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Air Force colonel one of 2 men killed when small plane crashed into Alaska lake
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Anchorage, Alaska — An Air Force colonel who was director of operations for the Alaskan Command was one of two men whose bodies were found in a small plane that crashed into a remote lake, the Alaska Department of Public Safety said Thursday.
Alaska Wildlife Troopers and the Alaskan Command identified the men as Col. Mark “Tyson” Sletten, 46, of Anchorage, and Paul Kondrat, 41, of Utah.
They were aboard a small plane on an instructional flight that crashed into Crescent Lake near Moose Pass on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula, authorities said.
Two hikers had notified troopers that they saw a plane crash there Tuesday afternoon.
A public safety department helicopter and U.S. Fish and Wildlife float plane went to the area and found debris on the lake but no signs of survivors in the water or on shore.
A team from the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center that included volunteers from the Alaska Dive, Search, Rescue, and Recovery Team were searching at the lake Thursday, troopers spokesperson Austin McDaniel said in an email. He said the team was using sonar, remotely operated vehicles and trained divers to search areas of interest previously identified in the lake, which is over 200 feet deep in some areas.
The public safety department said later that searchers found the plane in about 193 feet of water in one of the areas of interest identified Wednesday with a remotely operated vehicle (ROV). Divers and an ROV floated the plane and towed it to shore. The bodies were taken to the State Medical Examiner’s Office for autopsy.
The National Transportation Safety Board will try to find out what caused the crash.
The Alaskan Command, located at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, conducts homeland defense missions, civil support and security. It’s part of the U.S. Northern Command.
CBS News
RNC committee approves Trump-influenced 2024 GOP platform with softened abortion language
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The Republican National Committee’s 2024 platform, approved by its platform committee and released Monday, is influenced heavily by presumptive presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump, and in a change from prior years, it backs the rights of states to make their own abortion laws.
The 2016 RNC platform mentioned the word “abortion” 35 times and backed a constitutional amendment to ban abortion: “[W]e assert the sanctity of human life and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental right to life which cannot be infringed,” the RNC’s 2016 platform said. “We support a human life amendment to the Constitution and legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections apply to children before birth.”
The Republican Party did not release a platform in 2020. And the 2024 platform only mentions the word once.
“We proudly stand for families and life,” the 2024 platform says. “We believe that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States guarantees that no person can be denied life or liberty without due process,” but it goes on to say, “the states are, therefore, free to pass laws protecting those rights.”
The platform has been initially approved by the RNC committee, but is expected to go to a full vote Tuesday and be officially approved the first day of the Republican National Convention next week.
It also goes on to express opposition to late-term abortion and support for “policies that advance prenatal care, access to birth control, and IVF (fertility treatments).”
Ralph Reed, founder and chairman of the Faith and Freedom coalition, previously expressed concerns about removing abortion language, but he appeared to fall in line and back the GOP platform as released.
“The Republican Party platform makes clear the unborn child has a right to life that is protected by the Constitution under the due process clause of the 14th Amendment,” Reed said in a statement. “That language has been in the GOP platform for 40 years and reflects the view of Ronald Reagan. While aspirational, it applies to both the states and the federal government. The proposed ban on late-term abortion also implies federal as well as state action. It is an unapologetically pro-life position, and we are grateful to President Trump and the Republican Party for standing for life.”
RNC Chairman Michael Whatley and Co-chair Lara Trump focused on the economy and the border in their statement on the platform.
“Only President Trump can restore our economy, restore our southern border, and restore America’s standing in the world,” the two RNC leaders said in a joint statement. “His 2024 Republican Party Platform is a bold roadmap that will undo the devastating damage that Joe Biden’s far-left policies have done to this country, power President Trump to a historic victory in November, and Make America Great Again.”
The platform is titled, “2024 GOP Platform: Make America Great Again!” It bears clear signs of the former president’s influence, emphasizing enforcing border security and stopping the “migrant crime epidemic.” The platform includes a goal to carry out “the largest deportation operation in American history.”
The platform also proposes building a “great iron dome missile defense shield over our entire country.”
Trump and his campaign have also adopted a new proposal in recent months — eliminating taxes on tips. Trump mentions it frequently at rallies, and it appears in the RNC 2024 platform, along with a promise to end inflation, which has been easing.
The GOP also states in the platform that there will be no cuts to Social Security or Medicare and no changes to the retirement age. It also says that the push for electric vehicles should be canceled and regulations should be cut. And it calls for “same day voting, voter identification, paper ballots, and proof of citizenship” as means to “secure our elections.”
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How Biden is fighting calls to step aside
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Houston mayor provides Beryl flooding update, says 2 million without power
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