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Final honors: Veteran Affairs seeks to boost Burial Benefit Awareness

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:26:40 GMT

The Department of Veterans Affairs wants to raise awareness about a final honor for the nation’s veterans. They say burial benefits frequently go unused by veterans, and they want those who served and their families, to know the extent of their options. Amid the quiet and the solemnity, Arlington national cemetery is expanding.Adding 70 acres to the south of these hallowed grounds. An estimated 80 thousand burial sites -by late 2027.“The current physical expansion that we’re doing right now, was the last available land contiguous in other words, connecting Arlington national cemetery and even to do that expansion -we’ve had to reconstruct existing roads,” said Karen Durham-Aguilera/Arlington national cemetery executive director.About 30 miles to the south of Arlington, is quantico national cemetery. It’s one of 155 national cemeteries across the nation, maintained by the Department of veterans affairs’ national cemetery administration.The network also i...

Miami Gardens hosts breakfast event honoring slain soldiers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:26:40 GMT

On this Memorial Day, slain soldiers were honored at the Senior Family Center in Miami Gardens and attended an event to commemorate their lost loved ones, an honor that no family wants. “We would like to say thank you and we will always be here for you,” said the speaker of the event. Being recognized on Memorial Day because their loved one paid the ultimate price for our freedom.“I didn’t force him to go to the military he wanted to go to the military and that’s what makes me feel good inside and I can sleep at night,” said Cowanda Johnson Mother of Sgt. L.A David Johnson.The gathering started at 9 a.m. Monday at 18330 N.W. 12th Ave. where the family of Sgt. La David Johnson was also in attendance. He was killed in an ISIS-led ambush attack in Niger six years ago. Cowanda Johnson raised him since he was five years old.“I was against the military all that the beginning but once he did it and the goodness it brought all my other kids followed...

The remains of a Medal of Honor recipient killed in the Korean War will be buried in Georgia

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:26:40 GMT

(CNN) — The remains of a soldier killed in the Korean War and posthumously awarded a Medal of Honor will be laid to rest in Georgia, 73 years after his death.Army Cpl. Luther H. Story “displayed conspicuous bravery” during a large-scale attack by the North Korean People’s Army near the Naktong River in South Korea on September 1, 1950, according to a joint statement from The White House and The Republic of Korea.When he was last seen, Story, 19, a member of Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, was firing every weapon available to protect his comrades, despite being wounded himself, so his team could advance to the next position and escape further fire, according to the National Medal of Honor Museum.“Story distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action,” the National Medal of Honor Museum said. “Story’s extraordinary heroism, aggressive leadership, and supreme devotion t...

Red Sox promoting No. 1 prospect Marcelo Mayer to Double-A

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:26:40 GMT

Marcelo Mayer is moving on up.After a stellar month of May in which he hit .321 with a .998 OPS, the Red Sox informed their No. 1 prospect that he’ll join Double-A Portland this week.Sources confirm Alex Speier’s initial report (Boston Globe) that the organization is promoting the shortstop just 35 games into the High-A Greenville season.Mayer hit .290 with a .890 OPS, 42 hits (11 doubles, one triple, seven home runs), 23 runs, and 34 RBI with the Greenville Drive this year, but the way he heated up in May pushed the Red Sox to move his timetable up; he collected 25 hits, including seven doubles, six home runs (including his first career multi-homer game), 14 runs, and 23 RBI over 18 games this month.It’s been less than two years and only 152 professional games since the Red Sox selected Mayer as the fourth-overall pick in the 2021 draft, but he’s been considered their shortstop of the future almost from the start. So much so that Xander Bogaerts’ agent, Scott Boras, indicated...

Biden marks Memorial Day lauding generations of fallen US troops who ‘dared all and gave all’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:26:40 GMT

By AAMER MADHANI and REBECCA SANTANA (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden lauded the sacrifice of generations of U.S. troops who “dared all and gave all” fighting for their country and called on Americans to ensure that their “sacrifice was not in vain” as he marked Memorial Day with the traditional wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.Biden was joined by first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Harris’ husband, Douglas Emhoff, for the 155th National Memorial Day Observance. He had a moment of contemplation in front of the wreath, which was adorned with flowers and a red, white and blue bow, and then bowed his head in prayer.“We must never forget the price that was paid to protect our democracy,” Biden said later in an address at the Memorial Amphitheater. “We must never forget the lives these flags, flowers and marble markers represent.””Every year we remember,”...

Memorial Day: A look at the National Cemetery as its amphitheater turns 150 years old

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:26:40 GMT

Here’s a look at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, which is said to be where Memorial Day is every day.A place of remembranceIn 1866, Henry Welles of Waterloo, New York, suggested the town’s shops should close May 5 to commemorate the soldiers who had died during the Civil War.Two years later in Waterloo, Gen. John Logan issued a declaration that Decoration Day should be observed nationwide. The declaration said that May 30 would be designated as a day to decorate the graves of fallen soldiers.In 1882, the name of the holiday was changed from Decoration Day to Memorial Day. After World War I, the holiday was expanded to remember soldiers from all American wars.In 1971, Richard Nixon made Memorial Day a national holiday that was to be celebrated on the last Monday in May.When the Army constructed the first memorial amphitheater at the cemetery in 1873 (now called the Tanner Amphitheater), an average of 25,000 individuals participated in Decoration Day commemorations.Pres...

Suspected serial TTC spitter arrested by Toronto police

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:26:40 GMT

Toronto police have arrested and charged a man accused of randomly spitting on people at east end TTC subway stations.The first alleged incident happened on Monday, May 15. Investigators said a man was exiting the subway at Coxwell Station and spat at two passengers without provocation as they were boarding.Police allege the same suspect struck again on Tuesday, May 16, spitting on a man as he walked away from Main Station. Police say that alleged attack was also unprovoked.On Saturday, police arrested Joseph O’Sullivan Martinez, 28, of Toronto.He’s charged with six counts of assault, as well as 26 counts of breach of probation, two counts of uttering threats and being unlawfully at large.

Ex-El Salvador President Mauricio Funes sentenced to 14 years for negotiating with gangs

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:26:40 GMT

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — A judge sentenced former El Salvador President Mauricio Funes to 14 years in prison Monday for negotiating with gangs during his administration.Funes’ trial began in April with the former leader living in Nicaragua. El Salvador changed its laws last year to allow trials in absentia.Prosecutors had accused Funes of illicit association and failure to perform his duties for the gang truce negotiated in 2012. Funes had denied negotiating with the gangs or giving their leaders any privileges.Funes’ former Security Minister Gen. David Munguía Payes was sentenced to 18 years in prison for his involvement in the negotiations.Funes’ sentence was the sum of eight years for illicit association and six years for failure to perform duties.Prosecutors say the gang negotiations were aimed at getting the country’s powerful street gangs to lower the homicide rate in exchange for benefits to the gangs’ imprisoned leaders.El Salvador has pursued Funes, 64, who go...

Minister reviewing CBC’s mandate with eye to making it less reliant on advertising

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:26:40 GMT

OTTAWA — Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez is hinting that the Liberal government’s online news bill could help the national public broadcaster become less reliant on advertising dollars. Rodriguez says he has begun reviewing CBC/Radio-Canada’s mandate, including ways the government can provide more funds to the public broadcaster. Rodriguez’s mandate letter from the prime minister says the goal in providing more money is to eliminate advertising during news and other public affairs shows.During a House of Commons heritage committee meeting today, Rodriguez says the the CBC will financially benefit from passage of the online news act, also known as C-18.The bill, being studied in the Senate, would require tech giants to pay Canadian media companies for linking to or otherwise repurposing their content online.The parliamentary budget officer released a report last year that shows news businesses are expected to receive over $300 million annually from digital platfor...

Man charged in Ohio slaying of 4, wounding of girl, now charged in 2013 New Jersey killing

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:26:40 GMT

CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) — A man charged in an Ohio shooting that killed four people and injured a child earlier this year has now been charged in a slaying in New Jersey a decade ago, authorities said.Martin Muniz, 41, was charged in Cuyahoga County in January with multiple counts of aggravated murder as well as attempted murder, assault and other charges in a shooting in Cleveland in January.Prosecutors in Camden County, New Jersey, said last week that after his arrest in Cleveland, Muniz “provided information” that resulted in New Jersey prosecutors charging him with first-degree murder in the October 2013 slaying of 45-year-old Jaime Molina in Camden. The (Cherry Hill) Courier-Post reports that a weapon seized from Muniz during a December 2013 arrest matched a shell casing found near Molina’s body, according to a probable cause statement in support of the New Jersey charge. Muniz is being held in lieu of $5 million bond in the Jan. 13 slayings in Ohio. Cleveland police alleged in...