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LANSING, Mich. — Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced 13 charges against former House Speaker Lee Chatfield, including embezzlement from a nonprofit. Lee Chatfield, who briefly served as Southwest Michigan First CEO, has been under investigation for alleged involvement in a criminal enterprise, as well as claims of embezzlement, bribery and campaign finance violations. Lee Chatfield and his wife, Stephanie Chatfield, are facing charges in connection to the alleged misuse of a 501c4 fund titled the "Peninsula Fund," which is a social welfare organization, Nessel said. Nessel referred to these 501c4 nonprofit accounts as "commonly political dark money dumping sites"...

In October of 2020, 13 men were charged in connection with a plot to kidnap the Governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer. Six people were charged in federal court and Michigan’s own Dirty Dana Nessel charged another seven in state court. Of the defendants who chose to contest the charges, the government is batting 0-4 so far. Two defendants had a mistrial declared after juries were unable to reach a verdict, and two were found not guilty today. As more information comes out about the plot to kidnap Governor Whitmer, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the FBI played an instrumental role...

A Chinese naval vessel tried to force a U.S. guided missile warship to stop in international waters recently, causing a tense military standoff in the latest case of Chinese maritime harassment, according to defense officials. The guided missile cruiser USS Cowpens, which recently took part in disaster relief operations in the Philippines, was confronted by Chinese warships in the South China Sea near Beijing’s new aircraft carrier Liaoning, according to officials familiar with the incident. “On December 5th, while lawfully operating in international waters in the South China Sea, USS Cowpens and a PLA Navy vessel had an encounter that...

<p>Technology that sent unmanned aircraft over Iraq and Afghanistan soon could be steering unstaffed naval boats for such dangerous tasks as minesweeping, submarine detection, intelligence gathering and approaching hostile vessels.</p> <p>Defense contractor Textron Inc. demonstrated what it calls its Common Unmanned Surface Vessel technology Thursday at its Textron Marine & Land Systems shipyard in New Orleans.</p>

Egyptian security forces were able to foil a terror attack on Israeli vessels in the Suez Canal, Cairo's Al-Ahram weekly reported Saturday. According to the report, the Egyptian investigation into the matter concluded that the potential attacks were orchestrated by Iran. Egyptian authorities have two suspects in custody – Saliman Rizek abdel Razek and Salame Ahmed Salame. The two deny any involvement, but according to the report authorities have evidence linking them, via the offer of a 50 million Egyptian pounds payment, to a third suspect – Muhammad Zakri – who they allegedly tried to hire to execute the attack....

Weekly FR Boating Thread ~ Vol. 3 ~ Feb. 10, 2012 ~ Boat Transportation Launching ~ Weekly FR Boating Thread ~ Vol. 1 ~ Jan. 27, 2012 Weekly FR Boating Thread ~ Vol. 2 ~ Feb 3, 2012 ~ “Off Season”Last week’s thread had 26 posts, including the source for this week’s thread – boat transportation. I have helped clients ship vessels of all sizes and types all over North America and overseas. Except for two small scratches, every shipping project was successful, albeit harrowing on occasion. To help ensure your boat shipping efforts are successful, I will provide boat...

FORT MORGAN, Ala. – When the waves from Hurricane Ike receded, they left behind a mystery — a ragged shipwreck that archeologists say could be a two-masted Civil War schooner that ran aground in 1862 or another ship from some 70 years later. The wreck, about six miles from Fort Morgan, had already been partially uncovered when Hurricane Camille cleared away sand in 1969. Researchers at the time identified it as the Monticello, a battleship that partially burned when it crashed trying to get past the U.S. Navy and into Mobile Bay during the Civil War.

A £300,000 schooner has been found floating empty in the Mediterranean - echoing the fate of the Marie Celeste over 130 years ago. The 66ft twin-masted vessel had no name and no other identification markings. On board there was a half-eaten meal, maps of the Med, piles of clothes and a punctured dinghy. The boat was found drifting off the Sardinian resort of Punta Volpe. Strong currents were pushing it towards rocks and coastguards boarded the vessel just in time and towed it to the port of Olbia. Officials found a plaque with the name Bel Amica but said that...

ABOARD USS ARDENT – While conducting maritime security operations (MSO) in the Arabian Gulf, March 6, USS Ardent (MCM 12) responded to a distress call by an Iraqi-owned commercial vessel. Ardent arrived on scene after the crew of Motor Vessel Gulf Queen reported via bridge-to-bridge radio that the vessel was dead-in-the-water with no topside or navigational lighting visible. The Avenger-class mine countermeasure ship deployed two rescue and assistance teams (RNA), which performed a security sweep of the crippled ship and conducted an assessment of its electrical and engineering conditions as well as the welfare of the crew. According to Engineman...

The Army's new Theater Support Vessel (TSV) is a rapidly developed response to the transformational operational maneuver and sustainment demands of force-projection operations. The TSV is a fast-moving, shallow-draft vessel that can simultaneously move troops and their equipment together as combat-ready units within theater and deploy them with little or no reception, staging, onward movement, and integration (RSOI) activities at undeveloped ports. The TSV also provides follow-on sustainment through joint logistics over-the-shore (JLOTS) operations. Operations Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom highlighted the need for maneuver-force and logistics transformation. To respond quickly to threats around the world, the U.S. Army must...

It was a scenario straight out of a Tom Clancy spy novel. The United States passed on intelligence to its allies that dangerous chemicals could be shipped from a Northeast Asian country to a port in the Arabian Gulf. Japan sent out information that some ships fitting the profile of the suspect vessels had been monitored heading for their destination via the South China Sea and the Strait of Malacca.

TEHRAN (MNA) -- During the latest season of excavations of the northern gate of Takht-e Suleiman, an ancient Zoroastrian fire temple located in northwestern Iran, the stamps of two seals were discovered which indicate that objects entered Takht-e Suleiman from other regions with special tags attached to them which seem to be advertisements. They signify that an early form of advertising was being practiced during the Sassanid era (224-642 C.E.), Yusef Moradi, the head of the excavation team, said on Friday. “The team began its excavations in early August and found the stamps of two seals at the upper levels...

Secrets of an ancient Persian armada sunk off the coast of Greece 2500 years ago are being dredged up by modern archaeologists. A team from Greece, Canada and the United States has just completed a second expedition to retrieve artefacts from 300 ships of the Persian King Darius that were wrecked in a storm off the Mt Athos Peninsula, northern Greece, in 492BC or 493BC. Aucklanders will be among the first to hear the results today when three of the expedition leaders present their findings in a free public lecture at Auckland University. In two trips so far, last October...

WASHINGTON - A new deep-sea research vessel will be able to carry people to 99 percent of the ocean floor, diving deeper than the famed Alvin that pioneered the study of seafloor vents, plate tectonics and deep ocean creatures over the past 40 years. The new American submersible will provide the tools to reach "not for the stars but for the depths," Robert Gagosian, president of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, said Friday at a briefing at the National Science Foundation (news - web sites). France, Russia and Japan also operate deep sea research vessels and China is building one,...

Source: Duke University Medical Center Date: 2004-02-06 Popular Drug For Chest Pain May Promote Blood Vessel Damage DURHAM, NC -- Nitroglycerin -- a drug commonly prescribed for the treatment of chest pain in patients with heart conditions -- has the frustrating property that its beneficial effects are short-lived. Now, new research conducted by a German group and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigators at Duke University Medical Center reveals the cellular mechanism underlying the drug's lost efficacy and raises additional concern about its potential to cause long-term injury. In rats treated with nitroglycerin for a period of three days, the activity...

Ancient vessel retraces voyages of the past By Stefanos Evripidou IT LOOKS like a tree house stuck on a bamboo banana. In reality it's the incarnation of a pre-Pharaonic reed boat, designed and built to unravel the mysteries of prehistoric navigation. The Abora II drifted in to Larnaca marina yesterday. Weighing in at six- tonnes, the vessel is a totra-reed boat. It is 11.5 metres long, 3.5 metres wide and 1.5 metres deep. The man responsible for building the huge boat is Dominique Goerlitz, a biology teacher at a school in Germany. As a student, Goerlitz was fascinated by the...