and everybody involved in this,” Wright said.

She said the ordeal has changed her view on the military from a decade ago when her husband first joined.

“I was the proud Navy spouse, you know, stickers and T-shirts,” she said. “I feel like the Navy has failed at what they promised every service member. They failed at a lot of things. And I’m not so proud.”

It’s difficult to trust the Navy partly because Hawaii residents and officials for years have questioned the safety of the giant fuel storage tanks that have sat above an important aquifer since World War II, said Kamanamaikalani Beamer, a former trustee of the Commission on Water Resource Management.

“Releasing a report saying that they were lying to us is not a step towards building trust,” he said. “De-fueling and getting the tanks out permanently, setting aside funds to remediate the water systems all across Oahu and replant our forests — when I see steps like that happening — that’s a tangible step toward rebuilding trust.”

Some Native Hawaiians said the report only deepened a distrust in the military that dates to at least 1893, when a group of American businessmen, with support from U.S. Marines, overthrew the Hawaiian kingdom. More recently, Native Hawaiians fought to stop target practice bombing on the island of Kahoolawe and at Makua Valley in west Oahu.

“There’s no proof I should have faith in them,” said Kalehua Krug, with Ka’ohewai, a cultural organization advocating for a clean aquifer for Oahu. “They’ve done nothing but lie for generations.”

The Department of Defense recognizes the water problems “have damaged trust between the Department and the people of Hawaii, including Native Hawaiians — and it is committed to rebuilding that trust,” Gordon Trowbridge, acting assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, said in a statement.

The investigation report released Thursday listed a cascading series of mistakes from May 6, 2021, when operator error caused a pipe to rupture and 21,000 gallons (80,000 liters) of fuel to spill when it was being transferred between tanks. Most of the fuel spilled into a fire suppression line and sat there for six months, causing the line to sag. A cart rammed into this sagging line on Nov. 20, releasing 20,000 gallons (75,700 liters) of fuel.

The report said officials defaulted to assuming the best about what was happening when the spills occurred, instead of assuming the worst, and this contributed to their overlooking the severity of situation.

The spill contaminated the Navy’s water system. Fuel didn’t get into the Honolulu municipal water supply. But concerns the oil might migrate through the aquifer and get into the city’s wells prompted the Honolulu Board of Water Supply in December to shut down a key well serving some 400,000 people. The agency has been asking residents to conserve water because of this and unusually dry weather.

The tanks continue to pose a threat to Oahu’s drinking water while they hold fuel, said Ernest Lau, manager and chief engineer of the water utility.

The report saying it will take more than two years to drain the facility is concerning, Lau said Friday.

“The fact that they built this massive facility in three years, so can’t they find a way to do all the necessary work in less than two and a half years … I think it can be done,” he said, urging the Navy to look at shortening the timeline.

This week, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin “directed the establishment of a Joint Task Force led by a senior Navy admiral solely dedicated to a swift defueling effort, who will report to him through the commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, to oversee defueling of Red Hill as rapidly as safety allows,” Trowbridge said. “The Department recognizes that what we say is far less important than what we do, which is why its most senior leaders are focused on this effort.”

Kristina Baehr, an attorney who represents more than 100 military and civilian families who lodged claims against the Navy, said it was especially troubling to read in the report how pervasive the errors were.

“This is a national security issue,” she said, noting many of her clients were still experiencing the effects of the tainted water. “And our families and military communities cannot be mission-ready if the government has made them sick.”

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US announces $820M in Ukraine aid, including missile systems https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2022/07/us-announces-820m-in-ukraine-aid-including-missile-systems/ https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2022/07/us-announces-820m-in-ukraine-aid-including-missile-systems/#respond Fri, 01 Jul 2022 22:31:05 +0000 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/?p=4132807 WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. announced on Friday that it will provide Ukraine with $820 million in new military aid, including new surface-to-air missile systems and counter-artillery radars to respond to Russia’s heavy reliance on long-range strikes in the war.

Russia in recent days has launched dozens of missiles across Ukraine and pinned down Ukrainian forces with continuous fire for sometimes hours at a time. Ukraine’s leaders have publicly called on Western allies to quickly send more ammunition and advanced systems that will help them narrow the gap in equipment and manpower.

All told, the U.S. has committed more than $8.8 billion in weapons and military training to Ukraine, whose leaders have sought more help from Western allies to repel larger and heavily equipped Russian forces. About $7 billion of that aid has been announced since Russia’s February invasion.

“We are going to support Ukraine as long as it takes,” President Joe Biden said this week at a press conference during the NATO summit in Madrid. He argued that Russia had already suffered a blow to its international standing and major damage to its economy from Western sanctions imposed over the invasion.

The U.S. is giving Ukrainians “the capacity” so that “they can continue to resist the Russian aggression,” Biden said. “And so I don’t know how it’s going to end, but it will not end with a Russian defeat of Ukraine in Ukraine.”

Much of the aid formally announced Friday will take weeks or months to reach Ukraine.

As part of the new package, the U.S. will purchase two systems known as NASAMS, a Norwegian-developed anti-aircraft system that is used to protect the airspace around the White House and Capitol in Washington. A senior defense official told reporters the NASAMS are intended to help Ukraine transition away from using Soviet-era air defense systems that besides being well known to the Russians have to be repaired with spare parts that are hard to procure. The official briefed reporters on condition of anonymity to discuss military assessments.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed his gratitude.

“I am especially grateful today to the United States and to Biden personally for the package of support for Ukraine announced today, which includes very powerful NASAMS — an anti-aircraft missile system that will significantly strengthen our air defense. We have worked hard for these supplies,” Zelenskyy said late Friday in his nightly video address.

The Pentagon will also provide the Ukrainians with up to 150,000 rounds of 155-millimeter artillery ammunition. Given the high usage of artillery on both sides, it’s unclear how long those new rounds would last. The official declined to say how many estimated rounds Ukraine and Russia are firing daily.

And the Pentagon will also buy four counter-artillery radars for Ukraine. Those new purchases, funded by the Pentagon’s Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, require weeks at a minimum for defense companies to build. Ukrainians are also being trained to use the newly provided systems.

The Pentagon will also provide additional ammunition for medium-range rocket systems it provided Ukraine in June, known as the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS. The ammunition will come from the Defense Department’s own inventory under what’s known as drawdown authority and will be made available to Ukraine more quickly.

This is the 14th package of military weapons and equipment transferred to Ukraine from Defense Department stocks since August 2021.

The war has evolved into a grinding stalemate in which both sides are heavily reliant on artillery, according to Western officials and analysts. While Russia has not achieved its initial goals of toppling Ukraine’s government, it is believed to be making slow progress in consolidating control over the eastern Ukrainian region known as the Donbas.

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Delaware auditor dodges felony charges, guilty of misconduct https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2022/07/delaware-auditor-dodges-felony-charges-guilty-of-misconduct/ https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2022/07/delaware-auditor-dodges-felony-charges-guilty-of-misconduct/#respond Fri, 01 Jul 2022 19:32:59 +0000 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/?p=4132582 DOVER, Del. (AP) — The jury in the corruption trial of Delaware State Auditor Kathy McGuiness acquitted her on Friday of felony charges of theft and witness intimidation but found her guilty on three misdemeanor counts.

Jurors deliberated for about four hours over two days before finding McGuiness, a Democrat elected in 2018, guilty of conflict of interest, official misconduct and structuring a contract with a consulting firm to avoid compliance with state procurement rules.

It marks the first time in Delaware history that a sitting statewide elected official has been convicted on criminal charges.

Even though fellow Democrats quickly called on her to resign, the misdemeanor convictions don’t prevent McGuiness from holding public office, and she said she still plans to seek reelection in November.

The conflict of interest charge involved the May 2020 hiring of McGuiness’s daughter, Elizabeth “Saylar” McGuiness, who still works for the auditor’s office. Prosecutors alleged that Saylar McGuiness, 20, was hired even as other part-time workers in the auditor’s office left because of a lack of work during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic. Authorities said McGuiness then allowed her daughter special privileges, including access to a state vehicle and permission to work remotely while away at college in South Carolina, that were not available to other “casual-seasonal” workers.

The jury rejected the prosecution’s claim that, by exercising control over state funds used to pay Saylar McGuiness, and having access to their joint bank account, Kathy McGuiness committed felony theft. Jurors also acquitted her on a felony charge of intimidating and harassing employees who she suspected might be cooperating in an investigation of her office.

McGuiness was convicted, however, of structuring payments under a no-bid communications services contract with My Campaign Group, a consulting firm she had used in a 2016 campaign for lieutenant governor, to avoid having to get them approved by the state Division of Accounting.

The structuring and conflict of interest convictions laid the foundation for jurors to also find McGuiness guilty of official misconduct. Each of the three misdemeanor charges carries a maximum penalty of one year in prison, but a presumptive sentence of probation. No sentencing date has been set.

“I will say I believe it’s political,” McGuiness said when asked why she found herself in court.

Both McGuiness and Democratic Attorney Kathleen Jennings have been mentioned as possible gubernatorial candidates in 2024.

“From the moment I took office, I promised that no one would be either above the law or beneath justice,” Jennings said in a prepared statement. “Today’s guilty verdict confirmed that.”

Defense attorney Steve Wood said he would refile a motion for acquittal on all charges or, alternatively, ask for a new trial. He said Superior Court Judge William Carpenter Jr. made “multiple erroneous decisions” during and in advance of the trial.

“The state engaged in multiple acts of discovery misconduct which the court agreed with, but then failed to impose any kind of a meaningful sanction. The crime of structuring as defined by the court we have argued, and will argue again, is contrary to the way the crime is defined in Delaware law,” Wood said.

“Along the way, we repeatedly objected to evidence that we thought is nothing other than inadmissible and unfair character evidence,” he added.

As state auditor, McGuiness is responsible for rooting out government fraud, waste and abuse. Instead of protecting the public from such misconduct, McGuiness engaged in it, prosecutor Mark Denney told jurors in closing arguments.

“Kathy McGuiness knew just how to play the system, and she did,” he said.

Wood, meanwhile, noted that chief investigator Franklin Robinson repeatedly made false statements in a search warrant affidavit and grand jury testimony, despite seeing documents with contradicting information. Wood told jurors the prosecution’s investigation was “incomplete, incompetent and biased from the very beginning,” and spurred by complaints from disgruntled employees as McGuiness tried to make changes in her office following her predecessor’s 30-year tenure.

“We had some bumps along the way. … Change is very difficult for some folks,” McGuiness said. “I wanted to make that office relevant again, because I can tell you that most people don’t even know we have a state auditor and what we do.”

Following the verdict, Democratic leaders in the state Senate called on McGuiness to resign immediately, having previously urged her to take a leave of absence pending her trial.

“Any public official engaged in these behaviors is unfit for public office, but especially the state’s top financial watchdog,” the lawmakers said.

The misdemeanor convictions, however, do not disqualify McGuiness from holding office.

In October, just days before McGuiness was indicted, the Delaware Supreme Court overturned a judge’s ruling that a small-town police chief who had been convicted of official misconduct was guilty of an “infamous crime” under Delaware’s constitution, and therefore unable to serve as a town commissioner. The judge’s ruling came in response to a petition by Jennings seeking to nullify Michael Capriglione’s election as a Newport town commissioner.

The Supreme Court determined, however, that only felonies can be disqualifying “infamous” crimes.

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Biden discusses abortion access options with Dem governors https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2022/07/biden-discusses-abortion-access-options-with-dem-governors/ https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2022/07/biden-discusses-abortion-access-options-with-dem-governors/#respond Fri, 01 Jul 2022 18:52:26 +0000 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/?p=4132817 WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden told Democratic governors Friday that he is “looking at all the alternatives” for protecting abortion access following the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade.

One day after returning from international summits in Europe, Biden described the ruling as “tragic” and warned that Republicans could try to enact a nationwide ban on abortion if they retake control of Congress. He urged Democrats to elect at least two more senators so they could create an exception to the filibuster and codify in law the protections that had been provided under Roe v. Wade.

At least two Democratic senators, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, have blocked efforts to sidestep the filibuster. The party would need unanimous backing from the Senate’s 48 Democrats and two allied independents, plus the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Kamala Harris, to make that rules change over solid GOP opposition.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul suggested that Biden consider having abortions performed at federal facilities like Veterans Affairs hospitals or military bases in states that restrict abortions.

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said Native American tribes, which have a level of sovereignty over their own lands, could also be valuable partners.

“We’re in the process of looking at all the alternatives,” Biden said.

However, he did not make any announcements. Some activists and Democrats have been frustrated by what they consider an overly cautious approach from the administration, especially since the court decision has been expected since a draft leaked nearly two months ago.

The justice’s June 24 ruling overturned a 1973 decision that had declared a constitutional right to abortion. Each state will now determine whether the procedure can be performed.

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Biden to award Medal of Freedom to Biles, McCain, Giffords https://federalnewsnetwork.com/sports-news/2022/07/biden-to-award-medal-of-freedom-to-biles-mccain-giffords/ https://federalnewsnetwork.com/sports-news/2022/07/biden-to-award-medal-of-freedom-to-biles-mccain-giffords/#respond Fri, 01 Jul 2022 18:28:24 +0000 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/?p=4132372 WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will present the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, to 17 people, including actor Denzel Washington, gymnast Simone Biles and the late John McCain, the Arizona Republican with whom Biden served in the U.S. Senate.

Biden will also recognize Sandra Lindsay, the New York City nurse who rolled up her sleeve on live television in December 2020 to receive the first COVID-19 vaccine dose that was pumped into an arm in the United States, the White House announced Friday.

Biden’s honors list, which the White House shared first with The Associated Press, includes both living and deceased honorees from the worlds of Hollywood, sports, politics, the military, academia, and civil rights and social justice advocacy.

The Democratic president will present the medals at the White House next week.

Biden himself is a medal recipient. President Barack Obama honored Biden’s public service as a longtime U.S. senator and vice president by awarding him a Presidential Medal of Freedom in January 2017, a week before they left office.

The honorees who’ll receive medals from Biden “have overcome significant obstacles to achieve impressive accomplishments in the arts and sciences, dedicated their lives to advocating for the most vulnerable among us, and acted with bravery to drive change in their communities, and across the world, while blazing trails for generations to come,” the White House said.

The honor is reserved for people who have made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values or security of the United States, world peace or other significant societal public or private endeavors, the White House said.

Biles is the most decorated U.S. gymnast in history, winning 32 Olympic and World Championship medals. She is an outspoken advocate on issues that are very personal to her, including athletes’ mental health, children in foster care and sexual assault victims.

Lindsay became an advocate for COVID-19 vaccinations after receiving the first dose in the U.S.

McCain, who died of brain cancer in 2018, spent more than five years in captivity in Vietnam while serving in the U.S. Navy. He later represented Arizona in both houses of Congress and was the Republican presidential nominee in 2008. Biden said McCain was a “dear friend” and “a hero.”

Washington is a double Oscar-winning actor, director and producer. He also has a Tony award, two Golden Globes and the Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award. He is a longtime spokesperson for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

The other 13 medal recipients are:

— Sister Simone Campbell. Campbell is a member of the Sister of Social Service and a former executive director of NETWORK, a Catholic social justice organization. She is an advocate for economic justice, overhauling the U.S. immigration system and health care policy.

— Julieta Garcia. A former president of the University of Texas at Brownsville, Garcia was the first Latina to become a college president, the White House said. She was named one of the nation’s best college presidents by Time magazine.

— Gabrielle Giffords. A former U.S. House member from Arizona, the Democrat founded Giffords, an organization dedicated to ending gun violence. She was shot in the head in January 2011 during a constituent event in Tucson and was gravely wounded.

— Fred Gray. Gray was one of the first Black members of the Alabama Legislature after Reconstruction. He was a prominent civil rights attorney who represented Rosa Parks, the NAACP and Martin Luther King Jr.

— Steve Jobs. Jobs was the co-founder, chief executive and chair of Apple Inc. He died in 2011.

— Father Alexander Karloutsos. Karloutsos is the assistant to Archbishop Demetrios of America. The White House said Karloutsos has counseled several U.S. presidents.

— Khizr Khan. An immigrant from Pakistan, Khan’s Army officer son was killed in Iraq. Khan gained national prominence, and became a target of Donald Trump’s wrath, after speaking at the 2016 Democratic National Convention.

— Diane Nash. A founding member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Nash organized some of the most important 20th century civil rights campaigns and worked with King.

— Megan Rapinoe. The Olympic gold medalist and two-time Women’s World Cup soccer champion captains the OL Reign in the National Women’s Soccer League. She is a prominent advocate for gender pay equality, racial justice and LGBTQI+ rights who has appeared at Biden’s White House.

Rapinoe, who was at training camp in Denver when the White House called to inform her of the honor, thought she was getting a prank or robocall when she saw her phone say “White House,” U.S. Soccer said in a statement. She showed her phone to a teammate, who encouraged her to answer the call.

— Alan Simpson. The retired U.S. senator from Wyoming served with Biden and has been a prominent advocate for campaign finance reform, responsible governance and marriage equality.

— Richard Trumka. Trumka had been president of the 12.5 million-member AFL-CIO for more than a decade at the time of his August 2021 death. He was a past president of the United Mine Workers.

— Wilma Vaught. A brigadier general, Vaught is one of the most decorated women in U.S. military history, breaking gender barriers as she has risen through the ranks. When Vaught retired in 1985, she was one of only seven female generals in the Armed Forces.

— Raúl Yzaguirre. A civil rights advocate, Yzaguirre was president and CEO of the National Council of La Raza for 30 years. He served as U.S. ambassador to the Dominican Republic under Obama.

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NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn’t happen this week https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2022/07/not-real-news-a-look-at-what-didnt-happen-this-week-131/ https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2022/07/not-real-news-a-look-at-what-didnt-happen-this-week-131/#respond Fri, 01 Jul 2022 14:49:11 +0000 https://federalnewsnetwork.com/?p=4132338 A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week. None of these are legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. The Associated Press checked them out. Here are the facts:

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Posts misrepresent 2019 ‘satirical’ amendment to Kentucky abortion law

CLAIM: Kentucky is considering legislation that would require women to submit to the state every month a statement from a doctor indicating if they are pregnant — or else face penalties.

THE FACTS: The legislation was an amendment proposed in jest by a Democratic lawmaker in 2019 to express her opposition to a bill banning abortions, and was not seriously considered. The only two abortion clinics in Kentucky halted the procedure on June 24 after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Kentucky in 2019 passed a law declaring that abortion would become illegal “effective immediately” if Roe v. Wade is overturned. The measure contains a narrow exception allowing a physician to perform a procedure necessary to prevent the death or permanent injury of a pregnant woman. But online, some are sharing screenshots of a proposed amendment to that 2019 bill that was introduced by Democratic state Rep. Mary Lou Marzian as satire — and never seriously pursued. The amendment called for requiring women who live in Kentucky to receive monthly statements from doctors stating whether they are pregnant. It also required that those records be submitted to the state, or women would face arrest and fines, and went so far as to propose ankle monitors for pregnant women who didn’t comply. Posts circulating on Facebook, Twitter and TikTok in recent days misrepresented the amendment as an active and serious proposal. “They are trying to require ALL girls /women to get monthly physicals to prove you aren’t pregnant. This is the most insane thing I’ve ever seen,” reads one Facebook post. But Marzian reiterated this week that the measure was from 2019 and meant to serve as commentary on the bill banning abortions. “Totally satire,” Marzian told The Associated Press by phone. “It was an amendment, it was never heard in committee, I had no intention of ever moving it.” Marzian, who supports abortion rights, said she has filed several measures over the years that were satirical in nature and designed to make her political opponents look like “morons.” A fixture in the Kentucky House for nearly 30 years, Marzian withdrew from her reelection campaign earlier this year.

— Associated Press writer Angelo Fichera in Philadelphia contributed this report.

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Pentagon statement on SCOTUS abortion ruling mischaracterized

CLAIM: The Pentagon stated that any abortion laws enacted as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade will not be recognized.

THE FACTS: This mischaracterizes a June 24 statement on the ruling from Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, which did not say the Pentagon would defy the court, nor did it say it would violate any state laws that may be enacted. Misleading posts about the Pentagon’s response spread widely online shortly after the Supreme Court handed down its decision on abortion. While many popular posts did not share a source for the information, some vaguely cited news articles describing Austin’s statement. “Nothing is more important to me or to this Department than the health and well-being of our Service members, the civilian workforce and DOD families,” read the statement, which as of this week was the only official communication from the Pentagon on the matter. “I am committed to taking care of our people and ensuring the readiness and resilience of our Force. The Department is examining this decision closely and evaluating our policies to ensure we continue to provide seamless access to reproductive health care as permitted by federal law.” The Twitter account BNN Newsroom on June 25 wrote in a since-deleted post that, “The Pentagon has stated that any abortion laws enacted as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision will not be recognized.” BNN did not respond to a request for comment. Later that day, the Twitter account Occupy Democrats also misinterpreted the content of the Pentagon release, tweeting, “President Biden’s Pentagon defies the extremist Supreme Court, announces that it will not recognize any anti-abortion laws enacted by states as a result of the Supreme Court’s decision.” Occupy Democrats followed up with a tweet on June 26 linking to an article about Austin’s statement with the caption “source.” However, the brief article also did not suggest the statement meant the Pentagon was defying the court. Occupy Democrats did not return requests for comment. Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Charlie Dietz told the AP that claims the Pentagon is “ignoring the law are completely false.” He pointed to Austin’s statement, which he said was “the only statement made regarding the court cases,” but declined to comment further. The court’s overturning of the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling is likely to lead to abortion bans in roughly half the states. Kyndra K. Rotunda, a Chapman University professor who runs the school’s Military and Veterans Law Institute, said the claims circulating online did not appear to be correct, adding that she saw no evidence in the statement, or otherwise, that the military would “refuse to follow state law.” “I read Secretary Lloyd’s statement to mean no more than what he says: they’re going to explore it further,” Rotunda wrote in an email to the AP. TRICARE, the health care program for service members, retirees and their families, covers abortions in cases of rape, incest or if a woman’s life is in danger. The U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs website states that “Under current regulation, VA doesn’t provide abortion or abortion counseling.” Under existing federal law, a military member can seek an abortion outside of a military facility, in accordance with state law where they are located, but the Pentagon will not fund or perform the procedure except in cases of rape, incest or if a woman’s life is in danger, Rotunda explained.

— Associated Press writers Sophia Tulp in New York and Josh Kelety in Phoenix contributed this report.

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Bricks were stored on DC street for pre-scheduled construction

CLAIM: A photo shows pallets of bricks along a Washington, D.C., street that were intentionally placed in the area to encourage violent protesting after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

THE FACTS: The bricks were stored along the road for work on an unrelated construction project that had been planned months in advance. Residents were notified of the project about 10 days prior to June 24, the day the court released its decision. Hours after the Supreme Court removed constitutional protections for abortion, false claims spread online resurfacing an old, misleading narrative that pallets of bricks were being intentionally placed in U.S. streets, with the suggestion that they were planted to incite violence during expected protests. The idea previously circulated widely online during protests against racial injustice throughout the summer of 2020, and again in 2021 linked to protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin. On June 24, U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Republican Congresswoman from Colorado, tweeted a photo of the bricks and named the Capitol Police, asking them “why are there 20 pallets of bricks one block from the House Office Buildings?” While Boebert didn’t ascribe a motive to the bricks’ placement, many commenting and sharing her message did. “Meanwhile, someone paid to haul pallets of bricks in and deposited them just 2 blocks from the Capitol offices?” wrote one user. “It’s as if they want violence and riot,” commented another. But the claims are false. The bricks were stored along the 400 block of First Street by an alley paving contractor under a permit issued by the District Department of Transportation for an ongoing construction project. While the beginning of the project coincided with the day the Supreme Court announced the decision on abortion, the work had been scheduled well in advance, according to a spokesperson for DDOT and official notices sent by the agency and reviewed by The Associated Press. Geolocation data accessed through Google Maps confirms the image being shared online was taken along the 400 block of First Street, and a map of ongoing road projects published by DDOT also lists the same stretch as an alley currently under construction. A letter sent to residents and businesses along the construction route dated June 16 explained that DDOT was beginning an alley improvement project “on or about Thursday, June 23, 2022.” The notice specified that the project would “include concrete/brick work.” Reached on the phone Monday, the owner of a business located along the construction site, who did not want to be named, confirmed they received the notice, and said ongoing work was being done on the street. Even so, it was not known exactly when, or if, the Supreme Court would deliver a decision on the abortion case. The court on June 22 added June 24 as an additional decision day. Mariam Nabizad, a public affairs specialist for DDOT, told the AP that stacks of bricks were placed along the block the morning of June 24 “for scheduled and ongoing alley restoration work” by its contractors. “Our teams wrapped the stacks in plastic at the close of that work day, and also removed them from the area Saturday night,” Nabizad wrote in an email. She added that the project work was identified on Sept. 7, 2021, and included in the city’s PaveDC Plan that was distributed in October 2021.

— Sophia Tulp

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Tennessee lab isn’t trying to open a portal to a parallel universe

CLAIM: Scientists at a laboratory in Tennessee are trying to figure out whether parallel universes exist by attempting to open a portal into another dimension.

THE FACTS: Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in eastern Tennessee conducted an experiment in 2019 to study a type of “exotic” neutron behavior, which some news outlets and social media posts inaccurately referred to as searching for “portals” to “parallel” realities. One such widely-shared post claimed the researchers were conducting an experiment straight out of a science fiction movie. “Scientists in Tennessee working at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in eastern Tennessee, have announced that they’re trying to figure out whether or not parallel universes exist,” claimed the Facebook post, which received more than 130,000 shares. “They revealed that they’re trying to open a portal into another dimension.” But the researchers say that claim really is fiction. “My reaction to reading a headline like that is to say, ‘well, that sounds really cool. I wonder what they’re doing because it really doesn’t sound like my research,’” joked Leah Broussard, the scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory who led the project. Sara Shoemaker, a spokesperson for the lab, added that, while an entertaining idea, the research doesn’t have anything to do with portals or parallel universes the way they’ve been described online. “A ‘portal’ in this case is a figurative concept used in the physics community,” explained Shoemaker. “The team’s experiments were not exploring a literal portal to a parallel universe.” The research actually involved searching for potential interactions between neutrons and a type of theorized dark matter called “mirror matter.” The theorized mirror sector, sometimes called a mirror universe, is thought to be “just another copy of the particles and the interactions we have in our universe,” Broussard explained. She said that it is not the same thing as a parallel universe because it would exist in the same spacetime as, and “very much part of,” our universe. She said her team sought to test a potential hypothesis that neutrons could, in some cases, be transforming into mirror neutrons, the dark-matter twin. Broussard’s team designed an experiment to see if they could “watch neutrons going through a wall” that would normally stop them, she said. The process of the neutrons being sent through the wall has been figuratively described as moving through a “portal,” but that doesn’t mean that the neutrons are being sent to a mysterious other dimension, separate from our own, both she and Shoemaker said. Shoemaker added that past reporting by news outlets “had fun taking liberties with the concept,” comparing the so-called portal to a doorway accessing alternate realities and other Hollywood tropes. Ultimately, the team did not observe any neutrons on the other side of the wall, meaning this particular experiment did not find evidence of such “mirror neutrons.” Those results were outlined in the peer-reviewed, scientific journal Physical Review Letters in May.

— Sophia Tulp

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