Suspected Chinese spies, disguised as tourists, tried to infiltrate Alaskan military bases

usatoday · 2023-05-31T15:07:47+00:00

From USA TODAY's Tom Vanden Brook, reporting from Anchorage:

Chinese citizens posing as tourists but suspected of being spies have made several attempts in recent years to gain access to military facilities in this vast state studded with sensitive bases, according to U.S. officials.

In one incident, a vehicle with Chinese citizens blew past a security checkpoint at Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks, several soldiers told USA TODAY. The vehicle was eventually stopped, and a search found a drone inside the vehicle. The occupants claimed they were tourists who had gotten lost.

Many of the encounters have been chalked up to innocent mistakes by foreign visitors intent on viewing the Northern Lights and other attractions in Alaska, officials say. Other attempts to enter U.S. military bases, however, seem to be probes to learn about U.S. military capabilities in Alaska, according to multiple soldiers familiar with the incidents but who were not authorized to speak publicly about them.

Not everyone who appear to be tourists in Alaska, are, in fact tourists, one Army officer said. Instead, they are foreign spies.

Details about the incidents remain mostly classified. However, military briefings and publicly available information lay out why the Chinese government would be interested in Alaska where some of the Pentagon's most sophisticated military capabilities and high-end war games reside.

usatoday · 2023-05-31T13:49:17+00:00

Hey there, totally hear you. We thought our investigation may be of interest to homeowners who have gas stoves (or know someone who might, or who don't at all but were simply just invested in the controversy) and wondered how this all began in the first place, but maybe we were off-base in that thought! Getting lost now ✌🏼

usatoday · 2023-05-30T15:07:53+00:00

Hey there, thanks for sharing. Here's a bit more from USA TODAY Sports' Christine Brennan. (TW: SA):

More than four years after U.S. Figure Skating was rocked by the suspension and death of John Coughlin, a national champion accused by at least four female skaters of sexual assault, the organization has hired a well-known social media supporter of Coughlin’s for a key role working with its athletes.

Kelsey Parker Gislason, whose Facebook posts praising Coughlin have carried the hashtags #Justiceforjohncoughlin and #TheJohnIknew and in some cases have been visible publicly for more than four years, was recently hired by USFS to be senior manager, high performance development.

The decision to hire Parker Gislason was strongly criticized by the highest-profile skater to come forward with sexual assault allegations against Coughlin: three-time national champion, 2014 Olympic team bronze medalist and 2016 world silver medalist Ashley Wagner.

Wagner, the most successful U.S. female skater of her era, told USA TODAY Sports in a story published Aug. 1, 2019, that Coughlin sexually assaulted her in June 2008 after a party at a national team figure skating camp in Colorado Springs, Colo., when she had just turned 17 and Coughlin was 22.

Wagner was the second elite skater to speak out publicly about Coughlin. Bridget Namiotka, who was Coughlin’s pairs partner from 2004 to 2007, when she was ages 14 to 17 and he was 18 to 21, posted on Facebook on May 19, 2019, that Coughlin “sexually abused” her for two years.

Namiotka’s case was one of the three being investigated by SafeSport when Coughlin was suspended. Wagner’s was not. The other two alleged victims of Coughlin who were reported to SafeSport have never come forward publicly.

In a Jan. 7, 2019 email to USA TODAY Sports, Coughlin called the ongoing investigation “unfounded.”

usatoday · 2023-05-25T19:41:31+00:00

States absolutely can enact laws to protect “waters of the state”. Previously it wasn’t absolutely necessary to do so, as federal laws were deemed sufficient. Now, I suspect some states may very well try to do so (but the successful regulation/enforcement of such is expensive - hence why it was managed at the federal level), while other states will relish to new opportunities they have to destroy them. I’ll leave it open to interpretation as to which states are which.

Hey there! Some environmental advocates today are making exactly that point. On a call today with reporters, Jim Murphy, the director of legal advocacy for the National Wildlife Federation, argued that "states certainly should step up." He said environmental groups are "looking for Congress and states to act to plug some of the gaps that have created by this decision." States have not always had the resources, however, to monitor and police environmental regulations in the same way that the EPA has and does.
-John Fritze, USA TODAY Supreme Court respondent

usatoday · 2023-05-23T17:34:17+00:00

I'm not sure all the coaches in my area would have passed.

We're curious why you think "I'm not sure all the coaches in my area would have passed." Is there something really important missing from the training? Or is it what the training requires would eliminate a lot of candidates? And what is considered passing for the training?

usatoday · 2023-05-23T17:30:43+00:00

SafeSports CEO told USA TODAY Sports that it has 117 staffers, and 60 percent are involved in the response and resolution process.

usatoday · 2023-05-22T14:06:55+00:00

More from USA TODAY reporter John Fritze:

The Supreme Court declined Monday to hear an appeal challenging California's 11-year-old ban on foie gras, rejecting the argument raised by duck and geese farmers that the prohibition flouted federal law.

The denial, made without comment from the court, leaves in place a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit that upheld the ban. It was the third time farmers had brought their challenge to the Supreme Court.

Foie gras bans have struggled in other parts of the country. Chicago banned its sale in 2006, only to repeal the provision two years later. New York City approved a ban in 2019, though it has been caught up in courts ever since and is not currently in effect. Animal welfare advocates say other jurisdictions are likely paying attention to what happens with the court cases in New York and California.

usatoday · 2023-05-16T19:53:25+00:00

Detroit, Houston and San Antonio each have the best odds to land him at 14%. Doesn't guarantee any of those three will win it.

But wouldn’t it be something if the Spurs landed Wembanyama and accelerated their rebuild with another potential generational star, like they did with Tim Duncan in 1997.

usatoday · 2023-05-05T18:42:32+00:00

Is that the best thing on the menu, considering the price tag?

usatoday · 2023-04-27T14:11:27+00:00

You're telling me. 😅

usatoday · 2023-04-25T10:12:20+00:00

From USA TODAY's Joey Garrison and Michael Collins:

President Joe Biden announced his 2024 reelection campaign in a video released Tuesday morning, telling Americans "let's finish this job" as he seeks a second term in the White House.

Biden, making official a campaign that has long been expected, said the country remains in a "battle for the soul of America," doubling down on the central message of his campaign four years ago. He said the question facing the nation is "whether, in the years ahead, we have more freedom or less freedom, more rights or fewer."

"This is not a time to be complacent," Biden said in the three-minute video. "That's why I'm running for reelection. Because I know America. I know we're good and decent people. I know we're still a country that believes in honesty and respect and treating each other with dignity."

usatoday · 2023-04-24T13:20:47+00:00

From Brandi D. Addison, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal (USA TODAY Network):

Authorities are baffled by a recent mystery that has occurred among cattle herds along the same Texas highway: Several dead cows, with select body parts missing.

After the unexpected death of a cow in Madison County – near College Station and about 100 miles north of Houston – the local sheriff's office has confirmed that an investigation is underway to determine what's behind a series of similar cow deaths along Texas State Highway OSR.

According to a release from the sheriff's office, the 6-year-old cow was found dead, lying on its side and missing its tongue.

"A straight, clean cut, with apparent precision, had been made to remove the hide around the cow’s mouth on one side, leaving the meat under the removed hide untouched," the news release stated. "The tongue was also completely removed from the body with no blood spill.”

Law enforcement further stated there were no signs of struggle or tracks, adding that the grass surrounding the deceased animal was "undisturbed." Ranchers had also reported to officials that the cow was left to decay, for several weeks, with no interest from predators or birds to scavenge its remains.

usatoday · 2023-04-19T13:05:53+00:00

Who needs to step up with Green out for game 3?

usatoday · 2023-04-19T11:35:20+00:00

From USA TODAY’s William Morris

Nearly 18 months after a pair of Fairfield, Iowa teens bludgeoned a Spanish teacher to death with a baseball bat after a dispute over a bad grade ― a brutal tragedy that shook the southeast Iowa city and people across the state ― they pleaded guilty to first-degree murder Tuesday.

Willard Miller and Jeremy Goodale were both 16 when they were charged with the Nov. 3, 2021 slaying of Fairfield High School teacher Nohema Graber, whose body was discovered in a city park, hidden under a tarp, wheelbarrow and railroad ties.

Prosecutors will recommend that Miller, now 17, receive life in prison with eligibility for parole after 30 years, and that Goodale, now 18, be eligible for parole after 25 years.

Prosecutors said the teens ambushed Graber when she went for her daily afternoon walk, after Miller met with her to discuss his grade. Witnesses saw her van leaving the park less than an hour later with two males in the front seat; it was later found abandoned. Goodale and Miller were initially detained after a witness provided police with photos of a Snapchat conversation in which Goodale allegedly implicated himself and Miller in the killing.

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