Green Beret dies in Afghanistan combat
FORT BRAGG, N.C. -- A 41-year-old Green Beret who was on his fourth combat deployment has been killed by small arms fire in Afghanistan.
U.S. Army Special Operations Command spokesman Loren Bymer at North Carolina's Fort Bragg said in a statement that Sgt. 1st Class Jeremy W. Griffin died Monday.
Griffin was from Greenbrier, Tenn., and was a Special Forces communications sergeant based at Joint Base Lewis-McCord in Washington state.
Bymer said Griffin was engaged in combat operations in Afghanistan's Wardak province.
Col. Owen G. Ray, commander of the 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne), said Griffin was a "warrior" and a "respected and loved Special Forces soldier."
Griffin joined the Army in 2004. He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal and Purple Heart.
He is the 17th American service member to die this year in Afghanistan.
Vaping-related illness kills Californian
Health officials in California confirmed that another patient has died of a vaping-related illness -- at least the seventh reported death associated with a national outbreak of serious lung disease related to vaping or using e-cigarettes.
The unnamed Tulare County man died of "complications related to the use of e-cigarettes," according to the county Health and Human Services Agency. The 40-year-old had been in the hospital for "several weeks" before his death, said department spokesman Jan Winslow. He had a history of vaping, though Winslow said officials were still investigating what products he used.
Though his death certificate will state that he died because of vaping, Winslow said the man also had "some complicating illnesses" that she could not disclose.
Garret Vanni, a family member, said the man died Saturday. The man had been using nicotine e-cigarettes and THC vape products, said Vanni. Contrary to what the health department spokesman said, the man became ill only two days before he died, Vanni said. He drove himself to the hospital.
The California case came a week after the death of a Kansas resident, which was believed to be the sixth such death nationwide. Health officials in Indiana, Illinois, Oregon and Minnesota have also reported fatalities from sudden-onset illnesses that officials linked to vaping.
At least 380 cases of lung illness have been reported, according to the last available tally from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. All reported cases had a history of using vape pens, and most of them had reported a history of using e-cigarette products containing THC.
U.S. sues Snowden over memoir release
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. government filed a lawsuit Tuesday against former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, alleging that he violated nondisclosure agreements by publishing a memoir without giving the government an opportunity to review it first.
The Justice Department is seeking to "recover all proceeds" from Snowden's book, which was released Tuesday.
Snowden published his book, Permanent Record, without submitting it for a pre-publication review, in violation of non-disclosure agreements he signed with the NSA and the Central Intelligence Agency, the Justice Department alleges.
In his memoir, Snowden tells his life story in detail for the first time and explains why he chose to risk his freedom to reveal secret details about the government's mass collection of emails, phone calls and Internet activity in the name of national security.
Snowden was charged under the U.S. Espionage Act. He now lives in Russia in order to avoid arrest.
The Justice Department is not attempting to limit the book's distribution. The book's publisher was also named in the lawsuit to ensure that no funds are transferred to Snowden while the case plays out, the Justice Department said.
Snowden's attorney, Ben Wizner, of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the book does not contain any secrets that haven't previously been reported by news outlets.
18th GOP incumbent says count him out
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- A Republican congressman in California said Tuesday that he won't run for re-election next year, making him the 18th GOP incumbent to bow out of the U.S. House of Representatives now that the party is in the minority.
U.S. Rep. Paul Cook announced that he will instead run for a seat on the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors in 2020.
California has 53 U.S. House seats, the most of any state. While the state's Republicans held on to seven congressional seats during the 2018 midterms, Cook's seat in the 8th Congressional District east of Los Angeles likely would have been safe had he wanted it. President Donald Trump won more than 54% of the vote in the district in 2016.
In a news release, Cook hinted at frustrations with the bureaucracy in Washington.
"As a supervisor, I'll work to carry out the will of my constituents, while fighting the bureaucracies in Sacramento and Washington, D.C., that seek to overrun rural communities like ours," Cook said.
A Section on 09/18/2019