Training rollover kills West Point cadet, injures many
WEST POINT, N.Y. — A vehicle loaded with West Point cadets on summer training overturned in rough, wooded terrain Thursday, killing one cadet and injuring several others, the U.S. Military Academy said.
The tactical vehicle operated by two soldiers overturned around 6:45 a.m. as it was headed to a land navigation site as part of standard summer cadet training, said West Point’s superintendent, Lt. Gen. Darryl A. Williams.
The two soldiers were injured along with 19 cadets in the Class of 2020. Williams said none of the injuries were life-threatening. Injuries included broken arms and facial abrasions, an official with the hospital at West Point said.
“It is not common for these vehicles to turn over. It is very rough terrain,” Williams told reporters at a briefing near the accident site Thursday afternoon. “You can see the hills we have here.”
Helicopter footage from WNBC showed a truck flipped over in a wooded area.
Trump, often a critic of alliances, hails US D-Day partners
COLLEVILLE-SUR-MER, France — President Donald Trump, who has at times questioned the value of NATO and other institutions that emerged from World War II, paid tribute on the 75th anniversary of D-Day to the “cherished alliance” forged in battle by the U.S. and partner nations. To aging warriors gathered on a bluff overlooking Omaha Beach, he said, “Our debt to you is everlasting.”
Under calm blue skies, Trump underscored the magnitude of the tumultuous June day in 1945:
“Those who fought here won a future for our nation. They won the survival of our civilization, and they showed us the way to love, cherish and defend our way of life for many centuries to come.”
The president stopped mid-speech to gingerly embrace Russell Pickett, a 94-year-old Tennessee man who was wounded in the first wave that came ashore , telling him, “Private Pickett, you honor us all with your presence.”
Anniversary tributes aside, questions about Trump’s commitment to Western alliances have been a theme throughout his presidency and trailed him on his visit to Europe. During his stop in England earlier in the week, Queen Elizabeth II used a dinner toast to emphasize the importance of international institutions created by Britain, the United States and other allies after World War II, a subtle rebuttal.
Biden reverses course on Hyde abortion amendment
ATLANTA — After two days of intense criticism, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden reversed course Thursday and declared that he no longer supports a long-standing congressional ban on using federal health care money to pay for abortions.
Biden’s reversal came after rivals and women’s rights groups blasted him for affirming through his campaign aides that he still supported the Hyde Amendment. With the shift, Biden hopes to limit any damage from women’s groups and progressives who already are skeptical about whether a 76-year-old, more centrist white man can be the party standard-bearer in 2020.
Speaking at a Democratic Party fundraiser in Atlanta, Biden didn’t mention the attacks he’s endured this week but tacitly agreed with his critics who cast the Hyde Amendment as another abortion barrier that disproportionately affects poor women and women of color. He said new restrictions in Republican-run states like Georgia and Alabama justify his shift.
“I’ve been struggling with the problems that Hyde now presents,” Biden said, opening a speech dedicated mostly to voting rights and issues important to the black community with an explanation of a significant policy shift.
“I want to be clear: I make no apologies for my last position. I make no apologies for what I’m about to say,” he explained, arguing that “circumstances have changed.”
US opens new mass facility in Texas for migrant children
The federal government is opening a new mass facility to hold migrant children in Texas and considering detaining hundreds more youths on three military bases around the country, adding up to 3,000 new beds to the already overtaxed system.
The new emergency facility in Carrizo Springs, Texas, will hold as many as 1,600 teens in a complex that once housed oil field workers on government-leased land near the border, said Mark Weber, a spokesman for Office of Refugee Resettlement.
The agency is also weighing using Army and Air Force bases in Georgia, Montana and Oklahoma to house an additional 1,400 kids in the coming weeks, amid the influx of children traveling to the U.S. alone. Most of the children crossed the border without their parents, escaping violence and corruption in Central America, and are held in government custody while authorities determine if they can be released to relatives or family friends.
All the new facilities will be considered temporary emergency shelters, so they won’t be subject to state child welfare licensing requirements, Weber said. In January, the government shut down an unlicensed detention camp in the Texas desert under political pressure, and another unlicensed facility called Homestead remains in operation in the Miami suburbs.
“It is our legal requirement to take care of these children so that they are not in Border Patrol facilities,” Weber said. “They will have the services that ORR always provides, which is food, shelter and water.”
University might return $21.5M after donor’s abortion remarks
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — When philanthropist Hugh F. Culverhouse Jr. pledged a record $26.5 million to the University of Alabama in September, the institution showered him with praise, lauding his generosity, describing him as a “special person” and renaming the law school in his honor.
That relationship quickly soured. On Friday, Alabama’s board of trustees is expected to reject Culverhouse’s gift, give back the $21.5 million received so far, and remove his name, too.
Depending on which side you talk to, the flap is either the most high-profile fallout from Alabama’s new abortion ban or a completely unrelated dispute.
The bond began publicly unraveling last week after Culverhouse, a Florida real estate investor and lawyer, called on students to boycott the university to protest the ban. Hours later, Alabama announced it was considering giving back his money, the biggest donation ever made to the university.
“I don’t want anybody to go to that law school, especially women, until the state gets its act together,” the 70-year-old Culverhouse said in an interview.