U.S. submarine pulls into Guantanamo Bay a day after Russian warships

WASHINGTON>> A U.S. Navy submarine has arrived in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in a show of force as a fleet of Russian warships gathers for planned military exercises in the Caribbean.

U.S. Southern Command said the USS Helena, a nuclear-powered fast attack submarine, pulled into the waters near the U.S. base in Cuba on Thursday, just a day after a Russian frigate, a nuclear-powered submarine, an oil tanker and a rescue tug crossed into Havana Bay after drills in the Atlantic Ocean.

The stop is part of a “routine port visit” as the submarine travels through Southern Command’s region, it said in a social media post.

Other U.S. ships also have been tracking and monitoring the Russian drills, which Pentagon officials say do not represent a threat to the United States.

Report: Unsecured tanker hatch spilled gas in crash, destroying busy bridge

HARRISBURG, Pa.>> Gasoline spilled out from an unsecured hatch on the top of the gasoline delivery tanker that overturned and ignited beneath an Interstate 95 bridge in Philadelphia a year ago, according to new details from federal investigators.

Video evidence obtained by investigators shows the cover to the 16-inch “manhole” was open when driver Nathan Moody arrived at a Wilmington, Del., terminal to refill the tank, and it was still not properly secured when he drove away to deliver it to a convenience store in Philadelphia, about 42 miles away.

The crash killed Moody and disrupted transportation along a vital interstate for weeks.

Audit finds agency’s lax oversight fostered theft from food aid program

MINNEAPOLIS>> A Minnesota agency’s inadequate oversight of a federal program that was meant to provide food to kids, and its failure to act on red flags, created the opportunities that led to the theft of $250 million in one of the country’s largest pandemic aid fraud cases, the Legislature’s watchdog arm said Thursday in a scathing report.

Seventy people have been charged in federal court for their alleged roles in a scheme prosecutors say centered on a nonprofit called Feeding Our Future.

The Minnesota Department of Education “failed to act on warning signs known to the department prior to the onset of the pandemic and prior to the start of the alleged fraud, did not effectively exercise its authority to hold Feeding Our Future accountable to program requirements, and was ill-prepared to respond to the issues it encountered with Feeding Our Future,” the nonpartisan Office of the Legislative Auditor concluded.

23 sets of twins graduate from one middle school

NEEDHAM, Mass.>> Twenty-three sets of twins have graduated from a Massachusetts middle school, making up about 10% of the eighth-grade class.

The identical and fraternal twins graduated from Pollard Middle School on Wednesday.

Another student, who is also a twin, graduated, but her brother attends a different school, said principal Tamatha Bibbo.

It’s “quite unusual,” said Bibbo.

“We typically have anywhere from five to 10 sets at most. Given our numbers, we have approximately 450 to 500 children in each grade so this was extraordinarily high.”

The school gave a special shout-out to the 23 sets of twins during the so-called “moving up” ceremony on Wednesday, she said.

Twins account for approximately 3% of live births in the United States, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

— Denver Post wire services