The United States Department of Agriculture announced Tuesday it would extend universal free lunch through the 2021-2022 school year, in an effort to reach more of the estimated 12 million youths experiencing food insecurity.

ANALYSIS

Of the roughly 380 individuals federally charged in connection with the riot, at least 44 — mostly veterans — had military links, according to data compiled by The Washington Post.

Recent visitors mark a welcome shift after the pandemic dealt a blow to New York City's tourism industry, which supports 400,000 jobs and $70 billion in annual economic activity.

The Biden administration is taking steps to protect the country's electricity system from cyberattacks through a new 100-day initiative combining federal government agencies and private industry.

After a bumpy start, Canada's vaccination rollout has picked up pace in recent weeks. Still, the sight of the United States — a neighbor with which the country frequently compares itself — awash in vaccines and racing ahead to inoculate the population is fueling frustration.

Most of the prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention center have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine as of Tuesday, the U.S. military said a day after resuming an effort to inoculate them that was halted months earlier after criticism from Congress.

An employee suspected of shooting three workers at an office inside a Long Island grocery store Tuesday, killing a manager, was arrested hours after fleeing, police said.

A 28-year-old man has been arrested in connection to the drive-by shooting of a group of Minnesota National Guard soldiers this week that left two injured. The Minnesota U.S. Attorney's Office charged Andrew Thomas with one count of illegal possession of a firearm on Monday.

The Marines are conducting live-fire artillery training on Fort Bragg's ranges, a Fort Bragg Facebook post states. A Fort Bragg garrison spokesman said the Marines will train here through the end of April.

According to a news release, United Launch Alliance will launch its Delta IV Heavy rocket carrying a National Reconnaissance Office payload on Monday.

The photo of Mary Ann Vecchio kneeling over the body of Kent State University student Jeffrey Miller is one of the most important images of the 20th century. "That picture hijacked my life," says Vecchio, now 65.

As Black Americans continue to suffer disproportionate health consequences of addiction to menthol cigarettes, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration this month must respond to a court order demanding it take a position on whether to ban the product.

Rep. Jackie Speier on Tuesday led a group of House lawmakers to reintroduce legislation that would allow anyone who receives health care through the military to access all forms of Food and Drug Administration-approved contraception without additional costs.

The search for survivors from a capsized lift boat in the Gulf of Mexico has closed and attention now turns to comforting the loved ones of the five known dead and eight missing, a grim hunt for bodies and a painstaking investigation that could take up to two years.

Two people were hurt Tuesday when an Army helicopter crashed at a training base in south Alabama, military officials said.

Huntington Ingalls Industries is expanding its reach into the nonmilitary market for underwater drones, with the release of a commercial version of its REMUS 300 unmanned underwater vehicle.

The closure of the border to non-essential travel between the United States and Canada due to COVID-19 was extended for a 13th time Tuesday morning — only hours before it was set to expire — according to a tweet from a Canadian official.

Analysis

The latest Axios/Ipsos Coronavirus Index poll found that 91% of Americans were aware of the pause to the one-dose vaccine and 88% of people who were aware felt it was a responsible decision by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Seventeen different military treatment facilities across Hampton Roads are joining to form a regional health-care system, the Defense Health Agency announced Monday.

The State Department on Monday said it was raising the alert level for a significant number of countries this week as it factors the CDC's COVID-19 data more heavily into its rating system.

Urgent care OB-GYN clinics have begun popping up around the country in recent years, and the COVID-19 pandemic has increased demand.

Analysis

The United States still lacks a comprehensive COVID-19 testing strategy more than a year into the pandemic, as the spread of variants and increasing case counts threaten to undermine the effects of the vaccine rollout.

For three nearly nonstop days, some of the Army’s most-skilled soldiers overcame a lack of sleep to tough out brutal obstacle courses, miles-long runs and marches, and weapons and tactics challenges as they moved some 75 miles across Fort Benning for a chance at the title of Best Ranger.

A small Central New York fashion design firm has won a $46.8 million contract from the U.S. Marine Corps to produce a new line of fitness training uniforms for service members.

The Vanessa Guillen Gate at Fort Hood is a reminder to soldiers passing through to look out for one another, said Lupe Guillen, the younger sister of the Army specialist who was killed at the base one year ago this week.

The Army approved a request made by the city government to deploy 250 D.C. National Guard personnel to support local law enforcement in the event that protests erupt after the verdict from the Derek Chauvin trial is announced, the National Guard said.

About 750 airmen and civilian employees of the Air Force’s 55th Wing have moved to the Nebraska Air National Guard base at the Lincoln Municipal Airport as Offutt Air Force Base undergoes a two-year, $150 million runway construction project.

A Marine at Camp Lejeune, N.C., shot another Marine last week when he accidentally discharged a firearm in a barracks building, Navy investigators said.

Vice Adm. Linda L. Fagan has been nominated by the White House to serve as the next vice commandant of the Coast Guard, which would make her the first female four-star admiral in the service, the Coast Guard announced Monday.

The D.C. medical examiner's office ruled Monday that Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who was injured during the Jan. 6 insurrection, suffered a stroke and died from natural causes.

Pfc. Christian G. Alvarado now faces a general court martial on a total of seven sexual assault charges dating back to December 2018. The cases are pending in military court.

Most of the 73 West Point cadets accused in the biggest cheating scandal in decades at the U.S. Military Academy are being required to repeat a year, and eight were expelled, academy officials said Friday.

It wasn’t easy to leave Germany with its tightened coronavirus restrictions to travel to the United States, but the chance to earn the Army’s Best Sniper title made navigating the red tape worthwhile.

Army Sgt. 1st Class Jonathan Pentland, 42, will remain suspended barring the outcome of an Army investigation into the incident and the outcome of the criminal charges filed against him by the Richland County Sheriff’s Office.

A lawsuit involving more than 229,000 veterans with hearing problems that they claim are linked to faulty earplugs issued by the military begins its first trial Monday in a Florida federal courtroom.

The Navy can’t force an orthodox Jewish sailor aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt to shave his beard, at least until the end of the month, a federal judge has decided.

Louis Goffinet raised more than $30,000 to buy and deliver bags of food — as well as gas and rental assistance — for more than a hundred families. The bad news came in January, when the IRS told him he owed about half that amount in taxes.

Making sense of rare, possibly related adverse events after vaccination can be notoriously tricky, but in this case, U.S. health officials have a blueprint.

In the rush to win World War II, the locations of many graves were forgotten. An Army review board in charge of tracking down the bodies of fallen troops declared Jacob Cruz "non-recoverable" in 1949.

Former Vice President Walter F. Mondale, a liberal icon who lost the most lopsided presidential election after bluntly telling voters to expect a tax increase if he won, died Monday. He was 93.

Photos and video of unidentified objects in the sky published on two websites dedicated to reports about UFOs and the paranormal were shot by Navy personnel, the Pentagon said.

The Iwo Jima has Marine aviators and their Harriers on board. With the group are sailors from Norfolk-based Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 26 and Assault Craft Units 2 and 4, which operate the landing craft and air cushion vehicles that bring Marines to the beach. Those Marine Harriers mean the group can undertake strike missions while the Marines, the beach masters and Seabees are an expeditionary force that can respond to crises.

In a “first Colors” ceremony on Friday, the U.S. flag was raised over the new National World War I Memorial in Washington, D.C's Pershing Park.

Throughout previous waves of COVID, children and young adults eluded the pandemic's gravest consequences, exhibiting mild symptoms or none at all. Now faster-spreading variants are sending more to the hospital. Fatalities remain low, but doctors say the virus is now making the young sicker, some gravely.

Q & A

The official form of documentation to show you received a coronavirus vaccine is the small white vaccination record card issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which you receive after your first shot.

The GAO report focuses on rescue operations that unfolded during several weeks and on multiple continents, with a recurring theme: Government officials butted heads as they were pressed into scenarios they had not rehearsed.

A House bill introduced last week attempts to clarify that private companies leasing to military families on bases cannot charge for needed upgrades to meet a resident’s disability.

A report of sexual harassment from a soldier under Army Forces Command now will be investigated by an officer outside of that soldier’s brigade, according to a new policy from the command.

Many gateways of seaborne trade aren't designed for flexibility, having neither sufficient labor nor the infrastructure — from costly cranes to extra land for container storage — to handle unnatural surges in volume.

ANALYSIS

NASA conducted its first flight on another planet early Monday morning, a short hop for a small chopper named Ingenuity which demonstrated technology that could prove critical to the future of space exploration.

Witnesses said they heard the BM Avenger engine sputtering down the beach and knew something was off as the plane slowly descended. The pilot was not injured and refused medical treatment.

The Marine Corps will pick 500 people to test a new workout uniform during the summer to determine whether it meets the needs for modern athletic gear.

If all of the 155 breakthrough cases were found among S.C. residents, just .01% of fully vaccinated South Carolinians experienced a rare post-vaccination infection. Low percentages like those prove how effective the current vaccines are, experts say.

Six people were rescued shortly after the vessel capsized Tuesday, one body was recovered from the water Wednesday, one was found Thursday and 11 are still missing.

Sgt. Adam Hartswick and RJ Shirey, State College Area High School alums who graduated nine years apart, were brought together after two accidents and dozens of surgeries that left them both amputees.

Two National Guardsmen suffered minor injuries early Sunday when they were fired upon as they provided neighborhood security in Minneapolis following the police killing of a 20-year-old Black man in a nearby suburb, authorities said.

Apple said it has reached an agreement with the right-wing social app Parler that could lead to its reinstatement in the company's app store. Apple kicked out Parler in January over ties to the deadly Jan. 6 siege on the U.S. Capitol.

William McRaven, a former head of U.S. Special Operations Command, in a new book describes the “most gut-wrenching tragedy” he faced during his military career and the important lesson he learned from it.

What is Fort McClellan? A shuttered post, a mixed-use development, a military training site? Or all three?

A growing number of labor unions and companies are securing shots for their employees as eligibility widens. Some large companies such as Amazon are offering workplace vaccinations through licensed health care providers, while smaller outfits are booking appointments for workers at outside locations.

A naval aviator with experience in Iraq spanning from Operation Desert Storm in 1990-91 has been nominated to command the San Diego-based 3rd Fleet.

DOD documents show the Pentagon knew troops were exposed to multiple toxins at a base in Uzbekistan known as K2, and that exposure to those toxins caused hundreds of cancer cases. But the VA has denied many of the sick veterans care and disability benefits.

The Army began investigating after a video of Staff Sgt. Jonathan Pentland, who is stationed at Fort Jackson, threatening and pushing a Black man went viral on social media.

A manhunt for a former Texas sheriff's deputy suspected in the fatal shooting of three people in Austin ended Monday when authorities said he was arrested without incident about 20 miles from the scene of the weekend attack.

Essay

It was October 2005 when I first flew into Kabul aboard a Pakistani International Airlines flight. Mud homes pocked the desert landscape. Afghanistan looked quiet and serene — almost safe. That sense of security crumbled away moments after landing.

Marines at Camp Pendleton were back in the ocean this week training in amphibious assault vehicles for the first time since nine men died when one of the troop carriers sank on July 30 during a training exercise off of San Clemente Island.

For months, officials have been a step behind scammers who have openly discussed strategies to fake vaccination cards on social media, sold them on sites such as eBay and pulled blank photos off state websites.

The triumph was hailed as a Wright Brothers moment. The mini 4-pound copter named Ingenuity, in fact, carried a bit of wing fabric from the 1903 Wright Flyer.

Nine people under 18 were injured and two of them remained in the hospital Monday following a weekend shooting at a 12-year-old's birthday party in Louisiana that was rooted in an ongoing feud, authorities said.

For a sixth day, rescue crews returned Sunday to a capsized lift boat in the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana, looking for nine crew members who have not been found, the Coast Guard said.

The 91st Missile Wing at Minot AFB is one of three ICBM wings that operate, maintain and secure a fleet of Minuteman III missiles located in underground launch facilities in the Minot missile field. The other two Minuteman III ICBM missile wings are at F.E. Warren AFB, Wyoming, and Malmstrom AFB, Montana.

The U.S. Coast Guard says the search for crew members who disappeared when a lift boat capsized off Louisiana will be suspended at sunset Monday. Capt. Will Watson, commander of the Coast Guard Sector New Orleans, said at a press conference that authorities do not expect to find more survivors from the vessel.

President Joe Biden's announced last week that all remaining U.S. troops will leave Afghanistan by Sept. 11, 2021. Many of those who deployed out of San Diego and other veterans of the Afghanistan conflict met Biden's announcement with mixed emotions.

With medical visits picking up again among patients vaccinated against COVID-19, health providers are starting to see the consequences of a year of pandemic-delayed preventive and emergency care as they find more advanced cancer and rotting and damaged teeth, among other ailments.

The active ingredient in psychedelic mushrooms may be more effective at treating depression than a leading antidepressant, a study has found, potentially opening up new avenues of treatment for troops who suffer from the debilitating condition.

A former FedEx employee who shot and killed eight people at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis never appeared before a judge for a hearing under Indiana's "red flag" law, even after his mother called police last year to say her son might commit "suicide by cop," a prosecutor said Monday.

The Biden administration is privately weighing how to handle the upcoming verdict in the trial of former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, including considering whether President Joe Biden should address the nation and dispatching specially trained community facilitators from the Justice Department.

Interim Austin Police Chief Joseph Chacon said those who live near where the shooting happened late Sunday morning no longer had to shelter in place, but he said they should "remain vigilant."

Analysis

Some officials caution that the trade-offs for American security could be steep without the constellation of military bases, arsenal of weaponry and aircraft, and network of human sources the two-decade American effort in Afghanistan has accrued.

Researchers say that the recreational drone market could come together with the $30 billion wearables market to produce what may one day be a fixture in personal health and wellness: fitness drones.

There's a long history of violence against veterans and service members of color, whose military status was seen by some as a provocation.

The Class of 2024 will have its Herndon Climb on Saturday, May 22, the weekend before graduation, Superintendent Vice Adm. Sean Buck said in a letter to parents of midshipmen. The Herndon Climb was postponed in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Late Friday, divers recovered two more unresponsive crew members, the Coast Guard said.

A colonel with 33 years of experience in the Air Force and Air Reserve, including flying combat missions during Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom, will become the new commander of the Reserve’s 439th Airlift Wing.

Derek Chauvin, 45, is on trial for murder and manslaughter after pinning Floyd to the pavement last May for what prosecutors said was 9½ minutes. The case is expected to head to the jury Monday after closing arguments.

With 12 people still missing from a capsized oil industry vessel, divers awaited a break in stormy weather Thursday that would allow them to reach the hull and search for survivors.

A man who drove through a Detroit crime scene where five people were shot and one person died in a car crash was fatally shot by police early Monday following a pursuit and gun battle, the city's police chief said.

A federal judge on Monday ordered two leaders of the far-right Proud Boys extremist group to be arrested and jailed while awaiting trial on charges they planned and coordinated an attack on the U.S. Capitol to stop Congress from certifying President Joe Biden's electoral victory.

The Medgar Evers College vaccination site opened on Feb. 24 and is operated by New York State and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, with the help from military personnel from across the country.

Once, the exit from the stage of the last standing Castro brother — for 62 years the object of so much bitter censure by the thousands exiled from their homeland — might have prompted heartfelt relief and excited hopes of regime change. But when it finally came, it was very much an anti-climax.

Dan Pena seemed bound for failure through his difficult youth in East Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley until he did something Americans do best. He reinvented himself.

The fundraiser met the $5,000 goal on Tuesday, and then the goal increased to a $25,000.

Analysis

The current Iran nuclear talks mark a defining moment for President Joe Biden and the new, less-cozy relationship that is shaping up between Biden and Israel.