On This Day, Feb. 20: Roger Stone sentenced to 40 months in prison
In 1816, The Barber of Seville by Gioachino Rossini opened in Rome.
In 1872, the Metropolitan Museum of Art opened in New York City.
In 1938, Anthony Eden resigned as Britain's foreign secretary to protest the "appeasement" policy of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain toward Nazi Germany.
In 1939, tens of thousands of Nazi supporters gathered for a rally at New York City's Madison Square Garden to celebrate the rise of Adolf Hitler.
In 1947, British Prime Minister Clement R. Attlee told the House of Commons that it was the government's "definite intention to take necessary steps to effect the transfer of power to responsible Indian hands by a date not later than June 1948."
In 1947, a portion of the Iraq Petroleum Co.'s pipeline, which carries oil from the rich fields in the Euphrates Valley to the Mediterranean at Jaffa, was blown up at two places in North Palestine in a new outburst of underground violence.
In 1962, astronaut John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth. He landed safely after three orbits in a Mercury spacecraft. The previous year, Russian Yuri Gagarin was the first person to orbit Earth.
In 1991, U.S. troops penetrated Iraq, capturing up to 500 Iraqi soldiers.
In 1998, Tara Lipinski, 15, of the United States became the youngest winner of a ladies Olympic gold medal in figure skating.
In 2003, fire broke out during a rock concert at a West Warwick, R.I., nightclub, killing 100 people.
In 2008, a missile interceptor launched from a U.S. Navy ship knocked down a dying satellite 130 miles over the Pacific Ocean. Officials said the satellite contained 1,000 pounds of frozen toxic fuel.
In 2010, a minaret and part of the roof fell into a historic 18th-century mosque during services, killing at least 38 people and injuring 71 more in the ancient city of Meknes, Morocco.
In 2020, a federal judge sentenced Republican strategist and former Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone to 40 months in prison for his conviction on seven criminal counts stemming from the Justice Department's Russia investigation. Then-President Donald Trump granted Stone a full pardon in December 2020.
In 2023, two large earthquakes struck southern Turkey in Hatay province two weeks after a large temblor struck the area, killing some 60,000 people.
In 2024, an Utah court sentenced parenting blogger Ruby Franke to four consecutive terms of one to 15 years in prison on child abuse charges. Two of the former YouTuber's children had been found in a malnourished state in her business partner Jodi Hildebrandt's home.
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The Hill
19 minutes ago
- The Hill
Most education reformers have no idea what parents and kids want — and they don't care
Most education reformers — especially those interested in low-income communities — rightly focus on the needs and interests of students, whether they are discussing short-term outcomes like standardized testing results, or longer term results like rates of college acceptance and graduation. But the most important question they should be asking is: What do the parents in these communities want for their children? What do their extended family, mentors and pastors want? Unfortunately, even the best-intentioned reformers rarely entertain this question. Parents are the most important stakeholders in matters of education after the children themselves, yet reformers' ideological and emotional interests consistently take precedence over those of the parents and the local community. All too often, the education of poor or marginalized children gets lost in ideological battles between groups of elites who are completely removed from the communities they purport to defend. Elitist social justice initiatives — such as tossing out commonsense academic and behavioral standards because of supposed racial justice concerns — are a prime example of this 'soft bigotry of low expectations.' Is it acceptable to lower standards for certain children even if their parents want them to be held to a higher standard? Respect and consideration of parental priorities is one of the major reasons that indigenous, community-oriented and community-generated educational projects produce objectively excellent and even superior outcomes to top-down interventions from reformers outside the community. Take the Rosenwald schools: Booker T. Washington of the Tuskegee Institute and Julius Rosenwald, then-president of Sears Roebuck, joined to create one of the most remarkable educational successes of American history — yet remarkably few people know that they ever existed. Noting the dire lack of funding for education of Black children in the Jim Crow-era South, the Rosenwald Fund contributed $4.3 million — matched and exceeded by $4.7 million raised by Black communities themselves — to build over 5,000 schools, shops and associated homes across the segregated South. The Rosenwald schools were both very successful and indigenous projects: The seed money empowered local men, women and children to narrow the racial literacy gap in the Jim Crow-era American South by a stunning 40 percent. Within a generation, a three-year racial education gap shrank to well under a year. These highly localized, community-driven projects succeeded in the face of widespread, bitter discrimination. A modern-day example of indigenously led excellence can be seen in the Piney Woods School, a challenging preparatory school serving underprivileged children that was founded by Laurence Clifton Jones in 1909. Piney Woods serves a student body that wouldn't otherwise have access to a high-quality education, and relies largely on the generosity of donors to fund the scholarships for many of those who attend. But these kids, and their families, don't want a handout. They don't want low expectations. They want a challenge. And a challenge is what they receive. The school emphasizes self-responsibility, self-government and empowerment from within the communities and families it serves rather than from outside or 'above' them. Every student commits to working an on-campus job — in fact, the bulk of the campus buildings were built by students themselves. And their families donate or contribute to the school. They aren't looking to be accommodated or coddled. They don't want to be excused, and never have — even in the face of clear racism. There is a cautionary tale of reform, however, and it is the charter school movement. Charter schools are an increasingly common and often promising mode of educational reform, but they often flounder on the simple fact that reformers eventually rely on politics, rather than community interests, to guide their decisions. Former inner-city public school teacher Robert Pondiscio, in his recent review of Steve Wilson's book 'The Lost Decade,' briefly recounts the rise and fall of the 'no excuses' charter school model. In its ascendant years, the model allowed urban and underprivileged students to excel beyond anyone's expectations. But then it failed, catastrophically, under the growing weight of social justice culture. The schools that offered an irreplaceable chance at academic excellence — and long-term professional success — to Black students all over the country were sabotaged by the anxieties of political elites locked in pointless ideological battles over 'whiteness.' White guilt became more important than Black excellence. These charter schools abandoned the 'no excuses' standards that had helped lift students up from disadvantaged backgrounds as outdated or racist, replacing them with 'equity' initiatives that are leading today to low scores and low achievement. But no one asked the community leaders, who stand to gain or lose the most, if they were on board with these changes. Parents are stakeholders. Children are stakeholders. Siblings, aunts and uncles, mentors, pastors — anyone invested in these kids' lives are stakeholders. And that is the only real safeguard that communities have here: direct participation in and influence over the well-being of the children. If we want to build a more just society, we can and should begin by abandoning the top-down, ideologically-motivated model of educational reform. We must stop letting the elites destroy the strongest chance our most vulnerable children have at improving their station in life. Indigenous projects are the very best of our past — and they will be the very best of our future. Bob Woodson is the founder and president of the Woodson Center, and editor of the book ' A Pathway to American Renewal: Red, White, and Black Vol II. ' Will Crossley is the executive vice president of the Woodson Center and president of the Piney Woods School.
Miami Herald
19 minutes ago
- Miami Herald
Miami judge becomes first confirmed U.S. attorney during Trump's second term
President Donald Trump's first confirmed nominee for U.S. Attorney is a Miami-Dade judge whose professional background includes poor job evaluations in the office he will now lead. On Saturday, Judge Jason A. Reding Quiñones secured a 49-44 cloture vote in the U.S. Senate. He will now head the U.S. Attorney's Office in South Florida, replacing interim U.S. Attorney Hayden O'Byrne. READ MORE: Trump picks U.S. attorney in Miami. As criminal prosecutor, he received poor evaluations Trump posted on his social media platform, Truth Social, 'Very proud of our great Republican Senators for fighting, over the Weekend and far beyond, if necessary, in order to get my great Appointments approved, and on their way to helping us MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!' The Miami Herald could not reach Reding Quiñones for comment. Reding Quiñones, formerly a federal prosecutor in the Miami office, was appointed as a Miami-Dade County judge a year ago by Gov. Ron DeSantis and is a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Reserve. After graduating from Florida International University's law school in 2008, he began his career practicing corporate law before transitioning to a military lawyer for the U.S. Air Force and then joining the Justice Department. Soon after, he joined the U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami as a prosecutor in the major crimes section, where he would receive poor evaluations from supervisors relating to incompetence; however, Reding Quiñones filed a discrimination complaint claiming he was being targeted because of his race. He would later drop that complaint and continue on in the Miami office's civil division, where he recieved satisfactory job evaluations. Despite this history, University of Richmond Law Professor Carl Tobias said it likely wouldn't have a big impact on his confirmation by the Senate. The Senate Judiciary Committe process for evaluating U.S Attorney nominees is 'not very rigorous,' Tobias said. That's because, he said, the panel doesn't have the resources to conduct hearings and instead relies on staff analysis and recommendations. 'Practically all nominees receive no discussion and voice votes, unless staff detects red flags,' he said. Tobias believes confirmations have grown increasingly politicized, but in a rare occurrence, Reding Quiñones received a 12-9 committee party line vote before the process continued to the Senate where he would be confirmed. The confirmation is not only a victory for the president, but also a much-needed move for the Miami office, which has remained one of the busiest in the country despite growing struggles. Since the resignation of former U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe, the first Black lawyer to hold the position in South Florida, earlier this year, the office has lost a half a dozen senior career prosecutors. READ MORE: Miami U.S. Attorney, first Haitian-American in post, to resign before Trump takes office 'The [South Florida office] does critical law enforcement work and its several hundred attorneys function more smoothly when the office has a permanent, Senate-confirmed leader, who cooperates effectively with the Justice Department and other US Attorneys,' Tobias said. While the U.S. Attorney position may now be filled, other seats in South Florida and the rest of the state have not made it through Senate confirmation hearings yet. The Senate failed to confirm one Trump federal judge nominee who would preside in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida and three nominees for the Middle District. Tobias noted that these are emergency vacancies, as both districts have substantial caseloads that are reaching or already surpassing protracted lengths without resolution. The Senate is now in recess, which means any appointments will have to wait until September when it resumes session. 'The diligent, overloaded Southern and Middle District judges and the people of Florida must wait for relief,' Tobias said.
Newsweek
20 minutes ago
- Newsweek
Boeing Strike Begins Monday After Negotiations Fail
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. More than 3,200 Boeing defense workers are set to begin striking Monday, August 4, after overwhelmingly rejecting a contract proposal that included a 20 percent wage increase over four years. Newsweek reached out to International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) District 837 via email on Sunday for comment. Why It Matters This latest action represents the first strike in nearly three decades at Boeing's St. Louis-area defense factories, with the union's last work stoppage occurring in 1996 and lasting 99 days, according to Bloomberg. The strike also adds to Boeing's mounting challenges amid ongoing safety concerns and production issues that have severely damaged the company's reputation. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy stated in March that Boeing had lost the trust of the American people following a mid-air panel blowout on an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9, two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people, and a recent Boeing 787 Dreamliner crash in India that killed 260 people. The work stoppage will directly impact production of the F-47 fighter jet, part of the Next Generation Air Dominance program designed to replace the F-22 Raptor. Boeing won this critical contract earlier this year, with the company expanding its St. Louis manufacturing facilities to accommodate the sixth-generation fighter program. What To Know Members of the IAM District 837 voted down Boeing's offer on Sunday, August 3, following the expiration of their current contract at 11:59 p.m. CT, according to a press release from the union. This latest vote follows members' rejection of Boeing's earlier proposal on Sunday, July 27. The impending walkout will affect three facilities in St. Louis, St. Charles, Missouri, and Mascoutah, Illinois, where workers assemble critical military aircraft, including F-15 fighters, F/A-18 Super Hornets, and components for the advanced F-47 fighter jet program. Despite union leaders initially recommending approval of what they called a "landmark" agreement, District 837 members rejected Boeing's offer. The proposal included the 20 percent wage increase, improved medical benefits, enhanced pension provisions, and better overtime benefits. Boeing characterized this as "the richest contract offer we've ever presented to IAM 837 which addressed all their stated priorities." The Boeing Air Dominance division produces several military aircraft, including the U.S. Navy's Super Hornet and the Air Force's Red Hawk training aircraft. A strike late last year by machinists' union members put a heavy toll on the company, compounding existing production issues and stalling manufacturing of key aircraft including the 737 MAX, 767, and 777 models. The union implemented a seven-day "cooling off" period following the contract's expiration, delaying strike action until August 4. This procedural step is standard in labor negotiations to provide additional time for potential last-minute agreements. What People Are Saying Boeing Air Dominance Vice President Dan Gillian said in a statement: "We're disappointed that Boeing employees voted down the richest contract offer we've ever presented to IAM 837 which addressed all their stated priorities. We've activated our contingency plan and are focused on preparing for a strike. No talks are scheduled with the union." IAM District 837 Directing Business Representative Tom Boelling said in a statement: "IAM District 837 members have spoken loud and clear, they deserve a contract that reflects their skill, dedication, and the critical role they play in our nation's defense." IAM International President Brian Bryant said in a statement: "Our union is built on democracy, and our members have every right to demand a contract worthy of their contributions. We will be there on the picket lines, ensuring Boeing hears the collective power of working people." IAM Resident General Vice President Jody Bennett said in a statement: "Solidarity is our strength. This vote shows that when workers stand together, they can push back against corporate greed and fight for a better future for themselves and their families. We are proud to back our members every step of the way." IAM Midwest Territory General Vice President Sam Cicinelli said in a statement: "IAM District 837 members build the aircraft and defense systems that keep our country safe. They deserve nothing less than a contract that keeps their families secure and recognizes their unmatched expertise." Pro-union stickers are pictured on a pole outside the Boeing Renton Production Facility one day before striking union members will vote on a new contract offer in Renton, Washington on November 3, 2024. Pro-union stickers are pictured on a pole outside the Boeing Renton Production Facility one day before striking union members will vote on a new contract offer in Renton, Washington on November 3, 2024. JASON REDMOND/AFP via Getty Images What Happens Next? Boeing has activated contingency plans and stated no additional talks are scheduled with the union. The company faces pressure to resolve the dispute quickly to avoid delays in critical defense programs, particularly the F-47 production timeline. The duration of the strike will likely depend on whether Boeing offers additional concessions beyond the substantial wage and benefit improvements already proposed.
