Author: rpnadmin

WASHINGTON — Kid Rock and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth both flew in Army Apache attack helicopters at a base in Virginia on Monday, a defense official said, coming weeks after military pilots drew scrutiny for hovering near the entertainer’s Tennessee home. Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s top spokesman, said the flights supported a “community relations event” for a White House-led initiative, called Freedom 250, that is coordinating events for America’s 250th anniversary commemoration. “Robert ‘Kid Rock’ Ritchie participated in multiple troop touches with service members and filmed videos for Memorial Day, America’s 250th birthday, and for his Freedom 250 tour,” Parnell…

Please fasten your seatbelt, make sure your tray table is in an upright and locked position, and prepare for delivery. A passenger on a Delta Air Lines flight from Atlanta gave birth to a healthy 5 1/2 pound (2.5 kg) girl just before the Boeing 737 landed at Portland International Airport in Oregon on Friday night. Two paramedics who happened to be on the flight assisted, borrowing blankets from other passengers and using a shoelace to tie off the umbilical cord. Baby Brielle Renee Blair came in about two weeks ahead of schedule; the plane, about 20 minutes. Her mom,…

NEW YORK — A man convicted in the 2024 shooting death of a New York City police officer during a traffic stop will spend the rest of his life behind bars after a judge sentenced him Monday to 115 years to life in prison. During an emotional hearing in a Queens courtroom packed by uniformed police officers and Officer Jonathan Diller’s family, the judge said Guy Rivera “most certainly will” die in a prison cell. “Your sentence to me was determined the second you pulled that trigger,” Judge Michael Aloise told Rivera. “It took me five minutes to calculate the…

A pioneering Arizona initiative allowing non-lawyers to own law firms has rocked the legal profession, raising questions about whether the change is expanding low-cost services for locals or jeopardizing the profession by placing profits ahead of justice. Arizona has approved more than 150 applications by non-lawyers to start law firms under the Alternative Business Structure (ABS) model, a program ushered in by the Arizona Supreme Court in 2021 that breaks ranks with the long-honored tradition of lawyer-only ownership. Other states are reacting. The Washington State Bar Association has approved a pilot program on non-lawyer ownership, while California, Florida, Maryland and…

The average salary of a public school teacher rose from $72,000 to $74,500 in the 2024-25 academic year, the National Teachers Association reported Monday. However, the country’s largest teachers’ union warned that the 3.5% average increase from 2023-24 was only “nominal” due to rising living costs. Adjusted for inflation, the union projected that real earnings for K-12 teachers dropped 5% from a decade earlier. “Educators are the foundation of our public schools, yet too many are overworked, underpaid, and unable to keep up with the cost of living,” NEA President Becky Pringle said in a statement. The group cited a…

The mother of a Virginia woman who was allegedly stabbed to death by an illegal immigrant with a lengthy criminal record wants Fairfax County’s top prosecutor out of office for saying he won’t pursue criminal cases against migrants because it could result in their deportation. Cheryl Minter, with the help of the Victim’s Rights Reform Council, submitted a federal civil rights complaint asking the Department of Justice to probe Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano over what the filing calls “preferential treatment for illegal immigrants over native-born citizens.” The complaint notes that the suspect in daughter Stephanie Minter’s slaying — Sierra Leone…

RUNAWAY BAY, Texas — A tornado-producing thunderstorm left at least two people dead in northern Texas and displaced at least 20 families, with many homes sustaining major damage, authorities said Sunday. At least one person was killed and numerous homes were damaged Saturday night in the town of Runaway Bay, said Wise County Judge J.D. Clark, who serves as the county’s chief executive. Emergency responders worked to clear debris to reach damaged homes and provide medical care where needed, Judge Clark said. “Access has been difficult due to blocked roadways and downed utilities, but crews have continued pushing forward to reach…

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. rode to the rescue of illegal immigrant Dreamers six years ago by ruling that President Trump’s attempt to roll back the Obama-era DACA program broke the rules. Mr. Trump will be back at the Supreme Court this week with another case asking the justices to bless his attempt to curtail Temporary Protected Status, another program that grants migrants protection from deportation. President Biden used the Temporary Protected Status program to shield more than 1 million migrants from deportation. Mr. Trump’s team has been pushing to end the status for more than a dozen countries,…

BOSTON — For decades, the 1990 theft of 13 artworks from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum – now valued at more than $500 million – has remained unsolved. It remains the largest art theft in history – far surpassing more recent museum thefts, including a daylight heist at the Louvre that involved far fewer works and was resolved more quickly. In 2013, the FBI said it knew who was responsible for the Boston museum heist but declined to name them, fueling speculation that persists today. A former FBI agent who led the investigation for more than two decades is now…

Disease and cold temperatures killed nearly 30 sloths at a Florida animal import warehouse in 2024 and 2025, according to a report from state wildlife authorities. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation inspection report from August found that 21 sloths imported from Guyana died at an Orlando facility called Sanctuary World Imports in December 2024 when temperatures dropped into the 40-to-55 degree Fahrenheit (4.4 to 12.8 degrees Celsius) range. Sloths are unable to regulate their body temperature as well as other mammals and do best in the 68-to-85 degree Fahrenheit (20 to 30 degrees Celsius) range, according to the United…