T-shirts with rival player's mug shot take high school soccer rivalry too far, relatives claim
By: Bajram Hysa Facebook Twitter Google+
Relatives of an Indiana high school student whose mug shot appeared on T-shirts at a soccer game between rival schools reportedly claim spirited fans went a bit too far.
The student’s father told Book Newss his son previously played soccer for Marion High School but transferred to a rival school following legal issues and threatening comments on social media websites. But when the two schools met for a game last Wednesday, relatives saw the unidentified student’s face emblazoned on T-shirts featuring his mug shot.
“I was shocked first, then I thought, ‘How did they get this picture?’ Because I never even seen the picture,” father Kevin Rittenhouse told the website.
Marion High School spokeswoman Patricia Gibson said district officials were “disappointed” by the incident and made students remove them.
“In addition, school administrators took a proactive stance at the time of the games, turning people who were wearing the shirts away at the gate,” Gibson said in a statement. “No one was allowed into the stadium with one of the shirts visible.”
Kelly Chastain, the student’s aunt, said district officials should have alerted relatives that the T-shirts were appearing at school earlier in the day.
“They could’ve easily made a phone call and said, ‘Hey, here’s what’s going on. We don’t condone it, here are the steps we’re taking to resolve it,’” Chastain told the website.
 |
| Marion High School spokeswoman Patricia Gibson said district officials were “disappointed” by the incident and made students remove them. |
Relatives of an Indiana high school student whose mug shot appeared on T-shirts at a soccer game between rival schools reportedly claim spirited fans went a bit too far.
The student’s father told Book Newss his son previously played soccer for Marion High School but transferred to a rival school following legal issues and threatening comments on social media websites. But when the two schools met for a game last Wednesday, relatives saw the unidentified student’s face emblazoned on T-shirts featuring his mug shot.
“I was shocked first, then I thought, ‘How did they get this picture?’ Because I never even seen the picture,” father Kevin Rittenhouse told the website.
Marion High School spokeswoman Patricia Gibson said district officials were “disappointed” by the incident and made students remove them.
“In addition, school administrators took a proactive stance at the time of the games, turning people who were wearing the shirts away at the gate,” Gibson said in a statement. “No one was allowed into the stadium with one of the shirts visible.”
Kelly Chastain, the student’s aunt, said district officials should have alerted relatives that the T-shirts were appearing at school earlier in the day.
“They could’ve easily made a phone call and said, ‘Hey, here’s what’s going on. We don’t condone it, here are the steps we’re taking to resolve it,’” Chastain told the website.
Special Operations Chief Wants More Training with Conventional Units
By: Bajram Hysa Facebook Twitter Google+
The head of U.S. Special Operations Command mapped out the Pentagon's plan to keep SOF and conventional combat units working side-by-side long after U.S. forces leave Afghanistan.
Over the past decade of war, elite SOF units and conventional combat units have had to learn to work together on joint missions.
"It did not happen overnight; it happened over multiple deployments through lessons learned on the battlefield and developing relationships," Army Gen. Joseph Votel told Army infantry and armor soldiers today at the 2014 Maneuver Conference at Fort Benning, Ga. "Prior to 9/11, SOF participation in conventional forces training events, to be frank, was a little bit disjointed. Neither side took the time to understand what the other could provide."
Votel, who recently assumed command of USSOCOM, vowed to work with service chiefs from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps to ensure that tension between SOF and conventional forces does not return.
"Now and for the foreseeable future, SOF and conventional forces are collocated on battlefields in the same countries," he said. "We need to learn how to compliment and operate with one another for the greatest effects possible. … We can't have a SOF part of the battlefield and a conventional part of the battlefield. It's a ridiculous way to operate."
Combat training centers have already embraced the new mindset and have made changes, Votel said.
The National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California, recently developed its own unconventional warfare program, "investing heavily to ensure the training is as realistic as possible," Votel said. Last month, NTC completed its first unconventional warfare event which expanded off the post and across southern California.
Also, the Joint Multinational Readiness Training Center in Germany has increased SOF involvement with each of its brigade combat team rotations. A recent example included Marine Special Operations Forces and Army conventional forces from Fort Hood, Texas, Votel said. The units trained for special reconnaissance, direct-action and personnel recovery missions.
In less than a week, the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, Louisiana, will conduct a decisive action rotation that will include forced-entry operations by the 82nd Airborne Division and the 75th Ranger Regiment, with other special operations forces participating as well, Votel said.
"These exercises and many like them provide SOF and conventional forces the opportunity to work out the kinks, if you will, and build that muscle memory of understanding and being comfortable with each other so that when employed we can hit the ground running all moving at the same direction," Votel said.
Another part of the plan involves exchanging liaison officers.
"There is nothing better than having a man or woman on the inside," he said, describing how liaisons continue to educate their host commanders on the capabilities and mission sets their home organizations can provide long after the training exercise has concluded.
"This includes translation because even though it says U.S. across all of our uniforms, we somehow manage to confuse ourselves by using different lingo to describe the same thing.
"I have personally seen operational situations where our inability to communicate and use common language and not intimidate one another with our various acronyms have led to operational failure and setbacks for our joint forces commanders. So challenge that; don't allow it to occur out there. We are better than that."
There are still many conventional commanders and staffs that still don't understand how to employ SOF, Votel said. Similarly, there are many SOF leaders that have fewer and fewer experiences working with a variety of conventional forces.
This gap will widen as time passes after we depart Afghanistan, Votel maintains.
These joint exercises, and the relationships that they create, are not exclusive to Army conventional and Army SOF units, Votel said, stressing that this needs to happen across the services and SOF components.
"I want you to have the same level of interoperability and interdependence with Marine Raiders, Navy SEALS and Air Force commandos that you have with Green Berets and Rangers," Votel said. "Good relationships build trust and confidence, and they can't be immediately developed in times of crisis."
The head of U.S. Special Operations Command mapped out the Pentagon's plan to keep SOF and conventional combat units working side-by-side long after U.S. forces leave Afghanistan.
Over the past decade of war, elite SOF units and conventional combat units have had to learn to work together on joint missions.
"It did not happen overnight; it happened over multiple deployments through lessons learned on the battlefield and developing relationships," Army Gen. Joseph Votel told Army infantry and armor soldiers today at the 2014 Maneuver Conference at Fort Benning, Ga. "Prior to 9/11, SOF participation in conventional forces training events, to be frank, was a little bit disjointed. Neither side took the time to understand what the other could provide."
Votel, who recently assumed command of USSOCOM, vowed to work with service chiefs from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps to ensure that tension between SOF and conventional forces does not return.
"Now and for the foreseeable future, SOF and conventional forces are collocated on battlefields in the same countries," he said. "We need to learn how to compliment and operate with one another for the greatest effects possible. … We can't have a SOF part of the battlefield and a conventional part of the battlefield. It's a ridiculous way to operate."
Combat training centers have already embraced the new mindset and have made changes, Votel said.
The National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California, recently developed its own unconventional warfare program, "investing heavily to ensure the training is as realistic as possible," Votel said. Last month, NTC completed its first unconventional warfare event which expanded off the post and across southern California.
Also, the Joint Multinational Readiness Training Center in Germany has increased SOF involvement with each of its brigade combat team rotations. A recent example included Marine Special Operations Forces and Army conventional forces from Fort Hood, Texas, Votel said. The units trained for special reconnaissance, direct-action and personnel recovery missions.
In less than a week, the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, Louisiana, will conduct a decisive action rotation that will include forced-entry operations by the 82nd Airborne Division and the 75th Ranger Regiment, with other special operations forces participating as well, Votel said.
"These exercises and many like them provide SOF and conventional forces the opportunity to work out the kinks, if you will, and build that muscle memory of understanding and being comfortable with each other so that when employed we can hit the ground running all moving at the same direction," Votel said.
Another part of the plan involves exchanging liaison officers.
"There is nothing better than having a man or woman on the inside," he said, describing how liaisons continue to educate their host commanders on the capabilities and mission sets their home organizations can provide long after the training exercise has concluded.
"This includes translation because even though it says U.S. across all of our uniforms, we somehow manage to confuse ourselves by using different lingo to describe the same thing.
"I have personally seen operational situations where our inability to communicate and use common language and not intimidate one another with our various acronyms have led to operational failure and setbacks for our joint forces commanders. So challenge that; don't allow it to occur out there. We are better than that."
There are still many conventional commanders and staffs that still don't understand how to employ SOF, Votel said. Similarly, there are many SOF leaders that have fewer and fewer experiences working with a variety of conventional forces.
This gap will widen as time passes after we depart Afghanistan, Votel maintains.
These joint exercises, and the relationships that they create, are not exclusive to Army conventional and Army SOF units, Votel said, stressing that this needs to happen across the services and SOF components.
"I want you to have the same level of interoperability and interdependence with Marine Raiders, Navy SEALS and Air Force commandos that you have with Green Berets and Rangers," Votel said. "Good relationships build trust and confidence, and they can't be immediately developed in times of crisis."
Thousands of Superstorm Sandy victims could be asked to return FEMA funds
By: Bajram Hysa Facebook Twitter Google+
NEW YORK – Thousands of people who received government aid after Superstorm Sandy slammed the East Coast may be forced to give some or all of that money back, nearly two years after the disaster.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is scrutinizing about 4,500 households that it suspects got improper payments, according to program officials and data obtained by The Associated Press through a public records request. As of early September, FEMA had asked around 850 of them to return a collective $5.8 million. The other cases were still under review.
FEMA's campaign to recover overpayments, called "recoupment" in government lingo, involves instances where the agency believes a household got more money than allowed under program rules, but not necessarily through an attempt to cheat the system. Fraud cases are handled separately.
Many people asked to return money were deemed ineligible for aid because their damaged properties were vacation houses or rental properties, not their primary homes. Others had double-dipped into the aid pool, with more than one household member getting payments. Some received FEMA money for things later covered by insurance.
In all, about $53 million in payments are under review. That's just a fraction of the $1.4 billion that storm victims received. But that is no consolation to many homeowners.
As of July 30, the average demanded refund was $6,987, a sum that could be difficult for many people to produce, given the modest income of most aid applicants. Roughly half the households under scrutiny reported an annual gross income of $30,000 or less.
"For most people, the money is long gone and long ago spent on storm recovery," said Ann Dibble, director of the New York Legal Assistance Group's storm response unit, which has been helping about a dozen families fight a FEMA clawback.
The list of people asked to return cash includes Gary Silberman of Lindenhurst, New York, who got a letter last November demanding just under $17,000. The agency said he was ineligible partly because he and his elderly father had both applied for disaster funds even though they were living together.
The Silbermans were also ineligible for some types of aid because they had failed to buy flood insurance after getting $25,000 from FEMA for flood damage during Hurricane Irene a year earlier.
Silberman says he should still qualify for the money because he was a rent-paying tenant in his father's house, not a dependent, but FEMA has so far rejected his appeals.
"I lost my home. I lost everything. I don't have $17,000 to give back," Silberman said.
Sandy was among the costliest hurricanes in U.S. history. More than 280 people died in the U.S. and the Caribbean. When the storm struck the New York and New Jersey coastlines, the surging ocean poured into densely populated seaside neighborhoods and turned entire communities into soggy, moldy wrecks.
About 179,000 households in New York and New Jersey received FEMA payments following the storm. The agency is also reviewing payments to some households in Connecticut, Maryland and Rhode Island.
In mobilizing for Sandy, FEMA had hoped to avoid problems that plagued the aid distribution process following Hurricane Katrina's blow to the Gulf Coast in 2005. That destructive storm forced the overwhelmed agency to relax internal controls to speed up relief efforts. That, in turn, led to huge numbers of people getting money they shouldn't have received.
FEMA's attempts to recover hundreds of millions of Katrina-related dollars, often from people who couldn't afford to pay, led to a court fight and a procedural overhaul. By 2011, the agency had mailed out letters to at least 90,000 households asking for refunds. Congress authorized the agency to waive much of that debt.
The agency says it has since gotten better at making sure aid goes to the right people and in proper amounts.
"They have a lot more controls in place," said John Kelly, the Department of Homeland Security's assistant inspector general for emergency management oversight.
 |
| In this Sept. 5, 2014 photo, Gary Silberman stands for a picture as he guides reporters on a tour of his parent's home that was destroyed by Superstorm Sandy, in Lindenhurst, N.Y. After Silberman received nearly $17,000 in assistance from FEMA, the agency is demanding a return on the funds. |
NEW YORK – Thousands of people who received government aid after Superstorm Sandy slammed the East Coast may be forced to give some or all of that money back, nearly two years after the disaster.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is scrutinizing about 4,500 households that it suspects got improper payments, according to program officials and data obtained by The Associated Press through a public records request. As of early September, FEMA had asked around 850 of them to return a collective $5.8 million. The other cases were still under review.
FEMA's campaign to recover overpayments, called "recoupment" in government lingo, involves instances where the agency believes a household got more money than allowed under program rules, but not necessarily through an attempt to cheat the system. Fraud cases are handled separately.
Many people asked to return money were deemed ineligible for aid because their damaged properties were vacation houses or rental properties, not their primary homes. Others had double-dipped into the aid pool, with more than one household member getting payments. Some received FEMA money for things later covered by insurance.
In all, about $53 million in payments are under review. That's just a fraction of the $1.4 billion that storm victims received. But that is no consolation to many homeowners.
As of July 30, the average demanded refund was $6,987, a sum that could be difficult for many people to produce, given the modest income of most aid applicants. Roughly half the households under scrutiny reported an annual gross income of $30,000 or less.
"For most people, the money is long gone and long ago spent on storm recovery," said Ann Dibble, director of the New York Legal Assistance Group's storm response unit, which has been helping about a dozen families fight a FEMA clawback.
The list of people asked to return cash includes Gary Silberman of Lindenhurst, New York, who got a letter last November demanding just under $17,000. The agency said he was ineligible partly because he and his elderly father had both applied for disaster funds even though they were living together.
The Silbermans were also ineligible for some types of aid because they had failed to buy flood insurance after getting $25,000 from FEMA for flood damage during Hurricane Irene a year earlier.
Silberman says he should still qualify for the money because he was a rent-paying tenant in his father's house, not a dependent, but FEMA has so far rejected his appeals.
"I lost my home. I lost everything. I don't have $17,000 to give back," Silberman said.
Sandy was among the costliest hurricanes in U.S. history. More than 280 people died in the U.S. and the Caribbean. When the storm struck the New York and New Jersey coastlines, the surging ocean poured into densely populated seaside neighborhoods and turned entire communities into soggy, moldy wrecks.
About 179,000 households in New York and New Jersey received FEMA payments following the storm. The agency is also reviewing payments to some households in Connecticut, Maryland and Rhode Island.
In mobilizing for Sandy, FEMA had hoped to avoid problems that plagued the aid distribution process following Hurricane Katrina's blow to the Gulf Coast in 2005. That destructive storm forced the overwhelmed agency to relax internal controls to speed up relief efforts. That, in turn, led to huge numbers of people getting money they shouldn't have received.
FEMA's attempts to recover hundreds of millions of Katrina-related dollars, often from people who couldn't afford to pay, led to a court fight and a procedural overhaul. By 2011, the agency had mailed out letters to at least 90,000 households asking for refunds. Congress authorized the agency to waive much of that debt.
The agency says it has since gotten better at making sure aid goes to the right people and in proper amounts.
"They have a lot more controls in place," said John Kelly, the Department of Homeland Security's assistant inspector general for emergency management oversight.
Dozens demonstrate in Morocco against racism after Senegalese immigrant is killed
By: Bajram Hysa Facebook Twitter Google+
RABAT, Morocco – Dozens of activists have demonstrated in Morocco's capital in a rare protest against racism following the murder earlier of a Senegalese migrant.
Thursday's protest comes just one year after Morocco announced a new more humane policy designed to deal with the flood of sub-Saharan Africans seeking a new life in Europe.
Charles Ndour was fatally stabbed on Aug. 30 by a mob in Tangiers. Police later arrested and deported more than 20 immigrants protesting his killing.
Lucile Daumas of Atac Maroc, one of the groups organizing the demonstration, said Ndour was the sixth immigrant killed in the last year, amid many such attacks.
"The migrants in Morocco are in real danger," she said.
 |
| Dozens of activists demonstrate against racism in front of Morocco's parliament in Rabat, Morocco Thursday, Sept 11, 2014. The murder of a Senegalese citizen in Tangiers on Aug. 30 by an angry mob has shocked Moroccans even as the state is attempting to implement more human immigration policies |
RABAT, Morocco – Dozens of activists have demonstrated in Morocco's capital in a rare protest against racism following the murder earlier of a Senegalese migrant.
Thursday's protest comes just one year after Morocco announced a new more humane policy designed to deal with the flood of sub-Saharan Africans seeking a new life in Europe.
Charles Ndour was fatally stabbed on Aug. 30 by a mob in Tangiers. Police later arrested and deported more than 20 immigrants protesting his killing.
Lucile Daumas of Atac Maroc, one of the groups organizing the demonstration, said Ndour was the sixth immigrant killed in the last year, amid many such attacks.
"The migrants in Morocco are in real danger," she said.
US stocks slip in early trading as more people seek US unemployment benefits
By: Bajram Hysa Facebook Twitter Google+
NEW YORK – The stock market is opening lower as shares of energy companies slip.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 69 points, or 0.4 percent, to 16,999 as of 9:33 a.m. Eastern time Thursday.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index eased seven points, also 0.4 percent, to 1,988. The Nasdaq composite slipped 14 points, or 0.3 percent, to 4,572.
Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note slipped to 2.52 percent from 2.54 late Wednesday.
NEW YORK – The stock market is opening lower as shares of energy companies slip.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 69 points, or 0.4 percent, to 16,999 as of 9:33 a.m. Eastern time Thursday.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index eased seven points, also 0.4 percent, to 1,988. The Nasdaq composite slipped 14 points, or 0.3 percent, to 4,572.
Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note slipped to 2.52 percent from 2.54 late Wednesday.
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