Economic growth and opportunity in Nebraska’s Third District is powered by agricultural trade. While the United States makes up approximately 5 percent of the world’s population, America’s hardworking farmers and ranchers create enough surplus to export $200 billon in food, fuel, and fiber annually while utilizing fewer and fewer acres each year.

Robust engagement on trade opportunities is vital to unleashing this potential, yet the Biden administration has neglected to pursue enforceable trade agreements and often ignored Congress’ constitutional role in shaping trade policy. While President Biden has had numerous opportunities to personally address issues like Mexico’s unscientific ban on U.S.-grown corn, which threatens market access for American farmers and is a direct violation of United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) commitments, he has failed to do so.

As chairman of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade, I am working to ensure American agriculture producers have every opportunity to be successful. This includes ensuring strong enforcement of international trade agreements, expanding export opportunities, and securing our supply chains to benefit workers and consumers at home and abroad.

This week, I partnered with my colleagues, Reps. Jim Costa (D-CA), Dusty Johnson (R-SD), and Jimmy Panetta (D-CA) to form the bipartisan Congressional Agriculture Trade Caucus focused on achieving a level playing field for U.S. agriculture producers. Through this new caucus we will work to increase communication, awareness, and bipartisan support for valuable trade opportunities currently in danger of rotting on the vine.

While opening new markets for American products is the best way to grow our economy through trade, Congress must do its part by acting on trade programs in need of reauthorization. For example, renewing trade programs such as the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) and the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB) will not only provide benefits for American workers and consumers, these programs also provide additional remedy opportunities when our trading partners act unfairly. It is also critical Congress passes Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) which facilitates the president’s duty to negotiate enforceable trade agreements while ensuring Congress has proper oversight of those negotiations. Holding the administration accountable to consult Congress on international trade matters will go a long way toward opening global markets for our producers, lowering prices for consumers, and increasing economic security with our allies.

In addition, to keep our food export and domestic supply chains strong, farmers and ranchers depend on veterinarians to detect and prevent highly contagious animal diseases which pose a risk to livestock. A bill I have reintroduced, the Rural Veterinary Workforce Act (H.R. 4355), addresses a discrepancy in our tax code to ease compliance for veterinarians who participate in the Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program (VMLRP), which provides student loan reimbursement to veterinarians who chose to practice for three years in federally designated veterinary shortage areas.

Unlike similar programs for physicians and other human health care providers, VMLRP awards are federally taxed, and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is required by law to pay the tax on behalf of the award recipient. H.R. 4355 would simply end federal taxation on the program, increasing the number of veterinarians empowered by the VMLRP to practice in underserved rural areas and helping to ensure the health, safety, and security of our nation’s first-class food safety system. Nebraska currently has 17 counties designated as veterinary shortage areas, including most of the north central part of our state where a significant portion of our cattle inventory is raised.

I am committed to standing up for rural Americans who sacrifice each day to put food on tables and fuel in tanks across the globe. Congress should do everything possible to lift onerous tax burdens, call the administration to step up to the plate through rules-based trade policy, and accomplish robust Farm Bill renewal in 2024. Together we can unleash the potential of American producers feeding and fueling the world.

Adrian SmithEconomic growth and opportunity in Nebraska’s Third District is powered by agricultural trade. While the United States makes up approximately 5 percent of the world’s population, America’s hardworking farmers and ranchers create enough surplus to export $200 billon in food, fuel, and fiber annually while utilizing fewer and fewer acres each year.Robust engagement on trade opportunities is vital to unleashing this potential, yet the Biden administration has neglected to pursue enforceable trade agreements and often ignored Congress’ constitutional role in shaping trade policy. While President Biden has had numerous opportunities to personally address issues like Mexico’s unscientific ban on U.S.-grown corn, which threatens market access for American farmers and is a direct violation of United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) commitments, he has failed to do so.As chairman of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade, I am working to ensure American agriculture producers have every opportunity to be successful. This includes ensuring strong enforcement of international trade agreements, expanding export opportunities, and securing our supply chains to benefit workers and consumers at home and abroad.This week, I partnered with my colleagues, Reps. Jim Costa (D-CA), Dusty Johnson (R-SD), and Jimmy Panetta (D-CA) to form the bipartisan Congressional Agriculture Trade Caucus focused on achieving a level playing field for U.S. agriculture producers. Through this new caucus we will work to increase communication, awareness, and bipartisan support for valuable trade opportunities currently in danger of rotting on the vine.While opening new markets for American products is the best way to grow our economy through trade, Congress must do its part by acting on trade programs in need of reauthorization. For example, renewing trade programs such as the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) and the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB) will not only provide benefits for American workers and consumers, these programs also provide additional remedy opportunities when our trading partners act unfairly. It is also critical Congress passes Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) which facilitates the president’s duty to negotiate enforceable trade agreements while ensuring Congress has proper oversight of those negotiations. Holding the administration accountable to consult Congress on international trade matters will go a long way toward opening global markets for our producers, lowering prices for consumers, and increasing economic security with our allies.In addition, to keep our food export and domestic supply chains strong, farmers and ranchers depend on veterinarians to detect and prevent highly contagious animal diseases which pose a risk to livestock. A bill I have reintroduced, the Rural Veterinary Workforce Act (H.R. 4355), addresses a discrepancy in our tax code to ease compliance for veterinarians who participate in the Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program (VMLRP), which provides student loan reimbursement to veterinarians who chose to practice for three years in federally designated veterinary shortage areas.Unlike similar programs for physicians and other human health care providers, VMLRP awards are federally taxed, and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is required by law to pay the tax on behalf of the award recipient. H.R. 4355 would simply end federal taxation on the program, increasing the number of veterinarians empowered by the VMLRP to practice in underserved rural areas and helping to ensure the health, safety, and security of our nation’s first-class food safety system. Nebraska currently has 17 counties designated as veterinary shortage areas, including most of the north central part of our state where a significant portion of our cattle inventory is raised.I am committed to standing up for rural Americans who sacrifice each day to put food on tables and fuel in tanks across the globe. Congress should do everything possible to lift onerous tax burdens, call the administration to step up to the plate through rules-based trade policy, and accomplish robust Farm Bill renewal in 2024. Together we can unleash the potential of American producers feeding and fueling the world.

Feeding and Fueling the World

On Friday, February 2, 2024 at approximately 5:50 pm, KPD Officers were called to Richard&nbsp; Young Hospital at 1755 Prairie View Place, to assist with a 32 year-old-female possibly&nbsp; suffering from a mental health crisis. KPD officers located the female walking around 43rd street&nbsp; and 17th Avenue a few minutes later. KPD Officers immediately requested an ambulance and&nbsp; the female was transported to CHI Good Samaritan Hospital Emergency Department by&nbsp; ambulance.&nbsp;&nbsp;

The preliminary investigation revealed while inside the CHI Good Samaritan Emergency&nbsp; Department with two KPD officers, the female became combative with Officers and hospital&nbsp; staff. While attempting to gain control of the female, she accessed one of the KPD Officer’s&nbsp; duty firearm and a single gunshot was fired into the officer’s right leg. The female subject&nbsp; involved was placed into custody. The female subject sustained minor injuries during the&nbsp; incident. The injured officer was immediately treated for non-life-threatening injuries by CHI&nbsp; Good Samaritan Hospital Staff and remains hospitalized.&nbsp;&nbsp;

In accordance with department policy, the Kearney Police Department has requested the&nbsp; Buffalo County Sheriff’s Office to investigate this incident as part of the South-Central Area Law&nbsp; Enforcement Services agreement. KPD and BCSO are also being assisted by the Buffalo&nbsp; County Attorney’s Office.&nbsp;&nbsp;

This is an ongoing investigation; additional details will be released as available and appropriate.&nbsp; 

Kearney Police DepartmentOn Friday, February 2, 2024 at approximately 5:50 pm, KPD Officers were called to Richard&nbsp; Young Hospital at 1755 Prairie View Place, to assist with a 32 year-old-female possibly&nbsp; suffering from a mental health crisis. KPD officers located the female walking around 43rd street&nbsp; and 17th Avenue a few minutes later. KPD Officers immediately requested an ambulance and&nbsp; the female was transported to CHI Good Samaritan Hospital Emergency Department by&nbsp; ambulance.&nbsp;&nbsp;The preliminary investigation revealed while inside the CHI Good Samaritan Emergency&nbsp; Department with two KPD officers, the female became combative with Officers and hospital&nbsp; staff. While attempting to gain control of the female, she accessed one of the KPD Officer’s&nbsp; duty firearm and a single gunshot was fired into the officer’s right leg. The female subject&nbsp; involved was placed into custody. The female subject sustained minor injuries during the&nbsp; incident. The injured officer was immediately treated for non-life-threatening injuries by CHI&nbsp; Good Samaritan Hospital Staff and remains hospitalized.&nbsp;&nbsp;In accordance with department policy, the Kearney Police Department has requested the&nbsp; Buffalo County Sheriff’s Office to investigate this incident as part of the South-Central Area Law&nbsp; Enforcement Services agreement. KPD and BCSO are also being assisted by the Buffalo&nbsp; County Attorney’s Office.&nbsp;&nbsp;This is an ongoing investigation; additional details will be released as available and appropriate.&nbsp;

 On Duty Kearney Police Officer Injured by Gunshot at CHI GSH Emergency Room 

JERUSALEM —While U.S.&nbsp;Forces were bombing targets Friday night over Iraq and Syria the Navy kept busy in and at the entrance to the Red Sea.

At approximately 10:30 a.m. (Sanaa time), USS Carney (DDG 64) engaged and shot down one unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) over the Gulf of Aden, according to a state from the U.S. Central Command.&nbsp; There were no injuries or damage reported. 

Later Friday, at approximately 4:40 p.m. (Sanaa time), U.S. forces conducted strikes against four Houthi UAVs that were prepared to launch. 

U.S. forces identified the UAVs in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen and determined that they presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and the U.S. Navy ships in the region. U.S. forces subsequently struck and destroyed the UAVs in self-defense. 

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/10/1697765298614.png" alt="U.S. Carney -photo U.S. Central Command" />
 <figcaption>U.S. Carney -photo U.S. Central Command</figcaption>
 </figure>JERUSALEM —While U.S.&nbsp;Forces were bombing targets Friday night over Iraq and Syria the Navy kept busy in and at the entrance to the Red Sea.At approximately 10:30 a.m. (Sanaa time), USS Carney (DDG 64) engaged and shot down one unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) over the Gulf of Aden, according to a state from the U.S. Central Command.&nbsp; There were no injuries or damage reported. Later Friday, at approximately 4:40 p.m. (Sanaa time), U.S. forces conducted strikes against four Houthi UAVs that were prepared to launch. U.S. forces identified the UAVs in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen and determined that they presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and the U.S. Navy ships in the region. U.S. forces subsequently struck and destroyed the UAVs in self-defense.

U.S. responds to new Iran-backed rebel threats in Red Sea

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military launched an air assault on dozens of sites in Iraq and Syria used by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/hamas-hezbollah-houthis-iran-militant-groups-745bfc36e23997ee3f0bc499a9f5c16d">Iranian-backed militias</a>&nbsp;and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Friday, in the opening salvo of retaliation for the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-american-service-members-killed-jordan-iran-5cb774fd835a558d840ae91263037489">drone strike that killed three U.S. troops</a>&nbsp;in Jordan last weekend.

The massive barrage of strikes hit more than 85 targets at seven locations, including command and control headquarters, intelligence centers, rockets and missiles, drone and ammunition storage sites and other facilities that were connected to the militias or the IRGC’s Quds Force, the Guard’s expeditionary unit that handles Tehran’s relationship with and arming of regional militias. And President Joe Biden made it clear in a statement that there will be more to come.

The U.S. strikes appeared to stop short of directly targeting Iran or senior leaders of the Revolutionary Guard Quds Force within its borders, as the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-retaliation-iran-militia-drone-attack-1dda7fdb416f843b3a5cc84ea7b5f01c">U.S. tries to prevent the conflict from escalating</a>&nbsp;even further. Iran has denied it was behind the Jordan attack.

It was unclear what the impact will be of the strikes.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/yemen-houthi-rebels-ship-attacks-israel-hamas-war-1020fe149d82a32f0160037ea7eef7f5">Days of U.S. warnings</a>&nbsp;may have sent militia members scattering into hiding. With multiple groups operating at various locations in several countries, a knockout blow is unlikely.

Though one of the main Iran-backed militias, Kataib Hezbollah, said it was suspending attacks on American troops, others have vowed to continue fighting, casting themselves as champions of the Palestinian cause while the war in Gaza shows no sign of ending.

“Our response began today. It will continue at times and places of our choosing," Biden warned, adding, “let all those who might seek to do us harm know this: If you harm an American, we will respond.” He and other top U.S. leaders had been saying for days that any American response wouldn't be just one hit but a “tiered response” over time.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the targets "were carefully selected to avoid civilian casualties and based on clear, irrefutable evidence that they were connected to attacks on U.S. personnel in the region.” He declined to detail what that evidence was.

The strikes took place over about 30 minutes, and three of the sites struck were in Iraq and four were in Syria, said Lt. Gen. Douglas Sims, director of the Joint Staff.

U.S. Central Command said the assault involved more than 125 precision munitions, and they were delivered by numerous aircraft, including long-range B-1 bombers flown from the United States. Sims said weather was a factor as the U.S. planned the strikes in order to allow the U.S. to confirm it was hitting the right targets and avoiding civilian casualties.

It's not clear, however, whether militia members were killed.

"We know that there are militants that use these locations, IRGC as well as Iranian-aligned militia group personnel,” Sims said. “We made these strikes tonight with an idea that there there would likely be casualties associated with people inside those facilities.”

Syrian state media reported that there were casualties but did not give a number. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that 18 militants were killed in the Syria strikes.

Iraqi army spokesman Yahya Rasool said in a statement that the city of al-Qaim and areas along the country’s border with Syria had been hit by U.S. airstrikes. The strikes, he said, “constitute a violation of Iraqi sovereignty and undermine the efforts of the Iraqi government, posing a threat that will pull Iraq and the region to undesirable consequences.”

Kirby said that the U.S. alerted the Iraqi government prior to carrying out the strikes.

The assault came came just hours after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-dignified-transfer-jordan-israel-hamas-war-c4b923a6a5178ecd3d3957d7aba7ff6f">Biden and top defense leaders joined grieving families</a>&nbsp;to watch as the remains of the three Army Reserve soldiers were returned to the U.S. at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.

Just Friday morning, Iran’s hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi reiterated earlier promises by Tehran to potentially retaliate for any U.S. strikes targeting its interests. We “will not start a war, but if a country, if a cruel force wants to bully us, the Islamic Republic of Iran will give a strong response,” Raisi said.

In a statement this week,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-iraq-airstrike-military-iran-d93d861feeef90cfeac3ba85f1f2f36d">Kataib Hezbollah</a>&nbsp;announced “the suspension of military and security operations against the occupation forces in order to prevent embarrassment to the Iraqi government." But that assertion clearly had no impact on U.S. strike plans. Harakat al-Nujaba, one of the other major Iran-backed groups, vowed Friday to continue military operations against U.S. troops.

The U.S. has blamed the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a broad coalition of Iran-backed militias, for the attack in Jordan, but hasn't narrowed it down to a specific group. Kataib Hezbollah is, however, a top suspect.

Some of the militias have been a threat to U.S. bases for years, but the groups intensified their assaults in the wake of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war">Israel’s war with Hamas</a>&nbsp;following the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw 250 others taken hostage. The war has led to the deaths of more than 27,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and has inflamed the Middle East.

Iran-backed militia groups throughout the region have used the conflict to justify striking Israeli or U.S. interests, including threatening civilian commercial ships and U.S. warships in the Red Sea region with drones or missiles in almost daily exchanges.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said “this is a dangerous moment in the Middle East.” He said the U.S. will take all necessary actions to defend its interests and people, and warned, “At this point, it’s time to take away even more capability than we’ve taken in the past.”

As of Tuesday, Iran-backed militia groups had launched 166 attacks on U.S. military installations since Oct. 18, including 67 in Iraq, 98 in Syria and now one in Jordan, according to a U.S. military official. The last attack was Jan. 29 at al-Asad airbase in Iraq, and there were no injuries or damage.

The U.S., meanwhile, has bolstered defenses at&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-jordan-drone-attack-iran-tower-22-israel-hamas-war-0265beed527e3009a966c0531c08838e">Tower 22</a>, the base in Jordan that was attacked by Iran-backed militants on Sunday, according to a U.S. official. While previous U.S. responses in Iraq and Syria have been more limited, the deaths of the three service members in Jordan crossed a line, the official said.

That attack, which also injured more than 40 service members — largely Army National Guard — was the first to result in U.S. combat deaths from the Iran-backed militias since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out. Tower 22 houses about 350 U.S. troops and sits near the demilitarized zone on the border between Jordan and Syria. The Iraqi border is only 6 miles (10 kilometers) away.

Also Friday, the Israeli military said its Arrow defense system intercepted a missile that approached the country from the Red Sea, raising suspicion it was launched by Yemen’s Houthi rebels. The rebels did not immediately claim responsibility.

And a U.S. official said the military had taken additional self-defense strikes inside Yemen Friday against Houthi military targets deemed an imminent threat. Al-Masirah, a Houthi-run satellite news channel, said British and American forces conducted three strikes in the northern Yemeni province of Hajjah, a Houthi stronghold.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/2/1706933099350.png" alt="Photo of bombers involved in the Friday night attack U.S. Central Command" />
 <figcaption>Photo of bombers involved in the Friday night attack U.S. Central Command</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military launched an air assault on dozens of sites in Iraq and Syria used by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/hamas-hezbollah-houthis-iran-militant-groups-745bfc36e23997ee3f0bc499a9f5c16d">Iranian-backed militias</a>&nbsp;and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Friday, in the opening salvo of retaliation for the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-american-service-members-killed-jordan-iran-5cb774fd835a558d840ae91263037489">drone strike that killed three U.S. troops</a>&nbsp;in Jordan last weekend.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/2/1706915300822.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>The massive barrage of strikes hit more than 85 targets at seven locations, including command and control headquarters, intelligence centers, rockets and missiles, drone and ammunition storage sites and other facilities that were connected to the militias or the IRGC’s Quds Force, the Guard’s expeditionary unit that handles Tehran’s relationship with and arming of regional militias. And President Joe Biden made it clear in a statement that there will be more to come.The U.S. strikes appeared to stop short of directly targeting Iran or senior leaders of the Revolutionary Guard Quds Force within its borders, as the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-retaliation-iran-militia-drone-attack-1dda7fdb416f843b3a5cc84ea7b5f01c">U.S. tries to prevent the conflict from escalating</a>&nbsp;even further. Iran has denied it was behind the Jordan attack.It was unclear what the impact will be of the strikes.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/yemen-houthi-rebels-ship-attacks-israel-hamas-war-1020fe149d82a32f0160037ea7eef7f5">Days of U.S. warnings</a>&nbsp;may have sent militia members scattering into hiding. With multiple groups operating at various locations in several countries, a knockout blow is unlikely.Though one of the main Iran-backed militias, Kataib Hezbollah, said it was suspending attacks on American troops, others have vowed to continue fighting, casting themselves as champions of the Palestinian cause while the war in Gaza shows no sign of ending.“Our response began today. It will continue at times and places of our choosing," Biden warned, adding, “let all those who might seek to do us harm know this: If you harm an American, we will respond.” He and other top U.S. leaders had been saying for days that any American response wouldn't be just one hit but a “tiered response” over time.National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the targets "were carefully selected to avoid civilian casualties and based on clear, irrefutable evidence that they were connected to attacks on U.S. personnel in the region.” He declined to detail what that evidence was.The strikes took place over about 30 minutes, and three of the sites struck were in Iraq and four were in Syria, said Lt. Gen. Douglas Sims, director of the Joint Staff.U.S. Central Command said the assault involved more than 125 precision munitions, and they were delivered by numerous aircraft, including long-range B-1 bombers flown from the United States. Sims said weather was a factor as the U.S. planned the strikes in order to allow the U.S. to confirm it was hitting the right targets and avoiding civilian casualties.It's not clear, however, whether militia members were killed."We know that there are militants that use these locations, IRGC as well as Iranian-aligned militia group personnel,” Sims said. “We made these strikes tonight with an idea that there there would likely be casualties associated with people inside those facilities.”Syrian state media reported that there were casualties but did not give a number. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that 18 militants were killed in the Syria strikes.Iraqi army spokesman Yahya Rasool said in a statement that the city of al-Qaim and areas along the country’s border with Syria had been hit by U.S. airstrikes. The strikes, he said, “constitute a violation of Iraqi sovereignty and undermine the efforts of the Iraqi government, posing a threat that will pull Iraq and the region to undesirable consequences.”Kirby said that the U.S. alerted the Iraqi government prior to carrying out the strikes.The assault came came just hours after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-dignified-transfer-jordan-israel-hamas-war-c4b923a6a5178ecd3d3957d7aba7ff6f">Biden and top defense leaders joined grieving families</a>&nbsp;to watch as the remains of the three Army Reserve soldiers were returned to the U.S. at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.Just Friday morning, Iran’s hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi reiterated earlier promises by Tehran to potentially retaliate for any U.S. strikes targeting its interests. We “will not start a war, but if a country, if a cruel force wants to bully us, the Islamic Republic of Iran will give a strong response,” Raisi said.In a statement this week,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-iraq-airstrike-military-iran-d93d861feeef90cfeac3ba85f1f2f36d">Kataib Hezbollah</a>&nbsp;announced “the suspension of military and security operations against the occupation forces in order to prevent embarrassment to the Iraqi government." But that assertion clearly had no impact on U.S. strike plans. Harakat al-Nujaba, one of the other major Iran-backed groups, vowed Friday to continue military operations against U.S. troops.The U.S. has blamed the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a broad coalition of Iran-backed militias, for the attack in Jordan, but hasn't narrowed it down to a specific group. Kataib Hezbollah is, however, a top suspect.Some of the militias have been a threat to U.S. bases for years, but the groups intensified their assaults in the wake of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war">Israel’s war with Hamas</a>&nbsp;following the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw 250 others taken hostage. The war has led to the deaths of more than 27,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and has inflamed the Middle East.Iran-backed militia groups throughout the region have used the conflict to justify striking Israeli or U.S. interests, including threatening civilian commercial ships and U.S. warships in the Red Sea region with drones or missiles in almost daily exchanges.Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said “this is a dangerous moment in the Middle East.” He said the U.S. will take all necessary actions to defend its interests and people, and warned, “At this point, it’s time to take away even more capability than we’ve taken in the past.”As of Tuesday, Iran-backed militia groups had launched 166 attacks on U.S. military installations since Oct. 18, including 67 in Iraq, 98 in Syria and now one in Jordan, according to a U.S. military official. The last attack was Jan. 29 at al-Asad airbase in Iraq, and there were no injuries or damage.The U.S., meanwhile, has bolstered defenses at&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-jordan-drone-attack-iran-tower-22-israel-hamas-war-0265beed527e3009a966c0531c08838e">Tower 22</a>, the base in Jordan that was attacked by Iran-backed militants on Sunday, according to a U.S. official. While previous U.S. responses in Iraq and Syria have been more limited, the deaths of the three service members in Jordan crossed a line, the official said.That attack, which also injured more than 40 service members — largely Army National Guard — was the first to result in U.S. combat deaths from the Iran-backed militias since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out. Tower 22 houses about 350 U.S. troops and sits near the demilitarized zone on the border between Jordan and Syria. The Iraqi border is only 6 miles (10 kilometers) away.Also Friday, the Israeli military said its Arrow defense system intercepted a missile that approached the country from the Red Sea, raising suspicion it was launched by Yemen’s Houthi rebels. The rebels did not immediately claim responsibility.And a U.S. official said the military had taken additional self-defense strikes inside Yemen Friday against Houthi military targets deemed an imminent threat. Al-Masirah, a Houthi-run satellite news channel, said British and American forces conducted three strikes in the northern Yemeni province of Hajjah, a Houthi stronghold.

Biden: More to come after U.S. bombs sites in Iraq, Syria

When two Native American boys from Nebraska died after being taken to a notorious boarding school hundreds of miles away in Pennsylvania, they were buried there without notice. Nearly 130 years later, the tribe wants the boys' remains back home.

So far, the Army has refused to return to the Winnebago Tribe the remains of Samuel Gilbert and Edward Hensley. A federal lawsuit filed on behalf of the tribe accuses the Army of ignoring a law passed more than three decades ago aimed at expediting the return of the deceased to Native American lands.

Samuel had been at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania for just 47 days when he died in 1895. Edward spent four years at the school before dying in 1899. Both died in their teens, but records do not disclose their exact ages. Tribal leaders weren't informed when the boys died, and relatives never learned what killed them.

The tribe made a formal request to the Office of Army Cemeteries for the remains in October but learned in December that the request was denied, according to the lawsuit filed Jan. 17.

“The Army always sought to maintain a position of control, dominance over native peoples while they were alive — and while they were dead,” said Greg Werkheiser of Cultural Heritage Partners, one of the lawyers for the tribe.

The bodies remain in a graveyard along with those of about 180 other children not far from where the school once stood in Carlisle, some 1,150 miles (1,850 kilometers) from the tribe's eastern Nebraska home. The graveyard serves as a “tourist attraction,” the lawsuit states.

A spokesperson for the Office of Army Cemeteries said she can't comment on pending litigation. But the spokesperson said in an email that Samuel and Edward, along with other children who died at the boarding school, are buried in individual graves with named headstones.

“The cemetery is a dignified resting place demonstrating respect and care of all the deceased buried there and is absolutely not treated as a tourist attraction," the spokesperson said.

The Carlisle Indian Industrial School in south-central Pennsylvania, the first government-operated school for Native Americans, was founded by a former military officer, Richard Henry Pratt. He believed that Native Americans could be a productive part of society, but only through assimilation.

After it opened in 1879 in an old Army barracks, thousands of Native American children were sent by train and stagecoach to Carlisle. Drastic steps were taken to separate them from their culture, including cutting their braids, dressing them in military-style uniforms and punishing them for speaking their native languages. They were forced to adopt European names.

More than 10,000 children from more than 140 tribes passed through the school by the time it closed in 1918, including Olympian Jim Thorpe. The children — often taken against the will of their parents — endured harsh conditions that sometimes led to death from tuberculosis and other diseases. The remains of some of those who died were returned to their tribes. The rest are buried in Carlisle.

After the school closed, the property was transferred from the Department of Interior to the War Department. It was used by the Army for a rehabilitation hospital and the Medical Field Service School.

The OAC spokesperson said the original cemetery was “in an inappropriate location adjacent to the pre-existing refuse dump, and blacksmith shop,” so the remains were moved in 1927 to another location on Carlisle Barracks. Servicemembers, veterans and their families also are buried there.

In 1990, Congress passed the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, or NAGPRA. It allowed for remains to be returned to tribes at their request. But the lawsuit said the Army refused to follow that law and is instead requiring the tribe to adhere to an Army policy.

The difference: While NAGPRA requires the remains to be returned, Army policy gives the agency discretion to decide if, and when, to do so. It also requires a request from the boys' “closest living relative” — which the lawsuit called “nearly impossible to apply in these circumstances.”

“Defendants’ conduct perpetuates an evil that the United States Congress sought to correct when it enacted NAGPRA in 1990,” the lawsuit states.

The Army has disinterred 32 remains of Native American children at the Army's expense since 2017, the OAC spokesperson said.

But Werkheiser said those remains weren't technically returned to the tribes, but rather to the children's relatives, and often after arduous waits. He said that using the Army process rather than NAGPRA “strips the tribes of all of their political rights.”

Tribes whose members had remains returned include the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, Spirit Lake, Washoe, Umpqua, Ute, Rosebud Sioux, Northern Arapaho, Blackfeet, Oglala Sioux, Oneida, Omaha, Modoc, Iowa and Alaskan native.

“The Winnebago, after listening to what all those other tribes went through, said, ‘We’re not going to play this game. We’re not going to be bullied.’"

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native American Cabinet secretary, has pushed the government to reckon with its role in Native American boarding schools. In 2022, her agency&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/education-native-americans-cultures-congress-1052724fc31b28f7addae7f5b2e50830">released a report</a>&nbsp;naming the 408 schools the federal government supported to strip Native Americans of their cultures and identities. At least 500 children died at some of the schools, including Carlisle.

The lawsuit states that the Winnebago Tribe “continues to experience the pain of knowing that Samuel’s and Edward’s spirits remain lost."

When two Native American boys from Nebraska died after being taken to a notorious boarding school hundreds of miles away in Pennsylvania, they were buried there without notice. Nearly 130 years later, the tribe wants the boys' remains back home.So far, the Army has refused to return to the Winnebago Tribe the remains of Samuel Gilbert and Edward Hensley. A federal lawsuit filed on behalf of the tribe accuses the Army of ignoring a law passed more than three decades ago aimed at expediting the return of the deceased to Native American lands.Samuel had been at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania for just 47 days when he died in 1895. Edward spent four years at the school before dying in 1899. Both died in their teens, but records do not disclose their exact ages. Tribal leaders weren't informed when the boys died, and relatives never learned what killed them.The tribe made a formal request to the Office of Army Cemeteries for the remains in October but learned in December that the request was denied, according to the lawsuit filed Jan. 17.“The Army always sought to maintain a position of control, dominance over native peoples while they were alive — and while they were dead,” said Greg Werkheiser of Cultural Heritage Partners, one of the lawyers for the tribe.The bodies remain in a graveyard along with those of about 180 other children not far from where the school once stood in Carlisle, some 1,150 miles (1,850 kilometers) from the tribe's eastern Nebraska home. The graveyard serves as a “tourist attraction,” the lawsuit states.A spokesperson for the Office of Army Cemeteries said she can't comment on pending litigation. But the spokesperson said in an email that Samuel and Edward, along with other children who died at the boarding school, are buried in individual graves with named headstones.“The cemetery is a dignified resting place demonstrating respect and care of all the deceased buried there and is absolutely not treated as a tourist attraction," the spokesperson said.The Carlisle Indian Industrial School in south-central Pennsylvania, the first government-operated school for Native Americans, was founded by a former military officer, Richard Henry Pratt. He believed that Native Americans could be a productive part of society, but only through assimilation.After it opened in 1879 in an old Army barracks, thousands of Native American children were sent by train and stagecoach to Carlisle. Drastic steps were taken to separate them from their culture, including cutting their braids, dressing them in military-style uniforms and punishing them for speaking their native languages. They were forced to adopt European names.More than 10,000 children from more than 140 tribes passed through the school by the time it closed in 1918, including Olympian Jim Thorpe. The children — often taken against the will of their parents — endured harsh conditions that sometimes led to death from tuberculosis and other diseases. The remains of some of those who died were returned to their tribes. The rest are buried in Carlisle.After the school closed, the property was transferred from the Department of Interior to the War Department. It was used by the Army for a rehabilitation hospital and the Medical Field Service School.The OAC spokesperson said the original cemetery was “in an inappropriate location adjacent to the pre-existing refuse dump, and blacksmith shop,” so the remains were moved in 1927 to another location on Carlisle Barracks. Servicemembers, veterans and their families also are buried there.In 1990, Congress passed the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, or NAGPRA. It allowed for remains to be returned to tribes at their request. But the lawsuit said the Army refused to follow that law and is instead requiring the tribe to adhere to an Army policy.The difference: While NAGPRA requires the remains to be returned, Army policy gives the agency discretion to decide if, and when, to do so. It also requires a request from the boys' “closest living relative” — which the lawsuit called “nearly impossible to apply in these circumstances.”“Defendants’ conduct perpetuates an evil that the United States Congress sought to correct when it enacted NAGPRA in 1990,” the lawsuit states.The Army has disinterred 32 remains of Native American children at the Army's expense since 2017, the OAC spokesperson said.But Werkheiser said those remains weren't technically returned to the tribes, but rather to the children's relatives, and often after arduous waits. He said that using the Army process rather than NAGPRA “strips the tribes of all of their political rights.”Tribes whose members had remains returned include the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, Spirit Lake, Washoe, Umpqua, Ute, Rosebud Sioux, Northern Arapaho, Blackfeet, Oglala Sioux, Oneida, Omaha, Modoc, Iowa and Alaskan native.“The Winnebago, after listening to what all those other tribes went through, said, ‘We’re not going to play this game. We’re not going to be bullied.’"Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native American Cabinet secretary, has pushed the government to reckon with its role in Native American boarding schools. In 2022, her agency&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/education-native-americans-cultures-congress-1052724fc31b28f7addae7f5b2e50830">released a report</a>&nbsp;naming the 408 schools the federal government supported to strip Native Americans of their cultures and identities. At least 500 children died at some of the schools, including Carlisle.The lawsuit states that the Winnebago Tribe “continues to experience the pain of knowing that Samuel’s and Edward’s spirits remain lost."

Two Native American boys died at a boarding school in the 1890s. Now, the tribe wants them home

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military launched an air assault on&nbsp; massive barrage in Iraq and Syria used by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/hamas-hezbollah-houthis-iran-militant-groups-745bfc36e23997ee3f0bc499a9f5c16d">Iranian-backed militias</a>&nbsp;and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Friday, in the opening salvo of retaliation for the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-american-service-members-killed-jordan-iran-5cb774fd835a558d840ae91263037489">drone strike that killed three U.S. troops</a>&nbsp;in Jordan last weekend. The strikes hit more than 85 targets at seven locations

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military launched an air assault on dozens of sites in Iraq and Syria used by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/hamas-hezbollah-houthis-iran-militant-groups-745bfc36e23997ee3f0bc499a9f5c16d">Iranian-backed militias</a>&nbsp;and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Friday, in the opening salvo of retaliation for the drone strike that killed three U.S. troops in Jordan last weekend, according the the U.S. military and officials.

President Joe Biden and other top U.S. leaders had been warning for days that America would strike back at the militias, and they made it clear it wouldn’t be just one hit but a “tiered response” over time.

“This afternoon, at my direction, U.S. military forces struck targets at facilities in Iraq and Syria that the IRGC and affiliated militia use to attack U.S. forces,” Biden said in a statement. “Our response began today. It will continue at times and places of our choosing.”

The massive barrage of strikes by manned and unmanned aircraft hit more than 85 targets at seven locations, including command and control headquarters, intelligence centers, rockets and missiles, drone and ammunition storage sites and other facilities that were connected to the militias or the IRGC's Quds Force, the Guard’s expeditionary unit that handles Tehran’s relationship and arming of regional militias.

U.S. Central Command said the strikes used more than 125 precision munitions, and they were delivered by numerous aircraft, including long-range bombers flown from the United States. One official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details of the operation, said B-1 bombers were used.

Two Iraqi militia officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to journalists said that three houses used as headquarters were targeted in al-Qaim, Iraq, including a weapons storage area. An operations headquarters of the Popular Mobilization Forces, a coalition of Iranian-backed militias, in Akashat, Iraq, and weapons stores were targeted.

It was unclear what the next steps will be, or whether the days of U.S. warnings have sent militia members scattering into hiding, making it more difficult to detect and strike them. But it was evident that the recent statement released by Kataeb Hezbollah, one of the main Iran-backed militias, saying it was suspending attacks on American troops had no impact on the administration’s plans.

The U.S. strikes appeared to stop short of directly targeting Iran or senior leaders of the Revolutionary Guard Quds Force within its borders, as the U.S. tries to prevent the conflict from escalating even further. Iran has denied it was behind the Jordan attack.

In a statement this week,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-iraq-airstrike-military-iran-d93d861feeef90cfeac3ba85f1f2f36d">Kataib Hezbollah</a>&nbsp;announced “the suspension of military and security operations against the occupation forces in order to prevent embarrassment to the Iraqi government." But Harakat al-Nujaba, one of the other major Iran-backed groups, vowed Friday to continue military operations against U.S. troops.

The U.S. has blamed the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a broad coalition of Iran-backed militias, for the deadly attack in Jordan, but has not yet narrowed it down to a specific group. Kataeb Hezbollah is, however, a top suspect.

Some of the militias have been a threat to U.S. bases for years, but the groups intensified their assaults in the wake of Israel’s war with Hamas following the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw 250 others taken hostage. The war has led to the deaths of more than 27,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and has inflamed the Middle East.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that “this is a dangerous moment in the Middle East.” He added, “We will take all necessary actions to defend the United States, our interests and our people. And we will respond when we choose, where we choose and how we choose.”

“At this point, it’s time to take away even more capability than we’ve taken in the past,” Austin said.

As of Tuesday, Iran-backed militia groups had launched 166 attacks on U.S. military installations since Oct. 18, including 67 in Iraq, 98 in Syria and now one in Jordan, according to a U.S. military official. The last attack was Jan. 29 at at al-Asad airbase in Iraq, and there were no injuries or damage.

The U.S., meanwhile, has bolstered defenses at the base in Jordan that was attacked by the ran-backed militants on Sunday, according to a U.S. official.

And the Israeli military said its Arrow defense system intercepted a missile that approached the country from the Red Sea, raising suspicion it was launched by Yemen’s Houthi rebels. The rebels did not immediately claim responsibility.

A U.S. official also said the military had taken additional self-defense strikes inside Yemen Friday against Houthi military targets deemed an imminent threat. Al-Masirah, a Houthi-run satellite news channel, said that British and American forces conducted three strikes in the northern Yemeni province of Hajjah, a Houthi stronghold.

While previous U.S. responses in Iraq and Syria have been more limited, the attack on&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-jordan-drone-attack-iran-tower-22-israel-hamas-war-0265beed527e3009a966c0531c08838e">Tower 22</a>, as the Jordan outpost is known, and the deaths of the three service members has crossed a line, the official said.

That drone attack, which also injured more than 40 service members — largely Army National Guard — was the first to result in U.S. combat deaths from the Iran-backed militias since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out. Tower 22 houses about 350 U.S. troops and sits near the demilitarized zone on the border between Jordan and Syria. The Iraqi border is only 6 miles (10 kilometers) away.

Also on Friday, the U.S. Treasury imposed new sanctions on a network of firms in Iran and Hong Kong that are accused of assisting Iran procure technology to make ballistic weapons and drones. And the U.S. hit six Iranian officials with sanctions for allegedly committing a series of malicious cyber activities against critical infrastructure in the U.S. and other nations.

JERUSALEM—The U.S. military is launching an air assault in Iraq and Syria in retaliation for the drone strike that killed three U.S. troops in Jordan last weekend, according to a statement from the U.S. Central Command.

At 4:00 p.m. (EST) Friday, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces conducted airstrikes in Iraq and Syria against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force and affiliated militia groups. 

U.S. military forces struck more than 85 targets, with numerous aircraft to include long-range bombers flown from United States. The airstrikes employed more than 125 precision munitions. 

The facilities that were struck included command and control operations, centers, intelligence centers, rockets, and missiles, and unmanned aired vehicle storages, and logistics and munition supply chain facilities of militia groups and their IRGC sponsors who facilitated attacks against U.S. and Coalition forces.

The strikes came just hours after President Joe Biden and top defense leaders joined grieving families to watch as the remains of the three Army Reserve soldiers were returned to the U.S. at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.

It was unclear what the next steps will be, or whether the days of U.S. warnings have sent militia members scattering into hiding, making it more difficult for the U.S. to detect and strike them.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/1/1705969554059.png" alt="U.S. Central Command image shows F/A-18E “Super Hornets” with Carrier Air Wing 3 aboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) launching to conduct Airstrikes against the Houthi Terrorist Group in Yemen" />
 <figcaption>U.S. Central Command image shows F/A-18E “Super Hornets” with Carrier Air Wing 3 aboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) launching to conduct Airstrikes against the Houthi Terrorist Group in Yemen</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military launched an air assault on&nbsp; massive barrage in Iraq and Syria used by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/hamas-hezbollah-houthis-iran-militant-groups-745bfc36e23997ee3f0bc499a9f5c16d">Iranian-backed militias</a>&nbsp;and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Friday, in the opening salvo of retaliation for the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-american-service-members-killed-jordan-iran-5cb774fd835a558d840ae91263037489">drone strike that killed three U.S. troops</a>&nbsp;in Jordan last weekend. The strikes hit more than 85 targets at seven locations<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/2/1706915300822.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>The massive barrage of strikes hit more than 85 targets at seven locations, including command and control headquarters, intelligence centers, rockets and missiles, drone and ammunition storage sites and other facilities that were connected to the militias or the IRGC’s Quds Force, the Guard’s expeditionary unit that handles Tehran’s relationship with and arming of regional militias. And President Joe Biden made it clear in a statement that there will be more to come.The U.S. strikes appeared to stop short of directly targeting Iran or senior leaders of the Revolutionary Guard Quds Force within its borders, as the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-retaliation-iran-militia-drone-attack-1dda7fdb416f843b3a5cc84ea7b5f01c">U.S. tries to prevent the conflict from escalating</a>&nbsp;even further. Iran has denied it was behind the Jordan attack.It was unclear what the impact will be of the strikes.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/yemen-houthi-rebels-ship-attacks-israel-hamas-war-1020fe149d82a32f0160037ea7eef7f5">Days of U.S. warnings</a>&nbsp;may have sent militia members scattering into hiding. With multiple groups operating at various locations in several countries, a knockout blow is unlikely.Though one of the main Iran-backed militias, Kataib Hezbollah, said it was suspending attacks on American troops, others have vowed to continue fighting, casting themselves as champions of the Palestinian cause while the war in Gaza shows no sign of ending.“Our response began today. It will continue at times and places of our choosing," Biden warned, adding, “let all those who might seek to do us harm know this: If you harm an American, we will respond.” He and other top U.S. leaders had been saying for days that any American response wouldn't be just one hit but a “tiered response” over time.National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the targets "were carefully selected to avoid civilian casualties and based on clear, irrefutable evidence that they were connected to attacks on U.S. personnel in the region.” He declined to detail what that evidence was.The strikes took place over about 30 minutes, and three of the sites struck were in Iraq and four were in Syria, said Lt. Gen. Douglas Sims, director of the Joint Staff.U.S. Central Command said the assault involved more than 125 precision munitions, and they were delivered by numerous aircraft, including long-range B-1 bombers flown from the United States. Sims said weather was a factor as the U.S. planned the strikes in order to allow the U.S. to confirm it was hitting the right targets and avoiding civilian casualties.It's not clear, however, whether militia members were killed."We know that there are militants that use these locations, IRGC as well as Iranian-aligned militia group personnel,” Sims said. “We made these strikes tonight with an idea that there there would likely be casualties associated with people inside those facilities.”Syrian state media reported that there were casualties but did not give a number. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that 18 militants were killed in the Syria strikes.Iraqi army spokesman Yahya Rasool said in a statement that the city of al-Qaim and areas along the country’s border with Syria had been hit by U.S. airstrikes. The strikes, he said, “constitute a violation of Iraqi sovereignty and undermine the efforts of the Iraqi government, posing a threat that will pull Iraq and the region to undesirable consequences.”Kirby said that the U.S. alerted the Iraqi government prior to carrying out the strikes.The assault came came just hours after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-dignified-transfer-jordan-israel-hamas-war-c4b923a6a5178ecd3d3957d7aba7ff6f">Biden and top defense leaders joined grieving families</a>&nbsp;to watch as the remains of the three Army Reserve soldiers were returned to the U.S. at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.Just Friday morning, Iran’s hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi reiterated earlier promises by Tehran to potentially retaliate for any U.S. strikes targeting its interests. We “will not start a war, but if a country, if a cruel force wants to bully us, the Islamic Republic of Iran will give a strong response,” Raisi said.In a statement this week,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-iraq-airstrike-military-iran-d93d861feeef90cfeac3ba85f1f2f36d">Kataib Hezbollah</a>&nbsp;announced “the suspension of military and security operations against the occupation forces in order to prevent embarrassment to the Iraqi government." But that assertion clearly had no impact on U.S. strike plans. Harakat al-Nujaba, one of the other major Iran-backed groups, vowed Friday to continue military operations against U.S. troops.The U.S. has blamed the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a broad coalition of Iran-backed militias, for the attack in Jordan, but hasn't narrowed it down to a specific group. Kataib Hezbollah is, however, a top suspect.Some of the militias have been a threat to U.S. bases for years, but the groups intensified their assaults in the wake of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war">Israel’s war with Hamas</a>&nbsp;following the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw 250 others taken hostage. The war has led to the deaths of more than 27,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and has inflamed the Middle East.Iran-backed militia groups throughout the region have used the conflict to justify striking Israeli or U.S. interests, including threatening civilian commercial ships and U.S. warships in the Red Sea region with drones or missiles in almost daily exchanges.Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said “this is a dangerous moment in the Middle East.” He said the U.S. will take all necessary actions to defend its interests and people, and warned, “At this point, it’s time to take away even more capability than we’ve taken in the past.”As of Tuesday, Iran-backed militia groups had launched 166 attacks on U.S. military installations since Oct. 18, including 67 in Iraq, 98 in Syria and now one in Jordan, according to a U.S. military official. The last attack was Jan. 29 at al-Asad airbase in Iraq, and there were no injuries or damage.The U.S., meanwhile, has bolstered defenses at&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-jordan-drone-attack-iran-tower-22-israel-hamas-war-0265beed527e3009a966c0531c08838e">Tower 22</a>, the base in Jordan that was attacked by Iran-backed militants on Sunday, according to a U.S. official. While previous U.S. responses in Iraq and Syria have been more limited, the deaths of the three service members in Jordan crossed a line, the official said.That attack, which also injured more than 40 service members — largely Army National Guard — was the first to result in U.S. combat deaths from the Iran-backed militias since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out. Tower 22 houses about 350 U.S. troops and sits near the demilitarized zone on the border between Jordan and Syria. The Iraqi border is only 6 miles (10 kilometers) away.Also Friday, the Israeli military said its Arrow defense system intercepted a missile that approached the country from the Red Sea, raising suspicion it was launched by Yemen’s Houthi rebels. The rebels did not immediately claim responsibility.And a U.S. official said the military had taken additional self-defense strikes inside Yemen Friday against Houthi military targets deemed an imminent threat. Al-Masirah, a Houthi-run satellite news channel, said British and American forces conducted three strikes in the northern Yemeni province of Hajjah, a Houthi stronghold.—-<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/1/1705969554059.png" alt="File&nbsp;U.S. Central Command image shows F/A-18E “Super Hornets” with Carrier Air Wing 3 aboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) launching to conduct Airstrikes against the Houthi Terrorist Group in Yemen" />
 <figcaption>File&nbsp;U.S. Central Command image shows F/A-18E “Super Hornets” with Carrier Air Wing 3 aboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) launching to conduct Airstrikes against the Houthi Terrorist Group in Yemen</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military launched an air assault on dozens of sites in Iraq and Syria used by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/hamas-hezbollah-houthis-iran-militant-groups-745bfc36e23997ee3f0bc499a9f5c16d">Iranian-backed militias</a>&nbsp;and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Friday, in the opening salvo of retaliation for the drone strike that killed three U.S. troops in Jordan last weekend, according the the U.S. military and officials.President Joe Biden and other top U.S. leaders had been warning for days that America would strike back at the militias, and they made it clear it wouldn’t be just one hit but a “tiered response” over time.“This afternoon, at my direction, U.S. military forces struck targets at facilities in Iraq and Syria that the IRGC and affiliated militia use to attack U.S. forces,” Biden said in a statement. “Our response began today. It will continue at times and places of our choosing.”The massive barrage of strikes by manned and unmanned aircraft hit more than 85 targets at seven locations, including command and control headquarters, intelligence centers, rockets and missiles, drone and ammunition storage sites and other facilities that were connected to the militias or the IRGC's Quds Force, the Guard’s expeditionary unit that handles Tehran’s relationship and arming of regional militias.U.S. Central Command said the strikes used more than 125 precision munitions, and they were delivered by numerous aircraft, including long-range bombers flown from the United States. One official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details of the operation, said B-1 bombers were used.Two Iraqi militia officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to journalists said that three houses used as headquarters were targeted in al-Qaim, Iraq, including a weapons storage area. An operations headquarters of the Popular Mobilization Forces, a coalition of Iranian-backed militias, in Akashat, Iraq, and weapons stores were targeted.The assault came came just hours after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-dignified-transfer-jordan-israel-hamas-war-c4b923a6a5178ecd3d3957d7aba7ff6f">Biden and top defense leaders joined grieving families</a>&nbsp;to watch as the remains of the three Army Reserve soldiers were returned to the U.S. at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.It was unclear what the next steps will be, or whether the days of U.S. warnings have sent militia members scattering into hiding, making it more difficult to detect and strike them. But it was evident that the recent statement released by Kataeb Hezbollah, one of the main Iran-backed militias, saying it was suspending attacks on American troops had no impact on the administration’s plans.The U.S. strikes appeared to stop short of directly targeting Iran or senior leaders of the Revolutionary Guard Quds Force within its borders, as the U.S. tries to prevent the conflict from escalating even further. Iran has denied it was behind the Jordan attack.Just Friday morning, Iran’s hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi reiterated earlier promises by Tehran to potentially retaliate for any U.S. strikes targeting its interests. We “will not start a war, but if a country, if a cruel force wants to bully us, the Islamic Republic of Iran will give a strong response,” Raisi said.In a statement this week,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-iraq-airstrike-military-iran-d93d861feeef90cfeac3ba85f1f2f36d">Kataib Hezbollah</a>&nbsp;announced “the suspension of military and security operations against the occupation forces in order to prevent embarrassment to the Iraqi government." But Harakat al-Nujaba, one of the other major Iran-backed groups, vowed Friday to continue military operations against U.S. troops.The U.S. has blamed the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a broad coalition of Iran-backed militias, for the deadly attack in Jordan, but has not yet narrowed it down to a specific group. Kataeb Hezbollah is, however, a top suspect.Some of the militias have been a threat to U.S. bases for years, but the groups intensified their assaults in the wake of Israel’s war with Hamas following the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw 250 others taken hostage. The war has led to the deaths of more than 27,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and has inflamed the Middle East.Iran-backed militia groups throughout the region have used the conflict to justify striking Israeli or U.S. interests, including threatening civilian commercial ships and U.S. warships in the Red Sea region with drones or missiles in almost daily exchanges.Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that “this is a dangerous moment in the Middle East.” He added, “We will take all necessary actions to defend the United States, our interests and our people. And we will respond when we choose, where we choose and how we choose.”“At this point, it’s time to take away even more capability than we’ve taken in the past,” Austin said.As of Tuesday, Iran-backed militia groups had launched 166 attacks on U.S. military installations since Oct. 18, including 67 in Iraq, 98 in Syria and now one in Jordan, according to a U.S. military official. The last attack was Jan. 29 at at al-Asad airbase in Iraq, and there were no injuries or damage.The U.S., meanwhile, has bolstered defenses at the base in Jordan that was attacked by the ran-backed militants on Sunday, according to a U.S. official.And the Israeli military said its Arrow defense system intercepted a missile that approached the country from the Red Sea, raising suspicion it was launched by Yemen’s Houthi rebels. The rebels did not immediately claim responsibility.A U.S. official also said the military had taken additional self-defense strikes inside Yemen Friday against Houthi military targets deemed an imminent threat. Al-Masirah, a Houthi-run satellite news channel, said that British and American forces conducted three strikes in the northern Yemeni province of Hajjah, a Houthi stronghold.While previous U.S. responses in Iraq and Syria have been more limited, the attack on&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-jordan-drone-attack-iran-tower-22-israel-hamas-war-0265beed527e3009a966c0531c08838e">Tower 22</a>, as the Jordan outpost is known, and the deaths of the three service members has crossed a line, the official said.That drone attack, which also injured more than 40 service members — largely Army National Guard — was the first to result in U.S. combat deaths from the Iran-backed militias since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out. Tower 22 houses about 350 U.S. troops and sits near the demilitarized zone on the border between Jordan and Syria. The Iraqi border is only 6 miles (10 kilometers) away.Also on Friday, the U.S. Treasury imposed new sanctions on a network of firms in Iran and Hong Kong that are accused of assisting Iran procure technology to make ballistic weapons and drones. And the U.S. hit six Iranian officials with sanctions for allegedly committing a series of malicious cyber activities against critical infrastructure in the U.S. and other nations.------------JERUSALEM—The U.S. military is launching an air assault in Iraq and Syria in retaliation for the drone strike that killed three U.S. troops in Jordan last weekend, according to a statement from the U.S. Central Command.At 4:00 p.m. (EST) Friday, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces conducted airstrikes in Iraq and Syria against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force and affiliated militia groups. U.S. military forces struck more than 85 targets, with numerous aircraft to include long-range bombers flown from United States. The airstrikes employed more than 125 precision munitions. The facilities that were struck included command and control operations, centers, intelligence centers, rockets, and missiles, and unmanned aired vehicle storages, and logistics and munition supply chain facilities of militia groups and their IRGC sponsors who facilitated attacks against U.S. and Coalition forces.The strikes came just hours after President Joe Biden and top defense leaders joined grieving families to watch as the remains of the three Army Reserve soldiers were returned to the U.S. at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.It was unclear what the next steps will be, or whether the days of U.S. warnings have sent militia members scattering into hiding, making it more difficult for the U.S. to detect and strike them.-The AP contributed to this report.

U.S. bombs sites in Iraq and Syria in retaliation for tatal drone attack

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge in Washington formally postponed Donald Trump's March trial on charges of plotting to overturn the 2020 election as a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-jan-6-special-counsel-immunity-appeal-64eec975e6a602949eb4b90315239318">key legal appeal from the former president</a>&nbsp;continues to work its way through the courts.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan on Friday vacated the March 4 trial date in the case brought by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-indicted-jan-6-investigation-special-counsel-debb59bb7a4d9f93f7e2dace01feccdc">Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith</a>&nbsp;but did not immediately set a new date. The move creates an opening for a separate case in New York,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-indictment-new-york-florida-hush-money-election-764309dce49f81a50bf9f610ffd5ceb6">charging Trump in connection with hush money payments to a porn actor</a>, to proceed first.

The postponement comes as a federal appeals court has yet to resolve a pending appeal from Trump arguing that he is immune from prosecution for actions he took in the White House. It is not clear when the three-judge panel might rule, but a ruling in favor of prosecutors that permits the case to move forward is expected to be appealed by the Trump team, likely resulting in additional delays.

For both sides, timing is of the essence. Trump, who faces four indictments and 91 felony counts, is looking to push his criminal cases back as he enjoys front-runner status in the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. Smith's team, meanwhile, is hoping to be able to prosecute Trump this year before the November election.

The Washington case had been expected to take place first, but it has been delayed for weeks by Trump's appeal on immunity grounds. The appeals court heard arguments on Jan. 9, and though it had said it intended to work quickly, has not yet issued a ruling.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/8/1691976202111.png" alt="Trump photo courtesy CSPAN" />
 <figcaption>Trump photo courtesy CSPAN</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge in Washington formally postponed Donald Trump's March trial on charges of plotting to overturn the 2020 election as a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-jan-6-special-counsel-immunity-appeal-64eec975e6a602949eb4b90315239318">key legal appeal from the former president</a>&nbsp;continues to work its way through the courts.U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan on Friday vacated the March 4 trial date in the case brought by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-indicted-jan-6-investigation-special-counsel-debb59bb7a4d9f93f7e2dace01feccdc">Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith</a>&nbsp;but did not immediately set a new date. The move creates an opening for a separate case in New York,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-indictment-new-york-florida-hush-money-election-764309dce49f81a50bf9f610ffd5ceb6">charging Trump in connection with hush money payments to a porn actor</a>, to proceed first.The postponement comes as a federal appeals court has yet to resolve a pending appeal from Trump arguing that he is immune from prosecution for actions he took in the White House. It is not clear when the three-judge panel might rule, but a ruling in favor of prosecutors that permits the case to move forward is expected to be appealed by the Trump team, likely resulting in additional delays.For both sides, timing is of the essence. Trump, who faces four indictments and 91 felony counts, is looking to push his criminal cases back as he enjoys front-runner status in the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. Smith's team, meanwhile, is hoping to be able to prosecute Trump this year before the November election.The Washington case had been expected to take place first, but it has been delayed for weeks by Trump's appeal on immunity grounds. The appeals court heard arguments on Jan. 9, and though it had said it intended to work quickly, has not yet issued a ruling.

Judge postpones Trump’s trial on plotting to overturn 2020 election

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska lawmaker behind a new law that allows millions in state income tax to go to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/private-school-scholarships-nebraska-taxpayers-c7be118aa5a43b3ebc2da82aacaa4e29">private school tuition scholarships</a>&nbsp;is now targeting the referendum petition process that could allow state voters to repeal it.

Omaha Sen. Lou Ann Linehan on Wednesday presented to a legislative committee her bill that would simplify the process of enabling people to remove their names from referendum petitions they had signed earlier.

The bill would allow a person to have their name removed by sending a signed letter to the Nebraska Secretary of State. Currently, the only way a voter can remove their name from a petition is by sending a letter along with a notarized affidavit requesting it.

Linehan said she introduced the bill after hearing from constituents that signature gatherers were using misinformation to get people to sign a petition to put the question of whether to repeal her private school scholarship program on the November ballot.

“They were spreading lies about the Opportunity Scholarships Act,” she said.

The new law does not appropriate taxpayer dollars directly to private school vouchers. Instead, it allows businesses and individuals to donate up to $100,000 per year of their owed state income tax to organizations that award private school tuition scholarships. Estates and trusts can donate up to $1 million a year. That dollar-for-dollar tax credit is money that would otherwise go into the state’s general revenue fund.

Opponents launched a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/tax-diversion-private-schools-nebraska-ballot-a4c033b5e004d1ef8f3f06214c519c21">petition effort</a>&nbsp;immediately after the law passed last year to put the question of whether the state could use public money for private school tuition on the November 2024 ballot. The number of valid signatures gathered far exceeded the number needed, and Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen approved the ballot measure.

Since then, Linehan has sent a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/nebraska-school-choice-scholarships-voter-referendum-c1277d04dbd5dccd22c20b739a43e1e0">letter to Evnen</a>&nbsp;asking him to declare the ballot initiative unconstitutional and pull it from November’s ballot. Supporters of the ballot initiative have sent their own letter asking him to protect Nebraska voters' constitutional right to the referendum petition process.

Clarice Jackson of Omaha testified Wednesday before the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee that she was wrongly told by a signature gatherer outside an Omaha store she visited that the petition effort was to support Linehan's bill.

“I asked her four or five times," Jackson said. “There were 10 to 15 people inside the store who had all been told the same thing and had signed the petition. When I told them that the petition was against school choice, they were upset. They were upset because they were misled.”

When they demanded to take their names off the petition, they were told they'd have to file an affidavit signed by a notary and send it to their county election office or the secretary of state's office first, Jackson said.

Linehan, a Republican in the officially nonpartisan Nebraska Legislature, found an unlikely ally for her bill in state Sen. Danielle Conrad, a Democrat. Conrad argued that it should be as easy for a voter to remove their name from a petition as it is to sign it.

One opponent testified that simplifying the process of removing a signature would embolden opponents of any given petition effort to badger signers to then remove their names.

“That happens now,” said Conrad, an attorney and former director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska. “And it is core-protected speech.”

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska lawmaker behind a new law that allows millions in state income tax to go to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/private-school-scholarships-nebraska-taxpayers-c7be118aa5a43b3ebc2da82aacaa4e29">private school tuition scholarships</a>&nbsp;is now targeting the referendum petition process that could allow state voters to repeal it.Omaha Sen. Lou Ann Linehan on Wednesday presented to a legislative committee her bill that would simplify the process of enabling people to remove their names from referendum petitions they had signed earlier.The bill would allow a person to have their name removed by sending a signed letter to the Nebraska Secretary of State. Currently, the only way a voter can remove their name from a petition is by sending a letter along with a notarized affidavit requesting it.Linehan said she introduced the bill after hearing from constituents that signature gatherers were using misinformation to get people to sign a petition to put the question of whether to repeal her private school scholarship program on the November ballot.“They were spreading lies about the Opportunity Scholarships Act,” she said.The new law does not appropriate taxpayer dollars directly to private school vouchers. Instead, it allows businesses and individuals to donate up to $100,000 per year of their owed state income tax to organizations that award private school tuition scholarships. Estates and trusts can donate up to $1 million a year. That dollar-for-dollar tax credit is money that would otherwise go into the state’s general revenue fund.Opponents launched a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/tax-diversion-private-schools-nebraska-ballot-a4c033b5e004d1ef8f3f06214c519c21">petition effort</a>&nbsp;immediately after the law passed last year to put the question of whether the state could use public money for private school tuition on the November 2024 ballot. The number of valid signatures gathered far exceeded the number needed, and Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen approved the ballot measure.Since then, Linehan has sent a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/nebraska-school-choice-scholarships-voter-referendum-c1277d04dbd5dccd22c20b739a43e1e0">letter to Evnen</a>&nbsp;asking him to declare the ballot initiative unconstitutional and pull it from November’s ballot. Supporters of the ballot initiative have sent their own letter asking him to protect Nebraska voters' constitutional right to the referendum petition process.Clarice Jackson of Omaha testified Wednesday before the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee that she was wrongly told by a signature gatherer outside an Omaha store she visited that the petition effort was to support Linehan's bill.“I asked her four or five times," Jackson said. “There were 10 to 15 people inside the store who had all been told the same thing and had signed the petition. When I told them that the petition was against school choice, they were upset. They were upset because they were misled.”When they demanded to take their names off the petition, they were told they'd have to file an affidavit signed by a notary and send it to their county election office or the secretary of state's office first, Jackson said.Linehan, a Republican in the officially nonpartisan Nebraska Legislature, found an unlikely ally for her bill in state Sen. Danielle Conrad, a Democrat. Conrad argued that it should be as easy for a voter to remove their name from a petition as it is to sign it.One opponent testified that simplifying the process of removing a signature would embolden opponents of any given petition effort to badger signers to then remove their names.“That happens now,” said Conrad, an attorney and former director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska. “And it is core-protected speech.”

Nebraska lawmaker behind school choice law targets the process that could repeal it

NEW YORK (AP) — Carl Weathers, a former NFL linebacker who became a Hollywood action&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/movies">movie</a>&nbsp;and comedy star, playing nemesis-turned-ally Apollo Creed in the “Rocky” movies, facing off against Arnold Schwarzenegger in “Predator” and teaching golf in “Happy Gilmore,” has died. He was 76.

Matt Luber, his manager, said Weathers died Thursday. His family issued a statement saying he died “peacefully in his sleep."

Comfortable flexing his muscles on the big screen in “Action Jackson” as he was joking around on the small screen in such shows as “Arrested Development,” Weathers was perhaps most closely associated with Creed, who made his first appearance as the cocky, undisputed heavyweight world champion in 1976’s “Rocky,” starring Sylvester Stallone.

“It puts you on the map and makes your career, so to speak. But that’s a one-off, so you’ve got to follow it up with something. Fortunately those movies kept coming, and Apollo Creed became more and more in people’s consciousness and welcome in their lives, and it was just the right guy at the right time,” he told The Daily Beast in 2017.

Most recently, Weathers has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/f78d5d415c5b40f69a12b2cfb83637f8">starred in the Disney+ hit “The Mandalorian,”</a>&nbsp;appearing in all three seasons.

“We lost an icon,” former “Predator” co-star Jesse Ventura wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “Carl Weathers was a phenomenal talent, a true professional and a dear friend.”

Creed, who appeared in the first four “Rocky” movies, memorably died in the ring of 1984’s “Rocky IV,” going toe-to-toe with the hulking, steroided-using Soviet Ivan Drago, played by Dolph Lundgren. Before he entered the ring, James Brown sang “Living in America” with showgirls and Creed popped up on a balcony in a Star-Spangled Banner shorts and waistcoat combo and an Uncle Sam hat, dancing and taunting Drago.

A bloodied Creed collapses in the ring after taking a vicious beating, twitches and is cradled by Rocky as he dies, inevitably setting up a fight between Drago and Rocky. But while Creed is gone, his character’s son, Michael B. Jordan’s Adonis Creed, would lead his own boxing trilogy starting in 2015.

Weathers went on to 1987’s “Predator,” where he flexed his pecs alongside Ventura, Schwarzenegger and a host of others, and 1988’s nouveau blaxploitation flick “Action Jackson,” where he trains his flamethrower on a bad guy and asks, “How do you like your ribs?” before broiling him.

He later added a false wooden hand to play a golf pro for the 1996 comedy classic “Happy Gilmore” opposite Adam Sandler and starred in Dick Wolf’s short-lived spin-off series “Chicago Justice” in 2017 and in Disney’s “The Mandalorian,” earning an Emmy Award nomination in 2021. He also voiced Combat Carl in the “Toy Story” franchise.

Sandler hailed his friend on social media, calling him a "great man" and "a true legend” — "So much fun to be around always. Smart as hell. Loyal as hell. Funny as hell."

Weathers grew up admiring actors such as Woody Strode, whose combination of physique and acting prowess in “Spartacus” made an early impression. Others he idolized included actors Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte and athletes Jim Brown and Muhammad Ali, stars who broke the mold and the color barrier.

“There are so many people that came before me who I admired and whose success I wanted to emulate, and just kind of hit the benchmarks they hit in terms of success, who created a pathway that I’ve been able to walk and find success as a result. And hopefully I can inspire someone else to do good work as well,” he told the Detroit News 2023. “I guess I’m just a lucky guy.”

Growing up in New Orleans, Weathers started performing in plays as early as grade school. In high school, athletics took him down another path but he would reunite with his first love later in life.

Weathers played college football at San Diego State University — he majored in theater — and went on to play for one season in the NFL, for the Oakland Raiders, in 1970.

“When I found football, it was a completely different outlet,” says Weathers told the Detroit News. “It was more about the physicality, although one does feed the other. You needed some smarts because there were playbooks to study and film to study, to learn about the opposition on any given week.”

After the Raiders, he joined the Canadian Football League, playing for two years while finishing up his studies during the offseason at San Francisco State University. He graduated with a B.A. in drama in 1974.

After appearing in several films and TV shows, including “Good Times,” “The Six Million Dollar Man,” “In the Heat of the Night” and “Starsky &amp; Hutch,” as well as fighting Nazis alongside Harrison Ford in “Force 10 From Navarone,” Weathers landed his knockout role — Creed. He told The Hollywood Reporter that his start in the iconic franchise was not auspicious.

He was asked to read with the writer, Stallone, then unknown. Weathers read the scene but felt it didn’t land and so he blurted out: “I could do a lot better if you got me a real actor to work with,” he recalled. “So I just insulted the star of the movie without really knowing it and not intending to.” He also lied that he had any boxing experience.

Later in life, Weathers developed a passion for directing, helming episodes of “Silk Stalkings” and and the Lorenzo Lamas vehicle “Renegade.” He directed a season three episode of “The Mandalorian.”

Weathers introduced himself to another generation when he portrayed himself as an opportunistic and extremely thrifty actor who becomes involved with the dysfunctional clan at the heart of “Arrested Development.”

The Weathers character likes to save money by making broth from discarded food — "There’s still plenty of meat on that bone” and “Baby, you got a stew going!” — and, for the right price, agrees to become an acting coach for delusional and talent-free thespian Tobias Funke, played by David Cross.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/2/1706904085160.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>NEW YORK (AP) — Carl Weathers, a former NFL linebacker who became a Hollywood action&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/movies">movie</a>&nbsp;and comedy star, playing nemesis-turned-ally Apollo Creed in the “Rocky” movies, facing off against Arnold Schwarzenegger in “Predator” and teaching golf in “Happy Gilmore,” has died. He was 76.Matt Luber, his manager, said Weathers died Thursday. His family issued a statement saying he died “peacefully in his sleep."<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><a href="https://t.co/AuuJOfrsFr">pic.twitter.com/AuuJOfrsFr</a>&mdash; Las Vegas Raiders (@Raiders) <a href="https://twitter.com/Raiders/status/1753539143232335918?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 2, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Comfortable flexing his muscles on the big screen in “Action Jackson” as he was joking around on the small screen in such shows as “Arrested Development,” Weathers was perhaps most closely associated with Creed, who made his first appearance as the cocky, undisputed heavyweight world champion in 1976’s “Rocky,” starring Sylvester Stallone.“It puts you on the map and makes your career, so to speak. But that’s a one-off, so you’ve got to follow it up with something. Fortunately those movies kept coming, and Apollo Creed became more and more in people’s consciousness and welcome in their lives, and it was just the right guy at the right time,” he told The Daily Beast in 2017.Most recently, Weathers has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/f78d5d415c5b40f69a12b2cfb83637f8">starred in the Disney+ hit “The Mandalorian,”</a>&nbsp;appearing in all three seasons.“We lost an icon,” former “Predator” co-star Jesse Ventura wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “Carl Weathers was a phenomenal talent, a true professional and a dear friend.”Creed, who appeared in the first four “Rocky” movies, memorably died in the ring of 1984’s “Rocky IV,” going toe-to-toe with the hulking, steroided-using Soviet Ivan Drago, played by Dolph Lundgren. Before he entered the ring, James Brown sang “Living in America” with showgirls and Creed popped up on a balcony in a Star-Spangled Banner shorts and waistcoat combo and an Uncle Sam hat, dancing and taunting Drago.A bloodied Creed collapses in the ring after taking a vicious beating, twitches and is cradled by Rocky as he dies, inevitably setting up a fight between Drago and Rocky. But while Creed is gone, his character’s son, Michael B. Jordan’s Adonis Creed, would lead his own boxing trilogy starting in 2015.Weathers went on to 1987’s “Predator,” where he flexed his pecs alongside Ventura, Schwarzenegger and a host of others, and 1988’s nouveau blaxploitation flick “Action Jackson,” where he trains his flamethrower on a bad guy and asks, “How do you like your ribs?” before broiling him.He later added a false wooden hand to play a golf pro for the 1996 comedy classic “Happy Gilmore” opposite Adam Sandler and starred in Dick Wolf’s short-lived spin-off series “Chicago Justice” in 2017 and in Disney’s “The Mandalorian,” earning an Emmy Award nomination in 2021. He also voiced Combat Carl in the “Toy Story” franchise.Sandler hailed his friend on social media, calling him a "great man" and "a true legend” — "So much fun to be around always. Smart as hell. Loyal as hell. Funny as hell."Weathers grew up admiring actors such as Woody Strode, whose combination of physique and acting prowess in “Spartacus” made an early impression. Others he idolized included actors Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte and athletes Jim Brown and Muhammad Ali, stars who broke the mold and the color barrier.“There are so many people that came before me who I admired and whose success I wanted to emulate, and just kind of hit the benchmarks they hit in terms of success, who created a pathway that I’ve been able to walk and find success as a result. And hopefully I can inspire someone else to do good work as well,” he told the Detroit News 2023. “I guess I’m just a lucky guy.”Growing up in New Orleans, Weathers started performing in plays as early as grade school. In high school, athletics took him down another path but he would reunite with his first love later in life.Weathers played college football at San Diego State University — he majored in theater — and went on to play for one season in the NFL, for the Oakland Raiders, in 1970.“When I found football, it was a completely different outlet,” says Weathers told the Detroit News. “It was more about the physicality, although one does feed the other. You needed some smarts because there were playbooks to study and film to study, to learn about the opposition on any given week.”After the Raiders, he joined the Canadian Football League, playing for two years while finishing up his studies during the offseason at San Francisco State University. He graduated with a B.A. in drama in 1974.After appearing in several films and TV shows, including “Good Times,” “The Six Million Dollar Man,” “In the Heat of the Night” and “Starsky &amp; Hutch,” as well as fighting Nazis alongside Harrison Ford in “Force 10 From Navarone,” Weathers landed his knockout role — Creed. He told The Hollywood Reporter that his start in the iconic franchise was not auspicious.He was asked to read with the writer, Stallone, then unknown. Weathers read the scene but felt it didn’t land and so he blurted out: “I could do a lot better if you got me a real actor to work with,” he recalled. “So I just insulted the star of the movie without really knowing it and not intending to.” He also lied that he had any boxing experience.Later in life, Weathers developed a passion for directing, helming episodes of “Silk Stalkings” and and the Lorenzo Lamas vehicle “Renegade.” He directed a season three episode of “The Mandalorian.”Weathers introduced himself to another generation when he portrayed himself as an opportunistic and extremely thrifty actor who becomes involved with the dysfunctional clan at the heart of “Arrested Development.”The Weathers character likes to save money by making broth from discarded food — "There’s still plenty of meat on that bone” and “Baby, you got a stew going!” — and, for the right price, agrees to become an acting coach for delusional and talent-free thespian Tobias Funke, played by David Cross.

Carl Weathers, actor who starred in 'Rocky' movies and 'The Mandalorian,' dies

<a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2024/02/01/state-treasurer-wants-nebraskans-to-use-state-website-to-find-missing-money-and-property/">Nebraska Examiner</a>

LINCOLN — “Free money” sounds like a scam. But on Feb. 1 in Nebraska, it’s real. Nebraska State Treasurer Tom Briese wants to give Nebraskans back their money and long-lost property.

It’s Unclaimed Property Day in Nebraska, the day the state reminds people to check online at&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="http://www.nebraskalostcash.gov/">www.nebraskalostcash.gov</a>&nbsp;for lost property and cash being held by the state.

In 2022, the Treasurer’s Office received $29.4 million worth of property. That includes lost last paychecks, money from unused gift cards and retirement savings from old jobs.

People checking the website or calling the Treasurer’s Office&nbsp;in 2022&nbsp;reclaimed $18.2 million worth from the treasurer, according to the state’s most recent available figures.

The state has paid out an average of 15,750 claims a year over the past three years, including 22,221 in 2023.

“I encourage everyone to look for your name,” Briese said. “Look for family members. Look for friends and neighbors as well. Let them know if you see something.”

The Treasurer’s Office verifies a person’s identity before sending a check or the items. The amount of verification depends on the type and amount of property returned, Briese said.

Go online and click on&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="http://www.nebraskalostcash.gov/">www.nebraskalostcash.gov</a>&nbsp;or call the Unclaimed Property Division of the Nebraska State Treasurer’s Office at (877) 572-9688.

Briese warns Nebraskans to avoid paid sites offering to do the work of applying for their items. The state site, he said, does not charge for this.

“There are services that hire out to do this, but if you want to do it yourself, and do it for free, get on our website … or the treasurer’s website,” he said. “It’ll get you there.”

Briese said he has never found property tied to his name on the site but has helped friends and family members find money and property.&nbsp;

He urged residents to check the site periodically, because new property makes its way to the agency daily.&nbsp;

“We’re here to try to get the dollars back to the rightful owners,” Breise said. “And I would certainly encourage everyone to get online and see if they can find something there.”

Aaron Sanderford<a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2024/02/01/state-treasurer-wants-nebraskans-to-use-state-website-to-find-missing-money-and-property/">Nebraska Examiner</a>LINCOLN — “Free money” sounds like a scam. But on Feb. 1 in Nebraska, it’s real. Nebraska State Treasurer Tom Briese wants to give Nebraskans back their money and long-lost property.It’s Unclaimed Property Day in Nebraska, the day the state reminds people to check online at&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="http://www.nebraskalostcash.gov/">www.nebraskalostcash.gov</a>&nbsp;for lost property and cash being held by the state.In 2022, the Treasurer’s Office received $29.4 million worth of property. That includes lost last paychecks, money from unused gift cards and retirement savings from old jobs.People checking the website or calling the Treasurer’s Office&nbsp;in 2022&nbsp;reclaimed $18.2 million worth from the treasurer, according to the state’s most recent available figures.The state has paid out an average of 15,750 claims a year over the past three years, including 22,221 in 2023.“I encourage everyone to look for your name,” Briese said. “Look for family members. Look for friends and neighbors as well. Let them know if you see something.”<h2>Identity will be verified</h2>The Treasurer’s Office verifies a person’s identity before sending a check or the items. The amount of verification depends on the type and amount of property returned, Briese said.<h2>How to check</h2>Go online and click on&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="http://www.nebraskalostcash.gov/">www.nebraskalostcash.gov</a>&nbsp;or call the Unclaimed Property Division of the Nebraska State Treasurer’s Office at (877) 572-9688.Briese warns Nebraskans to avoid paid sites offering to do the work of applying for their items. The state site, he said, does not charge for this.“There are services that hire out to do this, but if you want to do it yourself, and do it for free, get on our website … or the treasurer’s website,” he said. “It’ll get you there.”Briese said he has never found property tied to his name on the site but has helped friends and family members find money and property.&nbsp;He urged residents to check the site periodically, because new property makes its way to the agency daily.&nbsp;“We’re here to try to get the dollars back to the rightful owners,” Breise said. “And I would certainly encourage everyone to get online and see if they can find something there.”

State treasurer wants Nebraskans to use state website to find missing money and property

Autism self-advocate Temple Grandin, PhD, will share her unique perspective on animals when she headlines the 2024 Nebraska Science Festival this spring.

A professor of animal science at Colorado State University, Dr. Grandin also is a pioneer in improving the handling and welfare of farm animals.

Dr. Grandin will kick off the festival March 26 with her presentation, “Animals Make Us Human,” the very title of her New York Times best seller. The 7:30 p.m. presentation will be at The Garden Theater, 3125 Oak View Drive in Omaha. Dr. Grandin’s talk will help attendees better understand animals in their sensory-based world as well as provide insights into solving problems. General admission tickets are free but required for admittance; tickets will be available March 1 via Eventbrite. The program is suggested for ages 12 and older.&nbsp;

“We are thrilled to bring Dr. Grandin to Omaha for the Nebraska Science Festival,” said SciFest&nbsp;coordinator&nbsp;Kacie&nbsp;Baum, senior manager for events and community engagement in&nbsp;UNMC’s Department of&nbsp;Strategic Communications. “She is a rock star in animal science and autism education and will inspire us with her&nbsp;extraordinary insights into how animals think, act and feel.”

The Nebraska Science Festival, which runs throughout April, features an array of science- and technology-related activities in communities across the state – all designed to make science accessible, interactive, relevant&nbsp;and fun for all ages. &nbsp;

Dr. Grandin’s&nbsp;achievements are remarkable because she was an autistic child. At age 2 she had no speech and signs of severe autism. She learned speech after many hours of therapy and intensive teaching. Later, inspired in part by her high school science teacher, she pursued a career as a scientist and livestock equipment designer. Half the cattle in the U.S. and Canada are handled in equipment she has designed for meat plants. She has developed animal welfare guidelines for the meat industry and consulted with companies on animal welfare. Widely published, she continues her research at Colorado State University and teaches courses on livestock handling and facility design.

In her latest book, Navigating Autism: 9 Mindsets For&nbsp;Helping Kids on the Spectrum, Dr. Grandin presents nine strengths-based mindsets necessary to successfully work with young people on the autism spectrum. Her book Animals in Translation was a New York Times best seller, and her book Livestock Handling and Transport is in its fourth edition. In addition to a popular TED Talk, she has authored Thinking in Pictures, Emergence Labeled Autistic, Animals Make us Human, Improving Animal Welfare: A Practical Approach, The Way&nbsp;I See It, and The Autistic Brain.

Past&nbsp;SciFest&nbsp;speakers have included scientist Bill Nye, “Animal Planet” host and conservationist Jeff Corwin, meteorologist&nbsp;and extreme storm chaser Reed Timmer; actor and storyteller LeVar Burton; Kari Bryon, host of Discovery Channel’s Mythbusters&nbsp;and The White Rabbit Project on Netflix; the late Grant Imahara&nbsp;with Mythbusters; and&nbsp;Jeopardy!” host Ken Jennings.

The Nebraska Science Festival&nbsp;–&nbsp;presented by the University of Nebraska Medical Center – is a collaboration of organizations and individuals interested in the advancement of science literacy. In addition to UNMC, other sponsors, to date, are Boys Town, Metro Credit Union, KETV and the National Science Foundation’s Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching.

In addition to NeSciFest.com, SciFest&nbsp;updates and information can be found on Twitter (@NESciFest) and Facebook (NE SciFest).&nbsp;

UNMCAutism self-advocate Temple Grandin, PhD, will share her unique perspective on animals when she headlines the 2024 Nebraska Science Festival this spring.A professor of animal science at Colorado State University, Dr. Grandin also is a pioneer in improving the handling and welfare of farm animals.Dr. Grandin will kick off the festival March 26 with her presentation, “Animals Make Us Human,” the very title of her New York Times best seller. The 7:30 p.m. presentation will be at The Garden Theater, 3125 Oak View Drive in Omaha. Dr. Grandin’s talk will help attendees better understand animals in their sensory-based world as well as provide insights into solving problems. General admission tickets are free but required for admittance; tickets will be available March 1 via Eventbrite. The program is suggested for ages 12 and older.&nbsp;“We are thrilled to bring Dr. Grandin to Omaha for the Nebraska Science Festival,” said SciFest&nbsp;coordinator&nbsp;Kacie&nbsp;Baum, senior manager for events and community engagement in&nbsp;UNMC’s Department of&nbsp;Strategic Communications. “She is a rock star in animal science and autism education and will inspire us with her&nbsp;extraordinary insights into how animals think, act and feel.”The Nebraska Science Festival, which runs throughout April, features an array of science- and technology-related activities in communities across the state – all designed to make science accessible, interactive, relevant&nbsp;and fun for all ages. &nbsp;Dr. Grandin’s&nbsp;achievements are remarkable because she was an autistic child. At age 2 she had no speech and signs of severe autism. She learned speech after many hours of therapy and intensive teaching. Later, inspired in part by her high school science teacher, she pursued a career as a scientist and livestock equipment designer. Half the cattle in the U.S. and Canada are handled in equipment she has designed for meat plants. She has developed animal welfare guidelines for the meat industry and consulted with companies on animal welfare. Widely published, she continues her research at Colorado State University and teaches courses on livestock handling and facility design.In her latest book, Navigating Autism: 9 Mindsets For&nbsp;Helping Kids on the Spectrum, Dr. Grandin presents nine strengths-based mindsets necessary to successfully work with young people on the autism spectrum. Her book Animals in Translation was a New York Times best seller, and her book Livestock Handling and Transport is in its fourth edition. In addition to a popular TED Talk, she has authored Thinking in Pictures, Emergence Labeled Autistic, Animals Make us Human, Improving Animal Welfare: A Practical Approach, The Way&nbsp;I See It, and The Autistic Brain.Past&nbsp;SciFest&nbsp;speakers have included scientist Bill Nye, “Animal Planet” host and conservationist Jeff Corwin, meteorologist&nbsp;and extreme storm chaser Reed Timmer; actor and storyteller LeVar Burton; Kari Bryon, host of Discovery Channel’s Mythbusters&nbsp;and The White Rabbit Project on Netflix; the late Grant Imahara&nbsp;with Mythbusters; and&nbsp;Jeopardy!” host Ken Jennings.The Nebraska Science Festival&nbsp;–&nbsp;presented by the University of Nebraska Medical Center – is a collaboration of organizations and individuals interested in the advancement of science literacy. In addition to UNMC, other sponsors, to date, are Boys Town, Metro Credit Union, KETV and the National Science Foundation’s Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching.In addition to NeSciFest.com, SciFest&nbsp;updates and information can be found on Twitter (@NESciFest) and Facebook (NE SciFest).&nbsp;

Autism advocate Temple Grandin to headline 2024 Nebraska Science Festival

BAGHDAD (AP)— In a statement released Friday, one of Iraq’s strongest Iran-backed militias, Harakat al-Nujaba, announced its plans to continue military operations against U.S. troops, despite allied factions having called off their attacks in the wake of a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-jordan-drone-attack-iran-tower-22-israel-hamas-war-0265beed527e3009a966c0531c08838e">drone strike</a>&nbsp;that killed three U.S. service members in Jordan Sunday.

Kataib Hezbollah, another powerful Iranian-backed Iraqi militia, which has been watched closely by U.S. officials, said Tuesday it would “suspend military and security operations against the occupying forces” to avoid embarrassing the Iraqi government.

Akram al-Kaabi, leader of the Harakat al-Nujaba militia said in a statement Friday that “we respect their decision” but announced the continuation of his group’s military operations against U.S. troops. He dismissed U.S. threats of retaliation.

Al-Nujaba, which emerged from the larger Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq militia in 2013, has fought both opposition forces in Syria and the Islamic State militant group in Iraq.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a coalition of Iranian-backed militias that the U.S. has blamed for the deadly attack in Jordan, has launched more than 160 attacks on bases hosting U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria since Oct. 7, amid tensions over U.S. support for Israel in the ongoing war in Gaza.

BAGHDAD (AP)— In a statement released Friday, one of Iraq’s strongest Iran-backed militias, Harakat al-Nujaba, announced its plans to continue military operations against U.S. troops, despite allied factions having called off their attacks in the wake of a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-jordan-drone-attack-iran-tower-22-israel-hamas-war-0265beed527e3009a966c0531c08838e">drone strike</a>&nbsp;that killed three U.S. service members in Jordan Sunday.Kataib Hezbollah, another powerful Iranian-backed Iraqi militia, which has been watched closely by U.S. officials, said Tuesday it would “suspend military and security operations against the occupying forces” to avoid embarrassing the Iraqi government.Akram al-Kaabi, leader of the Harakat al-Nujaba militia said in a statement Friday that “we respect their decision” but announced the continuation of his group’s military operations against U.S. troops. He dismissed U.S. threats of retaliation.Al-Nujaba, which emerged from the larger Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq militia in 2013, has fought both opposition forces in Syria and the Islamic State militant group in Iraq.The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a coalition of Iranian-backed militias that the U.S. has blamed for the deadly attack in Jordan, has launched more than 160 attacks on bases hosting U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria since Oct. 7, amid tensions over U.S. support for Israel in the ongoing war in Gaza.

Iran-backed terrorists warn they will continue attacks on U.S. troops

PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. (AP) — Punxsutawney Phil predicted an early spring Friday in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania, the scene of the country’s largest and best known&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/groundhog-day-punxsutawney-pennsylvania-phil-winter-b037d58615f7b5f0007a7153a888e263">Groundhog Day</a>&nbsp;celebration in the United States.

The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/live/groundhog-day-updates">annual event</a>&nbsp;is a tongue-in-cheek ritual in which Phil’s handlers, members of a club with roots in the late 19th century, reveal whether the groundhog has seen his shadow.

Just after sunrise Friday, the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club announced Phil did not see his shadow, which will usher in early springlike weather. The groundhog seeing his shadow presages six more weeks of winter, according to the group.

About 10,000 people have made their way in recent years to Punxsutawney, where festivities begin in the dead of night and culminate in the midwinter forecast. A bundled-up crowd, some wearing groundhog-themed hats, watched musical performances and fireworks as they waited for sunrise and the appearance of Punxsutawney Phil.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro took the stage before Phil to urge people around the world watching the festivities to come to Punxsutawney next year. Shapiro also announced the famed groundhog is the new official meteorologist for Pennsylvania.

“Punxsutawney is the center of the universe right now and I love that you’re all here,” Shapiro said.

Phil predicts more winter far more often than he sees an early spring, not a bad bet for February and March in western Pennsylvania. A federal agency took a look at his record last year and put his&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/groundhog-day-forecasts-and-climate-history">accuracy rate</a>&nbsp;at about 40%.

The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/st-brigid-1500-ireland-catholic-pagan-explain-a6a41566acca80033c3514f180d6443e">tradition of celebrating the midpoint</a>&nbsp;between the shortest day of the year on the winter solstice and the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/spring-equinox-first-day-31b3a4556ae68855c7bfd16f15a3127b">spring equinox</a>&nbsp;goes back many centuries in European farm life.

There are more than a dozen active groundhog clubs in Pennsylvania, some dating back to the 1930s, and weather-predicting groundhogs have appeared in at least 28 U.S. states and Canadian provinces.

The 1993 blockbuster film “Groundhog Day,” starring Bill Murray, fueled interest in Punxsutawney Phil and inspired informal observations far and wide.

When he's not making his annual prognostication, Phil lives in a customized space beside the Punxsutawney Memorial Library, with a window where library patrons can check out his burrow. Back in 2009, library workers said Phil had somehow managed to escape three times, climbing into the library ceiling and dropping into offices about 50 feet (15 meters) away. He wasn’t injured.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/2/1706877393113.png" alt="Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow -image from the live video provided by the Associated Press" />
 <figcaption>Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow -image from the live video provided by the Associated Press</figcaption>
 </figure>PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. (AP) — Punxsutawney Phil predicted an early spring Friday in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania, the scene of the country’s largest and best known&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/groundhog-day-punxsutawney-pennsylvania-phil-winter-b037d58615f7b5f0007a7153a888e263">Groundhog Day</a>&nbsp;celebration in the United States.<div><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UAmXoNVQ9Zc?si=S4qtJBkgGUq7icQT&amp;start=6822" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/live/groundhog-day-updates">annual event</a>&nbsp;is a tongue-in-cheek ritual in which Phil’s handlers, members of a club with roots in the late 19th century, reveal whether the groundhog has seen his shadow.Just after sunrise Friday, the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club announced Phil did not see his shadow, which will usher in early springlike weather. The groundhog seeing his shadow presages six more weeks of winter, according to the group.About 10,000 people have made their way in recent years to Punxsutawney, where festivities begin in the dead of night and culminate in the midwinter forecast. A bundled-up crowd, some wearing groundhog-themed hats, watched musical performances and fireworks as they waited for sunrise and the appearance of Punxsutawney Phil.Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro took the stage before Phil to urge people around the world watching the festivities to come to Punxsutawney next year. Shapiro also announced the famed groundhog is the new official meteorologist for Pennsylvania.“Punxsutawney is the center of the universe right now and I love that you’re all here,” Shapiro said.Phil predicts more winter far more often than he sees an early spring, not a bad bet for February and March in western Pennsylvania. A federal agency took a look at his record last year and put his&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/groundhog-day-forecasts-and-climate-history">accuracy rate</a>&nbsp;at about 40%.The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/st-brigid-1500-ireland-catholic-pagan-explain-a6a41566acca80033c3514f180d6443e">tradition of celebrating the midpoint</a>&nbsp;between the shortest day of the year on the winter solstice and the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/spring-equinox-first-day-31b3a4556ae68855c7bfd16f15a3127b">spring equinox</a>&nbsp;goes back many centuries in European farm life.There are more than a dozen active groundhog clubs in Pennsylvania, some dating back to the 1930s, and weather-predicting groundhogs have appeared in at least 28 U.S. states and Canadian provinces.The 1993 blockbuster film “Groundhog Day,” starring Bill Murray, fueled interest in Punxsutawney Phil and inspired informal observations far and wide.When he's not making his annual prognostication, Phil lives in a customized space beside the Punxsutawney Memorial Library, with a window where library patrons can check out his burrow. Back in 2009, library workers said Phil had somehow managed to escape three times, climbing into the library ceiling and dropping into offices about 50 feet (15 meters) away. He wasn’t injured.

🎥 Groundhog Day 2024: Punxsutawney Phil has good news

JERUSALEM (AP) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Thursday it's time to further disable Iran-backed militias that have struck at U.S. forces and ships in the Middle East and the U.S. is preparing to take significant action in response to the deaths of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-jordan-drone-attack-iran-tower-22-israel-hamas-war-0265beed527e3009a966c0531c08838e">three U.S. service members</a>&nbsp;in Jordan.

For days the U.S. has hinted strikes are imminent. While the threat of retaliation for Sunday's deaths has driven some militant groups to say they were stopping hostilities, as late as Thursday Yemen’s Houthi rebels were still attacking vessels and fired a ballistic missile at a Liberian-flagged container ship in the Red Sea.

“At this point, it’s time to take away even more capability than we’ve taken in the past,” Austin said Thursday in his&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/austin-pentagon-cancer-secret-hospital-313255a7126a0482a67ec18b7474a8c1">first press conference</a>&nbsp;since he was hospitalized on Jan. 1 due to complications from prostate cancer treatment.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/1/1705112808392.png" alt="View of aircraft launch for the attack Jan. 11 -image U.S. Central Command" />
 <figcaption>View of aircraft launch for the attack Jan. 11 -image U.S. Central Command</figcaption>
 </figure>JERUSALEM (AP) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Thursday it's time to further disable Iran-backed militias that have struck at U.S. forces and ships in the Middle East and the U.S. is preparing to take significant action in response to the deaths of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-jordan-drone-attack-iran-tower-22-israel-hamas-war-0265beed527e3009a966c0531c08838e">three U.S. service members</a>&nbsp;in Jordan.For days the U.S. has hinted strikes are imminent. While the threat of retaliation for Sunday's deaths has driven some militant groups to say they were stopping hostilities, as late as Thursday Yemen’s Houthi rebels were still attacking vessels and fired a ballistic missile at a Liberian-flagged container ship in the Red Sea.“At this point, it’s time to take away even more capability than we’ve taken in the past,” Austin said Thursday in his&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/austin-pentagon-cancer-secret-hospital-313255a7126a0482a67ec18b7474a8c1">first press conference</a>&nbsp;since he was hospitalized on Jan. 1 due to complications from prostate cancer treatment.Previous U.S. strikes have not deterred the attacks. Since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out in October, Iranian-backed militant groups have struck U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria at least 166 times with rockets, missiles and one-way attack drones, drawing about a half-dozen U.S. counterstrikes on militant facilities in both countries. The U.S. military also has carried out airstrikes targeting the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.The U.S. has attributed the attack on Tower 22 in Jordan to the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-backed militias that includes the militant group Kataib Hezbollah.While Iran has denied involvement, Austin said Thursday that “how much Iran knew or didn’t know, we don’t know. But it really doesn’t matter because Iran sponsors these groups.”Austin said “without that facilitation, these kinds of things don’t happen.” He said the Pentagon is still looking at the forensics of the drone that struck Tower 22, a secretive base in northeastern Jordan that’s been crucial to the American presence in neighboring Syria.“I don’t think the adversaries are of a ‘one and done’ mindset. And so they have a lot of capability. I have a lot more,” Austin said. "We’re going to do what’s necessary to protect our troops."In the Red Sea, the Houthis have fired on commercial and military ships almost 40 times since November. In the latest attack, they fired a ballistic missile at a Liberian-flagged container ship on Thursday, U.S. defense officials said.The attack happened west of Hodeida, a port city in Yemen long held by the rebels, said the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, a British military group overseeing Mideast waterways. It said the crew and the vessel were safe and the blast came far off the vessel's starboard side.The U.S. defense officials identified the targeted container ship as the Koi, a Bermuda-owned vessel. Its management could not be immediately reached for comment. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters. The Houthis did not claim responsibility for the assault.The Houthis say they are targeting ships over&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war">Israel’s offensive in Gaza against Hamas</a>. But they have frequently targeted vessels with tenuous or no clear links to Israel, imperiling shipping in a key route for global trade between Asia, the Mideast and Europe.The Houthis hit a commercial vessel with a missile on Jan. 26,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/yemen-houthi-red-sea-israel-hamas-war-attacks-f36fc8911e069a5b4dbc4d9e67f31e50">sparking a fire that burned for hours</a>.The Pentagon has the aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower in the region, along with at least a half dozen other major U.S. warships, U.S. Air Force fighter jets and radar aircraft. It has already been regularly using those assets to conduct strikes and defend ships.