Category: Security

Leonard Glenn Francis, the mastermind behind the worst bribery and corruption scandal in U.S. Navy history, appeared Thursday in San Diego federal court for the first time since he left house arrest and fled the country in 2022, just weeks before he was set to be sentenced.

Known as “Fat Leonard” because of his size, Francis was not charged Thursday with any new crimes related to his escape. Federal prosecutors said they may seek new charges at some point, but not until after he’s sentenced in the bribery and fraud scheme.

Francis, once a powerful military contractor, had spent more than 15 months jailed in Venezuela, where Interpol agents captured him a few weeks after he fled house arrest in San Diego. He was extradited to Miami on Dec. 20 as part of a prisoner swap with Venezuela that freed 10 jailed Americans, Francis and 25 imprisoned Venezuelans in exchange for Alex Saab, an ally of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro.

Thursday’s hearing marked the first time the Malysian-born Francis was back in San Diego since his Labor Day weekend 2022 escape, and his first time back in a San Diego federal courtroom in several years.

Francis pleaded guilty in San Diego in 2015 to corruption charges related to his wide-ranging scheme to bribe Navy officials and overcharge the military for ship-servicing contracts. A gregarious presence at Navy functions and port visits across Southeast Asia, Francis would shower officers with high-end meals, luxury resort stays and the services of prostitutes so they would do his bidding inside the Navy, steering ships to ports he controlled.

But he had avoided sentencing in the case since his 2013 arrest at a downtown San Diego Bay resort, spending several years as a cooperating witness for the U.S. government in the continuing investigation and prosecution of dozens of Navy officials ensnared in his scheme.

Francis was granted pretrial release in 2018 due to his health and eventually moved into a luxurious Carmel Valley-area rental home, complete with hired staff and private security guards — paid for by him — who reportedly rarely interacted with him. On Sept. 4, 2022, he cut off his GPS ankle monitor and fled to Mexico. From there he went to Cuba, then Venezuela. Officials have said he was trying to make it from South America to Russia.

Thursday’s hearing largely centered around who will represent Francis moving forward. A few weeks after his escape, his defense attorneys informed U.S. District Judge Janis Sammartino that they would seek to withdraw their representation “based on an irreparable breakdown in the attorney-client relationship.”

Defense attorney Jeremy Warren confirmed in court Thursday that he and his partners still intended to withdraw from the case.

“We’re not in a position to advocate” for Francis, Warren told the judge, adding that he would provide further details in a sealed hearing if she needed further explanation of their reasoning. He said it was a decision made “with a heavy heart,” but that Francis is in need of counsel who are “fully able to advocate for him.”

Francis, wearing a tan jumpsuit and a white COVID face covering, spoke only two words. “No, ma’am,” he told Sammartino when she asked if he had any objections to the withdrawal of his attorneys.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Fred Sheppard objected to the withdrawal, arguing that Warren and his firm knew the case too well and had represented Francis too long to be allowed to withdraw now. He also argued that finding Francis new attorneys and getting them up to speed on the case would cause a lengthy a delay.

But Sammartino, pointing out the long history of the case, which has now stretched on for more than 10 years, indicated a delay of a few more weeks would not be an issue.

Sheppard told the judge that prosecutors are “considering additional charges” related to Francis going on the lam. But he told Sammartino that a potential new case might have to go to a different judge, since the charges could involve contempt of Sammartino’s court.

Sheppard said that because Francis was on house arrest as part of a medical furlough when he fled, prosecutors might file an “indirect contempt case” rather than a “straight escape case.”

Francis is next expected in court Feb. 8, by which time Warren said Francis should have new representation.

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© 2024 The San Diego Union-Tribune

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

A new law curbing the use of solitary confinement in Nevada jails and prisons went into effect Monday.

It’s one of 85 new laws from last year’s legislative session that went live at the start of the new year, and a reform state leaders have been trying to pass for years.

“This type of segregation of prisoners is especially detrimental to those with mental illnesses and we’re not doing any justice … by forcing them into this kind of a situation, but we are also virtually ensuring that their mental health will suffer from this treatment,” said state Sen. Pat Spearman, D-North Las Vegas, at an April committee hearing for the law that started as Senate Bill 307.

The law requires solitary confinement — when inmates are isolated in single-person cells away from the general prison population for at least 22 hours a day — to “only be used as a last resort, in the least restrictive manner and for the shortest period of time safely possible.”

With certain exceptions, inmates will now be capped at 15 consecutive days of solitary, and they cannot be put in solitary within 90 days of their release from the prison. It was previously a 30-day maximum.

Inmates with “serious mental illness or other significant mental impairment” are also not to be isolated unless a health care provider orders it.

Spearman said she started working on reforms in 2017 because it was dangerous and cruel to the inmates. Nevada Department of Corrections Director James Dzurenda supported her in crafting the reforms and carving out guidelines and exceptions.

Nick Shepack, a steering committee member of the national Social Workers Against Solitary Confinement and board chair of the Nevada prisoner rights advocacy group Return Strong, told lawmakers that inmates will sit in solitary while awaiting disciplinary hearings that can lead to solitary as punishment for an infraction within the institution.

They may also get consecutive sanctions, putting them well past the limit for days in isolation.

Inmates may stay in isolation longer than 15 days if it’s a medical or safety necessity or if they refuse to leave.

The law dictates that multidisciplinary teams will review extended stays as well as develop individualized plans for offenders before they are let out of isolation.

In another win this session for the incarcerated, pretrial inmates who are facing misdemeanors, first felonies or who are serving time for a misdemeanor conviction but have no prior felonies are getting accommodations to cast their ballots from county or city jails.

These inmates haven’t lost their right to vote, and while no prior laws prohibited them from registering or voting while incarcerated, they simply might not have had access.

This new law, springing from Assembly Bill 286, doesn’t change eligibility but brings the polls, drop boxes and voter registration forms to a specific group of people who were already legally eligible voters.

It’s for those who haven’t been found guilty of a serious crime that would strip their right to vote.

Bill sponsor Assemblywoman Brittney Miller, D-Las Vegas, said in an April hearing that the bill recognized a constitutional right and “that we as Nevadans preserve the sentiment of innocent until proven guilty, recognizing that some may never be convicted. We are simply ensuring that eligible electors have the ability to vote in the same early, special, primary or general elections that they would have had the opportunity to vote in had they not been temporarily incarcerated.”

Miller said many Nevada jails, including facilities in Clark County, are already coordinating inmate voting, and the new law codifies it.

The law requires jails to establish policies on inmate voting and registration; provide inmates a reasonable amount of privacy to vote and pens to mark their paper ballots; allow the county clerk to establish a process for collecting mail ballots from the jail; and allow inmates, under certain circumstances, to correct any signature defects, as any other voter would.

Emily Persaud-Zamora, executive director of the progressive civil engagement organization Silver State Voices, said eligible voters retain their right to vote no matter where they may be.

“We believe that every voter in jail should not only have access to their constitutional right but should also be made aware of it,” she said.

Other notable new laws that went live Jan. 1 include:

AB 161: This law allows people with a “communication need” to have a designation on their driver’s license or state identification card alerting authorities to differences in how they produce or comprehend speech and language. This applies to people who are deaf, neurodivergent — autism, for example, can affect a person’s ability to speak — or who have speech, language or auditory processing disorders. The law is in line with other allowances for ID card designations for certain medical and mobility conditions.

AB 185: This law allows the children of military personnel to have a preferred enrollment position at charter schools. A child whose parent has a transfer order to a Nevada military installation can get to the head of the line along with other priority attendees, such as siblings of currently enrolled students and children of school staffers, before general admissions open up.

AB 289: This law allows “natural organic reduction” of human remains as another option for final postmortem disposition. Natural organic reduction, sometimes called “human compositing,” is the accelerated decomposition of human remains with the use of materials like alfalfa, straw and wood chips enveloping the corpse to convert the remains to soil. The eco-friendly practice is legal in seven states, including Nevada.

SB 232: This law appropriates about $14.6 million over the biennium to extend Medicaid coverage to postpartum care for 12 months after the end of a pregnancy. Postpartum care services can include screening the mother’s physical, social and psychological well-being, treating pregnancy and childbirth complications including postpartum depression, and providing care related to pregnancy loss. The law follows up on the federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 authorizing states to grant the extended coverage.

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(c) 2024 the Las Vegas Sun

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

The man accused of orchestrating the 1996 killing of Tupac Shakur is asking a Nevada judge to be released from jail ahead of the pending trial.

Lawyers for Duane “Keffe D” Davis filed a motion seeking that he be released on his own recognizance ahead of the June trial or that a reasonable bail be set. A hearing is scheduled for Tuesday morning.

Court-appointed lawyers for Davis, 60, say their client is in poor health, poses no danger to the community and won’t flee to avoid prosecution. They want his bail set at no more than $100,000, according to the Associated Press.

The Clark County Public Defenders Office could not be reached for comment early Tuesday.

Davis was arrested in late September in connection with Tupac’s slaying, two months after Las Vegas police served a search warrant at his home in Henderson, Nev. He has pleaded not guilty to a murder charge and has remained jailed without bail since.

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© 2024 Los Angeles Times

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

When Jesus Rega got his high school diploma, he didn’t get to walk across the stage.

He couldn’t. As classmates donned caps and gowns, he was bedridden after being hospitalized for a blood clot and too afraid to get in the car — more complications in a long recovery after being shot in the head and stomach while waiting for the school bus outside his Back of the Yards home last January.

Instead, Jesus, an autistic and nonverbal 22-year-old, celebrated with teachers and loved ones at the clubhouse of the southwest suburban neighborhood his family moved to after the Jan. 18 shooting. His parents ordered chicken and pizza, “everything he likes,” said his father, Philip Rega.

In spite of the savored day, Jesus’ recovery has been bittersweet. The healing process was slow for the young man who can’t speak but is quick to smile, hug and reach for a hand.

After the shooting, crippling fears of essential everyday activities overwhelmed Jesus. The dread has largely faded, leaving something close to normalcy for the family. Still, among many small changes, Jesus paces around the house more than he used to, said his mother, Anna Rega.

“There’s nothing wrong with it,” she said. “I think it’s just remembering what happened. He doesn’t understand.”

‘A long time to recover’

The assault began around 6:30 a.m. as Jesus and his younger brother, Demitri, a teenager who has similar special needs, waited with their father for the school bus.

Suddenly, three attackers yelled gang slogans at the Rega men, then began to shoot. The assailants fired more than 30 bullets. Philip Rega, who later recalled seeing only the flame from the barrel of the gun, pushed Demitri to the ground for cover, but he didn’t get to Jesus in time.

Jesus, then 21, suffered gunshot wounds to his forehead and to his stomach, close to his heart, his father said. In the shooting’s immediate aftermath, doctors feared the former King College Prep student would lose vision and taste as Jesus was hospitalized in critical condition. Surgeries to remove bullet and skull fragments and to support his brain and cracked cranium came next. A procedure to install a shunt followed.

Anna Rega visited her son in the hospital each morning during his initial six-week stay.

She wasn’t allowed to stay in the intensive care unit and still remembers coming home from the hospital at night to find her son’s bed empty. Her other son, Demitri, would walk around the house and pop into Jesus’ room, apparently looking for his brother.

“A mother should never have to go through what we went through,” she said.

Jesus came home in late February, but quickly returned to the hospital with a blood clot in his leg. When he was again released in the early spring, the Regas decided to leave the Back of the Yards apartment where the boys were raised.

The Regas used some of the nearly $40,000 they’d received in GoFundMe donations to move to a southwest suburb. Before leaving, Philip Rega had often been randomly harassed by gang members and ignored by police when he complained, he said.

“It got to the point where we just said, ‘No,’” he said.

“I wanted them to be safe,” Anna Rega said of the move. “I didn’t want to go through what I went through again.”

Jesus was weaker after his hospital stay. He couldn’t leave his bed. He wouldn’t shower, a change Philip Rega believes could be linked to the shower he took before leaving the house on the morning he was shot. The parents gave him sponge baths in bed and carried him to the shower.

They changed their son’s diaper in bed and fed him by hand. He’d push and whine as they tried to help.

The biggest struggle was getting Jesus into the car. He had once loved the rides as much as he loves watching wrestling, SpongeBob and Shrek, but after the shooting, he’d push, resist and walk away instead of getting into his seat. The struggles made medical appointments even more difficult.

“I don’t know how his brain actually thought about it,” Philip Rega said. “It was traumatizing for him to get in and out of the car or even go anywhere.”

Jesus regained strength in physical therapy, though he still doesn’t like to walk long distances. Many of his other apparently trauma-related changes gradually ended, his parents said.

He finally got out of bed on his own one spring day when he saw his parents playing with one of their grandchildren. In May, he started showering again, and in June, he got into his grandmother’s car by himself, another milestone.

But other struggles lingered. Sometimes when he had to leave, he’d point to his head and the door before heading back to his room, Anna Rega said.

He continues to whine more than before, his mother said, and he comes to her bed during thunderstorms.

“He took a long time to recover, but I’m just happy he’s here,” she said.

Even as Jesus’ condition improves, his parents continue to think every day about what happened . One sticking point continues to haunt them: The man who shot Jesus is still out there, unidentified and uncharged.

The thought makes Philip Rega want to “rampage,” he said.

“I’ve been thinking about that day. I want to go crazy over it,” Philip Rega said. “I want to see the person who did it get what he deserves, justice. He needs justice. We need justice, especially him. (Jesus) didn’t deserve what happened. Nobody does.”

He said Chicago Police Department officers misspelled Jesus’ name and left out the gunshot wound to his head on a police report. Philip Rega was interviewed the day of the shooting, and one officer checked on Jesus’ condition, but otherwise he hasn’t heard about the case.

“They said they were working on it, and that was it,” he said.

There are no new updates related to the shooting, a CPD spokesperson confirmed Wednesday.

Philip Rega said he believes officers are “doing what they need to do” but that more officers should be hired.

In recent months, Chicago police Superintendent Larry Snelling has repeatedly stressed that the department will be more communicative with the victims of violent crimes and their families. Snelling emphasized training will stress the need to keep those families aware of developments.

The father called on anyone who knows who shot his son to share information with police.

Reflecting on the last year, gratitude for 911 operators and GoFundMe donors were at the top of Anna Rega’s mind. But she also continues to hold her own vision of justice: She wished the men who shot Jesus would have come to the hospital to see him, covered in tubes and cords, struggling to survive.

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© 2024 Chicago Tribune

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

The notion that Americans are lonely — very, very lonely, and anxious, and depressed, and therefore more at risk of heart disease, dementia, and stroke — has gained traction in recent years. It’s been called an “epidemic” and a “quiet catastrophe,” a particular problem for men and young people and adults and the elderly and pretty much everyone. The surgeon general recently proposed a “National Strategy to Advance Social Connection.”

Millennials and Gen Z are navigating the dating world in this context, and they say the overall experience is not inspiring. In a nationally representative Harris poll, for example, 30% of Gen Z singles agreed with the statement, “I would rather walk across hot coals than go on another online date.”

“People come to me and they’re frustrated. They’re tired,” said Michal Naisteter, a matchmaker and self-described “superconnector” who runs Michal Matches in Philly. “The essence of human connection can’t be using my thumbs.”

That’s where the ancient practice of Meeting People in Person comes in. There seems to be demand: Naisteter co-runs in-person dating events, called “Date Him Philly,” where attendees bring vouched-for members of the opposite sex. Similarly, the New York-based “We Met in Real Life” promises “no swiping no matching just dating.”

It was in this spirit that a group of single Philadelphians signed up to participate in a real-life, highly structured “ongoing experiment” related to dating on a recent December evening. “The Feels,” as it’s called, seeks to fast-track intimacy by drawing on meditation, mindfulness, positive psychology, and nonviolent communication. The experience was designed by Allie Hoffman, 40, an energetic facilitator who got the idea while studying for a master’s in spiritual psychology at Columbia University and navigating life as a single woman.

“In dating, we can get very in our heads. We can take a very cognitive approach: ‘Where does he live? What does he do? How much money does he make?’” Hoffman said. She wanted people to focus instead on their bodies and their present experiences, without intellectualizing the whole thing. There would be no algorithms.

The young singles who showed up were eager for just that. Some had come because they were definitively “off the apps,” or because they were new to the city, or because they saw an Instagram ad and were curious (perhaps an algorithm helped a little). Scholars point to the decline of “third spaces” — social environments that aren’t home or work — as another barrier to naturally meeting people; Hoffman effectively created one for a night.

Each participant paid $74.50 to participate in a series of increasingly intimate paired interactions. At Hoffman’s direction, they complimented people they had just met in tightly-timed 45-second intervals. They answered probing questions like, “What’s something you’ve learned about your sexuality in the last six months?” and “What’s something that you had to unlearn from your parents?” They stared silently into strangers’ eyes for 3 minutes and 46 seconds while Icelandic instrumental music played in the background.

“It’s just real. It’s just nice to not have something that’s mediated by some app,” said Chase, 29, who The Inquirer is referring to by his first name for privacy reasons.

The final activity of the night was a long, wordless hug with a (recent) stranger. A sister event, called “The Kiss,” will take place in New York in January, featuring a kiss as the apex of the night instead of a hug, Hoffman said.

Since hosting the first Feels in August 2022, Hoffman has facilitated nearly 1,500 people in Philly, New York, and D.C. She maintains WhatsApp groups for past attendees in each city and regularly posts intimate musings on her dating life and on relationships more broadly. She just hired three new facilitators. (Posted requirements for the job included “strong magnetism and charisma” as well as “demonstrated willingness to engage in your own inner work.”) The Feels will be back in Philly in January and February.

Despite early emails indicating there may not be enough male attendees, ultimately more men than women showed up at the candlelit Maas Building near Northern Liberties. Hoffman said women often buy tickets early but then “get scared last minute and don’t come,” while men wait to buy tickets but are more committed once they do.

“I’ll be honest, I was kind of dreading it all day. I really didn’t want to come,” said KD, 42, who The Inquirer is identifying by her initials for privacy reasons. She has been off the apps for 10 months and is “really trying hard not to go back on.” She was glad, in the end, that she braved it.

“Everyone here,” she said, “is fantastic.”

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© 2024 The Philadelphia Inquirer, LLC

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, once again at odds with federal officials, is urging people to stop getting Pfizer’s and Moderna’s mRNA COVID vaccines over safety concerns that the shots could possibly deliver DNA contaminants into human cells.

Ladapo’s call to halt the use of the mRNA vaccines comes a few weeks after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration responded to his concerns in a letter, reiterating that the shots were safe and effective.

Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, told Ladapo in a Dec. 14 letter that no SV40 proteins, a DNA virus, “are encoded for or are present in the vaccines” and that animal studies found “no evidence for genotoxicity from the vaccine.”

Ladapo doubled down on his concerns Wednesday, saying that the “FDA’s response does not provide data or evidence that the DNA integration assessments they recommended themselves have been performed.”

“Instead, they pointed to genotoxicity studies — which are inadequate assessments for DNA integration risk,” Ladapo said in a statement. “In addition, they obfuscated the difference between the SV40 promoter/enhancer and SV40 proteins, two elements that are distinct.”

Marks, the FDA official, said the guidance Ladapo references was developed for “DNA vaccines themselves, not for DNA as a contaminant in other vaccines and is not applicable to the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.”

Ladapo says that DNA integration poses a “unique and elevated risk to human health,” and could possibly affect people’s genes and those of their future children.

Marks noted in his December letter that “on first principle, it’s quite implausible” that any residual DNA fragments from the COVID vaccines could find its way into a cell’s nucleus and “be incorporated into chromosomal DNA.”

He also said that reproductive toxicology studies found “no concerns” with the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines and that global surveillance data on more than 1 billion doses of the administered vaccines show “nothing to indicate harm to the genome, such as increased rates of cancers.”

The FDA wants “to make clear that based on a thorough assessment of the entire manufacturing process, FDA is confident in the quality, safety and effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines,” Marks wrote.

Ladapo, however, doesn’t think the FDA has properly assessed the vaccines.

“If the risks of DNA integration have not been assessed for mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, these vaccines are not appropriate for use in human beings,” Ladapo said. “Providers concerned about patient health risks associated with COVID-19 should prioritize patient access to non-mRNA COVID-19 vaccines and treatment. It is my hope that, in regard to COVID-19, the FDA will one day seriously consider its regulatory responsibility to protect human health, including the integrity of the human genome.”

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the top health agency in the country, also says that the shots are safe and effective and is recommending the vaccines for everyone 6 months and older. Ladapo, on the other hand, doesn’t recommend people under 65 get the shots. He says those 65 and older should speak with their doctor.

Ladapo has clashed with federal health officials before over masks, vaccines and the state’s COVID-19 policies. This most recent exchange with federal regulators comes as fewer people, including in Florida, are getting the newly updated COVID vaccines, which were released in September. The CDC estimates that about 11% of adults and about 6% of kids in Florida have received the new shots.

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© 2024 Miami Herald

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Thursday was a happy day for some 140 members of the 445th Airlift Wing and their families.

Arriving home in a quartet of C-17 Globemaster cargo planes, the Airmen returned to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base from more than two months of deployment at an undisclosed location.

At Wright-Patt, families and friends congregated at the Major LeRoy W. Homer, Jr. operations center to welcome them home.

The last time Columbus-area resident Denis Cesarz saw his son — also named Denis Cesarz — was late October, when the younger Cezarz deployed.

The time apart was difficult.

“You’re always worried about it,” the older Cesarz said. “You felt safe. They were at a big base. You felt safe when they were on the base, but they had some interesting missions to fly.”

Master Sgt. Keric Johnson, a 445th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron member who deployed, was all too happy to be home.

“It was a great experience,” Johnson said. “It was the first time we deployed so many people with … four jets.”

445th Airlift Wing representatives declined to say where the members deployed and what their precise work was. But it’s no secret that with a fleet of nine C-17 Globemaster III aircraft, the 445th specializes in the transport of people and equipment.

And the wing has publicly acknowledged that one of its C-17 Globemaster IIIs transported supplies destined for Gaza in late November.

Readers may recall that Hamas militants launched a massive attack against Israel on Oct. 7, sparking a new war. In late October, the 445th, an Air Force Reserve unit, prepared and deployed about 140 people in under 63 hours.

The U.S. Agency for International Development has relied on Air Force airlift capabilities to transport humanitarian aid across the Middle East, the wing has also said.

In his first two weeks on deployment, Johnson said he worked 14-hour to 17-hour days. He estimated that he had perhaps four days off in two months.

Asked what it was like to be back, Johnson had one word: “Cold.”

“We rocked it,” he said. “We had a bunch of DVs (distinguished visitors) that we hauled around, and a lot of missions that we did. We had a lot of missions, a lot of cargo that we hauled out. All of our guys meshed well. No problems whatsoever. It was really a great experience.”

The wing has been one of the most active Air Force Reserve Command C-17 wings, flying more missions in fiscal year 2022 than any other Air Force Reserve Command unit equipped with C-17s, the wing said last year.

The 89th Airlift Squadron flew 1,340 sorties for a total of approximately 4,400 flying hours, consisting of 172 missions in fiscal 2022. The wing also transported 6,883 passengers and delivered more than 19.9 million pounds of cargo in that time, the organization has said.

The 445th was activated at Wright-Patterson in 1994 when two former units combined: the 906th Fighter Group from Wright-Patterson and the 907th Tactical Airlift Group from Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base, which were deactivated Sept. 30, 1994.

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(c) 2024 the Dayton Daily News

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

New Year resolutions are often sweeping and grand, but often you can reap the biggest rewards by building off the strengths already in place. Helping to make your family safer, stronger and more harmonious in 2024 may not require a complete overhaul, but rather a few strategic tweaks.

Here are eight goals for parents and caregivers:

1. Get everyone up-to-date on recommended immunizations. Vaccines are the best way to protect yourself, your children and other loved ones from dangerous viruses such as flu and COVID, which are spiking among children. Call your pediatrician to make sure your children are up-to-date on all recommended immunizations, and ask any questions you may have. And remind your children that good hand hygiene habits help prevent the spread of germs.
2. Do good digital. What are your kids watching on TV and online? Devote some time to researching age-appropriate media. Make a family media use plan and try to prevent gaming from becoming an unhealthy habit. Remember that screen time shouldn’t always be done solo. Watch a show together and discuss what’s happening. Play a video game together. Screen time can become bonding time when adults are active participants.
3. Read together. Set aside time for reading each day. For younger children, build it into the bedtime routine. For older children and teens, share a favorite book by taking turns reading aloud or listen to audiobooks together. Reading has so many brain-boosting benefits for kids. Reading together also strengthens that special bond between you and your child.
4. Get outside and explore. Spending time outdoors can be a great mood booster, and help families get needed physical activity and vitamin D while enjoying time in nature. Spending time outside also gives your child’s eyes a healthy screen-time break and helps them sleep better at night.
5. Check your car seat limits for safety. Kids grow so fast and they can easily outgrow car seats faster than parents realize. Keep children riding rear-facing as long as possible, up to the limits of their car seat, because it is the safest mode. This commonly includes children under 2 and most children up to age 4. See if there are any new car seat laws that may be going into effect in your state in the new year. Remind anyone who transports your child by car to abide by all safety rules.
6. Set aside time to cook as a family. Many families enjoy baking treats together during the holidays. Keep the fun going in the new year. Schedule special times to cook together and get children involved, from choosing recipes to buying ingredients at the store. If your child is a picky eater, this can get them more interested in trying new, healthy foods.
7. Make a family disaster kit. It’s scary to think how disasters like wildfires, hurricanes or tornadoes could affect our communities, but extreme weather events are becoming more frequent due to climate change. Being ready is one way to be less afraid. Ask your children what they would want with them in a disaster and assemble basic necessities, like nonperishable foods, flashlights, and bottled water, for when a disaster strikes.
8. Mind your mental health and practice self-care. When was the last time you had a check-up? Got proper rest? Depression and anxiety can happen to both moms and dads during and after pregnancy, even up to three years after having a child. The National Maternal Mental Health Hotline is available 24/7 by calling 833-943-5746. And for non-emergency resources and support, you can contact Postpartum Support International: call or text “Help” to 800-944-4773.

Maybe this is the year you decide to join a parent’s group — or step back from some activities if you find it hard to say no and are overextended. Your pediatrician can help you with your child’s health, but also provide some guidance on self-care for parents. When caregivers are healthy and rested, they are better equipped to provide the best care for their children.

Even very young children can also make their own goals and resolutions. For ideas, go here: Healthy New Year’s Resolutions for Children & Teens – HealthyChildren.org )

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© 2023 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Joe Bonsall of the Oak Ridge Boys is retiring from touring after 50 years with the Grammy-winning country and gospel quartet.

The tenor said Wednesday in a statement posted to X that a neuromuscular disorder has made it difficult to walk, forcing him to step away from performing. In the midst of the group’s American Made Farewell tour, the Oak Ridge Boys will replace Bonsall, 75, with 27-year-old singer-songwriter Ben James.

“Many of you know I have been battling a slow onset (over 4 years now) of a neuromuscular disorder,” Bonsall said in the tweet. “I am now to a point that walking is impossible so I have basically retired from the road. It has just gotten too difficult.”

Bonsall went on to thank the quartet’s band and crew for their love, support and prayers. He added support for his replacement.

“There is a young man named Ben James singing for me out there and he needs your love and encouragement … his sound is different than mine but he brings a ton of talent to the table!” he continued. “The @oakridgeboys will finish the Farewell Tour without me but rest assured I am good with all of it! God’s Got It!!!”

Bonsall joined the Oak Ridge Boys in 1973 after a stint with the Keystones and went on to be a part of their peak in mainstream success throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

The Oak Ridge Boys started performing under different names in the mid-1940s in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, until settling on their current moniker in 1945, according to the group’s website. Over the next several decades, the group would be known mostly in gospel circles.

However, after drawing interest from well-known country-artist manager Jim Halsey around the time of Bonsall’s start with the group, the quartet began branching out into country and more mainstream music, performing and recording with the likes of Paul Simon, Brenda Lee, Johnny Cash, Roy Rogers, Billy Ray Cyrus, Bill Monroe and Ray Charles.

Bonsall was the group’s tenor throughout the peak years, releasing hit crossover tracks “Bobbie Sue” and “Elvira” which climbed to No. 12 and No. 5, respectively, on the Billboard Hot 100. There was also a string of singles that topped the Billboard country music charts, including “I Guess It Never Hurts to Hurt Sometimes,” “This Crazy Love,” “It Takes a Little Rain” and “No Matter How High.”

“Elvira” would earn them a Country Music Association award for single of the year and a Grammy for country performances by a duo or group with vocal. In all, during Bonsall’s tenure, the group earned four CMA awards, four Grammys and four Gospel Music Association Dove awards. Bonsall was inducted in the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2015 as a member of the Oak Ridge Boys.

That same year, Bonsall also made headlines for his negative reaction to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry in the United States. “It’s a sad day for those that care about spirituality and principles based on the Bible!,” he wrote in a tweet. “Move on and join the 21st Century? I choose Jesus!”

Alongside other longtime members Duane Allen (joined in 1966), Richard Sterban (joined in 1972) and William Lee Golden, who joined in 1965 and left for a period in the late 1980 and 1990s, Bonsall has toured virtually nonstop, aside from a brief hiatus in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The group’s ongoing Farewell tour began in September and carries on this year, throughout the summer.

“We’re the act that won’t go away,” Bonsall told The Times in 1996 after a local performance in Glendale. “We’re not kids anymore, but we’re out there rockin’.”

However, in recent years, he had missed shows while experiencing various health issues, including pulmonary embolisms in 2022, which he said almost killed him.

“I could have easily died last weekend but God is not through with me yet,” Bonsall tweeted after his health scare. “I am home now after 6 days in the hospital battling pulmonary embolisms … my recovery could take awhile … thanks for the prayers and love shown!”

___

© 2024 Los Angeles Times

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

The Amos Miller Organic Farm in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, was raided by three Pennsylvania State Troopers and seven other officials for multiple hours on Thursday.

According to The Lancaster Patriot, Thursday’s raid came as the result of a search warrant and included officials seizing multiple coolers of Amos Miller’s farm products, including chocolate milk, sour cream, eggnog and ice cream.

The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture conducted the search with the help of the Pennsylvania State Police.

When a reporter from The Lancaster Patriot attempted to enter the farm facility during Thursday’s raid, a Pennsylvania State Trooper explained, “We’re conducting a search warrant inside this building right now.”

The state trooper also told The Lancaster Patriot reporter to leave the facility until the completion of the search warrant.

The Lancaster Patriot reported that a search warrant for Miller’s Lancaster farm was issued by Magisterial District Judge B. Denise Commins on Jan. 3. The warrant included a probable cause affidavit by Sheri Morris, Acting Bureau Director of Food Safety with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.

The affidavit, which was obtained by The Lancaster Patriot, included claims against Miller’s farm products ranging from 2016 to Dec. 19, 2023. The latest claim explained that Morris was notified “by the NY state Department of Health of a confirmed positive case of a foodborne pathogen (STEC – Shiga toxin producing E. Coli) in an underage individual.” The individual allegedly had consumed products that were purchased from Miller’s private buying club.

State troopers raided Amos Miller’s organic farm in Pennsylvania today.

The farm specializes in selling raw milk, organic eggs, grass-fed beef and other nutritious foods to private buyers.
pic.twitter.com/Un6LQc6Ztz

— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) January 5, 2024

The affidavit claims that Miller has not completed the application process through the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture for “registration, licensing, or permitting under the pertinent Retail Food Facility Safety Act, Food Safety Act, or Milk Sanitation Laws.”

According to The Lancaster Patriot, after the search warrant was completed Thursday, Miller was provided with a list of 37 items that were seized during the search.

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Additionally, a notice posted on a walk-in cooler door warned that the food “has been detained by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture pursuant to Section 5726(a) of the Food Safety Act.” The notice explained that the food “may be adulterated or misbranded and shall be detained.”

The notice added that it is “unlawful to remove the food from the premises or to dispose of it without approval of the Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.”

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) addressed Thursday’s raid in a post on X, formerly Twitter, saying, “Looks like Amos Miller’s farm is being raided. With all of the problems in society today, this is what the government wants to focus on? A man growing food for informed customers, without participating in the industrial meat/milk complex? It’s shameful that it’s come to this.”

Looks like Amos Miller’s farm is being raided.

With all of the problems in society today, this is what the government wants to focus on?

A man growing food for informed customers, without participating in the industrial meat/milk complex?

It’s shameful that it’s come to this. https://t.co/pWwjp6cgPh

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) January 4, 2024

The Lancaster Patriot reported that Miller’s private buying club provides customers with alternatives to commercial food products.

“They don’t trust the large corporations,” Miller previously told The Lancaster Patriot. “It’s not sustainable. For some reason the government keeps endorsing the large corporations, and it can cause big trouble.”

Miller’s website explains that all of his farm’s food products, which include items such as milk, eggs, meat and cheese, “are only available to members who belong to our Private Association and are NOT available to the PUBLIC.” As a result, none of Miller’s products are available in grocery stores.

In a statement obtained by The Lancaster Patriot, Robert Barnes, Miller’s attorney, said, “Today, the Department of Agriculture of the State of Pennsylvania suddenly came, without notice, raided Amos’ farm, and detained everything Amos had in the farm’s freezer. They did so in a lawless manner, without appropriate authority, in violation of their own rules and regulations, despite never objecting to the prior resolutions reached with the federal government, and despite a complete failure by the state to even reach out to Amos’ known counsel, Robert Barnes.”

Barnes explained that despite being subjected to “constant harassment,” Miller will “continue to do all he legally can to provide the food his members deeply need.”