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California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on Tuesday announced a $60 million agreement to welcome salmon and sturgeon back to the Yuba River for the first time more than a century. Together with state, federal and local officials, the governor unveiled a landmark agreement that will reopen miles of habitat to multiple fish species. The plans will also enable the return of the spring-run Chinook salmon to their native Yuba River habitat in the Central Valley, officials noted.

The U.S. Army has grounded its entire fleet of CH-47 Chinook helicopters because of a risk of engine fires, U.S. officials said. Army officials are aware of a small number of engine fires with the helicopters, and the incidents didn’t result in any injuries or deaths, the U.S. officials said. One of the officials said the fires occurred in recent days. The U.S. Army Materiel Command grounded the fleet of hundreds of helicopters “out of an abundance of caution,” but officials were looking at more than 70 aircraft that contained a part that is suspected to be connected to the...

An unofficial Twitter page attributed to a group of anti-capitalist, anti-fascist teens who call themselves the Pacific Northwest Youth Liberation Front said protesters want to establish the Chinook Land Autonomous Territory, or CLAT, in downtown Portland. The Chinook people include several indigenous groups native to the Pacific Northwest. Portland protesters early Wednesday began to set up tents in the park near the federal courthouse and have barricaded streets to create their own autonomous zone, likened to the since disbanded Capitol Hill Occupied Protest in Seattle. Demonstrators began erecting tents in downtown Portland’s Lownsdale Square, across the street from the federal...

WASHINGTON: Few purchases are more demonstrative of the changing nature of US-India ties than the deal that will result in the gradual makeover of the Indian military's helicopter fleet from a largely Russian line-up to a mostly American one. From choppy to chipper could well be the title of this saga, as India's defense minister Manohar Parrikar arrived in Washington DC for his sixth meeting in less than two years with his US counterpart on Monday, with a sortie thrown in to a chopper manufacturing facility in nearby Philadelphia, where Boeing makes the CH-47F Chinook heavy-lift helicopters. With 15 on...

Projected foreign military sales of AH-64 Apache attack helicopters and CH-47 Chinook cargo helicopters in conjunction with planned domestic buys are expected to keep the airplanes in production for decades, said Boeing and Army officials. "It’s easily safe to say that the Apache is going to be flying well into the 2060 timeframe," when you consider both domestic and international demand for the new E-model, said Mark Ballew, Boeing's head of business development for attack helicopters. According to Kim Smith, Boeing's vice president of attack helicopters, the company has delivered 217 Echo models and 87 of those have gone to...

Prior to its inevitable endorsement of the incumbent Democrat, the Denver Post produced profiles of Bob Beauprez and John Hickenlooper. The stories were interesting from start to finish. It was fascinating to read what was included, and what was not. Bob’s started with his faith in G-d. Hick’s started with his new stray dog. Hick’s profile ended with him attending the book signing event of his estranged wife, Helen Thorpe. Bob’s profile ended with words of love and devotion from his biggest fan, his wife Claudia Beauprez. Bob is described as a devout Catholic with limited exceptions regarding abortion. Neither...

Gov. John Hickenlooper's job approval ratings plunged in a new poll that shows Republican challenger Bob Beauprez beating the Democratic incumbent by 1 percentage point.

Keeping score is an American sport. We want to know if our favorite baseball player has hit another home run or if our politicians really do as they promised or if the National Weather Service got the forecast correct. We cheer the winners and lament the losers. Its part of our competitive spirit and our success. The recent front page Oregonian article “Fall Chinook salmon run expected to be huge...” pointed out the enormous rebound of our local fisheries from the lows of a few years back to the record highs recently.

A CH-47 Chinook during a thunderstorm over the desert of Iraq, during the final drawdown of Operation New Dawn. Oct 2009.Photo by Eric Goulet, Battlefield Weather Forecaster.

Fox News' Megan Kelly interviewed the parents of SEAL Team 6 member Aaron Vaughn who perished in the tragic crash of a CH-47 helicopter on August 06 2011 in Afghanistan. During this interview the Vaughs stated that this crash was a direct result of traitorous rules of engagement ordered by the Obama administration that have consistently proven deadly to our troops (It should be noted here that "Over Twice as Many U.S. Soldiers Have Died in Afghanistan Under Obama In 3 1/2 Years Than Did Under Bush in 8 Years..") Although the exact number of SEALs killed has been misstated...

War On Terror: As in Benghazi, we still don't know the full story of the greatest single loss in Afghanistan and the largest SEAL loss ever — members of a renowned group outed by a loose-lipped vice president. It's not officially on the growing list of Obama administration scandals, but earlier this month families of Navy SEAL Team 6 members killed in a disastrous August 2011 shoot-down of a Chinook helicopter in Afghanistan gathered at the National Press Club asking for answers, calling for a congressional investigation and blaming their government for the tragedy, the indifference and the secrecy that...

Relatives of Navy SEALs who died when their helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan in August 2011 spoke at a press conference Thursday to condemn the Obama administration and claim that the U.S. military presented a Muslim cleric at the dead SEALs’ funeral who disparaged “sinners and infidels who are fodder for the hell fire.” FreedomWatch president Larry Klayman, the attorney representing the families, claimed at the press conference, which Republican Rep. Michelle Bachmann of Minnesota and former Florida Republican Rep. Allen West also attended, that the U.S. military presented an anti-American speaker at the SEALs’ 2011 funeral.

The death of J. Christopher Stevens, the 52-year old ambassador who was slain September 11 as Islamists attacked a U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, has come to his home in Indian country. Stevens spoke English, Arabic, and French. He had fairly brokered Islamic factional disputes and conducted outreach efforts in Jerusalem, Cairo, Damascus and Riyadh. He was "widely regarded as one of the most effective American envoys to the Arab world; He was loved by everybody,” Ahmed al-Abbar, a Libyan opposition leader in the revolution that terminated Muhammad Abu al-Gaddafi. The Chinook Observer, shared statements from Ray Gardner, tribal chairman;...

The Department of Defense announced today the deaths of 30 servicemembers who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. They died Aug. 6 in Wardak province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when their CH-47 Chinook helicopter crashed. The following sailors assigned to an East Coast-based Naval Special Warfare unit were killed: Lt. Cmdr. (SEAL) Jonas B. Kelsall, 32, of Shreveport, La., Special Warfare Operator Master Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) Louis J. Langlais, 44, of Santa Barbara, Calif., Special Warfare Operator Senior Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) Thomas A. Ratzlaff, 34, of Green Forest, Ark., Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician Senior Chief Petty Officer (Expeditionary Warfare...

U.S. soldiers from the 2nd Brigade, 87th Infantry Regiment, 10th Mountain Division, secure the area after existing a Chinoonk helicopter, Helmand Province, southern Afghanistan, in this Sunday, June 18, 2006 file photo. Insurgents apparently shot down a U.S. military helicopter Saturday Aug. 6, 2011 similar to this one shown during fighting in eastern Afghanistan, killing 30 Americans, most of them belonging to the same elite Navy SEALs unit that killed Usama bin Laden, as well as seven Afghan commandos, U.S. officials said. An Afghan official says there is fighting in the area where a U.S. Army Chinook helicopter was apparently...

The storybook romance of Colorado gubernatorial candidate John Hickenlooper and President Barack Obama. And why it matters...

link This guy is the definition of a Hero. The Chinook took multiple hits severing a hydraulic line and raking the fuselage and windscreens with rounds. The Sun reporter does well to keep his composure during the report, faced with the very real possibility of a crash and death.

Voters deserve to know how much of John Hickenlooper's charity has been to political groups like the Chinook Fund. The protest group Re-create 68 was one of the biggest annoyances in the long run-up to Denver's hosting the 2008 Democratic National Convention. And now we find out that a non-profit the mayor of Denver helped establish years ago actually funded Re-create 68 as it tried to disrupt the mayor's greatest challengepulling off the DNC. The 2010 gubernatorial race just keeps getting stranger. Re-create 68 caused Denver officials months of headaches, and the group's over-the-top comments contributed to fears that cost...

A force to be reckoned with Posted on 9 August 2010 in Defence The Egyptian Air Force (EAF) or Al Quwwat Al Jawwiya Il Misriya, is one of the largest air arms in the region and is also one of the longest established. Formed in 1930 as the Egyptian Army Air Force, it became fully independent in 1937. Initially it had close links with the British Royal Air Force and was primarily equipped with British-supplied aircraft. Spitfires gave way to Meteors and Vampires before the 1952 revolution, after which the new president, General Gamal Abdel Nasser, turned to the Soviet...

With the Indian Air Force embarking on modernisation, the skies over different parts of the country will witness yet another high-profile test with evaluations of attack helicopters due to start this summer. Seeking to get off the mark, Boeing is fielding the AH-64D Apache helicopter for the trials, Dean Millsap, regional director, Asia Pacific International Business Development, told a group of visiting Indian journalists here. Mr. Millisap said an IAF team was due to arrive in the United States and thereafter dates for the trials in different weather conditions would be finalised. Boeing is among the international companies that responded...