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Articles Posted by Cailleach

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  • The Amira Chronicles (Introduction)

    10/07/2013 7:20:32 AM PDT · by Cailleach · 3 replies
    Discover Magazine ^ | October 4, 2013 2:41 pm | Keith Kloor
    A story that I have been working on for some time is being published this Sunday in the Washington Post magazine. “The Princess of Somalia” is a long feature with a great photo spread. If you live in the Beltway area, be sure to have a look. The piece, which is unlike anything I have ever done, has been posted online today. I’ve been following this story since 2009, which is when I first met Michele Ballarin, who presented herself as someone who could tame Somali pirates and warlords and rebuild a broken country. She seemed to have the ear...
  • Possible Mountain Lion Sighting in D.C.

    10/28/2011 1:59:05 PM PDT · by Cailleach · 29 replies
    NBC 4 Washington ^ | 10/28/2011 9:08 AM | MICHELLE TETU
    Some believe a mountain lion may be lurking in northwest Washington. One neighbor described the creature as larger and wider than a deer, with the long tail of a cat.  Another woman said she was walking her dog in McLean Gardens at the edge of Glover Park when she spotted the large cat last week.  The cat, which she believes is a mountain lion, ran off into some nearby woods.
  • Police: 200 show for Westboro counter-protest at Woodbridge High School

    11/15/2010 5:35:38 AM PST · by Cailleach · 32 replies · 1+ views
    The News and Messenger ^ | Nov 15, 2010 | staff
    LAKE RIDGE, Va. -- Members of the radical group Westboro Baptist Church picketed at Woodbridge High School this morning, but they were outnumbered. Prince William police say five people from the extremist Kansas-based group showed up for the 7 a.m. protest. At least 200 counter-protesters were there, too. The counter-protesters carried signs bearing positives messages and sung "God Bless America."
  • Prince William County land seized in Iran investigation

    11/13/2009 3:27:51 PM PST · by Cailleach · 5 replies · 380+ views
    the News and Messenger ^ | November 13, 2009
    NEW YORK (AP) — In what could be one of the biggest counterterrorism seizures in U.S. history, federal prosecutors sought to take over four U.S. mosques, a New York City skyscraper and 100 acres in Prince William County owned by a Muslim organization suspected of being controlled by the Iranian government. Prosecutors on Thursday filed a civil complaint in federal court against the Alavi Foundation, seeking the forfeiture of more than $500 million in assets.
  • EDITORIAL: Leave Obama’s Hawaiian birth alone

    08/13/2009 4:47:13 AM PDT · by Cailleach · 22 replies · 1,095+ views
    The News and Messenger ^ | August 13, 2009
    here are many things one can criticize about President Barack Obama, but his status as a natural-born U.S. citizen should not be one. The focus of some on the question of Obama’s legitimacy as president because of his place of birth is a silly distraction. That would be different if there were a shred of truth to it, but there’s not, and it’s been pretty definitively shown. Let us count the ways: • A copy of his Hawaiian birth certificate has been released. • Birth announcements appeared in Hawaiian newspapers in 1941. • A Kenyan birth certificate for Obama was...
  • Fly high free bird

    07/27/2009 5:30:30 AM PDT · by Cailleach · 10 replies · 205+ views
    The News and Messenger ^ | July 26, 2009 | Kipp Hanley
    What was cool about seeing a baby bald eagle up close and personal? "Everything," said 8-year-old Warrenton resident Will Jenkins. Will and his family were just a few of the several hundred people who witnessed bald eagle history Saturday. On a hot and steamy summer afternoon, the Wildlife Center of Virginia released a trio of the young but fully grown raptors at the Mason Neck State Park visitors center in Lorton. Saturday's featured birds were rescued in various areas of Virginia and were rehabbing at the Waynesboro-based Wildlife Center before coming to Mason Neck this weekend. It was the first...
  • Urine, Fingernail-Filled 'Witch Bottle' Found

    06/04/2009 7:37:24 AM PDT · by Cailleach · 21 replies · 1,240+ views
    Discovery News ^ | June 4, 2009 | Jennifer Viegas
    During the 17th century in England, someone urinated in a jar, added nail clippings, hair and pins, and buried it upside-down in Greenwich, where it was recently unearthed and identified by scientists as being the world's most complete known "witch bottle." This spell device, often meant to attract and trap negative energy, was particularly common from the 16th to the 17th centuries, so the discovery provides a unique insight into witchcraft beliefs of that period, according to a report published in the latest British Archaeology.
  • Online Video Games and simulated political violence(my first and probably only vanity)

    04/27/2009 1:19:09 PM PDT · by Cailleach · 14 replies · 533+ views
    me
    I know, the first thing y'all will say is "don't waste your time with online video games, only ____'s (fill in various blanks) play them." OK. I am a 30 yr old female, and yes! I am a gamer! Was that step one? LOL I play City of Heroes with my husband, and some other friends (all adults with lives, jobs and children). The game has a new program where people can make up missions, with entirely made up enemies, allies, etc. I stumbled upon the following a few days ago: "I, president Barack Obama, give you the order to...
  • 303rd Military Intelligence Battalion to be recognized at Texas Rangers game

    07/30/2008 6:16:57 AM PDT · by Cailleach · 21 replies · 63+ views
    The Killeen Daily Herald ^ | Wednesday, July 30, 2008, 5:57 AM
    FORT HOOD – The 303rd Military Intelligence Battalion will be recognized at the Texas Rangers' baseball game on Thursday. About 100 soldiers from the unit will be on hand to receive acknowledgment from the Texas Rangers baseball team and fans in their 49,115-seat capacity ballpark for their service to the country and efforts in the war against terrorism. An in-game recognition ceremony will spotlight the uniformed soldiers halfway through the game's fourth inning.
  • More than 150 Fort Hood soldiers return from Iraq

    11/05/2007 8:13:45 AM PST · by Cailleach · 11 replies · 509+ views
    Killeen Daily Herald ^ | Monday, November 05, 2007 | Amanda Kim Stairrett
    FORT HOOD – Sondra Huston just wants to cook breakfast and have her whole family sitting at the table. One person hasn't been there for the past year – her husband, Staff Sgt. Patrick Huston. Patrick deployed to Iraq for the first time in his military career and returned to Fort Hood late Saturday night with more than 150 other soldiers from the 36th Engineer Brigade's 20th Engineer Battalion and III Corps' 3rd Signal Brigade. Families and friends waited in the 13th Sustainment Command's gymnasium that night for the soldiers to return. Among them were Sondra, 9-year-old Katie, 7-year-old Kassie,...
  • Back in the U.S.A.

    11/02/2007 8:28:01 AM PDT · by Cailleach · 12 replies · 212+ views
    Killeen Daily Herald ^ | Friday, November 02, 2007 | Amanda Kim Stairrett
    FORT HOOD – They are brothers – twins actually. Same rank. Same company. Same deployment. Same future assignment. It was a "blessing" that Staff Sgts. Baron and Braulio Fulp both ended up in the 89th Military Police Brigade's Headquarters and Headquarters Company, Baron said soon after they returned Thursday from a 15-month deployment to Iraq. More than 100 soldiers of the brigade's Headquarters and Headquarters Company returned to Fort Hood on Thursday. They were joined by about 15 from the 13th Sustainment Command's 4th Sustainment Brigade. Soldiers from the military police brigade's Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 720th Military Police Battalion...
  • Intelligence, engineer units return to Fort Hood

    11/01/2007 1:29:31 PM PDT · by Cailleach · 12 replies · 143+ views
    Killeen Daily Herald ^ | Thursday, November 01, 2007 | Amanda Kim Stairrett
    WEST FORT HOOD – Capt. Manuel R. Ramirez loves Halloween. It was only fitting that the company commander returned to Fort Hood from a 15-month deployment to Iraq on Oct. 31. He missed last Halloween, but Ramirez got home just in time to celebrate with his family: wife, Helen; 5-year-old son, Gabriel; and 18-month-old daughter, Aurora. Ramirez is commander of the 504th Military Intelligence Brigade's Headquarters Support Company, 303rd Military Intelligence Battalion. Ramirez was one of more than 400 soldiers from the 504th Military Intelligence Brigade and 20th Engineer Battalion who returned to Central Texas. Half arrived late in the...
  • Military Captain Battles Bathroom Stink

    08/07/2007 10:06:21 AM PDT · by Cailleach · 17 replies · 894+ views
    Herald Tribune ^ | Monday, August 06, 2007 | AP
    War stinks, apparently even behind the lines. That's the gist of a military e-mail concerning restroom problems at U.S. Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base uncovered by the Tampa Tribune. The bottom line: A small restroom facility near the command's Joint Intelligence Center doesn't have adequate ventilation, resulting in - as Navy Capt. Samuel J. Cox put it - "malodorous working conditions." Cox posted written orders directing workers to take their serious bathroom business to more capable facilities unless it was an emergency. When the signs were removed, Cox pointed out in a lighthearted e-mail that ignoring the directive...
  • DPS responds to fake licenses

    08/05/2007 6:40:33 AM PDT · by Cailleach · 11 replies · 751+ views
    Killeen Daily Herald ^ | Sunday, August 05, 2007 | The Associated Press
    DALLAS – After about 400 foreign nationals – most of them Middle Eastern, half living illegally in the United States – took advantage of a loophole in Texas driver's license requirements from 2003 to 2005. It took the Texas Department of Public Safety more than a year to cancel the licenses, a newspaper reports. The agency says that because of questions as to whether the department had the right to invalidate the licenses and an e-mail miscommunication, it wasn't until May of this year that the licenses were canceled. Since the abuse, DPS has changed its driver's license requirements. "The...
  • Katrina refugees returning to New Orleans

    07/28/2007 6:20:29 AM PDT · by Cailleach · 35 replies · 1,295+ views
    Killeen Daily Herald ^ | Saturday, July 28, 2007 | Desiree Johnson
    Two years after Hurricane Katrina blew through Louisiana, demolishing homes and displacing families, people are finally starting to make their way back home. When the Guidry family first arrived in Killeen, they came with literally nothing. "When you have no support, a situation can seem worse than it actually is," said Karen Guidry. "We were travelling from Louisiana with literally nothing, but when we hit the Texas border, there were people at a rest stop with sandwiches, toiletries, everything you could think of. Everywhere we went there were people helping, and it was truly amazing to have someone open up...
  • Fort Hood soldier missing

    06/11/2007 2:17:39 PM PDT · by Cailleach · 10 replies · 1,043+ views
    Killeen Daily Herald ^ | Monday, June 11, 2007 | Justin Cox
    An unprecedented search and rescue effort continued through the weekend on Fort Hood in an effort to locate a soldier who went missing Friday. While engaging in a solo navigational mission on a remote section of Fort Hood Friday afternoon, Sgt. Lawrence G. Sprader, 24, lost contact with his command unit. His last contact came at 5 p.m. Friday, indicating he had veered from his designated coordinates. A massive coordinated effort to find the missing soldier has been underway as more than 600 soldiers, more than a dozen ATVs; multiple helicopters, both military and Texas Department of Public Safety, tactical...
  • Area homes damaged; residents left stranded

    05/26/2007 7:54:42 AM PDT · by Cailleach · 12 replies · 402+ views
    Killeen Daily Herald ^ | Saturday, May 26, 2007 | Justin Cox
    The sizable rainstorm that hit Central Texas on Thursday did far more damage than its predecessor did earlier in the week, leaving dozens of homes damaged in its wake. With the ground still saturated by Tuesday's rainfall, the clouds that burst over Central Texas on Thursday brought flooding almost immediately. The continuing downpour, leading to five weather-related deaths, took more lives than any storm to hit the Killeen area in recent memory. The water did not discriminate with its victims, taking the lives of both young and old. Meteorologist Jennifer Dunn, with the National Weather Service in Fort Worth, said...
  • Water Damaged (slide show of pictures from Killeen/Ft Hood, TX area)

    05/25/2007 5:32:38 PM PDT · by Cailleach · 3 replies · 666+ views
    Killeen Daily Herald ^ | May 25, 2007
    Click on link "Water Damaged Click to view images from Thursday and Friday's weather" on top of page to see the slide show.
  • Joint patrol assisted in bomb search by locals

    02/10/2007 1:23:47 PM PST · by Cailleach · 1 replies · 311+ views
    Fort Hood Sentinel ^ | Spc. Alexis Harrison, 2nd BCT, 1st Cav. Div. PAO
    BAGHDAD – Roadside bombs wound and kill American Soldiers, Iraqi troops and policemen and innocent civilians caught in the ongoing struggle of coalition troops against anti-Iraqi forces on the streets of the Iraqi capital. During a joint patrol through one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the Al Doura district, Soldiers from Company B, 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, attached to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, caught a man planting one of the deadly devices Jan. 25. Staff Sgt. Drew Preston was in the lead vehicle of the convoy. He was busy scanning his path into the...
  • Pilot to get Medal of Honor for Vietnam actions

    02/10/2007 6:28:36 AM PST · by Cailleach · 59 replies · 1,091+ views
    Stars and Stripes ^ | February 10, 2007 | Leo Shane III
    WASHINGTON — A Vietnam veteran who flew his unarmed helicopter into heavy combat to drop supplies and evacuate wounded troops will be honored with the Medal of Honor later this month, White House officials announced Friday. Bruce Crandall, an Army helicopter pilot, will receive the nation’s highest military honor for wartime valor from President Bush during a Feb. 26 ceremony. The award is for his actions in November 1965, when the then-major served with the Company A 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion. According to military records, Crandall and then-Capt. Ed Freeman volunteered to fly UH-1 Hueys into battle in the Ia...