U.S. Navy to commission Littoral Combat Ship Wichita

The U.S. Navy will commission its newest Freedom-variant littoral combat ship (LCS), the future USS Wichita (LCS 13), during a 10 a.m. ceremony Saturday, Jan. 12, at Naval Station Mayport, Fla., near Jacksonville, where the ship will be homeported.

U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas will deliver the commissioning ceremony’s principal address. Kate Lehrer, author and wife of Wichita native Jim Lehrer, the former anchor of “The MacNeil-Lehrer News Hour” on PBS, is the ship’s sponsor. The ceremony will be highlighted by a time-honored Navy tradition when Mrs. Lehrer gives the first order to “man our ship and bring her to life!”

“This commissioning represents USS Wichita’s entry into the active fleet and is a testament to the increased capabilities made possible by a true partnership between the Department of the Navy and our industrial base,” said Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer. “This ship honors the citizens of Wichita, Kansas for their longstanding support of the Navy and Marine Corps team and I am confident USS Wichita and crew will make our Navy and nation stronger.”

West Virginia lawmaker, a retired paratrooper, to resign to focus on run for president

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A retired Army paratrooper and West Virginia lawmaker who formalized his campaign for the presidency on Veterans Day is stepping down from the state Senate.

Democrat Richard Ojeda told news outlets that he’s resigning as of next week because he doesn’t want his seat to sit empty while he’s campaigning for president in 2020. Republican Gov. Jim Justice will choose his replacement.

Let it ride! Navy officer funded high-stakes poker habit with almost $3 million in stolen government cash

“Money won is twice as sweet as money earned,” Paul Newman says in “The Color of Money.”

Unfortunately for one Navy officer based in Virginia Beach, he neither won nor earned the $2.7 million he stole from the government to fund a lavish life of high-stakes poker, flashy cars and a second home — and Fat Leonard wasn’t even involved.

Lt. Randolph Prince, 45, was sentenced to more than four years behind bars for swindling the exorbitant sum by directing his unit’s supply contracts for “inert training aides” to fictitious companies run by his accomplices, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

“It’s a shame that he squandered an otherwise outstanding 27-year Naval career,” Prince’s defense attorney Shawn Cline told the Virginian-Pilot. “He suffered from a terrible gambling addiction and abused a position of trust to fuel that addiction.”

Boeing delivers first KC-46, but fixes to technical problems still years away

First KC-46 accepted by the Air Force | Defense News Minute, Jan. 10, 2019

Get the details on the First KC-46 accepted by the Air Force.

WASHINGTON — After more than a year of delays, the U.S. Air Force took hold of its first KC-46 tanker on Jan. 10, but it will take several years for the service and manufacturer Boeing to reconcile major technical problems, and the company will not be receiving the full amount of money due upon delivery.

The agreement, finalized after months of sometimes public and contentious discussions, allows McConnell Air Force Base in Kansas to receive the KC-46 as early as this month, with more set to follow, said Air Force spokeswoman Capt. Hope Cronin. However, the new tankers will arrive with several outstanding category-1 deficiencies, the term used by the military to describe the most serious level of technical problems.

Facing election deadlines, judges plan to pick a new Virginia delegate map soon

Three federal judges said Thursday they could decide on new districts for Virginia’s House of Delegates in the next one to two months, replacing a current map that was found to be unconstitutional.

Lawyers representing House Republicans spent two hours Thursday questioning the methods used by the man ordered by the federal court to redraw Virginia’s legislative map after lawmakers failed to do so last year.

Representatives for the GOP and Speaker of the House Kirk Cox, R-Colonial Heights, stressed the same issue that led the court to throw out Virginia’s map in the first place: whether race was a predominant factor in the drawing.

125 retired pilots, other rated officers apply to return to Air Force to lend a hand

The Air Force says 125 retired pilots, combat systems officers and air battle managers have applied to return to active duty since May.

The Air Force is trying to bring back officers under the Voluntary Retired Return to Active Duty program to help alleviate serious manning shortages in the pilot and other rated career fields. Last May, the service announced a major expansion of the VRRAD program, and said as many as 1,000 recently retired officers could return.

But far fewer retirees have applied, according to statistics provided by the Air Force. Of the 125 total applicants, 50 are pilots. The Air Force has so far approved 42 applications, and are still processing the others.

New in 2019: No more Marine rotations to the Black Sea, a laser focus on the Arctic

The Corps’ final deployment as part of the Black Sea Rotational Force wrapped up in September as the Marines pulled out of Romania — now the Corps is focusing its attention on the Arctic.

The Corps has been sending a small group of several hundred Marines to the Black Sea region for at least eight years.

The Marines in the region focused on training, advising and carrying out theater security cooperation exercises from Ukraine to Georgia.

But the Corps is now focused on a strategic shift to Europe’s high northern flank in the Arctic tundra.

This summer Norway agree to host a nearly doubled rotation of Marines to the Scandinavian country for extreme cold weather training.

The nearly 700 Marines arrived in Norway as part of Marine Rotational Force-Europe, the Corps’ largest deployment and first expanded rotation to the Arctic country.

Retired 4-star Marine resigns from Middle East envoy in Qatar dispute

A retired Marine four-star general who once headed U.S. Central Command and later served as an envoy to work the Israel-Palestinian conflict has resigned from his current post working on a Qatar dispute.

Retired Gen. Anthony Zinni told CBS News that he realized he could not help to resolve the dispute, “because of the unwillingness of the regional leaders to agree to a viable mediation effort that we offered to conduct or assist in implementing.”

The dispute revolves around accusations that the Qatar government has supported militant groups tied to terrorist attacks in the region.

In June 2017 Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates cut ties with Qatar.

Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson first requested Zinni to serve as a special adviser to the secretary of state on Middle East concerns in 2017.

Both Tillerson and Mattis have since resigned.

Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson, a right-wing Christian and outspoken critic of SOGI, is running in the Burnaby South by-election for Maxime Bernier's People's Party of Canada.

OTTAWA — Maxime Bernier’s rejection of “political correctness” earns him plenty of criticism, but the first person chosen to officially represent his party in an election thinks that’s precisely what could attract “droves” of support.

Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson, the People’s Party of Canada candidate in the upcoming byelection in Burnaby South, is a self-described social conservative who has hosted Christian television shows and is an activist opposed to teaching sexual orientation and gender identity in B.C.’s sex education curriculum. But in an interview Thursday with the National Post, she argued that Bernier giving her a platform to express controversial views with which he doesn’t necessarily agree makes him more “democratic” than other political leaders.

Illegal immigrants from U.S. being granted Canadian visas but officials deny any change in policy

OTTAWA — Elidee Sanchez says her nightmares about her harrowing journey crossing the Mexico-U.S. border finally came to an end the day she arrived — legally — in Canada.

After spending 17 years living in the United States as an undocumented migrant, she was in an almost constant state of anxiety. She had no legal status in a country that has been developing an increasingly hostile view of “illegal” migrants.

But last August, Sanchez drove across the Blue Water Bridge that connects Port Huron, Mich., with Sarnia, Ont. and was granted legal entry into Canada, thanks to a successful application for a Canadian study visa despite her undocumented status.

“That’s the first time I’ve ever had a stamp in my passport,” she exclaimed to the border security officer as she crossed.