1st woman confirmed as Army secretary
WASHINGTON — Christine Wormuth was confirmed unanimously by the Senate on Thursday to be the first female secretary of the Army.
Wormuth, who led President Joe Biden’s transition team at the Pentagon, got an overwhelmingly warm reception from members of the Senate Armed Services Committee during a hearing this month.
Her confirmation sets her up as one of the more powerful officials in a defense establishment long dominated by men. She is the second woman named to a top Pentagon role by Biden. The deputy secretary of defense is Kathleen Hicks.
During her hearing, many of the senators pressed Wormuth on a range of personnel issues that have plagued the Army, ranging from sexual assault and racial tensions, to strains on a force that has been in combat in war zones for the past two decades.
The Army’s handling of sexual assaults and other violence has come under significant scrutiny in the aftermath of a series of crimes, including slayings and suicides last year at Fort Hood, Texas.
Wormuth told the Senate Armed Services Committee that she was “angry and frustrated” by the failures at Fort Hood, adding that the Army needs to “put quite a bit of focus” on improving the command climate all the way down to the lower levels.
Wormuth has served at the Pentagon on a variety of national security issues, including as the undersecretary of defense for policy and the senior director for defense policy at the National Security Council during the Obama administration.
Armed school worker thwarts kidnapper
OGDEN, Utah — A school employee in Utah held a suspect in an attempted kidnapping at gunpoint until officers arrived, police said.
The incident occurred Tuesday when a man grabbed an 11-year-old girl at a school playground in Ogden. Police said he tried to pull her away until the school employee demanded he leave.
The man let the girl go and the employee took all the children inside, then produced a gun and held the man off when he punched a window in an apparent attempt to force his way inside, police said.
The worker called 911 and the man was arrested on accusations of attempted child kidnapping. Police say the employee has a concealed-weapons permit and possessed the gun lawfully.
Police identified the suspect as 41-year-old Ira Cox-Berry. No attorney was immediately listed for him in court documents.
Ex-astronaut guilty in 2 car-crash deaths
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — A former NASA space shuttle commander indicted on reckless-murders charges in the traffic deaths of two girls pleaded guilty Thursday to reduced charges nearly five years after the crash.
James Halsell Jr., 64, of Huntsville, Ala., pleaded guilty to two manslaughter and two assault charges during a hearing in which relatives of the victims wore shirts emblazoned with images of 11-year-old Niomi Deona James and 13-year-old Jayla La-trick Parler. The two were killed in June 2016 when a car driven by Halsell, who authorities said was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, slammed into one driven by the girls’ father.
While Halsell could have received 20 years for each manslaughter charge and 10 years for each assault charge, a judge sentenced him to four years in prison without early release followed by 10 years of probation. Halsell could be sent back to prison for 16 years if he violates probation after his release, said District Attorney Hays Webb, who opposed the lighter treatment.
The former astronaut, who left NASA in 2006, apologized in court and was taken into custody immediately after the hearing.
Outside court, the girls’ mother, Latrice Parler, criticized the outcome, saying “It wasn’t justice.”
Mask action taken while governor away
BOISE, Idaho — With the governor out of the state, Idaho’s lieutenant governor issued an executive order Thursday banning mask mandates in schools and public buildings, saying that face-covering directives threatened people’s freedom.
Republican Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin is acting governor while Gov. Brad Little is at the Republican Governors Association conference in Nashville, Tenn. He was expected to return Thursday evening.
Last week, McGeachin announced her run for governor, challenging the first-term incumbent. McGeachin is on the far right of the political spectrum in the conservative state, and her order could bolster her support as a candidate for governor.
Little’s office said McGeachin did not make him aware that she planned to issue the executive order. The office didn’t specify what Little would do when he returned.
Little has never issued a statewide mask mandate, but some counties, cities and schools have done so. Many have been lifting the mandates as more residents are vaccinated against covid-19.
About 590,000 of Idaho’s 1.8 million residents have been vaccinated. State officials have reported that the virus has killed more than 2,000 people in the state and sickened some 190,000.