Category: Security

Anna Cardwell, a former reality TV star who appeared along with her family on TLC’s “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” and “Toddlers & Tiaras,” has died. She was 29.

Her mother, June Shannon, known as “Mama June,” announced on social media that her eldest daughter had died on Saturday.

“With the breaking heart, we are announcing that @annamarie35 [Anna] is no longer with us,” Shannon shared in the caption of an Instagram post on Sunday. “She passed away in my home last night peacefully at 11:12 PM. She gave one hell of a fight for 10 months she passed away with her family around her like she won’t and we will will [sic] be updating y’all with more information as we get it today. We love y’all and continued prayers and thoughts for our family doing this difficult time.”

Cardwell, also known as Chickadee, had reportedly been diagnosed with Stage 4 adrenal carcinoma earlier this year. Her younger sister, Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson, confirmed that Cardwell was ill on social media in March.

“I really don’t know what to say as my heart is completely broken,” Thompson wrote on Instagram on Sunday. “Watching my 29 year old sister this last year battle this horrible disease hasn’t been easy. Anna was a fighter & still is … I would’ve loved for you to get to see me graduate college but i know you will forever cheer me on in heaven! We will all make sure your legacy lives on forever.”

Cardwell’s family originally rose to reality television fame after Thompson broke out on “Toddlers & Tiaras,” which followed the lives and families of child beauty contestants. The spinoff series, “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo,” premiered in 2012 but was canceled in 2014 amid the controversy that Shannon was dating a convicted child molester.

In addition to her mother and three younger sisters, Caldwell is survived by her two young children, Kaitlyn and Kylee.

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© 2023 Los Angeles Times

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

The United States launched multiple airstrikes against Iran-backed terrorist groups in Iraq after a terrorist organization’s drone strike against U.S. forces at Erbil Air Base left three U.S. service members injured on Christmas.

According to U.S. Central Command, the United States launched airstrikes at 8:45 p.m. on Christmas against multiple facilities in Iraq that are used by Katabi Hezbollah terrorists and other terrorist groups in response to “multiple attacks” against U.S. and coalition forces in both Syria and Iraq.

Central Command noted that prior to the Christmas airstrikes carried out by U.S. forces, Kataib Hezbollah and other terrorist groups attacked coalition forces at Erbil Air Base, causing multiple injuries to U.S. personnel.

U.S. CENTCOM conducts strikes against Kataib Hezbollah terrorist group targets in Iraq

In response to multiple attacks against coalition forces in Iraq and Syria, U.S. military forces conducted airstrikes against multiple facilities used by Kataib Hezbollah and affiliated groups… pic.twitter.com/mmL4WqFXq9

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) December 26, 2023

“Today, at President Biden’s direction, U.S. military forces conducted necessary and proportionate strikes on three facilities used by Kataib Hezbollah and affiliated groups in Iraq,” Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said in a statement released by the Pentagon on Monday.

Austin added, “These precision strikes are a response to a series of attacks against U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-sponsored militias, including an attack by Iran-affiliated Kataib Hezbollah and affiliated groups on Erbil Air Base earlier today, and intended to disrupt and degrade capabilities of the Iran-aligned militia groups directly responsible.”

READ MORE: Iran-backed terrorists attack oil tanker; US Navy responds

In his statement, Austin noted that Monday’s attack by Kataib Hezbollah and other Iran-backed groups resulted in injuries to three U.S. service members, including one service member who was listed in critical condition.

“My prayers are with the brave Americans who were injured today,” Austin stated. “And let me be clear – the President and I will not hesitate to take necessary action to defend the United States, our troops, and our interests. There is no higher priority.”

Austin explained that while the United States does not want to “escalate conflict” in the Middle East region, the military is “fully prepared” to take additional action in order to protect U.S. service members and facilities.

According to a recent report by Military Times, the number of attacks against U.S. forces in Syria and Iraq has continued to climb since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in October, rising to over 100 attacks since Oct. 17.

Addressing Monday’s retaliatory airstrikes, General Michael Erik Kurilla, the U.S. Central Command Commander, said, “These strikes are intended to hold accountable those elements directly responsible for attacks on coalition forces in Iraq and Syria and degrade their ability to continue attacks. We will always protect our forces.”

Central Command announced that “early assessments” of the retaliatory airstrikes showed that the strikes resulted in the destruction of the terrorist facilities and “likely killed” multiple Kataib Hezbollah terrorists. On the other hand, Central Command said that there were no indications that any civilians were impacted by the airstrikes.

Gov. Brian Kemp plans to include more than $100 million for school safety programs in his annual budget blueprint that would send $45,000 to every public school in Georgia to spend on infrastructure improvements or security officers.

The $45,000 allotment will be built into Georgia’s annual base budget, Kemp said Monday at the state Capitol, meaning that schools can factor the funding into long-term plans rather than a one-time payout.

“This is now going to be part of permanent K-12 school funding,” Kemp said. “This is a landmark payment we’re doing, and we’re trusting our educators and our leaders elected at a local level to use this money in the right way to protect our teachers and our kids.”

It is expected to sail through the state Legislature next year with the blessing of House Speaker Jon Burns and Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who each issued supportive statements.

But the plan was a marked departure from another school security proposal outlined earlier this year by Jones to offer public school teachers a $10,000 annual stipend to carry guns in schools. Burns and Kemp each have each declined to endorse that proposal, and the governor distanced himself from the idea on Monday.

Democrats have long said that tighter restrictions on who can buy firearms and where they can carry them is a more effective way to prevent mass shootings than bolstering security in seemingly safe places like schools that have become scenes of violence.

Kemp’s initiative is part of a trend of increased security at U.S. schools amid a spate of mass shootings, such as the 2022 massacre at Uvalde, Texas, where 19 children and two teachers were killed in one of the deadliest school shootings in the nation’s history.

A federal study showed that two-thirds of public schools now control access to school grounds, and an estimated 43% of public schools have a “panic button” or silent alarm installed. About 78% equip classrooms with locks. All are notable increases from the 2017-2018 school year.

“It will give every school in our state, from Bainbridge to Blue Ridge, funding to secure their buildings and keep students safe,” Burns said, “and give parents and teachers the utmost peace of mind.”

In metro Atlanta, school administrators are stepping up efforts to prevent violence and stop students from bringing deadly weapons onto campuses.

Clayton County banned students from using bookbags and lockers last year after an Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation found close to 100 weapons – including handguns, tasers and an AR-15 assault rifle – on campuses and buses during the 2021-2022 school year.

And leaders across the region have called for ongoing funding to hire staffers to address disciplinary problems and other school safety issues that heightened after the coronavirus pandemic, which exacted an emotional and social toll on students.

“It’s a concern for all of us – you think when you take your child to school, that they’re going to be fine,” said Republican state Rep. Matt Hatchett, the chair of the House’s budget-writing committee. “So you’ve got to make sure they are.”

The state has taken other measures aimed at improving school security. Earlier this year, Kemp signed a law mandating that schools carry out an annual active shooter drill involving teachers and students, although the latter group can opt out of the training.

And lawmakers have devoted tens of millions of dollars in one-time funds since 2019, including a $115 million fund approved earlier this year that distributed school safety grants to Georgia’s K-12 schools.

Under Kemp’s plan, local school districts would have flexibility to spend the money how they choose on safety improvements. In metro Atlanta, that could mean more security officers, installing metal detectors or buying specialized equipment. Rural administrators might prioritize that spending in other ways.

The governor said he’s confident Georgia’s 180 school districts have a “great track record” of spending the security funding appropriately.

“They know the schools better than we do, back home in their districts. And I’m very comfortable with the work they’ve done,” Kemp said, adding: “We’re also trusting them to do the right thing.”

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© 2023 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

The military task force draining the fuel from the Navy’s underground Red Hill fuel facility announced Friday that it had wrapped up the last of its major milestones for the year, completing “gravity defueling ” operations.

The military task force draining the fuel from the Navy’s underground Red Hill fuel facility announced Friday that it had wrapped up the last of its major milestones for the year, completing “gravity defueling ” operations.

It will begin the last phase of the defueling in January.

Since October, Joint Task Force Red Hill has drained approximately 104, 642, 160 gallons from the massive underground fuel farm, which sits just 100 feet above a critical aquifer most of Honolulu relies on for drinking water. On Friday it said it “unpacked ” the last fuel from the pipelines that connect the fuel tanks to facilities in Joint Pearl Harbor-Hickam.

The facility was built inside a mountain to allow the tanks to use gravity to feed the pipelines connecting Red Hill to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-­Hickam, saving the energy that might otherwise be required to pump fuel through the pipes. According to a news release, “JTF-RH now shifts focus to prepare for the safe removal of the majority of residual fuel, fuel in the pipelines that can’t be drained by gravity, approximately 60, 000 gallons. This will begin mid-January, pending regulatory approval.”

The remaining fuel is expected to be mostly removed by the end of January, putting the defueling six months ahead of the deadline the task force had initially set for itself. When JTF-RH was first stood up in September 2022 under Vice Adm. John Wade, he said he hoped to complete the task by summer 2024—though he said he would look for any available way to expedite the process.

The World War II-era facility and the pipelines had fallen into a state of deep disrepair and required extensive fixes and upgrades to ensure that the fuel inside the tanks could be safely removed without further risks to the aquifer.

Local officials and community leaders had long warned that the facility posed a threat to Oahu’s water supply, but Navy officials for years insisted the facility was well maintained, safe and critical to national security.

In November 2021 fuel from the facility tainted the Navy’s Oahu water system, which serves 93, 000 people including service members, military families and local civilians. After initially resisting a state emergency order to drain the tanks, the Pentagon announced in March 2022 that it would permanently shutdown the facility.

After nearly a year of repairs, JTF-RH began defueling in October, and chartered commercial tankers have ferried fuel to West Oahu facilities run by Island Energy Services at Campbell Industrial Park, to a fuel storage point in San Diego, a fuel storage point in the Philippines at Subic Bay and another fuel storage point in Singapore. After years of insisting that Red Hill was critical to national security, Pentagon officials now say this new “distributed ” model provides more flexibility and more “resilient ” supply lines.

The defueling has been largely incident-free. During a public Fuel Tank Advisory Committee meeting in November, Wade said that in two incidents in October, about three gallons leaked along the pipeline but was quickly cleaned up “on the spot.”

Honolulu Board of Water Supply Manager and Chief Engineer Ernie Lau, who has been a vocal critic of the Navy’s handling of Red Hill, said he’s “actually quite pleased ” with the way JTF-RH has handled its mission.

“The key has been that they have been really focused on doing this as quickly as possible and doing it safely, ” said Lau. “So I do appreciate the effort.”

While the defueling is ahead of schedule, the cleanup and ultimate shutdown of the Red Hill facility—which will be overseen by a new Navy task force—is expected to take much longer. In November a state working group called on the federal government to pay for the cleanup of contamination around Red Hill in a report that estimated that as many as 2 million gallons may have leaked from the facility over 80 years.

“I would hope that the next group that takes it over will also have the same attention and focus to do it safely and quickly, ” said Lau. “But the job won’t be done till the last drop of fuel or sludge is out of that facility.”

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(c) 2023 The Honolulu Star-Advertiser

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The funeral for U.S. Navy Officer Jason Araiza is scheduled for Monday at Holy Family Church in Duxbury, with flags across the state ordered to be flown at half-staff in honor of him.

Araiza, 23, of Duxbury, died unexpectedly on Nov. 28, the Duxbury Clipper wrote. He was stationed in Norfolk, Va., and assigned to the USS George Washington as an interior communications electrician. His cause of death was not listed.

Born in Illinois on March 3, 2000, Araiza lived in Colorado before his family moved to Duxbury in 2004 to live closer to his grandparents, his obituary read. He played football as a freshman at Duxbury High School, and after he suffered a concussion, he continued to support his team, “cheering them on at every game,” the Clipper wrote. He graduated in 2018.

Araiza also learned American Sign Language and signed the national anthem at games.

Following his graduation, he fulfilled a lifelong dream by enlisting in the military and was sworn into the U.S. Navy in August 2018, reaching the rank of petty officer second class. He received several medals, including the Navy and Marines Corps Achievement medal, his obituary said.

“Jason enjoyed fencing, lifting weights, swimming, sailing, rowing on Duxbury Bay, and obtained a black belt in taekwondo,” his obituary said. “He will be remembered for always being his authentic self and known by family and friends as funny, kind, accepting, selfless and supportive.”

Araiza is survived by his mother, Paula, his brother, Mark Trudeau, grandfather, Alfred Potrnicki, aunts Patricia Wetherbee and Karen Poturnicki and his great-aunt Mary Poturnicki, along with several cousins.

Visiting hours were held on Sunday at the Cartmell-Davis Life Celebration Funeral Home at 373 Court St. in North Plymouth. His funeral Mass will be on Monday, Dec. 18 at 11 a.m. at Holy Family Church at 601 Tremont St. in Duxbury, with his burial to follow at Mayflower Cemetery.

Three people commented on Araiza’s Legacy obituary, expressing their condolences and remembering Araiza.

“Jason and I took ASL together in high school,” Devin Bombardier wrote on Dec. 17. “He was thoughtful, funny, and caring. I will never forget the way he treated others. More people should be like Jason. Sending love and prayers to family and friends.”

A commenter, who wrote her name as Beth, said on Dec. 16, “Jason was so very kind to our young son when we first moved to Trout Farm Lane, he was a beautiful, gentle soul that we will always remember. Sending much love to you, dear Paula.”

Gov. Maura Healey ordered all flags in Massachusetts to remain lowered at half-staff in honor of Araiza. Flags were previously at half-staff following the deaths of National Grid employee Roderick Jackson and Waltham Police Officer Paul Tracey, who were both killed when a car struck them while at a construction site on Dec. 6.

Healey also ordered flags to stay at half-staff in honor of Air Force member Jacob “Jake” Galliher, who died on Nov. 29 in a training mission off the coast of Japan.

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© 2023 Advance Local Media LLC

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The Pentagon said it will run out of money to replace weapons sent to Ukraine by Dec. 30 unless Congress approves new funding, for the first time giving a precise date for when it will have exhausted its cash.

The Defense Department is spending its last $1.07 billion to buy new weapons and equipment that will replace those drawn down from stockpiles and sent to Ukraine, Pentagon Comptroller Michael McCord said in a Dec. 15 letter obtained by Bloomberg News. Fifteen days later — on Dec. 30 — its accounts will be empty.

“Once these funds are obligated, the department will have exhausted the funding available to us for security assistance to Ukraine,” McCord wrote in the letter to leaders of the House and Senate defense policy and appropriations committees.

The letter will add to pressure on Congress to break a deadlock over the more than $60 billion that President Joe Biden has requested to help Ukraine repel Russian forces. Republican lawmakers say the package must include steps to tighten security at the U.S. border with Mexico or they won’t approve it. Biden administration representatives have been seeking to negotiate a compromise package of supplemental spending with senators.

“In order to protect U.S. military readiness, absent congressional action to approve the supplemental, the department anticipates only one addition drawdown package will be possible,” McCord said.

On Dec. 12, the Biden administration announced it was sending Ukraine a $200 million package from U.S. supplies that includes artillery rounds, small-arms ammunition and other weaponry.

Once that goes through, the Pentagon will be able to send one more package of aid to Ukraine, McCord said.

Although the letter presses members of Congress to reach a deal on Ukraine funding, it also means House Republicans who broke for Christmas break without acting on the funding have some time to hammer one out when they come back after Jan. 1.

A four-page formal reprogramming request sent with the letters provides some details on the equipment the Pentagon intends to replenish, from high-profile weapons to mundane supplies:

•$635 million in the Army’s missile procurement account for spending described as classified.

•$210 million to purchase replacement M795 High-Explosive 155mm projectiles, propellants, fuses and primers.

•$129 million in classified Navy funding to replace weapons sent from its “Other Missiles” budget category.

•$17 million to replace specialized “acoustic sensors” provided for Ukraine vehicles by the US Special Operations Command.

•$4.3 million in Air Force operations and maintenance funding to replace tactical vehicles, metal fences and barriers sent to Ukraine.

•$737,000 to buy replacement camouflage parkas for the Air Force.

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© 2023 Bloomberg L.P

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Tucker Carlson, who was ousted from his Fox News program earlier this year, is going it alone via streaming.

The conservative provocateur will announce Monday that he is launching a new subscription streaming service that will ask consumers to pay $9 a month or an annual fee of $72 for his produced videos of commentary and programming.

Carlson’s website says the service will carry exclusive interviews and investigations, news commentaries and “a direct line to Tucker and his team.” He is planning to reveal more details in an interview with Megyn Kelly on her SiriusXM radio program.

Carlson was the most-watched cable news host in the country, averaging more than 3 million viewers a day, until his program was pulled by Fox News on April 24. His exit came a week after Fox News paid $787.5 million to settle a defamation suit from Dominion Voting Systems over the network’s false statements on voting fraud in the 2020 presidential election.

Despite drawing the largest audience in cable news, Carlson’s program lost its major advertising support due to the host’s inflammatory remarks about race and immigration and conspiracy theories about the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Carlson remains under contract at Fox News through 2024. The company has not allowed him to pursue another media job as it continues to pay his salary, believed to be more than $15 million a year.

Earlier this year, Fox News sent a cease and desist letter to Carlson after he began posting videos on X, the social media site formally known as Twitter. The company did not have a comment Monday on Carlson’s new endeavor.

While a direct-to-consumer business could yield millions in revenue from loyal fans willing to pay a monthly fee, it will be difficult to have the same impact of being on Fox News, a network with the ability to reach 70 million homes through satellite and cable systems.

Fox News often touted how Carlson’s program delivered a substantial number of viewers who described themselves as independents and Democrats. They are likely not the type of true believers who would shell out money every month for a dedicated service bringing them all Carlson all the time.

The editorial side of the new company will be run by Justin Wells, Carlson’s longtime producer, who was accused of sexual assault in a lawsuit filed by a former Fox News employee last week.

Neil Patel, who co-founded Carlson’s website the Daily Caller, will handle the business side of the operation.

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© 2023 Los Angeles Times

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

A federal judge in southern Illinois who earlier this year put a hold on the state’s gun ban — a decision that was reversed on appeal — on Tuesday heard arguments on a challenge to the registration process for guns grandfathered in under the law.

U.S. District Judge Stephen McGlynn indicated he was not inclined to issue an injunction that would put off the Jan. 1 deadline for Illinois residents to register guns covered by the ban with Illinois State Police.

“I think that there’s a mess here and there’s some problems, and I haven’t made my mind up,” McGlynn said during a hearing in his East St. Louis courtroom. “But I do think that entering an injunction today may create more problems than it’s worth.”

McGlynn said he was “inclined to deny the motion without prejudice and allow a motion to be renewed if after January 1st we see there’s very little compliance.”

The requirement that residents who owned guns banned as of Jan. 10, 2023, registered them with the state had met stiff resistance, although since the process began in Oct. 1 6,141 gun owners have registered nearly 12,100 guns and about 6,250 firearm parts or other firearm components covered by the ban, according to state records from Dec. 8.

The degree of compliance is impossible to determine, but the number of people who had registered as of Dec. 8 represented just a little over 0.25% of the 2.4 million people in the state holding FOID cards, the state-mandated permits that authorize residents to own guns.

In Chicago on Tuesday, the legislature’s bipartisan Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, or JCAR, heard testimony from the state police about the preliminary enforcement rules it has enacted for the gun registry. Republicans on the panel raised concerns over whether the firearm data the agency has gathered for the registry would be retained if the U.S. Supreme Court determines the ban as a whole is unconstitutional.

Gun rights advocates have stressed the need for data privacy when it comes to gun ownership. Republican state Rep. Ryan Spain of Peoria, JCAR’s co-chair, raised concerns over whether the state police have statutory authority to use the firearm registry data in the state-regulated Law Enforcement Agencies Data System, or LEADS, a commonly used database for law enforcement in Illinois.

“I would like to learn more about the justification for placing this information in LEADS and the reason is very serious,” Spain told state police legal counsel Suzanne Bond. “LEADS is an important tool for our law enforcement officers and it generates a hot sheet of important information that an officer should be aware of, and I just, for the life of me, can’t understand why we would want to be placing red flags among the law-abiding citizens who are completing this (registration) process.”

Bond disputed Spain’s “red flag” characterization and noted that the listing registrants in LEADS is no different from other data on active FOID card holders which is also in the system.

“There is no intent on the part of the state police to retain information that we should not retain, so we will be doing everything we can to comply with whatever direction we’re given up to and including, if necessary, applying to delete that information,” Bond said.

JCAR adjourned its hearing without permanently codifying the state police’s rules and said they could be considered by the panel when it meets next on Jan. 16.

Gun owners who don’t registered firearms covered by the ban that they owned before Jan. 10, 2023, face a misdemeanor charge for a first offense and a felony for subsequent violations. The gun rights organizations that brought the legal challenge argue the registry violates both the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms and the 14th Amendment’s due process clause.

In court papers, they argued that the law over the registry is too vague about what guns or firearm accessories need to be registered, and they alleged the state failed to provide adequate notice to the public about the registry aside from posting its rules on the state police’s website.

Those rules were posted in mid-September, shortly before the agency began processing registrations on Oct. 1, giving gun owners three months to comply, the plaintiffs said. Within the last few months, the state police have held public hearings, including in Chicago and Springfield, about the gun ban and the registry was a topic.

In East St. Louis, Sean Brady, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, argued that the registry in its current form could have severe consequences for law-abiding residents who aren’t aware of the nuts and bolts of the law.

He said state police have already revised enforcement rules for the registry.

“Just making revisions with two weeks left to go … in and of itself is suspect,” Brady said via video conference. “There is an issue here among (the gun rights organizations’) membership of not being notified” about the deadline to register the prohibited guns.

A lawyer for the Illinois attorney general’s office, Christopher Wells, argued the plaintiffs had no legal standing on their notice argument, contending state police have made a concerted effort to alert the public about the registration requirements.

Wells also dismissed Brady’s argument that the law is too vague for the public to know what guns or firearm parts need to be registered.

McGlynn, an appointee to the bench by former Republican President Donald Trump, said his ruling on the preliminary injunction motion could be issued by the end of the week.

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©2023 Chicago Tribune

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Delta Air Lines flight attendant Loretta Day has dreams of buying a house one day, but she found herself racking up credit card debt while treating herself to Bath & Body Works candles and dining out on trips.

An email she got from her employer offered up to $1,000 for an emergency savings fund if she completed a financial education program for employees.

She laughed. “I’m like, yeah, Delta is gonna give me $1,000,” she said. Then a couple of days later, “I went back and read it again and said, ‘You know what? I’ll do it.’”

Many employers offer financial literacy programs to their workers as an employee benefit, including Atlanta-based Delta. But during the COVID-19 pandemic, Delta cut hours, offered early retirement and took other steps to ensure survival as travel ground to a halt. Delta executives noticed workers were pulling funds from their retirement savings to make ends meet.

This year, Delta launched an expansion of its employee financial well-being courses with longtime nonprofit partner Operation HOPE.

Employees can sign up, watch financial education videos and get financial coaching sessions with Fidelity Investments — and get $750 from Delta deposited into a Fidelity savings account.

Employees who sign up for payroll deductions and put $250 of their own money into their account then get an additional $250 match from Delta.

Day is one of more than 33,000 Delta employees who signed up for the emergency savings fund program the company began offering its employees this year.

About 57% of U.S. adults can’t afford a $1,000 emergency expense, according to Bankrate.com in a report this year.

Of Delta’s 100,000 employees, more than 21,000 have completed the program — most of them frontline hourly employees such as flight attendants and airport workers, according to Kelley Elliott, Delta’s vice president of Total Rewards, who runs human resources for the company. That amounts to about $21 million in Delta contributions.

Day, 51, was featured Monday during a panel discussion between Delta officials and Operation HOPE CEO John Hope Bryant during the financial literacy nonprofit’s annual summit in downtown Atlanta.

Day said she learned during the financial education sessions that “pretty much everything that I was doing was okay. But it wasn’t preparing me for retirement, or leaving an inheritance for my kids,” who are in their early 30s, Day said.

During one of the sessions, her financial coach suggested she consider cutting expenditures on dining out and candle purchases. She gave it a try for a month.

“I could not believe the amount of money that was still in my account” — $700 in one month, she said.

Her daughter recently called and asked for help paying her rent. “And I said, ‘Well how much do you need?” Day said. “While we were still on the phone, I was able to send her” the $850 she needed — something Day says wouldn’t have been possible before she started saving this year.

Day now aims to save enough for a down payment on a house next year. “That’s my goal. I want to leave something for my kids, my grandkids. … How can I buy a house if I’m buying all these candles?”

She also learned from the financial education sessions that she was leaving money on the table by not contributing more to her 401(k).

Nearly 40% of HR professionals who responded to a survey said their companies offer financial education or counseling to employees, and 20% offer one-on-one financial coaching, according to an HR Research Institute report this year.

During the pandemic more than 40,000 of Delta employees took unpaid leave.

The company’s executives noticed that employees were taking money from their 401(k) funds, collectively pulling out about $1 billion in early withdrawals. That indicated that they were struggling and needed help.

While the airline has paid out more than $1 billion in profit sharing to employees in past years and plans to again for this year’s results, its fortunes plummeted early in the pandemic and profit sharing payments were cut while employee hours and pay were reduced.

Employees who are worried about money “can’t show up to be the best that they can be that day, because they’re stressed out about something else,” Delta CEO Ed Bastian said during Monday’s event.

Struggling financially “corrodes your self-esteem, it corrodes your confidence,” said Bryant during remarks on stage with Bastian. “If I don’t feel good about me, I’m not gonna feel good about you.”

“When you remove the stress of somebody financially, you change their lives,” Bryant said.

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© 2023 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

When Chinese President Xi Jinping makes his first trip to Vietnam in six years, he’ll be seeking to ensure a strategically important Asian partner hasn’t drifted too close to the U.S.

The Chinese leader will arrive in Hanoi on Tuesday with a mission to upgrade ties with his Communist counterparts, the foreign ministry in Beijing said last week. He’s expected to lay down funding for railway lines crucial to exports from Vietnam, a boon for a manufacturer struggling to bolster post-pandemic growth.

The two-day trip — Xi’s sole visit to an Asian nation so far this year — comes just three months after U.S. President Joe Biden declared “enormous” opportunity with Vietnam on his first jaunt to the Asian nation. That trip yielded sweeping agreements with the U.S. on everything from semiconductors to security.

“China would want to pressure Vietnam not to go too far to these other countries,” said Lye Liang Fook, a senior fellow at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute who has spent two decades researching Chinese foreign policy. “I think Vietnam is one country in Southeast Asia that knows how to balance this relationship.”

The Biden administration’s push to limit China’s influence in the Indo-Pacific, along with Beijing’s sweeping territorial claims in South China Sea, has forced nations such as Vietnam into a delicate balancing act between the world’s largest economies.

Hanoi will be mindful of that balance as it seeks economic opportunities from its biggest trading partner this week. Vietnam has been wary China will use its economic and military might to assert more control in the South China Sea, where they have overlapping claims and the U.S. is providing growing security assistance.

Changed Reality

The geopolitical and economic landscape is much changed since Xi’s last trip to Vietnam in 2017, which overlapped with then U.S. President Donald Trump’s state visit around an economic summit where the superpowers jostled for influence.

Vietnam has since emerged as one of the biggest winners from U.S.-China trade tensions, as businesses redirect billions of dollars from China to the manufacturing powerhouse in a bid to secure supply chains.

The Southeast Asian nation has adopted a more inclusive approach to growth, evident from strengthening ties with the U.S. and its allies. During Biden’s September trip, the two nations formally upgraded ties, shifting the relationship to a “comprehensive strategic partnership,” the highest level and the one it uses for China and India.

“Vietnam’s maneuvered its diplomatic strategy to stay independent while upholding its stability and development,” said Le Dang Doanh, an economist and former government adviser to Hanoi.

Last month, Japan and Vietnam elevated ties while underscoring their adherence to international law and territorial integrity. Both nations are embroiled in territorial disputes with China. Tokyo also pledged to provide security assistance to Vietnam, after offering a coastal surveillance radar system to the Philippines, as Manila locks horns with Beijing in the South China Sea.

Such moves haven’t gone unnoticed by China. In October, Xi urged Vietnam to remember its “traditional friendship” with its neighbor during a meeting with President Vo Van Thuong in Beijing.

Xi’s trip will be a chance to nurture that relationship. The Chinese leader will be greeted at the Presidential Palace, followed by a 21-cannon salute on Tuesday before holding talks with top leaders, according to a schedule distributed by Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Those talks will include economic carrots from Xi. China is ready to provide funding to upgrade Vietnam’s railway from Guangxi province in southwestern China to Hanoi, and accelerate construction on other lines, Chinese ambassador to Vietnam Xiong Bo told state media at a briefing Sunday.

Vietnam’s Permanent Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Minh Vu also said the two sides are expected to establish a “new level” of bilateral relations, according to Vietnamese state media.

One way Xi may try to pull Hanoi onside is by pressuring it into supporting its loosely defined foreign policy vision known as a “global community of shared future,” said ISEAS’s Lye. That vision starts in Asia, Xi said in a letter published by Vietnam’s communist party newspaper ahead of his visit.

“Asia is our common home,” he said. “Neighboring countries cannot be moved away. Helping one’s neighbor is helping oneself.”

South China Sea

Thorny topics are also on the agenda, with Xi set to discuss defense and maritime issues with senior leaders including Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Communist Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong, China’s Foreign Ministry said last week.

Vietnam and China have a tense military history: They fought a brief border war in 1979 and have clashed over control of island chains in the South China Sea, including in 1988 when a Chinese naval attack killed dozens of Vietnamese border guards on Johnson South Reef.

China has since built the world’s largest naval fleet, and last year its Coast Guard maintained near-daily patrols in oil-producing waters off Vietnam’s coast. Hanoi has accelerated reclamation activities in the disputed Spratly Islands and repeatedly urges China to respect its sovereignty.

While similar tensions with China have helped push the Philippines toward the U.S., Vietnam has looked to prevent such issues derailing the overall relationship.

Over the summer, it pledged to maintain its so-called “four nos” defense policy that warns against military alliances, picking sides, hosting foreign military bases or using the threat of force in international relations.

Despite all that, Vietnam is likely to want some reassurances from Beijing over its military ambitions, as Hanoi presses its advantage after being recently courted by the U.S.

“They are after positive commitments on that,” said Carl Thayer, emeritus professor at the University of New South Wales in Australia, referring to the South China Sea. “That’s the major irritant in bilateral relations and there’s nothing that’s been done to make it better.”

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